ADVICE FOR FINDING A JOB AFTER GRADUATION

You made it! 4 years of hard work (mostly) and you finally have your degree. After spending most of your life in education, you have had a clear path, you make it through one school year, pass one exam and then the other until eventually, you get your degree.

Wait! What about the next 4 years? And the 4 years after that? Do you want to start a career straight away, find a part-time job, save and travel? This uncertainty could lead to feelings of anxiousness and worry. But fear not! You are still young and you are about to embark on the next chapter of your life which can be very exciting. Yes, you might not find the perfect job right away, and you may have loans to pay. Use this period to find work you love, find something that can help you grow and get more experience. This is what the early years after graduation are about.

EF English First hires hundreds of fresh grads every year. By now, we know a thing or two about finding a job after graduation. We asked Paul Chan Senior Director of Studies in Shenzhen for some advice, and he gave us a great reply.

I converse with many fresh graduates and when I propose to them the idea of teaching abroad, they give me this look like there must be a catch. “You mean, I can earn/save money, learn some tangible skills towards professional development, and I can travel?” Yes, you can, but the catch is you have to put in the time and the effort to gain these things, to set these things in motion. You're provided all the necessary tools; what you create depends on your tenacity and creativity.

“But I'm not a teacher nor do I want to be one in the future,” some have said, in so many words, quite cavalierly. My response: Yes, you're definitelynot a teacher yet, but we can train you and develop you into one. Being a dynamic, effective instructor is a marketable skill – I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to acquire this ability. Or how about problem-solving, collaboration, and organisation – these are nice things to actually have, right? And they are undoubtedly transferable towards other occupations, right? If you should become a teacher, a full-on, full-blown, undeniable teacher, you'' have the wherewithal to do so much more within EF or beyond it.

But there comes a time for me to do the probing - Iask fresh grads directly: do you actually have a job right now? Do you actually have a job that can provide you with this kind of platform? Do you have loans to pay off? If they answer no, no, and then yes, to the aforementioned questions, then I think it's probably wise toget down to thedetails. It's worth a try, isn't it?

Full disclosure:I gave it a try once upon a time and so feel free to ask me what I've gotten out of it (Hint: all the aforementioned and more).