How 2020 College Grads Are Capitalizing on Their Advantage
We Do Not Deserve a Pity Party
This is what we’ve been praying for! Manifesting! Wishing for! Cursing for and hoping for and complaining about and dreaming about and talking about and basing all of our “if only” and “would if I could” and “I just can’t right now” statements on. We finally have it. And no, I’m not talking about a very scary, very serious, very real pandemic. I’m talking about time.
Okay, I know. I’m generalizing here. I understand that there are entire populations who absolutely do not have “extra” time on their hands right now. In fact, there are a great many people who have much, much less time than they did before (hello stressed out parents and god-like health care workers and super hero teachers and saintly blue collar workers and everyone else who is keeping our society running — we see you, thank you).
But as a twenty two year old college senior who is approaching graduation with a terrifying and dark yet brilliantly beautiful storm cloud of possibility racing towards me at an alarming rate (some people have deemed this ~the future~), time is all I have been wishing for. For a while now, and increasingly so.
Has my recent infatuation with the Law of Attraction gone too far? Did I accidentally manifest a global pandemic? God, I hope not, but if there is one thing I’m sure of, it is that I will not let this blessing of extra time go to waste. Every generation faces a period of struggle when they graduate college. The job market is always bad, the economy always sucks, the world is always ending, blah, blah, blah. It is pretty much an accepted feat of the human condition at this point. Entering the real world as a recent college grad is never easy. Class of 2020, we are not special. Let me say that one again. We are not special. We do not deserve a pity party.
In fact, we are incredibly fortunate and have been given a blessing that no other graduating class has been lucky enough to receive. We have been given three months of freedom. Of (often immensely) lessened work-loads, remote classes, a pass/fail final semester and an opportunity to return home if that is available to us to essentially focus on anything we would like. And if you’re in a position that is at all similar to mine, you would probably like very much to focus on, I don’t know….getting a job?
Pre-pandemic, the anxiety surrounding my future, securing a job and kick starting my career was still there. Big time. What was also there, however, was a full course load of the most advanced college classes offered, a part-time job, a grant funded University research project, an apartment full of my best friends, a campus full of potential acquaintances, a downtown with kick ass bars and $4 pitcher deals on Thursdays, a pool right outside my window, a lake down the street, a city close by and — get this — the ability to go to all of these wonderful places and do all of these exciting things. And, like any senior coming up on the bittersweet end of an era, I was trying my hardest to do it all. I didn’t have all the time in the world to research industries and apply to jobs and network and work on my side hustle and invest in my future because I felt I needed to soak up the now, as it would all be gone in a few short months. Little did I know, those “months” were about to get a lot shorter.
The “COVID-19 Class of 2020” has been stripped of countless opportunities, experiences, activities, and memories. It is heart wrenching. It is confusing. It is painful. But what it is not, is entirely unfortunate. What is is not, is something that will set us back in our ability to enter the job market and propel ourselves into the great unknown of the real world with all of the essential tools we need, and more. So you can stop rosining up your bow for the “world’s tiniest violin”. Cancel the pity party. Let’s look at the (quite extensive) silver lining here.
Productivity
Productivity has never been more accessible. The opportunity cost of job searching has never been lower. We literally cannot go anywhere. We have nothing else to do. The real obligations as well as the perceived obligations are gone. Poof! School work has been dumbed down, the load lightened and we will never know the impending doom of the journey to our dreaded 8am again. FOMO (fear of missing out) does not exist because everyone else is doing the same exact thing you’re doing — nothing. This clears our minds and our calendars and makes room for a manic productivity kick that, yes, we absolutely needed. We are able to hone in on our job search, go above and beyond on applications, think critically about companies and industries, do some soul searching, watch tacky videos of helpful tips and tricks, participate in webinars and mock interviews and really learn how to make ourselves stand out. We are lucky enough to be forced into a time of lessened distractions and have been presented with a pretty weak set of alternative options to fill our time with.
While other Senior classes needed willpower, dedication, commitment, sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears to get themselves to be productive and focus on being proactive about their futures, we only need to get bored of playing Uno with our little brother for the 17th day in a row.
An Early Start
As I stated before (and I don’t think my situation is unique) most seniors in college are focused on fully experiencing their waning time as a student at their beloved school. Thanks to our not-yet-fully-developed brains (but hey, almost there!), we see absolutely no issue with justifying this as “more important” than spending time working on our post-grad plans. For this reason, many college graduates opt to begin their job search “for real” in the summer — when they don’t have to worry about classes and work and squeezing every last drop of “fun” out of the “best four years of their life”.
However, this automatically sets one up for a period of time after college that could have been spent starting their first job and making headway in their careers. The fact that we have this period of time handed to us three months in advance is very special. It is almost as if we are given that “summer” phase for free, without having to feel like we are behind at all. Many of us have already said our goodbyes and left our schools and we have now found ourselves immersed in the “fresh out of college” phase three months early. That is three extra months to invest in our futures and secure positions that will then result in an early (or earlier) start to our careers. That means that much more time collecting a paycheck to put towards that nasty debt, that much more time receiving benefits, that much more time gaining invaluable experience in our fields and a boatload of other positives that we may not have been able to reap if it had not been for our unique situation.
Side Hustle
Whether you have one, you’re in the midst of starting one or you’ve been thinking about starting one for some time now, quarantine has left us with 24/7 “side” time. Having multiple streams of income is incredibly attractive and insanely helpful for many people — especially recent college graduates who have to start paying off a mound of debt the size of Peru in a few months. The number one reason people fail to ever successfully start, build and maintain a side-hustle is that they don’t have the time to invest to get it off the ground. Like so many other endeavors in life, starting is the hardest part. With all of our time turned “side”, we have again been blessed with the perfect opportunity to capitalize and begin working on a new project, business or idea. This could potentially help us tremendously financially and mentally/spiritually as we transition into the world from college. Others have not been fortunate enough to be able to work on something like this to help get them through. We would be crazy not to take advantage of it.
Enrichment and a Leg Up
Again, we have time. Time that others did not and do not have. And because of that, we have opportunity. An opportunity to go above and beyond and capitalize on our advantages. Whether it is tuning into webinars, conducting informative interviews, taking free courses on creating resumes and cover letters, reading up on what makes an ideal candidate, networking the shit out of everyone and everything or listening to instructional podcasts, we have the time to do the try-hard, enriching, extra work to give ourselves the best possible shot of “making it”. We have the opportunity to walk into an interview with all of this knowledge under our belt while other candidates in the past may not have necessarily had such easy access and limitless time to gain that same knowledge. We have the ability to learn how to maneuver the world of job hunting, market ourselves, manipulate the system to our advantage and impress to no end, and this could be the deciding factor that lands us a successful position.
A Transition Time Before The Real World Hits
Maybe you were planning on moving back home after graduation. Many do. But many do not. This situation gives those who would have never been living at home again one last opportunity to cherish time with their family, get some closure, savor Mom’s cooking one last time, remember what its like to share a bathroom with 5 other people, fight about toothbrushes every night, rapidly revert in age and likely solidify their decision once and for all to definitely get the hell out when this is all over.
Furthermore, the end of college is tough, man. That final semester is nothing like senior spring in high school. On top of that, going from working your ass off and living like a caffeine crazed zombie all of finals week straight to graduation straight to being thrown out on your own into the dark, vast expanse of the “real world” is a lot of work and a lot of change all at once and a lot of emotion and a lot of — just a lot in general. We were spared this whirlwind of stress and feelings by breaking up the relentless chain of terrifying events a little. Is finals week even going to be a thing? Unclear. Graduation? Probably not gonna see that one until around 2025. And right now, the “real world” doesn’t even know what the real world looks like, so it’s safe to say that our being thrown into it will be a little softer and much different than what we expected.
At the very least, we are given an unprecedented time to breathe a little before being expected to be a full time adult. One cannot discount the benefits of a little mental preparation and relaxation during a tumultuous time.
We Are Not Victims
I stand with the class of 2020 with every fiber of my being. I feel you. I know you. I am you. This is tough and unexpected and miserable. It is easy to peer into the future and see a bleak fog of misfortune, unfairness and absent opportunity. But we must stop believing we are victims of the universe and circumstance, because as soon as we believe that, it becomes true. Instead, choose to see this for what it is — an opportunity in and of itself. Begging to be seized by an entirely capable, strong, intelligent being like yourself. Save your pity — we are above that. We are rising to the occasion as we no doubt will time and time again throughout our lives to come.
With the utmost respect, Happy Graduation.
