What Now?

By: Jillian Radetsky

You’ve taken all the classes; you’ve put in the hours studying; you’ve earned your chance to walk through the mythical Arch. You have just graduated from the University of Georgia. Now what?

Many recent graduates must decide which path to explore after college. In these trying economic times, they can choose to move to a big city, get an internship as opposed to a job, or make the dreadful but economical move back home with your parents. But how does one make these decisions? Many factors should be considered when making the next move.

Ashley Kalick, 23, chose to move back home to Marietta, Ga., after she finished her undergraduate degree. “When I graduated college, I moved back home to save money to buy a house in a few years,” Kalick said.

Kalick had what she considered an easy job search in the beginning. “I was hired at an advertising firm, which was incidentally the first job I interviewed for.” However, due to the recent economy woes, Kalick was laid off in February of this year.

“Once I got laid off, I worked with a recruiter to help me find another job.” Kalick said. “I wasn’t discouraged because I was lucky enough to have my parents to support me financially and I knew that a lot of people were in the same position that I was in.”

Kalick was able to find a job with an office supply company in just four months with the help of a job recruiter.

Others chose to move back in with the folks for several different reasons. Many graduates want to be close to home to be close to their families or to receive free perks from their parents. Some also may have jobs lined up in their family business. In times of economic instability, some feel that it makes the most sense to live off of your parents for as long as possible.

On the other hand, living with your parents may not be the easiest route to take. With some financial help comes the responsibility and rules of living at home again. Parents may ask their children to contribute to the bills or to take on more household chores than they used to have. For some, this may be enough incentive to take a different route.

Others may choose to take a different route: traveling to an unknown destination. Erica Schwartz, for example, graduated from UGA in December 2008. “I always knew I wanted to get out of Georgia since I lived there my entire life. I thought about working or volunteering somewhere abroad because of the economy,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz landed an internship with a public relations firm in New York, which she found on craigslist. She moved to the city in one weekend, a transition that she said was “shocking… It didn’t really give me the opportunity to say goodbye to college and move on to the real world.”

Schwartz is currently at the same job, attempting to network and climb New York’s social ladder. Even though she is living off a small salary, she says that she is maintaining a life in New York, with parental assistance. “I will still need help from my family financially, for now at least, but I'm certainly contributing and covering most of my expenses,” Schwartz said. “I just feel so fortunate that I was able to find a job at this time.”

Money is often the deciding-factor in determining which route to take after graduation. Is it better to take an unpaid internship or make the sometimes pitiful wages of a starter job? This is a decision each graduate will have to make.

Another pressing factor is whether or not a graduate will actually find a job in their respective major. Kalick graduated with a degree in English while Schwartz was a magazine major. Kalick has strayed from her degree while Schwartz is in the same field, but not the same, specialized areas. Many graduates must wrestle with the idea of switching their intended career dreams because of dwindling demands availability of positions.

UGA offers many tools to aid students in their quest for jobs. The Career Center can be visited online via http://www.career.uga.edu/ or by appointment. The Career Center offers tips on how to create a resume and how to research jobs. This Web site also allows visitors to get information about upcoming career fairs and other events that will help current students with networking for when they take the plunge and walk through the Arch. Even students that have already graduated can still access the Career Center for help in their job search.

Other students may have Peter-Pan syndrome, choosing to stay in school as a fifth-year undergraduate or continuing their education with graduate school. Of course, there are implications to these options, too, such as paying tuition for additional years and not having a steady income. However, some people require extra semesters for completing the necessary hours needed to graduate.

Fifth-year senior Andrew Shmerling believes that this is the best route for him. “Who would want to leave UGA?” Shmerling said. “I mean I do have another year of school work and exams, but isn’t that better than having a desk job? And I still get to live in Athens!”

Grad student Lize Pollack, 23, stated several reasons for not immediately beginning the job hunt after college and continuing her education. Pollack’s undergraduate degrees were in history and religious studies. “I decided to go to grad school because I knew that I couldn’t get a well-paying, good job with my undergraduate degrees alone,” Pollack said. “I also wasn’t ready to work full time yet, and I wanted some kind of cushion to help me figure out what I wanted to do.”

Others like Pollack may have chosen to go to grad school for similar reasons. Grad school can help to further your experiences, which, in the long run, can help you to get a better job in a timely manner. Also, many students go through their college careers with the perfect image of their working lives in mind. For many of these students, grad school is a major contributor in obtaining their goals. Grad school can also allow for more specialized education than undergrad degrees provide.

No matter which route they choose to take after completing an undergraduate degree, all students can agree on one thing: the hope for an improvement in the job market.


Caption for picture: Students walk through the Arch in search of the perfect career given their opportunities and availability of jobs presented to them.