What to do if you don’t know what to do after college

“What do you do if you don’t know what to do after college?” This is a question I get a lot so if you’re wondering this, then you’re in the right place and you are certainly not alone! Keep reading to find out the six steps you can take to define a career after you graduate from college.

6 things you can do if you don’t know what to do after college

1.Think about the things you enjoy doing

While it’s important that your career doesn’t become your whole life, it’s also important that you enjoy what you do because you’ll spend at least 40 hours a week doing it. So take some time to think about the tasks you enjoy doing (even if it doesn’t seem relevant to any career!).

2.Think about the things you absolutely don’t want to do

Chances are, you aren’t going to love everything about your job. But it’s important to know the things you don’t want to do so you can avoid jobs where you’ll have do to these things. For example, if you are looking for a job in marketing but know you don’t want to work directly with customers, this will be important to keep at the forefront of your mind when trying to decide on a career path.

The purpose of this is to avoid being in a position where you start a job and then learn firsthand what you don’t like.

3. Take account of what you’re good at

It’s important to know your strengths so that you can find a career where these strengths are celebrated. Think about the things that people have complimented you on or what you are the go-to person for.

4.Talk to people who knew you as a kid

This is a fun one because it’s fun to hear stories about what you were like as a kid. But if you ask these people what you liked doing as a kid, you might find inspiration for your career. For example, maybe you are reminded that you loved to draw as a kid and you realize that you lost touch with it as you got older. This might be a good opportunity to get back into drawing and see what you can do with this interest in your career. There could be a way to combine these interests with what you studied.

5. Meet people who are doing cool things

If you aren’t sure what to do with your career after college, look at what other people are doing. Connect with people who are doing interesting things. These meetings are often called informational interviews. You can ask them about how they ended up where they are, why they chose to go down the path they went down, what they wish they did differently, or even what they like or don’t like about what they do. Having these interactions can spark some inspiration for you.

More info: Check out this blog post on informational interviews to learn more about growing your network.

6.Consider getting a part-time job

If you don’t know what you want to do with your career after college, getting a part-time job in the service industry is a good option for a few reasons:

• Helps pay the bills – I got a part-time job after graduating from college and knowing I could pay for my portion of the bills helped reduce the feeling of desperation to find just any salary job.
• It looks good on your resume – Employers like seeing that you are doing something aside from job-hunting.
• It creates structure and prevents procrastination – Job-hunting can be tedious. So having a part-time job is a good way to get yourself to push past the tedious times because knowing you have somewhere to be at a certain time is a good way to give yourself a deadline.
• You’ll gain transferable skills – Even if a service industry job isn’t related to a career you want, the skills you gain in this type of role can be transferable. For example, learning how to provide quality customer service requires good communication, patience, attentiveness, and professionalism to name a few. These few that I mentioned are all important for building any career.

Next Steps

Download the free career roadmap so you can define a clear path forward for yourself. And remember, don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s journey.