Life after college: One year removed
A reflection of what has transpired since I graduated college on May 4th, 2019.
On Saturday, May 4th, 2019, history was made. May 4th was the day I could finally say that I accomplished something that was bigger than myself. Four years of hard work, challenges, frustration, determination, growth, and lifelong memories brought me to this day and granted me access to something I coveted for four years: A college degree. And on this day, with my family and friends in attendance, I became a graduate of James Madison University (JMU).
This was easily one of the greatest days of my life and a day I will never forget. The sense of happiness and pride that I felt was unmatched and it was an eye-opening experience. Graduating college was my biggest accomplishment thus far and I knew it was only up from here. It felt good to say that I “finally made it!” So where do we go from here?
This Monday marked the one year anniversary of graduating college. Can someone PLEASE tell me where the time has gone? As I sit back and reflect on this past year, post-grad life has been fun but I have definitely faced some adversity. From the constant grind of finding a job and adjusting to being a full-time adult to dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, I want to share my experiences from the past year in three phases: 1) The Post-Grad Job Search; 2) Life as an adult, and 3) Working during a global pandemic.
- The Post-Grad Job Search
Now that I have officially graduated college, the real fun starts — It was time to start applying for jobs. I graduated from JMU with a B.S. in Communications Studies and I was looking to break into the sports industry. Being a native of Northern Virginia my entire life, I wanted to explore all options, even if that included relocating, so I applied for post-grad internships and entry level positions all over the country to increase my chances. When I started applying for jobs, I thought it was going to be an easy process and I was going to land a sports job quick. Ha! Boy was I wrong. I guess I had too much dip on my chip because I quickly came to the realization that this process is far from easy.
Throughout the summer, I applied for multiple jobs and all I would get back was “Thank you for applying but we are considering other candidates” or I wouldn’t even get a response from employers. As the summer went on, this scenario kept happening and I was getting frustrated. Getting your first post-grad job in sports is challenging and it is very competitive but I knew something had to change. I had to figure out another way to create an opportunity for myself. So what did I do? I started networking my butt off.
LinkedIn became my best friend over the summer and it played a pivotal part in my ability to get connected with professionals that were in my fields of interest. I started connecting with JMU grads to glean from their experiences and they provided advice and resources that assisted me in my post-grad job search. Another thing that helped me was going to career fairs and sport professional happy hours.
On Wednesday, December 18th, 2019, I went to a sports professional happy hour in hopes to potentially get some leads to sports jobs and sure enough, that’s what happened. I ran into a Washington Nationals representative and he informed me on an opening for the Inside Sales position. We ended up exchanging contact information, I emailed him my resume the next day, and after a phone and zoom interview that Friday, December 20th, I was informed by my inside sales manager that I got the job. Just like that, everything changed and I was excited to get my first opportunity to work within professional sports and work for the World Series Champs. Even though it took seven months to land my first gig, I was getting used to life as an adult.
2) Life as an adult
College graduation not only signaled the end of school but it was the start of life as a full-time adult. The days of going to class, doing homework, and doing whatever I wanted had officially come to an end. I called this “semi-adulting.” Post-grad life calls for added responsibilities, such as going to work, paying bills, setting up 401K’s, and saying goodbye to three months of summer vacation. I have now entered the realm of “full-time adulting” and whether I was ready or not, it was time to get after it.
While I was searching for a career in sports, I worked part-time at Wegmans four days a week. This was my first taste of work after college and I would go to work, go home, eat, sleep, and repeat. It was hard for me to hang out with friends because most of my days off were doing the week while my friends had standard Monday-Friday jobs with weekends off. Consequently, we had to plan most of our nights out in advance but we always found a way to make it work.
Adulting also comes with some cool benefits, too. The first two things that comes to mind is receiving a steady income and establishing your independence. It’s a good feeling to know that you don’t have to rely on mom and dad for money (if you were a college kid, you know how that goes!). I am 22-years-old and even though I am one year removed from college, I am still learning how to “adult.” Nobody expects us young adults to have it all figured out and we will make mistakes. That is life and it is all a part of the learning process.
Another cool benefit that comes with being an adult is having the ability to travel. Since I have graduated, I visited friends in New York City, went to Atlanta for the Build Your Own Brand (BYOB) Retreat, spent time with family in North Carolina and New Jersey, and went back to JMU for my first homecoming as an alumnus. I have always wanted to travel so now I can start to plan trips and see the world (first international trip coming soon!).
Now, imagine that you are just getting into the swing of things, you start your job with the World Series Champs, Nationals, then a global pandemic comes out of nowhere and shakes the world.
3) Working During a Pandemic
On January 13th, I started my job with the Washington Nationals as an Inside Sales Representative. I had zero sales experience so I knew this was an opportunity to learn as much as I could and establish genuine relationships with sports professionals. Monday-Friday, I worked in the Nationals’ front office and on weekends, I worked at Wegmans. I didn’t mind the everyday grind but as soon as I started to hit my stride with the Nationals, Covid-19 reared its ugly head and threw a monkey wrench in everyone’s plans.
As the coronavirus cases started to increase across the United States, the country is starting to shut down and the Nationals’ front office is preparing everyone to work from home. Towards the end of March, I started working from home while getting adjusted to our “new normal.” Working from home was not a hard adjustment for me but I do miss being around my colleagues and going to Nationals Park everyday.
Work at Wegmans is pretty routine and it makes my weekends go by fast. But once the coronavirus showed up, a lot of standards and procedures changed. Our business hours changed, every employee has to do a wellness check before each shift, and a lot of social distancing practices are being enforced across the store. Two months ago, you didn’t have to worry about staying six feet away from customers or employees. But this is not our norm anymore. Now, you can catch me masked up, wearing my gloves and doing the best I can to keep my social distance while I work.
Life can get hectic and we will find ourselves expecting the unexpected. If you would have told me last May that I would have experienced all of this within my first year post-grad, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. I may have graduated college, but the learning never stopped there. As we go through life, the world becomes our classroom and we will find ourselves discovering new ideas, challenges, and experiences that will build character and foster growth.
Reflection Section
I want you to reflect on your past year. What did you learn? Are you where you want to be? How did last year’s experiences help you get to where you are now? These thought-provoking questions will give you an honest assessment of where you have been and what you need to do moving forward. This past year has been one for the books and I look forward to seeing where life takes me a year from now.
