So what are your plans after college?

For the past 19 years of my life my path has been very clear: go to school. But now that I’m set to graduate in less than eight months I suddenly have so many possible paths to follow; and it can be very overwhelming to think about. My plans for my career have changed several times as I have gotten older. When I was in high school I wanted to go into the environmental science field. My first year in college I knew I wanted to be a business major, but I didn’t plan for much past that besides the idea that I could be a wedding planner. But I never pursued that idea. When I transferred to UMBC, I changed my major to Media and Communication studies and now I have made the decision to go into the digital marketing field with a focus in social media marketing.

I am confident that I have chosen the right career path. Now the most stressful thing is taking the correct steps down that path. In chapter three of her book Lindsey Pollack lists very clear and helpful steps to figuring out your path and how to traverse it successfully. I especially like that Pollack included the section on Twitter and how you can use social media to your advantage when looking for a career, “[Twitter] contains some of the best career information available on a minute-by-minute basis” (Pollack 68). Another very important point she makes is to not focus on getting the highest paying job straight out of college, “Now is the time to start at the bottom and build a career in something you enjoy” (Pollack 53). I keep reminding myself that this is the best point in my life to explore different opportunities and find something that I truly enjoy. “The best paying job is not always the right job” (Pollack 63). I would rather have a lower paying job that I love than have a job where I’m not happy, “Pursuing a passion now…should really be considered a career strategy” (Pollack 60). During the rest of my time at UMBC I will continue to develop new skills and learn more about what I like and don’t like to do.