How to Plan for the Future as a Graduate

This article was originally published on?CareerAddict .

Though Mom refers to her college years as the best of her life, you may not be as keen on moving miles away from home as soon as you graduate. At the same time, Dad may even be trying to persuade you to gain some?work experience ?before choosing a major, saying?hard skills ?are more important than a degree. But perhaps you’re not ready for the grind either —?at least not yet.

Though the “adultier” adults in your life could be making some good points, the decision about what to do after leaving school should ultimately be yours. And, because we know how hard it can be to decide when you’ve got?many options , we’ll give you some advice on how to approach the situation.

Read the tips in our school leavers’ guide below and see which ones resonate with you the most. By the end, narrowing things down should (hopefully) become a little easier!

Choosing your next steps

Deciding what the next chapter in your life should look like can be difficult. As you want your decision to be as informed as possible, it’s good to start the brainstorming process early. Bringing other people into it can also provide you with some ideas you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of.

Here are some things you may like to try before the decision-making begins:

Getting advice from teachers

If you’ve got a?teacher ?you really love or look up to, ask them to have a chat with you. Your teachers have been observing you and your classmates for months: they’ll know your strengths, talents, and?personality .

Share both your dreams and concerns with them, and allow them to give you an honest opinion on where they see you in a year’s time.

Speaking to your high school counselor

Many, many students?struggle with choosing a degree ?or university, and that’s exactly what?career counselors ?are there for. On the surface, you may appear undecided about whether college is right for you; beneath that, however, may lie the fact that?you’re uncertain what you should spend the rest of your life doing.

Taking a career test

If you don’t have access to a career counselor, there are plenty of?career-matching tests ?you can take online to take some of the guesswork out of?choosing a major . These tests, such as our own,?CareerHunter , are typically created by career experts and psychologists and can help eliminate your uncertainty.

Visiting colleges

Seeing a campus in full swing could help you visualize yourself there — or not! Either way, we encourage you to keep an eye out for college visit days or go for a walk around public campus areas. You could even contact university admissions, who will be happy to answer any questions that come to mind.

Talking to friends for inspiration

They may drive you mad half of the time, but you’d trust your friends with your life —?figuratively, at least. Though you’ve probably discussed your?future plans ?with one another, to what depth did you go? How much of your fear, excitement, hope, and confusion did you share? Our advice is to?talk openly?to as many of your peers as possible. After all, they have a firsthand understanding of what you’re experiencing.

Creating a back-up plan

Unless you get your thoughts in some sort of order, they can eventually overwhelm you. A simple way to give jumbled ideas a less intimidating form is to write them down in a list.

Listing all possible options can help you arrange them in order of preference. It can also provide clear-cut solutions to fall back on if something doesn’t work out.

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Read the entire article on?CareerAddict .

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