After the completion  of their undergraduate programme, most new graduates heave sighs of relief that their days of ‘stress’ are over; that they are finally free to live and enjoy their time as they please.

Typically, most graduates regard studying as bondage and consider graduation as the beginning of freedom. As a result, the phase of life after the end of projects defense is dedicated to elaborate celebration of various forms and rites that are performed to ‘cleans’ self from what most graduates consider ‘university stress’.

The association of life in college (university)  with stress and the considering of graduation as marking the end of the so called stress, has  dangerous implications for individuals who think along that line. 

What Most Graduates Think

By holding that notion, these individuals make the mistake of entertaining the belief that

• 1) After graduation, studying becomes a leisure and no more a necessity;
• 2) Graduation marks the end of need for  intense /pressured preparation
• 3) Examinations ends after graduation
• 4) Making plans is an academic exercise
• 5) Asking hard questions and seeking out helps on ‘how tos’, is a lecture room stuff
• 6) Planning elaborate vacations and leisure visits are important ventures that can’t be made to wait.
• 7) Noting important guides or jotting helpful advice down are non classy act that should  be avoided.
• 8) After vacations and the rest of the leisure, there are available jobs that can be secured and commenced immediately, through the aid of friends, relations etc. Therefore, there’s no need for much self strain in this regard.
• 9) Outward look, online image count for nothing (or does not matter). As long as one knows what one wants, everything will fall into shape.
• 10) Professional success will suddenly be achieved.

Why the list goes on and can’t all be summarized here, they exactly are thinking patterns  that are least tolerated by the world’s increasing competitive professional arena, (especially for the majority of persons of which the circumstances of their  individual cases may not help to mitigate the ugly effects that may be occasioned by reckless professional unpreparedness). 

The Expectations

The reason for this is not far fetched. Competition has a way of bringing up many criteria and using same to influence who gets what. As such, the professional world is more favourable to:

• 1) Individuals who, through their good records and actions, show that they have been prepared and are ready to create value or make valuable contributions or deliver value;
• 2) Persons who, at the beginning of their career, can afford to commit more to learning and self improvement; working longer hours to grow capabilities and gain professional momentum;
• 3) Individuals that deliberately commit to career planning and to seeking out advice from experienced professionals in their field of interest, etc, on relevant ‘how tos’ for career beginners;
• 4) Persons whose physical and online image does not compromise their professional interest. But whose daily enthusiasm and actions/ deeds promote their career;
• 5) Graduates who deliberately take up tasks that convey to professional observers that they ( the graduates)  are useful or have something important to offer. 

The Long In-between

In essence,  a new graduate may not border to learn  how to draft a professionally sound resume and the rest that go with it. But if a shabby CV and cover letter is submitted to an employer, it is highly likely that the job seeker will be regretted and screened out without further assessment. So, why some new grads may think examinations end with graduation, the reality in the professional arena is that assessments are routines.  In this case, individuals may not be given areas of concentration or time table to guide them in their preparation.

In another light, why it’s true that from time immemorial, people have always seek public attention as part of a plan to achieve useful career target. There seems to be a rising trend among young persons to be increasingly busy in seeking popularity for no other reason than the painful sake of just being known. That’s all.

This is totally unnecessary. No one should be proud that he or she is known but that popularity does not in any way put a dime in his or her account.

Hiring managers may be busy enough that they are not able  to tell new grads personally, to pay more attention to using their public presence (physical and online)  to showcase those talents/ skills that they posses that can lead to their being hired and paid. But the story of the proposed redesign of the logo of Innoson Motors Manufacturing (IVM) and many more others should be strong evidence that the job world clearly upholds  the practice of ‘by their fruits, we shall know’ those that are worth working with. Failing to promote professional well-being through public presence then, is a painful self disservice.

A graduate who has had difficulty getting a job and who claims to have been disappointed by friends and relatives in getting him or her a job needs to really review his or her general job hunt method. At a time in my professional journey, I realised that while it hurts to feel trusted allies are just unable to lend needed career assistance. In some cases, they are not to blame. They are overwhelmed by the nature of the demands placed on them. Think about it. What do you expect when you tell someone to get you a job, given that there are no immediate openings known to the person. As a result, there will be need for wide hunt for available openings. But the person is busy with his or her own job, other career demands and maybe family.  But you in contrast have a less busy engagements and would have more efficiently undertaking those rigorous task of getting job if properly guided. Should not the fair approach in this case be to seek out for advice and strategies to fast track getting the job. And let any hunting of job for you on their part be an additional help? In other words, how about making up a plan yourself and then consulting appropriate individuals to assist you with ideas and recommendations for executing the various aspects of your plan instead of wholly burdening a sufficiently busy person(s) with the onerous task of working out a solution to your needs from scratch to finish?

In short, nobody may tell college students or new grads they need to learn how to job hunt.  Certainly, some grads may not know how to unlock all their nature imbued channels, through which the world of career will see their value and seek their services.However, not learning how to and taking the initiative to apply steps that will bring opportunities, is a sad undoing for a  student or graduate.