Congratulations to everyone graduating this week! This is an exciting time as you begin your next adventure. However, if you’re anything like me, you might not be sure of what you’d like to do next.
After graduating with my bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2024, I knew I wanted to pursue graduate education. However, feeling pulled towards multiple interests, I struggled to pinpoint exactly what I wanted to study. This led me to spend a year exploring my options, a decision that ultimately helped me to clarify my next goals and step into them with increased confidence.
The time after graduation offers a valuable opportunity for career exploration, but it can be difficult to know how to approach it. Today, I am going to share 5 things to do after graduation to help you determine your next steps.
1. Work
Working full-time or part-time offers the opportunity to explore a career field that is of interest to you. You can become immersed in a chosen field, getting a better sense of the daily responsibilities of a related role. This direct experience offers the chance to reflect on what you like and dislike about a position, setting, or schedule. Maybe after working in education, you learn that you love working with children, but don’t want to work in a traditional classroom setting. This reflection is invaluable to guiding future decisions.
2. Volunteer
Volunteering offers another way to gain career-connected experience, grow your network, and support initiatives you feel passionate about. With volunteering, time commitments are often more flexible than a job, allowing you the chance to explore more organizations. Idealist is a great resource for beginning your search for volunteer opportunities.
3. Spend time on personal interests
After graduation is a great time to turn to hobbies or passions that you didn’t have time for while in school. Maybe you revisit your childhood interests or try something you have always wanted to. These pastimes may be something you think of as simply bringing you joy, but I encourage you to think about how they could translate into your career. For example, if you always turn to painting or drawing in your free time, maybe you need to consider finding a way to utilize creative skills in your career path.
Additionally, this time offers the chance to complete a project relating to your interests. Maybe you are excited by trying to cook new recipes, so you create an app to better track the ones you have tried. Projects like this are fun, but are also something you can share with future employers to showcase relevant skills.
4. Keep learning
Taking action to continue to learn about topics that excite you is a great way to find clarity after graduation. Listening to podcasts, reading books, or watching documentaries are easy ways to grow your knowledge, and may help you to determine an area of interest you want to pursue.
Additionally, the time after graduation can be used for professional development. LinkedIn Learning provides many courses that can help you to learn skills you will need to succeed professionally. Just spending a few minutes each week on a course could help you feel more prepared to enter the workforce. These courses can help you to fill a knowledge gap if you realize that you are interested in an area that requires a skill or tool that you’ve never used.
5. Connect with people who inspire you
The time after graduation offers an excellent opportunity to grow your professional network. Finding time to grab coffee with a coworker whose path inspires you can help you to learn about the processes they took to excel in their field of choice. You never know what opportunities may become available to you based on who you connected with early in your career.
Connecting with others can also be done virtually. Social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, offer a great tool to connect with professionals in your area who have interests that align with yours.
However you spend your time, be mindful and reflective in whatever you do. Even day-to-day experiences can give insight into areas of passion or disinterest, preferences or things to avoid, and other helpful information that can inform what next steps may be the best fit for you.
