Guest blogger, Ada Ruzer ’11

Musings of a Career Rookie…

I feel as if I just got back to campus, yet somehow midterms and now Halloween have already flown by.  With time passing so quickly, I can’t help but reflect upon the fact this is my last fall at Puget Sound, my last year to really take advantage of the spectacular opportunities this school has to offer.  In all honesty I wish I could stay in college forever. It really is thrilling to be surrounded by so many analytical and curious minds. I am amazed every year to find my various courses connecting to one another, and find that I am continuously discovering new interests as a result.

Despite my academic life, I am becoming more aware of my need to prepare for the future (though I have been dragging my feet a bit.) It can be really scary sometimes to sit down and attempt to navigate corporation/non-profit/government websites. Have you seen those government websites? They have so many opportunities, it can be overwhelming! Currently I am torn between wanting to go to grad school, travel the world, and needing to actually pay some bill–and so I find myself struggling to figure out how to focus my time. It doesn’t take much to slip into panic mode, so during this process which is so often filled with a multitude of “what if?…” questions, I am trying to take baby steps in order to navigate the process without losing my head.

A lot of what I have been doing is researching possibilities. I check Idealist a couple times a week and look over LoggerJobs—just to get a feel of what employers are looking for.  Still it can be hard to look and not act. In other words, sometimes I wish I could apply, get a job, and then put it on hold for a year, like really good layaway, while I finish my studies.  Just by checking these websites a couple of times a week I am taking steps in my professional development; I am learning what the possibilities are, the skills I have that make me a competitive candidate, and finally about the skills I need in order to get into the profession that I desire. This exploration is really a trial and error experiment, wherein I am discovering about my future options. Just setting aside half an hour a day to look over career websites helps me focus better on what I want and need next year, and also greatly aids in reducing the stress of the process.

© 2010 Career and Employment Services, University of Puget Sound

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