After you graduated from college, how hard is it to find a job that you actually want to do?

Hi Alexandria,

I just graduated a few weeks ago with a degree in illustration and graphic design. I don't know if my answers can be of help to you. I am an older woman who has already had many different careers, and raised four children, who are now in their late thirties. For myself, I will be working freelance, and am starting my own business. I am also looking to work part time for a small agency, from home. From what I see in the job market, and through communication with my brother who has a website building, SEO and web marketing business, I should be able to do very well. The great thing is, there are lots of opportunities in conjunction with the web, and there are still print needs. It is true that there is also a lot of competition. I'm finding that I will do a lot of different things that I learned in school, and am still studying more on my own, such as story boarding and more. You might find that you're good at marketing and branding, and have content writing skills like I did. The important thing today, is both the ability to specialize and/or to have many different skills. This sounds like a contradiction, I know. There will be oodles of directions you can go in. Are you considering coding? I think that it would be best for someone your age to go to school, explore all of the many different skills and jobs available in your major, and discover what you truly love to do. I think the major itself has very solid potential. One of my sons earned his degree in industrial design, and has not been able to get work in that field, though. Sadly, everything he learned was just before the tech revolution.

This is a very valid question. For me, it wasn't difficult because I was already working as a designer before I graduated. It's important to intern or work part-time in the field you intend to work in, this will give you insights a college course wouldn't. Things like: Will you like working for people in that industry, Do you like the hours you will have to put in, Do you like the pay, or Do you even like doing what you thought you would be doing for the rest of your life? I worked odd jobs here and there, until I realized no one is going to hire me if I have a retail experience but want to be a designer. Hope this gives you so insight. Good luck and dream big!

This in large part depends on what you want to do. If the set of things you want to do in computer science related industry jobs is sufficiently large, then the answer is probably "very easy". If you are very selective about the company, industry, etc, then it gets more difficult.

If all you want to do is solve problems by writing software, it'll be easy to find a job that you want to do. If you specifically want to find a job that allows you to write code for for brand new art installations involving sculptures, then it'll possibily be very difficult.