Graduated and Waiting to Start Your Job? Here’s What You can do While You Wait

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The school year is over, graduation has come and gone, now you have some months before your full-time job, and you’re wondering what to do. You spent your senior year applying to jobs and attending interviews, and now you don’t know what to do in your spare time before your job starts. If you have over a month before your full-time job starts, then you need to decide how you will spend that break after graduation. There are a lot of things you can do so I’ve written about some of the options.

1. Get into the clouds

Whatever that means to you! Try to get in the clouds during your break, whether it’s getting on a flight, going on a hot air balloon ride or skydiving. You can always go on a graduation trip with your friends, but that will be the most expensive option. You’ll have to think about accommodation, feeding and entertainment. I’m all for grad trips but if you can’t afford one, save up and go skydiving or get in a hot air balloon instead. I’ve never actually been on a hot air balloon ride, but I hope to one day. As for skydiving, it’s a LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE! Honestly, everyone needs to do it at least once in their lifetime. Even if the idea scares you, convince a friend to do it and find out how they feel after. That will surely get you pumped.
Here’s a buzzfeed article I found that will encourage you to make your first dive.

2. Take standardized test

If you plan on going to a graduate school in the future, this will be a great time to take the test(s) involved. GRE(for grad school), GMAT(for business school) & LSAT (for law school) scores last for five years while the MCAT (for med school) score lasts for three years. If your plan is to work for a couple of years and head back to school, then it’s best to take the exams now. You have so much free time that it’s better to take it now, and retake it if your scores aren’t good enough. Some tests even have a discount price if you take it before the season you plan to apply. For example, the GMAT offers a discount price of $150 if you’re not applying to schools immediately.

3. If you can’t get enough of learning, taking an online course

It’s 2018 and there are countless free resources out there to learn whatever it is that your heart desires. Most people want to take a break after 4+ years of learning, but if you want to spend your spare time learning some more, then go ahead! No matter your reason for wanting to learn, there’s probably a website out there to help. Here are some online resources to learn all sorts of things;

• Udemy – My personal favorite. Most times they seem to have every course on a sale price of $10.99. The possibilities of things you can learn on here are endless! (And they have an app so you can learn on the go)
• Edx – Lots of courses for FREE.99
• Lynda.com – It’s not free but you can learn creative, technology and business skills.
• Coursera – They have a whole range of courses; Business, History, Photography, Computer Science etc.
• Udacity – They offer a Nanodegree recognized by industry leaders.
• Duolingo – Wanna learn a new language? This is for you.

Honestly, there are so many free and cheap resources out there if you want to learn something new or perfect a craft. They range from $0 to thousands of dollars, so keep checking until you find something that works with your budget. Also, more expensive is not always equal to a better learning experience, so don’t play yourself.

4. Start your own business

I want to start by saying that not everyone is about that entrepreneurship lifestyle and that’s okay. However, if you are interested in starting a business then this is a really good time to start; you’re young enough to make mistakes that aren’t as costly and you have your time completely free before you start work. First of all, before your start your business, think about how you will be able to work on it on the side while working a full-time job. Also, you ALWAYS want to think long-term, so make sure that the business model is sustainable. Finally, find a mentor that is knowledgeable in that field and use them as a resource and guide.

5. Keep Applying to Jobs

If you’ve graduated and still don’t have a job, all hope is not lost. The last thing you need to do is give up. You might want to tweak your resume and cover letters if they aren’t giving good results. If your gpa is low, you might want to take and pass some online classes or summer classes at a community college and add those to your resume to look more competent. You can also change your approach. If you’ve only been applying on companies websites, you need to start utilizing your network and find someone who can refer you to a job. Keep working hard to get a job, trust the process and an offer will come your way.

Check out my resources page to see my favorite job search sites.

6. Relax

The break between graduation and your full-time role can be spent simply relaxing. All your years in college have been stressful enough and there’s nothing wrong with just taking a breather and doing nothing during your free time. You can finally watch all the Netflix you want without stressing over the homework you have due. You can finally stay up as late as you want without worrying about how tired you will be the next day during classes. Don’t let anything or anyone stress you during this period. Just Relax.

Graduation is such an exciting event and a lot of people don’t enjoy the moment enough because they are worried about the future. No matter what the future holds, you have earned a bachelor’s degree and you should take some time to give yourself enough credit for that accomplishment. No matter what you decide to do during your break after graduation, make sure it’s something that makes you happy.