Congratulations to the class of 2008! And some thoughts...

When I think back to the first few months after I graduated, there are a few things I wish someone had said to me. So to compensate for the lack of advice I received after graduation, here are a few thoughts I'd like to pass along...

1. Don't hesitate to ask for help with your job search. Tap into your network, use Career Services, don't be afraid to ask a friend about openings in their company. At times your job search will feel like a lonely road, but it's other people that frequently open doors for you or lead you to opportunities.

2. The flip side of advice #1 is to remember that you are the captain of your job search. You are your own advocate. You should be leading the journey. Don't sit back and wait for your Dad/Mom/Sister/Aunt to contact their friend in the company you're dying to work for. YOU contact them. Don't hope that something will fall in your lap, go out and seize it.

3. Remember that your job search might take a while. It can take anywhere from 6 months to a year or more to find your first career related job. It takes hours of perusing job sites, weeks of sending out your resume, and months of interviewing to finally get a job offer. The process is time consuming. The only thing you can do is make sure you are spending as much time as possible on your job search. The more you put your job search on the back burner, the longer it's going to take.

4. Keep your options open. Maybe you have a dream of working as an investigator. Or maybe you've always wanted to be an investment banker. The reality is that you are most likely not going to get that type of job right out of college. You need to think of what jobs you might apply to that will start you on your path to becoming an investigator, or an investment banker, etc. Look at your first job out of college as a step in a direction; as new door to be opened. Hopefully that door, or first step, will lead you towards your dream job, but it very well may introduce you to a field or career you've never thought of.

5. Don't be too hard on yourself, but do your best. There will be interviews you bomb. There will be mistakes found on your cover letter after you've already sent it out. Try to roll with the punches. It's all a part of the process. Learn from each mistake and move on. We've all been there and have lived to tell the stories.

~Elizabeth

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." ~Thomas A. Edison