By the time senior year comes to its graduation ceremony, there’s always an anticipation and belief that everything leading up to this moment is supposed to be linear. You graduate, you land your dream job, and you go right into the career path you’ve been working hard toward. But for many graduating seniors, that path doesn’t always come that directly—and for most students, it doesn’t present itself right away at all.
For many seniors, that actuality maybe beginning to set in. Between classes, internships, part-time jobs, working on your resume or LinkedIn page, and everything else all students have had to balance over the past four years, it would feel like we should be more set up for success than we are.
But the truth of the matter is, a degree doesn’t guarantee a job—especially in era of A.I. and declining job markets, most definitely doesn’t promise you your dream job.
Graduating from college can have an expectation that once you walk across that stage and take your diploma, the next day you begin your career in what you got your degree in. But it hardly ever begins or happens like that.
The job market has become super competitive, entry-level positions ask for several years of experience that most students are still trying to put together, and it’s easy to feel like you’re already behind before you’ve even started.
Additionally, there’s also the social pressure you will encounter from your peers. Classmates and friends start talking about potential job interviews, LinkedIn basically becomes a focal point in whatever an image of progress looks like, and quickly it seems like everyone else has it figured out. It produces this false sense that if you don’t have a plan by graduation, you’re doing something wrong. But that’s not true.
The truth is that your first job, whatever it is, isn’t intended to be perfect or the one you always wanted. It’s not supposed to define your entire career. It’s a launching point.
What matters more than acquiring the “right” job is gaining experience, no matter what it is. Learning how to work in a professional environment, acquiring new skills, communicating with co-workers, understanding workplace expectations and quite frankly, living in the real world.
That’s where the concept of “getting your foot in the door” is truly important.
For a lot of students—particularly in communication—there’s not just one route of finding success. Your writing can lead to potential positions in journalism, public relations, marketing, social media, or other areas in content creation.
The same abilities you’ve built in classes and student organizations can translate into multiple professions. The first job you take doesn’t leave you stranded in one direction—it gives you a place to start building your professional identity.
Sometimes that involves taking a job that isn’t precisely what you pictured after college. Maybe it’s not the company you thought it would be, or the position isn’t your long-term goal.
But it gives you something a lot more beneficial: immediate experience. Experience that you can build and develop on, learn from, and ultimately transition into your dream job.
Waiting for the “perfect” opportunity can leave you stuck and possibly unemployed. Taking a chance on a job you’re unsure of or is out of your comfort zone—even if it’s not perfect—puts you in a position to grow as a professional. You meet people, make connections, develop skills, and gain a transparent understanding of where you want to go next. That does not mean you are settling. It means being intentional in progression.
What I think really separates people after graduation, or in any aspect of life, isn’t who had their lives figured out right away—it’s who was always willing to adapt. The ability to adjust, learn on the fly, and take advantage of all opportunities given to you is what makes a true professional overtime.
The route is not linear, and it’s not ever going to be.
To all the graduating seniors, not having everything figured out by graduation doesn’t mean you’re behind. It means you’re at the starting point.
What matters is what you do next—how you take what you’ve learned and apply it in the real world, even if that first step isn’t exactly what you imagined.
Take the opportunity that gets your foot in the door. Find a passion. Learn from it. Build on it. Let it lead you someplace else.
The experience you gain, the people you meet, and the skills you develop will matter far more than whether your first job was the right one.
So, as you leave Monmouth, don’t focus on finding the perfect job right away. Focus on starting somewhere and being willing to grow from there.
Because in the end, it’s not about where you begin but what you make of it that will lead to future success.
