After school - not so special.

Greetings. In the middle of another hot & sticky summer, some folks are already thinking about the Fall...

Dear Ask A Punk-
I'm going insane. The summer is almost over and for the first time in my life, I don't have to go back-to-school in September. I graduated last spring from a state college with a standard 4 year degree and then, like every summer before, moved back to my parent's house and got my old summer job back and was just relieved to be DONE with school, figuring I would save some money and then figure out what to do to start my real life in September… but everything got more expensive this summer and I spent so much money on gas going to and from work and out with my boyfriend or friends (we live in the middle of nowhere, so there's a lot of driving) that I've barely saved anything, not enough to move anywhere or make any major changes. Also I haven't yet done any of the stuff you're supposed to do like write my resume or any of that and I don't know what I'm going to do if September rolls around and I'm still working that same job and sleeping in the room I spent my childhood in. It feels like I'm slipping into a vortex. How do I get out of it? - Summer Girl


Dear Summer Girl -
Forty years ago the answer to your question would have been "Plastics" (look it up if you're not a film-nerd.) ...my point being that your problem is far from unique to you, or your generation. Do anything for 16+ years (like going to school or working at a cracker factory) and when you suddenly don't have to do it anymore the existential 'Now What??!" question comes roaring up on you.

A part of me wanted to call you out for pretending you didn't see this coming, but then I remembered how well I DIDN'T handle my own post-schooling transition. It took me five and a half years (and three colleges) to get my "4 year degree." and then, after my anti-climactic January graduation ceremony, I spent the cold winter months broke, broken and laying around my old house waiting for a sign... The sign came when spring/summer finally rolled around and I too went back to my old 'summer job' in an ice cream factory ... which probably sounds like fun to some folks but trust me - people's arms get torn off in ice cream factories too, even if the air does smell like butterscotch... It was especially hellish to think that, after all that time and $$ spent on school I had "ended up" right back where I had started anyway. Which is exactly what you're thinking right about now too... but of course that very mindset is severely skewed because someone who is only 21-23 years old hasn't "ended up" anywhere. By any definition you want to think of, at that age a person is definitely "just starting out."

It is an enviable stage to be in, but it is also a pain in the ass. Now you have to figure out what should happen next ....and that resume you haven't written yet isn't going to be of much use... Unless you're some super-achiever (and I'm guessing you're not) creating that resume will mostly be an exercise in cleverly inflating the descriptions of your summer jobs while trying desperately to conceal/distribute all that blank white space.

All that said, you ARE a college graduate with some sort of degree (it might have helped my answer if you had mentioned what you studied in school.) When you declared your major, surely you had some inkling of what you might want to do post-college, didn't you? I know you're back in your hometown now, but what about your college friends? What were their job/career plans and how are they making them happen? Are you still in touch with any of them? If so, send out a rain of emails asking for some suggestions.

Next step: Every college has some sort of "career center." This is a good place to start. Where do other people with your degree find jobs? They'll know. Then, once you figure out your "Where" and "What" your school also has an "Alumni Directory" that will help you with the "Who" ...while many of those precious alumni contacts will be sympathetic but useless, all you need is for one or two to take pity on a struggling new graduate and point you toward some opportunities or make an introduction or two... I'm going to assume you know how to make such cold calls in a polite/professional manner... if not, go back to the folks at the career center for some pointers. Also keep in mind that you're looking for some entry level jobs... I know, I know... you're a genius and you could easily do some sort of big-shot job, but look back to some of the recent posts I've put up here...... The people in those jobs fought like bobcats to get where they are, so they're not going to hand such jobs over to you...

Once you've figured out what you want to do, where you want to do it, and who to beg for a job... that just leaves the "How" ...and that is always the really tricky one, especially in the current economic climate.

First of all you have to realize that, if you want to make major life changes in the (near) future, you can't run your current life in a "business as usual" way. That summer job of yours was fine when all you had to do was keep busy for the summer and sock away some money for the next year's textbooks, but that's not going to cut it now. It sounds like you want to move out of your small middle-of-nowhere town and that will take some real money ...and scratching together some real money takes some real commitment... and sacrifice. I'll go back to my own example: Once I figured out that I needed to move to a big city, I got a second FULL-TIME job... Then I just put my head down and WORKED... 8am to 4pm at the ice cream factory and 6pm to 1am managing a pizza place... I worked EVERY day for about 5-6 months... No time off, no seeing friends, no band, no buying things... not much sleep either... I also did everything I could to save $$ daily: bringing my lunch (and dinner) to my jobs, selling off anything I didn't need. Was it exhausting? Yes. Did it alienate me from my friends? Yes... But I managed to actually save up some serious coin... Enough to move to Boston and basically start over.

What else is causing the gravitational pull of this vortex you mentioned? ...aside from the delicious sense of "plenty of time" that every 22 year old feels? (that same sense that magically devours your 20s in the blink of an eye.) You casually mentioned your boyfriend. Is this a long-term thing? Did your high school sweetheart actually survive 4 years of you being away at college? ...or is this just a summer boy? Would this person be going with you out into the bigger world? If yes, then what are his career plans/goals/aspirations?

... and yes, I realize that for the majority of young Americans, it is impossible to really know & articulate a career plan of any sort... All you know for sure is that ....you ...just...want....something..... MORE. That's a good feeling to have. That's the feeling that pushes people down the freeway and into their new lives and zip codes. Trust me, I would be a huuuuge hypocrite if I said that either of you has to have everything mapped out... because I STILL don't, but at least try to have a general compass point to steer toward.

There's your answer. That's what it'll take to escape from that vortex of yours. Of course, it might put you into a whole new vortex, but at least the scenery will be different.

Good Luck.