Not everyone goes to college, not everyone gets a job, and not everyone goes to college and then finds a job within a few months after graduation. And it’s sure as hell that the majority of people who are able to go to college and get their degree and get a job within the first few months after graduation actually get a job in what they actually want to do. Ok, lots going on her, we’ll hit the pause button and break this all down.
Going to college
Best 5 years of my life. Yes it took me 5 years, but that’s pretty much the norm nowadays I’d have to say. There were actually more people than you’d think who took 5+ years to graduate. Then there’s always the people who are in year 7 or more solely because, well, they love college. College was great, I learned a lot about how to actually be a professional and what I “need” to know to enter my field. Accounting, Geology and Foreign Language classes were pivotal for my marketing degree…. Granted they were interesting, but to require advanced classes in them for a marketing degree is a bit of a stretch. Nonetheless, I learned how to be creative, push the envelope on ideas, how to be professional, lots of other information. BUT, there was also a lot that was left out of my education I would have to say. I had 4 internships throughout my collegiate career, that gave me a 1% boost compared to my other colleagues. There was so much that I learned in actual real world experience that college never came close to preparing me for. I was able to apply what I learned in class to my internships, but you couldn’t have one without the other.
In my everyday job, there’s a lot that I would like to do, but I also am scared to do it. There’s a huge difference between pushing the envelope on a class project where you have a fake budget and you need to market your product to the entire country, and having real money that your company spends on marketing and sales and potentially screwing something up. In class, if something goes wrong the professor is always willing to help to show what could have been done or what to do next time. In the real world, you’re lucky to get help otherwise there most likely won’t be a next time.
I’m definitely lucky to be at a company that is very open and always willing to help and provide training. There’s opportunities to stretch out and learn new things. A company would be stupid to not allow its employees to learn more without paying them more wouldn’t they? YES!
All in all, there’s a lot more that I would have liked to learn in college, there’s a lot more that I would have liked to learn and do in my internships, but now that everything is at my fingertips, it’s my chance to learn as much as possible to advance my career. College is a place where your hand is held in order to start a career. Granted it’s your job to put forth the effort to graduate, but you are being helped all along the way. Once you reach the pinnacle of graduation, it’s your own duty to implement everything that you’ve learned in your time.
I’d still go back to college in a heartbeat…but there’s definitely times where I feel that no-one prepared me for this!
Winans Writing Consulting 