Entry 1: Allie Russell

May 2016 graduate, Allie Russell officially has a masters in counseling from Bradley University. The only problem? She doesn’t want to be a counselor.

Russell earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Truman State University in 2013. She realized counseling was not for her later in her master’s program so she finished her time at Bradley knowing she didn’t want to pursue a job in counseling.

“I didn’t really know that I didn’t want counseling until I got to the internship part which was more hands on. You kind of have to have the book stuff and all that before you go into it so it was kind of hard to know that I wasn’t going to like it before hand.” Russell said.

Since graduation, Russell has realized where her passions lie: Human Relations. She has also discovered that her qualifications aren’t exactly what most HR departments seem to want.

“I’m leaning more towards HR and industrial organizational psych. Some people who are hiring for HR people are looking for more business degrees and don’t see that counseling is actually beneficial.” Russell said.

“Sitting here, in debt, and feeling like you aren’t contributing as much, and also being unemployed, it’s really frustrating.”

According to an article written by the Economic Policy Institute in 2015, the unemployment rate for college graduates is 7.2 percent while the overall unemployment rate is 14.9 percent. The stresses of unemployment are the main source of personal frustration for Russell, especially since she and her boyfriend just purchased a house.

“Technically just the boyfriend bought it [the house] because if I also tried to get a loan we wouldn’t have been approved for as much. Sitting here, in debt, and feeling like you aren’t contributing as much, and also being unemployed, it’s really frustrating. You wake up every day in the middle of the day because you have no job to go to, no purpose, nothing to do.” Russell said.

Russell realizes other graduates will have different experiences from her own. She also knows how difficult it can be to keep persevering through the difficulties of unemployment.

“It is going to be easier for some people. They’re just going to have those connections. Their resume is just going to have that one thing that you just can’t pick out, making it easier. Keeping your head up and trying to push through is a lot easier said than done.” Russell said.

“The world’s not going to explode if you don’t have a job by the time graduation gets here.”

Even though the last few months have been disheartening for Russell, she realizes that getting a job right out of college isn’t worth getting too worried about.

“I always had it in my head that as soon as I graduate I have to have a job and my mom was always like ‘Do you have a job yet? You’re running out of time.’ The world’s not going to explode if you don’t have a job by the time graduation gets here.” Russell said.

Another suggestion Russell has for students getting ready to graduate is to make sure to network and talk with professors if you’re struggling.

“I had one professor that I really connected with and I met with him a few times outside of class. He’s a very blunt and straightforward person. He told me, ‘So screw it, just go with what you want to do. Do whatever it is you want to do and find out what it is you need in order to do that.’ He helped point me towards different resources and stuff like that. I think it helps to have the professors out there that can help you.” Russell said.

Since our interview, Russell has managed to find a job in human resources.