The reality that I’m graduating hits me at different points –I have moments of “Oh my gosh what is going to happen! Please don’t let me graduate” and then I have equally strong moments of “I’m so done with college, let me out into the real world!” As we know, I’ve made one big decision: I’m not going to grad school right away. But now I’m onto an even bigger decision: What do I want to do?
As I sift through job postings and think endlessly about my “perfect job”, I realize that I have so many questions about what it is I actually want to do. I checked out “The Don’t Sweat Guide for Graduates” from CP&R, and sifted through all of the things I “shouldn’t sweat”. Two tips caught my eye: #2: Give yourself some breathing room, followed by #12: Try volunteering. I would love to do those two things!
This led me to a brief period of time when I thought that the perfect plan would be to move back home and somehow find activities that would qualify as “career-oriented.” But then of course that little voice in my head said, “Hannah, no, you can’t move home – you have to start to be a real person and be independent!” I bet there are tons of seniors who at least contemplate the possibility of going home after graduation. And I definitely don’t think that going home is a bad thing, but I don’t think it should be the automatic answer when the job-search going gets tough.
While I was in one of the panic don’t-make-me-leave-college moments, I called my mom. I walked in circles outside of the library. It was freezing and my hand started to hurt from holding the phone to my ear for so long. (Okay, maybe it’s not freezing, but cold for Claremont). But I had to get her advice on my new-found moving home plan. Thankfully, my mom’s a great listener and advice-giver.
According to my mom, coming home for a brief period of time is an option. However, whatever I end up doing during that time must have a purpose. So, if I decide that I want to focus on volunteering, I have to think about what purpose that will serve me in my career in the long term. For example, I might volunteer at a Bay Area children’s hospital in the child life department and have a part-time job. But, why would I spend my time doing unpaid work? Only if it had a purpose.
Even though Child Life would hypothetically be a good career for me based on my other experiences working with chronically ill children, I have never actually been exposed to the profession. So how am I going to find out if my future career might include Child Life? Volunteering in a child life department! After much research, I have learned that the first step in fulfilling all the requirements to be able to apply to become a Certified Child Life Specialist is volunteering. So that’s where I’ll have to start. And who knows? Maybe that experience will confirm my suspicions that I will love the field, or maybe something about it will steer me in a different direction. Either way, investing time in that volunteer experience has a purpose.
Of course, I still don’t know what I’m doing next year. But, I’m recognizing that even though there are multiple options (including a brief stay at home), the focus of my decision should be answering the question “How will this experience help me in the long-term?”
Did you move home after you graduated or know someone who did? What was the outcome? What were the benefits? Challenges?