©Sofía Alvarez Jurado
I graduated in the Summer of 2021, but the end of my studies never felt like it had a clear cut-off. Like many, I began feeling panic about entering a (drastically) new stage in my life months before it happened.
I began looking for a job in April and spent a few months looking, and eventually found something. I’d wake up, make my bed, shower, and get to work for about 5 hours a day during the week. I’m not the person who would be able to send 30 applications per week - I still wonder if people who say they do aren’t exaggerating. I was maybe able to send two a day on a good day.
I’d spend some time thinking about what I’d like to do, but what was stressful was understanding the gap between what I wanted out of a job and what an employer would hire me to do. It felt like I’d spend so much time in university thinking that I had gotten the right degree for what I wanted, and then when I was looking for jobs, I realized I’d never be doing what I wanted to do right off the bat.
No one would be paying me to analyze texts and give my opinion on the faults of our economic and political systems. Shocking, I know...
Indeed, I didn't start with my dream job. I got a position as a business developer - a glorified salesman - for a start-up.
I remember seeing the job listing and, within a few minutes knowing this place would hire me. It was not a dream job, not even close. However, it was something that my profile was adapted to; it was a start-up with international ambitions and an environmental cause (quote-on-quote environmental).
I was hired in July, and I was delighted I'd gotten a job; it was a relief knowing that I’d be able to pay my rent and feed myself - in Paris, of all places. But it only took a few weeks to be reminded that this wasn’t the job I wanted.
At the time, I felt slightly disappointed in myself. I knew I wouldn’t like this, yet I didn’t push harder to find something better. But of course, it’s easier to say that when you have a salary and are not unemployed.
It didn’t feel this way during that year, but I learned a lot, mostly about behaving in a corporate context in France. What’s more, I liked my colleagues. It was a reminder that the level to which you enjoy doing things varies greatly depending on whom you are doing it with.
It was precisely because of this that it was hard to leave.
A friend of mine had texted me a job offer a few months into my first job. Initially, I was hesitant to look into it, but I became more excited as I read the job listing. It reminded me of the kinds of jobs I had described years before in my motivation letters for university. I applied and got a negative answer, but the hiring manager said I should email them in a few months.
I thought hard about emailing him again. I didn’t want to seem desperate, so I waited three months before emailing him again. When I did, he answered, “Oh, it’s too bad you didn’t email me before. We opened a position that was just filled two weeks ago.”
I emailed him again two months later. After two interviews and a case study, I got the job. I was ecstatic; I was finally going to start at a job I liked. It was much more technical and related to the environmental topics I had studied. It was also because of this technical aspect that I was surprised I was hired.
The first few months were tough. I did not integrate into the team as I did on my first job; I often felt lost in what I was doing; and had trouble asking for help. I missed my first team a lot, I had made good friends, and now I did not get to see them every day.
However, I don't regret my decision; I learned that you never know what to expect from a job. I’m six months into my second job (after spending a year in my first one), and I’m satisfied but not complacent. I’m happy to be where I am, but I’m much more excited about where I am going.
The takeaways from my experience in this last year and a half:
University is not the end of your learning or development. You will learn a lot in your first jobs and remain flexible in your career. Many people do very different things from their studies, even a few years after college. Both your job and your life outside will take you to other places.
All jobs will have good things and bad things. I disliked what I did in my first job, but I made great friends and learned a lot. What’s more, it took me to a job I liked much more. Don’t be scared to try things that don’t seem optimal. You will meet surprising people and learn about unexpected things. At the same time, don’t romanticize your dream job; there will always be people, tasks, or processes you will not like but will have to work with.
Be insistent and advocate for yourself. I was too scared to email my second job's hiring manager too often. However, I now see he is a very busy person. It is only because I decided to remind him of my desire to work for him multiple times that I got a chance he was not going to call me on his initiative.
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