After Graduation

I was happy that the stress of school was over after graduation.

I did not march. I opted for celebrating with family and friends.

I graduated in my 4th year from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2011.

I will receive a Bachelors of Science in Geography and a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science.

I was happy with being finished with college at first.

I've been in college for 7 years. I transferred from a college in my hometown to UNCC.

I arrived in the Queen City in August 2007.

I changed my major at UNCC in 2008. It was Pre-Business Administration. I changed it to Political Science and Geography.

Being double majored just added on more work. I had to do a lot of multitasking. I took no summer for granted. I always took summer classes if I could.

I have been looking on the internet and applying to jobs since last year.

I applied to many in CareerBuilder.

I applied to menial jobs, cashier and housekeeping.

I applied to professional jobs also, project manager and city manager.

I landed interviews at places I did not want to work. I landed interviews not knowing what my long-term goals were in life. I didn't have any serious short-term goals either.

I gave employers the impression I wanted a job when they were hiring for careers. In turn, I gave employers who were hiring people for a job the impression that I was looking for a career.

Rushing can make you an accomplished individual or a complete fool. I was consistently confused and unprepared.

I continuously showed that I did not know whether I wanted a career or job. This highlights how much of entry-level I was. It was embarrassing to reflect upon.

I found myself in a serious internal dilemma. It wasn't quite the infamous occupy Wall Street dilemma or frustration.

It was the overwhelmed dilemma. I could not decide what I wanted to.

I couldn't decide whether I wanted a job or career.

I was anxious to work. I was going at what seemed 99 mph searching for work.

I couldn't help my anxious desire to work. I rushed and felt was as if I was tripping over my own feet. I was on the verge of crashing to the ground and hurting myself.

To put simply, I was on the verge of getting any type of job and slowly hating it.

I could see myself hating having to go to work everyday.

College life can deliver severe amounts of stress and worry. These are factors that became traits in my life. They were the things I wanted to escape from.

I felt an incredible anxiety as I rode away from the University for the last time.

I began to rush myself in finding a job. I was feeling that I would never get on my feet.

I began rushing myself to find a job and worrying myself when I wasn't looking.

I didn't want to work anywhere and hate it.

I didn't want that type of stress or discomfort. No one wants to invest time at job or in a career they hate or can't enjoy.

This was my motivation to seek a solution.

My Steps

• Sat down with my laptop, pen, and paper

• Thought about what type of work I would like to do

• The benefits I want from the job or career

• Whether I wanted to work long-term or short-term

• Where I wanted to live

• Whether I'll work for a Profit or Non-profit organization or company

• What I would like to do (manage, design, represent etc...)

• Whether I wanted a job or whether I wanted a career

• Researched the various jobs or careers I chose with my search engine

• Then applied for the careers or jobs that were relevant to my desires

I simply narrowed down my issues. It saved me time and it helped conquer rushing by creating progress. It seemed that just making progress was the cure for my anxiety.

I stopped pointless interviews. Interview in which employers weren't speaking my language. There would be no more career offers that would waste my time. I would in turn not waste any employer's time either.

Making progress in my searches is the first issue I've had with finding a job. I don't think it's the last issue. I think It is the most important issue. One need take these steps when finding a professional job or career for the first time.

I hope these steps help all the people that are having this type of anxiety.