Graduating during a Global Pandemic?!?!

By Ally 

Three years ago, I began studying at the University of California, San Diego.

Now, I am a 21-year-old graduate with a Bachelor’s in Economics and a minor in Business and I am unemployed.

As an undergraduate, I looked forward to my graduation day. A day full of celebration confirming that the countless hours of studying, the late nights, and the many, many cups of coffee had finally paid off. That $90,000 piece of paper signifying my worth. I had a simple 3 step plan. I would, ONE: attend college for 4 years, TWO: get a part time job on campus and internships during the summers in order to, THREE: land my dream job right after graduation. (Easy right?) However, as you can probably tell by the first 2 sentences, it didn’t quite go like this.

 Fact Number 1: Backup plans are always good to have.

Going into my third year at UCSD, I already had one internship under my belt with a company that I was not crazy about and the plan that I could graduate in the winter of my fourth year (two quarters early). The summer between my third and fourth year was supposed dedicated to my final internship that would hopefully land me a full time offer after my graduation. 

Unable to find a responsive company, I was left without productive summer plans. (In hindsight, I could have put in more effort to finding a summer internship, however we can’t change the past.) This led to the implementation of The Back-up Plan.

As it was, at the end of my third year of college, I would have two classes to finish up to complete my bachelor’s degree and minor. Instead of taking another quarter of classes, I had decided to finish these two classes during the summer. After that I would be done with school and ready to move onto the next phase of life.

 

Fact Number 2: You cannot plan for a global pandemic.

COVID – 19, the virus that dragged (and is still dragging) the world through the dirt. The virus that single handedly created a new way of socializing, a new way of conducting business, and a new way of life. No one could have predicted this.

And amidst all this, there is me, a 21-year-old Asian American girl trying to find an entry level job with little experience. As of today, I have applied to 94 job positions, been automatically rejected from 37 roles, interviewed with 3 companies, and have only 1 lead that has been pending for over a month.

Staying motivated is definitely difficult, especially with the lack of feedback from automated rejection emails. Although the job hunt process has always been a stressful time, the added pressures of the pandemic makes this experience a unique one. 

Fact Number 3: You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. (This is more of advice rather than a fact, but consistency is key)

This was told to me by one of my mentors in the previously talked about internship. At that time, and still today, it really resonated with me. I have always been an anxious person, prone to overthinking. But remembering this helped me through that internship and is also helping me through the tedious process of finding a job. 

There are definitely days where I don't feel like I'm making any progress, days where I don't want to do anything, and days where I just want to quit. But these uncomfortable times of change are inevitable. And the only way to get past them is to start being comfortable with being uncomfortable. 

Finding a job (especially for a recent college graduate) during a pandemic is definitely not ideal. But honestly what's a bigger flex than, "Yeah, I survived a global pandemic and managed to start my career during it"?