What I Learned From Being a Broke, Unemployed Graduate

Source: Entrepreneur

You’ve graduated and seven months later you are still jobless. It can be a challenging period considering you worked hard to earn your academic papers.

This graduate narrates how during this difficult stage of unemployment and underemployment he developed the habits and skills that would help him land an opportunity that would turn into his dream job.

I had wrongly assumed that having a four-year degree would get me through the door at any company. But I had graduated from a system in which people attend college for four years and then think that they can expect to land a job.

I began by reading everything I could on business, marketing and technology.

Because of my current financial situation (dead broke), I couldn’t afford to buy books. So I went to a library every day, picked up a book and read until I either finished it or until my eyes got tired.

I’m explaining this because when someone wants something, virtually nothing can stand in his or her way.

It was during these binge-reading sessions that I came across One Simple Idea by Stephen Key. I remember taking out my cellphone and spending the next hour or so constructing a concise email to send him. The next day I got a very friendly response and an offer “to call him sometime” to talk about my background and my career (which had not yet begun).

That was three years ago. To this day Stephen continues to be a great mentor and friend.

One of the things I had learned from Stephen is to not fear asking for advice, especially from people doing what you want to do. I reached out to a friend and asked how he got plugged into Google and inquired how I could do something similar. The organization was actually looking for junior salespeople and the friend put in a good word for me.

Over the course of the next few months, I was interviewed by several people but eventually I was offered a position on a one-month trial basis. I was ecstatic. I’d been given an opportunity and if I worked hard and exceeded the goals they had set for me, I could join the firm full time.

A week after starting, the general manager had decided to change the structure of the sales team and my position had been eliminated. I was out of a job.

A week later I saw that a company was looking for a public-relations intern to help with pitching stories, developing social-media campaigns and assisting with other marketing duties.

I had experience in this type of work and knew I could provide value to the company and be an asset.
10 minutes later after going to their office I came back with a business card in hand. Little did I know that the introduction would turn out to be the opportunity that changed my life forever.

I kept learning and reading, even after graduation. But perhaps the most important lesson of my journey is that things are temporary.

The current situation, no matter how bleak or bland, is not going to last forever. People often have much of what they need to succeed within them: ambition and the will to learn.

This will to learn can prompt them to reach out to mentors and networks. They just have to trust the process.

After all, it’s often the most difficult or trying times that set the stage for the best opportunities

Dont Miss any Job Or Article Subscribe to Career Point Kenya by Email FOR FREE CLICK HERE