THE ILLUSION OF A COLLEGE STUDENT

There was no greater feeling...I was ready, I was excited... I was about to graduate with a Masters Degree while still pursuing a Doctorate, and I was ready to take on the world. I decided to fully launch my professional career expecting that I will be in a better position to get my dream job when I’m completely done with school. But It didn’t take long to get my excitement crushed by the job market. It was already 5 months since I have been applying for jobs in my field, in related fields, in fields that could be a bridge, but it was rejections after rejections. Over 500 rejections, whether by receiving emails saying they got a better candidate, or by the ones that didn’t even bother contacting me back. However, during interviews, recruiters had the biggest smile on their faces telling me how great of a candidate I was to finally never extend an offer. I was frustrated, pissed, I was mad at my professors for not telling me about that reality. I quickly had a tough reality check. I couldn’t understand why I was struggling so bad to get a job while I had a masters degree and a doctoral level...

...Then, I sat down, thought deeply about what I was doing wrong in my job applications. I was asking myself all types of questions: Am I biased against for being over qualified or lack of direct experience? Was I applying to the right jobs? Am I condemned to work only in academia with a Doctorate or will the industry accept me ? I sought the necessary professional help with my resume, and started to craft my strategies to bounce back on the job market. I understood that I didn't have the required experience, and someone with 10 years of experience and a high school diploma is as or sometimes more qualified as someone with all the degrees. These people have learned the job throughout the years and have become really technical while all I had was theories. Therefore, I had to prove myself, I needed to show that I could do the job as well. As a result, I put aside all the arrogance that a college degree could confer and accepted a $12/hr job while I had a masters and a doctoral level. People couldn't understand, they were asking why do I do such job. But I had a goal in mind, I had to keep my eyes on the final destination....6 months later, now with my degrees in pocket, I became more professionally marketable, offers were coming from everywhere and I was in a position to get an increase of $60k in salary revenues....

… What I learned from that experience is that getting degrees is great, but proving your ability to do the job is even greater. After all, what is it worth to possess all the knowledge without being results driven? I understood that our education system needs to do a better job in preparing the students to face the reality of the job market. I understood that sometimes you need to go low to go high. Finally, I understood, if you can shape it in your mind, you’ll find it in your life....

SB