At the moment, I'm in the position of many a recent graduate -- still on the job search, still networking, still trying to develop my personal skills to be a more attractive candidate. Still trying to justify the expense of my degree to myself, my parents, and anyone else who has supported me financially or otherwise along the way.
And yet... nothing.
I graduated in May 2018 with two B.A.'s, in Business (Marketing) and French from Calvin College, a liberal arts school in Grand Rapids, MI.
Here I was taught not just practical knowledge, but how to think. How to think deeply and act justly, even. This education wasn't focused on job training, but personal development something that (at least I think) is far more valuable.
We'll see if I still feel that way in a couple of years.
When worried about my job search, I occasionally try to take comfort in the fact that I have over 730 connections on LinkedIn, and confidently can say that I know all of them. I have people that I could drop a line to in many American cities. I even started talking to hiring managers in Québec and came to the embarrassing realization that my Québécois is quite poor and the language is *entirely* different from French.
Obviously, trying to take comfort in the number of LinkedIn connections I have is just plain stupid, it's something I do when I can't find security in some other aspect of my job search and allows me a "well, at least I've done this much." But thinking of "measuring" someone's value to me based on their potential to help me find a job feels like missing the point.
Now, this current lack of a job isn't to say I haven't had a productive and excellent summer-- I worked for Chaco, one of my dream companies for 4 months. I went on to work for Camp Wa-Klo for Girls, a wonderful summer camp building strong women in the mountains of New Hampshire. I started learning how to copy write, all on the job, and realized how large challenges exist just about anywhere-- at home, at school, or at a professional corporation. Just because it's professional doesn't mean it's polished.
I look forward to developing B. DeMaso Media in a great way to serve people's content creation needs. I look forward to continuing to develop my skills to do that. And I look forward to continuing my job search, all the while learning more about myself and what does and doesn't work.