Career Advice for Recent Grads: Fight the Status Quo by Being an Optimist

In 2009, I graduated into one of the worst economics since the Great Depression. The day after my college graduation, my father lost his job, and he hasn't found one since. By the end of May, I lost my student-status health insurance and enrolled in an $800 per month COBRA plan. That expense, combined with my hefty loan payments, left me in a position where I just didn't know how to pay the bills. To top it off, I disliked my employment situation to the extent that I had no choice but to leave.

The day that I quit my first job, I was slapped on the face with an ER bill that my health plan refused to cover. I felt like a failure, and I thought that my life was over. Above all, I missed the support of my college friends friends and worried for my family's well-being.  Even though I was submitting resumes and writing cover letters at warp-speed, I thought that I had positioned myself about ten steps backwards from where I should have been. For me, like so many other 22-year-olds, college graduation was the worst point in my life. In a flash, through no fault of my own, I had transformed from a high-achieving student to someone who was in desperate need of help and direction. Where did I go wrong?

I couldn't reconcile the fact that in an economy where my peers are struggling to find work,I had turned down four job offers for an employment situation that I ultimately needed to leave. While in college, I was on top of the world with great grades, a fantastic research assistant position, mentions in six publications, a feature in "The Wall Street Journal," and a profile in a business textbook. Less than one year later, I felt ruined with nobody to blame but myself.

Throughout high school and college, I received the same optimistic career advice: "follow your dreams, Ritika. You're so smart, and you can do anything that you put your mind to." So I followed my dreams and did what I loved. I majored in English, and I spend four years working at a public policy research institute. One summer, I even co-founded a health center in India.  The next year, I joined my classmates on a school-sponsored research trip to Israel. To say that I did what I loved would be an understatement -- I pursued every opportunity learn and become a better person, and I soared. Like college students across the country, I experienced setbacks, learned from them, and kept going with a fierce and unstoppable momentum. Rejection letters? To me, those were a piece of cake because I knew that I would seize another opportunity. Then I graduated, everything changed, and rejections hit me a little harder.

To my surprise, I found a job about two weeks after I quit my first, but it wasn't a be-all-end-all to my economic worries. Even for those of us who are lucky enough to have jobs, the pessimism that governs today's economy hits hard. I read a lot, and it seems like everyone everywhere is taking about how doomed my generation is in the long term. Forget about health care, job security, and social security. Forget about paying off our student loan debts before our kids are old enough to go to college. Forget about going to that top-ranked professional school of your dreams, and forget about making something of yourself. As someone with an entrepreneurial spirit and enduring sense of optimism, these were messages that absolutely crushed me -- even though I overcame a setback, found a job, and was on track in a positive direction. I just felt sad.

So what changed?

I accepted today's climate for what it is, and I strove to make the most of myself within it. Slowly, over the course of this year, I've regained my confidence by finding something amazing about the every-day. At first, I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy my job, but I've made it into something that I enjoy and now love. When I put in my entry-level time, I pursue additional opportunities to keep learning more. I talked to every VP, and I never held back from asking my boss questions.

I read and read and read about my industry, and I found ways to be interested and to love what I'm doing. Even when I couldn't pay the bills, I found additional opportunities to make it  happen -- through writing and doing what I love. One day, I woke up, and I was happy. I'm a Content Specialist at an amazing company where I want to stay long-term. Even though I've scaled back my graduate school aspirations, I found a way to attend an amazing program, and I'm going to be going-debt free. I made the most with what I have, and I no longer feel held back by what economists expect of my generation and people my age. I'll take on any hardship, survive, and come out happier.

As cliche as this may sound, hitting a personal rock bottom has made me a better person and employee. I'm happier, and I feel that I can really empathize with what my unemployed dad experiences on a daily basis. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would become a Content Specalist at an Internet Company, but here I am almost one year later, loving every moment of what I'm doing with a hunger to learn more and more. By all means, the job isn't always glamorous, but to me, it's everything that I've ever wanted and more.

What's my message to college grads who are struggling with a major life change in a tough economy?

Don't lose hope. It's not worth it to be hard on yourself -- it really is the economy's fault. Assign a value beyond the monetary to your education. Find something about the every day that you love. If you can, become an entrepreneur, and don't forget that we're in this together. Let's learn from each other when confronting and overcoming the negativity that controls us, and let's help each other find a way out.

Photo Credit: Brian Hillegas