Where To Start Before You Start Your Job Search

If you are a confused and directionless college graduate that has spoken to anybody older than 30, you’ll hear a lot of the same thing, namely that it gets better and to find your passion. While all of this is welcome and inspiring, it’s not particularly useful when you’re broke, jobless, and/or have to move back in with your parents.

I graduated from an Ivy League with an English degree and in my first year out, I worked four low-wage jobs, all of them completely different from the next, and three of them at once. It was what I could get on short notice and I took them without question because I had to make car payments and rent. I was chronically underpaid, overworked, and broke enough that once or twice, I went to work with a fever, something I do not condone or recommend. I hated my jobs and, because of lack of insight in to my worth as a worker and not having guidelines set, I was forced to grit my teeth and bear. I learned a lot during that year and still am learning because mistakes are part of the human condition, especially when you’re young.

A big part of my learning was recognizing what made me stay at my jobs, and what inevitably made me run for the hills. Once you have an idea of what those traits are, writing them down and ranking them from least to most desirable or undesirable gives you a narrower idea of what to look for and can help you unfreeze from the panic of not knowing what to do. Just to give you a little idea of what I’m talking about, I’ve listed four of the main traits I’m looking at when I’m job searching.

The People

For example, in regards to the positive aspects that attract me to jobs, I came to the realization that it was the employees that I interacted with that made it, if not exciting to come to work, at least more bearable. Specifically, I found that I enjoyed working in diverse companies and with people closer to my age. Office culture was more relaxed and friendships were easier to make.

The Places

Another checkmark on my list was location. I liked larger cities because of my aforementioned preference for diversity, and there are always more things to do in those kinds of spaces. I also realized that being close to friends or family was important to me. Having a support system created a more stable environment for me and, while I could make work friends, I knew it would be better to be near people who knew me more intimately. There are a lot of jobs out there and not all of them will be the right fit; it was overwhelming for me to just send my search out on to the interwebs and get back pages of listings in cities I couldn’t see myself thriving in. Now I’ve got a more focused search and a shorter list.

The Positions

For me, my list of turn-offs was more important because those constituted mistakes that I had made and wouldn’t allow myself to make again. I’d hesitate to set any hard no’s if you’ve never had a job in a certain area, and I believe you can learn anything from any job, no matter how good or bad. That being said, I knew after my job binge that first and foremost on the list was sales and customer service positions. My first job out of college, I was hired as a life insurance agent; I lasted a month. While the people were wonderful and charismatic and diverse, the actual cold-calling and house appointments gave me the fear-sweats. Find your limits and set your boundaries.

The Hours

Another thing I wanted to avoid was odd hours. Of the jobs I’d worked, I got stuck with two second-shift positions. It didn’t take me long to realize that while I was working until late evening, my friends had gotten off of work, hung out, and were readying themselves for bed by the time I clocked out. One of my jobs was chronically understaffed as well, leading me to take on more hours than I wanted at a job that I ultimately ditched after four stressful months. Now I know that I need a job that has regular 9-to-5 hours.

Whatever lists you come up with, you might find that they shift as you gain more experience and you realize that something you hadn’t thought of before is more applicable now. Maybe childcare services become more important than the Casual Fridays you wrote down five years before. It can take time to find what your passions are in life, and most people right out of college don’t end up in a job they love or stay in for decades. There’s no pressure in figuring it out. In the meantime, you can find a position that you enjoy that will keep you housed and fed while you explore your options. Something else those 30-and-up people will say is that you’re still young and you have time. It’s up to us to use it wisely.