It is amazing what one opened door can lead to, but it’s equally amazing what a closed door can lead to. I am about to finish my third year of college and from my time here I have had a lot of opportunities that I’m very grateful for. The reason that I have had so many neat experiences is because I paid attention and I persevered. College is rough and tough, and rumor has it, “the real world” is a lot rougher and tougher. A big struggle for college grads is finding a job. I agree, that task seems way more difficult to me than studying nutritional requirements for a horse. Finding a job after years and years of school is daunting. I’m certain I’m not the only one that finds that task overwhelming.
Rest assured, I do have good news. The advice that I can give is pay attention and persevere. For example, pay attention to e-mails, posters and conversations. The college of Ag students are very lucky to have Kelly Wiseman on our side. She sends out e-mails daily with job openings, workshops, and internships. By simply paying attention to one e-mail and one poster I landed an intern position with the Northern International Livestock Expo in Billings, Montana last October. I could have easily walked past the bulletin board without giving the dozens of posters a second glance, just as easily as I could have deleted that one e-mail. Instead I took the time to read the info, fill out the application and two weeks later I received a call congratulating on being selected as one of five interns. Lesson one: Pay attention.
The second piece of advice that I can give is persevere. In the job market, employers love experience. The catch 22 though is how does one get experience if they can’t get hired for not having experience? It’s like the chicken and the egg conundrum. This is frustrating and disheartening. I remember last spring I went through numerous applications and interviews that only resulted in “We regret to inform you…blah, blah, blah.” I was terribly disappointed. Good news though! When one door closes, another one opens. I was offered to work at my current job, a student aid in the Office of Academic and Student programs because I was NOT selected to work in the dean’s office. Keep applying and keep interviewing, you can only get better with practice and eventually it will pay off. Lesson two: Persevere.
Another anecdote I’d like to share, while I’m still on the topic of closed doors and opened doors. When I was a lower classman, I submitted my resume to work for institutional communications (internship with UW to write press releases and news stories for the main webpage). After an interview and examples of my work, they declined me the position. Just this week though, I interviewed again for the same position, as an older and wiser, upper classman. I have had more classes, more practice and more experience (Oh how employers covet experience!). My interviewer said he was glad that I re-applied because he had witnessed my growth which shows potential for more growth. He also said I interviewed well, I just didn’t have enough experience. That internship door was closed, but now it’s reopened when I’m better equipped for it now that I do I’m a top candidate. So hopefully, cross your fingers for me, he’ll contact me Monday with positive news. I just want to reiterate, keep trying, keep going, persevere, it will work out.
The only way to get experience is to try things. In the competitive job market, experience is golden. Pay attention for opportunities to gain experience and persevere until you get something. I promise, the more you do, the more things will line up for you. If you have questions about anything, really anything, please contact me, I’d love to help. mlinke1@uwyo.edu
