The college career path

Getting a job after graduation is the goal, but figuring out when and where to start is the challenge

Tori Thomas / Asst. Opinion Editor / The USD Vista

The prospect of college graduation can be scary for some seniors, as they are forced, sometimes for the first time in their lives, to ask themselves that vital question: “Well, what comes next?”

There are many options for students to pursue after college: graduate school, getting started on your career, or taking some time off to figure out the next step to take.

It can be hard to know when, or where, to start looking for the path to follow after college. While some might feel indecisive, others might commit to a career early on and pursue the job of their childhood dreams.

Senior Kaylynn Wilkes, who is currently a trauma intern at Scripps Hospital, is one of those students who had it figured out. She has known that she wanted to be a doctor since she was in middle school. Part of the reason she was able to make this decision so early on was due to the environment she was in.

“My dad started telling me I needed to think about jobs when I was 10,” Wilkes said. “Some teachers told me I needed to start thinking about it when I was 13.”

Not everyone has this particular experience with deciding on their career. For some, that decision does not come until much later in life. Emma Nowakoski, University of San Diego class of ‘18 graduate, currently works overseeing an intern team at a marketing company.

“I started looking the fall of my senior year!” Nowakoski said. “I already had an internship, but I wanted to keep options open.”

There can be certain anxieties that come with deciding on a particular path to follow after college graduation, when the so-called real world comes closer and closer.

“I did feel pressure in the business school,” Nowakoski said. “A lot of my friends and colleagues were in finance and accounting where hiring began in October and November for the future year.”

Figuring out the right time to start looking for employment options can be unclear to students. Thankfully, there are resources at USD that can be helpful for those unsure of how to begin the process.

Emily Baxt is a counselor at the Career Development Center (CDev) at USD, a place where students of all ages can go meet with an advisor to ask any questions they have and get advice about figuring out a career path that is right for them.

“We will talk with students about choosing a major, exploring career options, looking at internships, jobs, and other opportunities like research and volunteer work, and learning effective job search strategies,” Baxt said.

But the CDev isn’t the only service that aids students when it comes to their questions and worries regarding their future. There are other resources on campus that can be beneficial to them, depending on what kind and the particular level of support the student is looking for when reaching out.

“Faculty members have great perspective and ideas for life after college,” Baxt said. “Other great resources are Cassandra Gomez, USD’s pre-health advisor, Del Dickson, USD’s pre-law advisor, and the Office for Undergraduate Research. University Ministry’s staff can discuss discerning a calling and host retreats centered around this idea. Additionally, the Office for Alumni Relations loves to work with students and connect them to alumni.”

Both Wilkes and Nowakoski took advantage of the options offered to them on campus through the CDev. Wilkes spoke with the pre-health advisor as well as her professors when deciding what her next steps in career would be.

“I liked talking to my professors about it,” Wilkes said. “The experience they have helped me a lot.”

What to do and how to get there are not the only considerations of college students when thinking about their impending careers. There are individual fears and worries that make the thought even more anxiety-inducing than it would be to begin with.

As a career counselor, Emily Baxt has seen a lot of different concerns from students coming through her office.

“Some of the most common are that they won’t ‘measure up,’” Baxt said. “Their salary will be lower than their peers, the company won’t be as prestigious, or they won’t find a job at all, and I also hear ‘How am I supposed to figure out what I want to do?’”

Wilkes is currently experiencing some of those worries as her graduation date approach.

“I’m scared it’s not the right fit and I am just going with what everyone has told me to do,” Wilkes said. “But I can always change my mind later. It’s better to have more options than not enough.”

Nowakoski shared some valuable advice to anyone who is struggling with making decisions about the future like she had been struggling.

“The most important thing I learned was to be myself,” Nowakoski said. “Work hard in what I did have and continue to put school first despite the pressure to find a job, because when a company sees that dedication they know that it will carry into the workplace.”

Any crucial transitional period in a person’s life can feel overwhelming. Often, it feels as if there are no options available and you have to figure it out by yourself. With USD’s variety of resources, finding a career does not have to be one’s first full time job.