The 6 jobs you'll have after college
This is you.
And these are the six jobs you'll have after college.
1) The one you had during college
When you were in school, the chaotic hours and irregular shifts of this job meant your work never clashed with your classes. Heck, you even had the occasional evening or weekend completely free. Sure, the randomness of it made a planned social life impossible, but that gave spark and spontaneity to your life! Now, however, all this job offers is an unpredictable pay check and a schedule that makes holding a second job or searching for a new one basically impossible. It also means you start to question all the promises you heard of how much bigger and better your options would be if you go to Uni and study hard. You wonder if the problem is that you didn't study hard enough. Or maybe, the real trouble is you spent too much time studying and not enough dating attractive, rich, well-connected trust-fund babes.
2) The one completely unrelated to anything you want to do
It's not relevant to what you studied. It's not in the field you want to work in. It's not even located particularly conveniently to where you live. But it's full time, allows you to have a normal sleep schedule for the first time in years and pays enough to allow you to both eat AND pay rent every week. You tell yourself it's your foot in the door. You just have no idea where the hell that door leads or why you would even want to go through it.
3) The one you get as a fluke
You didn't expect to get it. Hell, you didn't even really want it. It was a back-up to your back-up plan. Because you were totally going to land a different job before the application for this job was ever even considered. This isn't the direction you thought your life would go. But you realise quickly that it's not bad. In fact, this job ends up being a really critical opportunity for you. It shapes who you think you are now, how you understand who you were and where you think you will go next. Most importantly, it's the job that teaches you that you don't control the universe. But that doesn't mean the universe won't throw you a bone every now and again.
4) The one you think is perfect
You didn't just apply for this job. You UBER applied for it. You scrutinised every word in your cover letter. You sent prep notes to your reference checks. You did a full dry run before the interview. Twice. And when you landed it, you told EVERYONE YOU KNOW just how perfect it is for you, what an amazing opportunity it will be, and how you are finally on the right track. You'll be keen. You'll take on extra work to impress. You will start getting 'extra' work as your normal workflow. You'll begin to feel the strain. You'll begin to crack. You'll begin to wish you'd never applied.
5) The one right after the one you thought was perfect
Maybe it will be a promotion in the same company. Maybe it will be a step up or even a step to the side in a new company. Wherever it is, the job right after the job you thought was perfect is a clean slate for you. You are wiser this time. You know that every rose of opportunity still has thorns. You think about the 'life' side of 'work-life balance' as well as this job. You are happier. People around you notice you are happier, and ask you how you got happier. You begin to think you've finally got a beat on this whole 'job' thing once and for all.
6) The one that reminds you that, after all, it's only a job. And that there will be more
You get this one for lots of different reasons. Perhaps the company was sold or restructured or both. Perhaps your personal life changed which meant your job needed too as well. Maybe you just got bored of the repetition of the last job. Whatever the catalyst for change was, this is the job where you finally learn to separate your identity from what you do. This is the job where you learn that this is, after all, a job. There were plenty before it and there will likely be many after it. Maybe you will be one of those few that find a way out of a job and into something more. Maybe, just maybe, you will find a way to love what you do and do what you love, and your 'job' will stop feeling like 'just a job'.
Inspired by CollegeHumor's 'The Six'