Finding Your Path in the Career Maze
By The Editors
"I guess the main reason I took my first job was the Weather Underground wasn't hiring, and neither was the Symbionese Liberation Army, nor the Zapatistas." So says one disgruntled publishing assistant, who claims she accepted her first job mostly out of desperation. A decent salary, tolerable work environs, a phone extension—what more can you really expect, being just out of college?
If you're a senior in college you probably won't want to believe that, in the grand scheme of things, your first job hardly matters. In the postmodern world we live in, people don't graduate to go work for the same company until they retire. A career is not the same thing as a job—it's the sum total of your life's experiences, a work in progress that's never quite complete but gains depth and meaning over time. You can make yours richer by following your instincts and letting the journey inspire you.
The Career MazeA career path doesn't have to have a straightforward trajectory; it may be more like a maze than a path. Of course, on-campus recruiting for some industries requires more involvement than others—and in these fields, your first job will most definitely matter. If you want to work in investment banking or management consulting, for instance, you go to the informational sessions in the fall, then on-campus interviews, and hopefully you get an offer and start working your way up.
Read article at WetFeet.com