Post-Grad Career Journey

Finding a full-time job can be hard, especially if you're invested in making personal connections. I found the job market to be tough — but not impossible to navigate.

I probably got a later start than most graduates fresh out of college, mainly because school was hard for me! I had to work hard, study harder, and set way more boundaries for my social life than I would have liked. With that said, I had no time (or mainly energy) to think about what my life would look like post-grad.

I knew I wanted to move to a big city — with New York in mind, my boyfriend took me to Chicago during our senior year of college. I quickly realized that this could be a possibility for me and began considering the idea of living in Chicago. Moving to a city without a job meant I might have to take a role I hadn’t initially envisioned for myself. This led me to consider all possibilities: What am I good at? What is my personality suited for? What field would I enjoy working in? Who would I want to work for?

I had a long journaling session with myself to narrow down the fields I was interested in, while still maintaining the open-mindedness necessary for such an important decision. Since growing up and maturing, I’ve become very Type A in both my personal and professional life. If you knew me before, you’d probably beg to differ, but for now, at least, it’s very fitting. I began noticing assistant roles and got curious about what that really meant. I started applying, interviewing, and learning more about what life as an EA or PA could look like. I quickly grew very interested and developed a solid understanding of multiple careers I could see myself pursuing.

One of the first challenges I faced while navigating the job search was where to start. I came up with a plan; it was meticulous and probably too well thought out, but here’s how I initiated:

LinkedIn became my lifeline. I "Easy Applied" for 40 jobs in the first hour I woke up and the last hour before I went to bed. If there was a job I wanted to apply for that wasn’t on Easy Apply, I saved it for later.

I dedicated two hours per day outside of my "Easy Apply" hours to write cover letters, email companies, and reach out to experienced professionals in fields I was interested in.

The job market is tough — but not unbearable. There was a statistic I learned in school while discussing fashion careers and the job market, and it stuck with me: 60% of women will not apply for a job if they are not 100% qualified, while 40% of men won’t apply for a job if they are not 100% qualified.

I was determined to beat the statistic. I kept applying for jobs and sending plenty of emails. Then, one day, I got an email for an initial Zoom interview — I put my best foot forward and started the process! Four interviews later, I reached out to inquire about the position and received a response that made my heart drop: “The hardest part of this process is letting valuable candidates know they did not get the job. Fortunately, that is not the conversation I am having with you! Your offer letter will be on the way shortly.”

Phew!

I wanted this position, and it was great to see that they wanted me back. In the coming weeks, I began working in the office and learning my tasks and responsibilities.

I love my job, I love coming to work, I love my coworkers, and I look forward to improving myself in this field and learning how to become a valuable asset to the company and executives (more on initiating professional development soon!).

Thanks for reading!

All the love,

Molli D