Before graduating from Florida State, I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I polished up my resume, cleaned up my social media act and went on several interviews to land a job. Despite what everyone was preaching about how there were no jobs out there, I landed one fairly quickly and had a start date about a month after I graduated.
During my time there, I grinded for almost three years and moved up the ladder receiving promotion after promotion pretty quickly. On the outside, I was doing awesome. Inside, I was miserable, exhausted and most importantly unfulfilled. I vowed that there had to be something better out there.
In search of something more, I came across the following tools:
1. Now What?
Now What? by Nicholas Lore and What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles both start out with the same brilliant mentality. In one way or another, they preach that colleges today lack the support tools for students to actually figure out what they want to be when they grow up. Instead, college kids simply throw a dart, choose a major, and head down the path with the goal of landing a job when it’s all said and done. But landing a job should not be the end result, rather, landing a job that you can actually grow with and are passionate about should be.
Instead of assessing skills, passions and career paths in depth, prior to graduating, many millennials are having to do it either post college or much later in life, like after they realize their first job is not all that it’s cracked up to be.
Nicholas Lore helps you understand that determining what you want to be is going to take some time, diligence and patience. If you’re willing to commit to all three, he walks you through creating and designing the project that is your life, and it’s not just a Pinterest vision board either.
2. What Color is Your Parachute?
Combine Now What? with What Color is Your Parachute? and you have a recipe for success. Be prepared to find out much more about who you really are, what makes you tick and how you can actually use this information.
The good thing is that both books ended up pointing me in the same direction which all focused on me using my creative juices—something I realized that my first job severely lacked.
Of course your results will be different, but mine were pretty eye opening. For starters, I was drawn to the writing and marketing avenue that I had originally selected when choosing a major but ended up not using like so many of us who are in industries that we did not anticipate.
Now I spend my days writing and helping small businesses market effectively and I couldn’t be happier.
3. Careerealism
While both books offered helpful tips on how to land a job once you figured out what exactly you wanted to do with your life, I still had some more questions. Thanks to my LinkedIn feed, I came across a few articles by Careerealism where their motto of “every job is temporary” really resonated with me. I found tips ranging from resume and cover letters, to actually finding jobs of interest and how to navigate the job boards properly so I didn’t waste time. If you have a career questions, Careerealism probably has the answer.
I can honestly say that I landed my second job after college thanks in part to using all three tools together.
4. Knock em’ Dead
Although I probably could have used only the first three tools mentioned, I did end up buying this one per a family member’s recommendation. I found this book to be extremely useful as well, however, since it was used towards the end of my search, I did not rely too heavily on it.
I can say that the tips found in Knock em’ Dead are very similar to the ones found in the first three, but also take some points a step further making it one to consider adding to the collection.
The takeaway here is that we’re asked as children what we want to be when we grow up but never really explore that any further when choosing a major or picking a career path. Instead, we end up in positions that turn us into robotic zombies where we wake up one day feeling unaccomplished and undervalued.
Before you get sucked into that path, check out these four tools. Taking the time to discover your interests now will save you years of headaches, setbacks and disappointments later.
Featured Image Photo Credit: 2.bp.blogpost.com