If you graduated from college in the spring, like me, you will undoubtedly face the endless questions about your plans. Or lack thereof. Or if you’re like me you throw a dart at the map and look up jobs there, because let’s face it, the job market there (Guyana?!) has got to be better than here. Most people who ask have no follow up to “I’m unemployed.” They nod. You shrug.
For the past three months I have searched all over the place for a job. I would kill for a job in international affairs, but it took me three months to realize it. I looked for writing jobs in Raleigh, DC, Miami and nothing really turned up. I looked at everything. Journalism jobs, technical writing (blegh), writing for law firms, etc. Then I said to hell with everybody and applied to the Peace Corps. I figured if no one was hiring in the States I might as well do something useful in another country for people who really need it.
After I applied, which took a week, I scheduled an interview in DC. The trip up was great. We went past the bland exterior of the Pentagon and then bam–DC! We stayed at my friend Sharon’s townhouse in Columbia Heights. She loved the place. I joked that DC, aside from the murder rate, was pretty safe. She laughed and told me that most the shootings and violence that happened around her neighborhood was “targeted.” I felt safer o_O.
The interview itself was straightforward with the recruiter reading directly off of the computer and writing my responses down as I spoke. Then he told me that nothing was available for at least a year. He went ahead and nominated me anyway and I left to find something to do for a year.
I told you that story so I could tell you this one.
When, or even if, you graduate, most likely you will be loaded with student loans and debt to repay. If you are lucky enough to be one of the few these days, statistically speaking, to graduate in a robust career field, i.e. computer science, engineering, mathematics, chances are that you will be just fine making $90k out of school and I will always hate you. Should you have been like me and graduated in the humanities, because we hate math, you are much more experienced in a well-rounded, critical-thinking frame of mind. How can you market that? I was lucky enough to be briefly part of the Peel Literary magazine at ASU and get published. Turns out though, you need real world experience. Nothing new. How could I turn working at a summer camp into a persuasive argument for my resume? Take what you did, broadly and expand on it. Did you organize everything? Deal with parents? Logistics? Coordinating? Budgeting?
Lets get back to the big picture. I wanted to make money to pay off what I owed, but hell if I was going to do that sitting in an office doing data entry. Databases? Not for me. Copies? No thanks. As part of a job, ok. I didn’t want that to be my job, though. My grandpa told me to do what you love. Do what you love. Do. What. You. Love. If you’re love is floating down a lost tributary in the Amazon writing about lost adventurers, do that! If you love hiking and being outdoors, you can do that for a job! There are plenty of places where troubled teens are sent to better themselves through the great outdoors. Guess who leads them? You can! If you love painting, do it! Find a job working a local gallery. What I’m saying is, do what you love and the money will come. The happiness from doing something you actually like, I believe is worth it alone. You can always file for economic hardship on your loans. Don’t be afraid. There is nothing, nothing wrong with helping yourself out in anyway you can. It sounds so tired and old, but really go for it. It will break in your favor. I just talked to the director of an NPO that works to help the poor, in Guatemala. Now, where the hell did my machete go?
There was a book written in the 70′s entitled “Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow”, which is essentially what you’re saying below. Your grandfather was right: do what you love (follow your passion) and chances are good you’ll succeed (be good at it). Those who have dead-end jobs doing mundane tasks they hate are doomed. Good luck finding the your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.