Moving from the safe boundaries of university into the real world is like taking off your training wheels and riding solo for the first time. Scary and exciting!
So, to help ease any fear and double the excitement, here is practical advice for navigating the transition from college to the workplace. Despite the challenges of the college to work transition, there are also a lot of fun times ahead, too.
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The Transition from College to Workplace
In the transition from college life to work life, you will experience change. But change blossoms into new opportunities and different possibilities.
It may be painful to get there at times because adulting is hard. But if you can keep in mind that change leads to personal growth and rewarding experiences, then the transition doesn’t look so bad.
Here are 10 ways to better navigate the transition from college to workplace.
- Recognize the Challenges of Change
- Transition to the Professional Mindset
- Strive for Work Life Balance
- Set Workplace Boundaries
- Seek out Challenges at Work
- Find a Mentor / Career Coach
- Get More Sleep
- Manage Your Time Well
- Use Productivity & Motivation Tricks
- Have Realistic Expectations
1 – Recognize the Challenges of Change
One of the most effective ways to cope with change is recognize and face the coming challenges. Preparing yourself mentally, financially, and emotionally for a season of change is important for being able to navigate through it.
What are some of the biggest challenges in preparing for the transition from college to a career?
- The overwhelming school-to-work transition: Between securing a place to live, finding a job, buying a car, planning to move across the country (or world), the transition from school to work can get overwhelming fast.
- Falling into the comparison trap: Everyone wants to share what awesome things they are doing in their post grad life. And you, of course, want to hear it. But soon, you start comparing yourself to them and may become jealous of other people’s future plans and accomplishments.
- Finding a job: Being in job-search mode while trying to finish your classes is a lot to handle at once. When I was looking for a job my senior year in college, it felt like a full-time job.
- Between preparing resumes, writing cover letters, doing diligent interview prep, taking online assessments, it easily eats into your free time. It can also be frustrating when recruiters take their time getting back to you or don’t respond at all.
- Establishing a new community of friends: The beauty of college is that all of your friends are in one place, and you have a lot of free time. After graduation, it seems like everyone scatters and all the friends you hold dear are farther away than ever.
2 – Transition from Student to a Professional Mindset
Moving from a student mindset to a professional mindset is a hard switch to make. Instead of paying for someone to show up and teach you, you’re being paid to show up and perform a job.
On the flip side, the stakes are higher as a young professional. The work you do not only affects you, but also those around you, your team, your company, and the company’s customers.
You don’t receive a grade at the end of the semester. Instead, you get your paycheck, a good year-end review, maybe a promotion or raise, and have an impact the company’s success.
How do you transition from student to professional?
A student mindset is one of learning, and a young professional’s should be the same. But a student is looking to benefit themselves while a young professional needs to bring value to their company and the company’s customers.
Some examples of bringing value are: winning over new customers as a sales representative, imparting new knowledge on students as a teacher, or helping people adopt changes in technology as a consultant (which was my first corporate job).
Here is more career advice for young professionals to help with the transition from college to career. It will prepare you to make a good first impression your first day at work.
3 – Strive for Work Life Balance
In college, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I had a lot of time. Time to study. Time to see friends. Time to join clubs and organizations. Time to do some part-time job work, too.
But now as a young professional, I’d say it’s the opposite. Though I’m not completely broke like I was in college, I don’t have as much time as I did in undergrad.
As a young professional, juggling a full-time job and other responsibilities will be difficult at first. With the new adulting responsibilities and an 8-5 job, you may feel exhausted at the end of the day and wonder where all the time went.
Finding balance between work and personal life is a struggle at all levels of any organization – not just the young professionals or senior professionals. However, if you can establish a habit now to not let work take over your life, then it will be easier to maintain that throughout your career.
Instead of signing up for everything your company offers or volunteering in every church ministry right away, give yourself time to adjust to adulting.
Part of work life balance is taking your time off and vacation time. Often, young professionals feel pressured to not take their vacation time because they’re on an important project or they want to impress their boss. Being tired and worn-out won’t impress anyone!
The company can survive a few days without you while you rest and rejuvenate. So, no need to feel guilty about enjoying your time off.
4 – Set Workplace Boundaries
If you drive along the highway near a ditch or a drop, there is usually a metal guardrail along the side of the road. In case an emergency happens, the guardrail should keep you from a worse accident where your car ends up in the ditch.
Oftentimes when we hear the word boundary, we think of more rules that keep us from having fun or doing what we want to do. But boundaries in the workplace are like guardrails, aimed at protecting you from injury, being overworked, burning out, or being unable to maintain work life balance.
Workplace boundaries define and establish guidelines for working with your coworkers in a respectful way.
Usually, companies have their own policies and guidelines to protect their employees. For example, a policy at my previous company was that we should not obtain any of the client’s private information unless absolutely necessary for our project. Think about how this saved us from potential harm had any of that information been leaked.
In the same way, you can set workplace boundaries as a coworker or a team to respect each other’s time and work life balance.
Some examples of professional boundaries would be:
- Not taking calls after a certain time
- Having blocks of time that are “no meeting zones”
- Not discussing certain topics (age, politics, salaries, etc.)
- Asking for people to communicate via email and company IM instead of reaching out via your personal phone
5 – Seek out Challenges at Work
To succeed in your career, you have to work through and overcome different challenges. Some examples of those challenges may be a difficult client, an unmotivated coworker, or a tight project timeline.
Whatever the challenge, it may be tempting to forgo it in exchange for what’s familiar or easier. However, challenges are what lead to growth. It’s how we develop new skills, discover new passions (or what we don’t like, meet new people, and learn about other opportunities.
Personal and professional growth should be the cornerstones of your work. And they will propel you forward in your career. Here’s more about how to challenge yourself at work.
6 – Find a Mentor / Career Coach
During the transition from college to workplace, a mentor or career coach can be a valuable asset and resource. Mentors guide you in career decisions and offer invaluable advice for work-related decisions.
Similarly, a career coach will give you tips on how to write and proofread a resume. Oftentimes, they can also help you find open positions in your field, apply for jobs, and prepare for interviews.
In your career, you’ll want to have several mentors – personally, spiritually, financially, and professionally— to give you godly advice and sound career advice .
7 – Get More Sleep
The college lifestyle does not translate well to working life. A friend of mine who just graduated talks often about missing aspects of college life, like getting to stay up late and not having to get to class until 11 am.
But with adulting, it’s important to establish a morning routine and get enough sleep regularly. When I left college and started working a 40+ hour work week, I realized I needed more sleep than I think I did.
8 – Manage Your Time Well
How do I transition to a full-time job?
When transitioning to the workplace, time becomes more sacred than it was in college. Simply because there is less free time available.
Between adulting and your full-time job, free time can easily get eaten up. That’s why it’s important to schedule and manage your time and prioritize and plan for busy days. These planners for work and home can help you plan your time productively and keep track of appointments, tasks, and deadlines.
As you manage your time, be sure to include and protect your self-care time. By regularly taking time for yourself, you are more rested, composed, and able to handle unexpected circumstances.
9 – Use Productivity & Motivation Tricks
While some days you love your job and feel super motivated, other days you may feel uninspired and unproductive. But unlike college life where you can ride the low until your next school break or focus on another class until your motivation comes back. At work, people are counting on you to do your job and do it well.
In terms of motivation, you should keep some motivating career quotes in your back pocket to encourage you when work is tough.
Keeping your “why” in the front of your mind can help you see the purpose in something that seems purposeless. Here are other ways to boost your productivity [link to productivity tips post], even when you’re not feeling it.
10 – Have Realistic Expectations
Lastly, the most important thing for me to remember during the transition from college to workplace is to have realistic expectations. In fact, this is why the transition to post grad life was difficult for me.
Why is the transition after college so hard?
After college, we have a lot of expectations as to what life will be like as a young professional. Some will expect that they can keep their college habits (staying up late and going out often) while others will insist they will become boring, stuffy adults forever.
The jump from college to career comes with more serious consequences for your actions. Rent not being paid means not having a place to live. Consistently missing deadlines at work could lead to a poor performance review and a foot out the door.
There is no handholding in the adulting world, which can seem like a huge wake up call. Unless you take steps to prepare for adulthood and give yourself grace and time to adjust to post grad life.
For example, talking to older friends, parents, and mentors can give you a more realistic view of adulthood. Also recognize that it will take time for you to get used to working full time and not being in a dorm room with all your closest friends.
Give yourself space to make mistakes and time to figure things out for yourself. In other words, be gracious to yourself.
Transitioning from College to Career
In the transition from college to workplace, there are a lot of new situations you’ll face as a young professional. I hope instead of overwhelming you, this article offered some tips and insights to encourage you as you head toward your post grad life.
Does life get better post-grad? Yes and No. It’s both amazing and scary. Some call it the Adulting Struggle. Some call it Adulthood. Stick around on Kara J Lovett Co., and as we make the transition from college life to work life, we can tackle it together.
How did you navigate post-grad life?
Leave me a comment below!
Don’t miss this! More posts about Working and the Young Professional Lifestyle:
- 10 Crucial Pieces of Career Advice for Young People
- 6 Mistakes You’re Making when Writing a Resume for Young Professionals & Freshers
- How to Build a Professional Wardrobe in 5 Steps
- 12 Excellent Ways to Deal With Nerves for the First Day of Work
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