The Transition from University to Career
Alright y’all — it’s been almost 8 weeks since I “officially” became a working woman… and although I’ve been working in professional jobs for the past 4ish years, and worked almost full-time at the same company for the past 9 months, there is definitely something to be said for the transition from university to career, and facing the full-time, real world “working life”.
And that something is limited vacation days, work days that last waaaay longer than 8 hours, and not being able to skip out just because you’re tired.
OK let’s be real — I’m not that dramatic but I will say 2 weeks of vacation is kind of really soul crushing for a gal who loves her all inclusive winter vacations as much as her month long European summer backpacking trips.
But let’s get back to business, shall we? The transition from university to the real world AKA your career!
It’s exciting isn’t it? We spent 4 or 5 years in school, with this huge idea of where our education would get us career-wise. And look — it led you to this very moment. The start of the rest of your life, and the start of actual “adult-ing”, right?
Welllllll, not so fast. For me personally, I’m still living with my parents, my boyfriend still has more education to complete AND I didn’t move away to a big city. Suffice to say, nothing major changed when I transitioned from university to the start of my career. So, what’s so different?
Well, it sure isn’t nothing!
YOU’RE NO LONGER “THE STUDENT”
As much as it was sometimes a nice crutch to play the student card — “Oh, I’m not sure, I’m just the summer student so I’ve only been here for 2 months!” — it’s much nicer to be just another ol’ employee. I feel like in the time I’ve been in this position, I’ve really grown professionally. This is the first job I’ve had where I don’t feel like “the student”, but I feel like I’m on level ground with all other employees. Sure, I may be younger than many, but that’s okay — it just means there’s plenty of room to go up!
YOU FINALLY DON’T HAVE COMPETING PRIORITIES
Let’s be real, you’ll always have competing priorities and probably more now that you have a full time career but at least it’s no longer School > Work or School < Work. It’s been pretty awesome to now be able to put my work as my top priority. In university, sure work is important but it always comes back to school. School, school, school — we need to ace the exams or pass the courses because if we don’t, how will we make it to our careers? Well, here we are now, and it’s pretty amazing to not always have that next exam or group project nagging in the back of your mind.
YOU JOB DOESN’T HAVE A TIME LIMIT
In most of my Co-op jobs (internships) and Summer positions, I always felt like the job had an expiry date. Whether it was because the summer would end and it would soon be time to go back to uni, or because knew it wasn’t “the job” for me, I could always see the end of the horizon. Which wasn’t really a good thing. Once you start your career, the horizon feels limitless, and it feels like there is so much more opportunity and time to make change, build, and improve in the things you work on. And if once you start your career, you’re still wishing your job still had that expiry, you probably want to re-evaluate and find a job that doesn’t make you feel this way. C’MON, THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE START OF YOUR DREAM JOB, GIRL!!! MAKE SURE YOU’RE NOT SETTLING!
So that’s it for now! Ask me again in a year, and I may very well have a ton of different takeaways for you, but this right here is my summary of the beginning of my transition from university to career!
If you’re interested in more of my career insights, check out my posts 5 Tips to Get The Job You Want or Things to Know When Starting Your Career.
