“Four weeks. That is a great thing to say and hear. Four weeks remaining in the semester and then for some students, including me, it is time to graduate and hit the real world. I think about the four weeks ahead with happiness and fear. Happiness because after five years at the University of Akron I will be receiving that piece of paper I worked long and hard for.”
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Four weeks. That is a great thing to say and hear.

Four weeks remaining in the semester and then for some students, including me, it is time to graduate and hit the real world.

I think about the four weeks ahead with happiness and fear. Happiness because after five years at the University of Akron I will be receiving that piece of paper I worked long and hard for. Fear simply because of the unknown future I am walking into, professionally and personally.

It’s a bit of daunting thought that I know I am not alone in having. I have spoke with many of my friends who will be joining me in walking across the stage the second weekend in May and they share the same concerns.

I officially began my job search Monday night, applying for my first big girl job. It was a thrilling and horrifying experience. As I searched through pages and pages of job listings on Monster and CareerBuilder, I found myself questioning not only my skills but whether I had picked the right majors. The pages were filled with financial positions, nursing jobs and positions I am not even sure what the title meant.

After I searched JournalismJobs.com I became even more distraught. For the first time in my college career I questioned my classes and whether or not they actually prepared me for employment.

With my pulse jumping and a knot the size of Texas in my throat, I began looking for advice online. I was hoping someone would have addressed the issue of graduating seniors who feel not qualified for any of these jobs or who have no clue what to do with this degree besides what they received their degree in.

No luck.

On the other side of the fence, there are people with all this experience and there are almost no jobs.

After a discussion with our copy chief Kari Kostantinovich about her experience with trying to find a teaching position, I discovered her problems. She informed me about her time with a career fair. Which hosted 82 schools, the problem, only was she had no idea exactly who was hiring for what positions.

This is distressing because she is perfectly qualified as a teacher, someone who is going educate the future generations. She cannot even find a job.

Her field sounds as promising as journalism right now.

At one point through the conversation, one of my professors chimed in, stating that people post jobs online with someone already in mind to fill the position.

Fantastic.

I guess the only thing to do is breathe, deal with anxiety and apply for the position and hope they will take a chance on a recent college grad.

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