Do you know the Future?
One Saturday a couple of weeks ago, my kids and I were driving to an event where community members were being honored for years of volunteering in the community where I grew up, which is located next to the college town where I now live. My parents were some of the people honored, so it was a special time for my family.
While we were driving, out of the blue my son asked, “Mom, let’s talk about the future.” I said sure and asked him what he wanted to know. He asked me if I knew what the future will bring. It was ironic because on the day he asked me these questions, it was graduation day for my town’s college. All of the college students were walking around in their caps and gowns. They all looked so happy, and family pictures were being taken with proud parents grinning from ear to ear.
It made me think about my college graduation day and how little we do know about our future and where our careers and lives will take us.
In my opinion, most of today’s college graduates are unsure about what they really want to do next; they are nervous about the job market and economy, and how they will find a job.
My career in recruiting fell into my lap so to speak; I saw a posting at our school’s career center and applied. I really didn’t know much about recruiting and really wanted to get into sales at the time. This was a co-operative position, which ended up turning into full-time position with the college after I graduated. With that said, I knew, though, that this was not going to be a long-term career for me, and I was really unsure what I truly wanted to do. Then, one of my friends helped me gain a different point of view about recruiting… it is sales. That opened my eyes to a career that I love and a rewarding position where I get to help companies and candidates make the right connections.
What college graduates need to know is that it is okay to not know what the future will hold because no one really does. You mold your future by different choices you make, but you need to be able to handle the ride.
While attending the event honoring people within the area that I live, I listened to stories about all their amazing accomplishments. One person had been a foster parent to over 150 children in over 10 years; another person had driven over 5000 people to area doctor appointments; the true stories went on and on. I don’t think any of these people had any idea that they would do all these great things in their lives; it just happens that these were all unplanned, very wonderful things.
Embrace your future, even if it is unknown. It is yours to create.