GUEST POST: Meg's got big ideas -- but no job (yet)

Meg Loftus is a recent graduate of Ithaca College with degrees in journalism and politics. She blogs regularly at megsgotbigideas.blogspot.com.

And we are super lucky to have Ms. Meg as our Health Nuts guest this week! Still looking for that perfect (or, um, any) job? She'll make you feel better--or at least not alone--by the end of this post. Promise. Take it away, Meg...

Four years ago, if someone had told me that I’d be graduating college without a job and have to move back home, I would have laughed in his or her face. “Please,” I would have said. “I’ll be one of the first in my class to get a job.”

So imagine my surprise when this doomsday scenario became reality. It’s extremely difficult to describe the high of graduating and the feeling of achievement contrasted so sharply with packing up, moving home, and facing an uncertain future. I couldn’t shake the disappointment and the sense of failure. I really felt like I had come right back to where I started, empty-handed with nothing to show for four years of college (literally – I still haven’t gotten my diploma in the mail!).

For a long time, I was really angry. It was hard for me to be excited about graduating, because I felt that I had nothing toward which to look forward. So I started blogging, attempting to share my miserable life outlook with the World Wide Web. Every day, I post about my job search and my life. 

It started as a way to stay on the radar, letting college friends keep track of my whereabouts and also letting potential employers out there know that I’m looking for a job. I’ve got contacted about possible job opportunities, which is a plus. And, surprisingly, people really enjoy the blog (or at least that’s what they tell me). It’s nice as a writer to know that people are reading my work and enjoying it. 

But it’s also brought about a major attitude change. Now that I have days upon days of free time, it’s hard to stay motivated. Blogging gives me a way to document my struggles and to keep moving forward. And it’s helped me learn some valuable lessons over the course of my (brief) unemployment: 

1. It could be worse. There are so many people that have families to support that are out of work. I’m lucky that my parents are financially supporting me during this period (don’t worry, when I do get a job they’ll reap the rewards). I hope and pray that those people who are in desperate financial straits are able to find ways to make ends meet.
2. Free time = fun time. I’ve been able to catch up on reading, bike more, and spend quality time with my family. I’ve really started to value this time, because I know I’ll spend the rest of my adult life working. And it’s nice to wake up every day and have the freedom to use the day as I see fit.
   
3. Have a routine. Not saying I need to schedule my free time, but I make an effort to get up at the same time every day, change into nice clothes, and set aside time for the job search. One day, I wore my good jewelry to write a cover letter – it made a difference! Taking care of myself helps me stay motivated. 
   
4. Ask everyone for advice… People want to help me out. I’ve been asking everyone for their thoughts, and learning from the experience of others has been instrumental.
   
5. ….but remember that this is my job search. Like I said before, I’m going to be spending most of my adult life working. I ultimately have to find a job that’s going to make me happy, not someone else. 
   
6. Be a cheerleader. No pom-poms required. I’m normally a glass-half-empty kind of gal. But it’s so important to maintain a positive attitude because I can get bogged down in the rejection. And it’s also important to be a positive force for other unemployed friends (we have to stick together, you know). 
   
7. Don’t take it personally. In the beginning, every unanswered application was a stab in the heart. Now, I realize it’s just business.
   
8. Don’t be afraid to “shake it up.” I’ve always been a planner and very risk averse. Now I realize that I’ve got to take some more chances. When my search wasn’t going the way I wanted, I made some serious changes. Using the same approach and hoping to get a different result will never work.
   
9. Find out what I want. For a while, I applied to any and every job, just to see if anyone would get back to me. But after learning the hard way, I’ve recently started applying to jobs that I would actually want to do. Novel concept, I know. 
   
10. One day, I will be employed. This is my mantra because, like it or not, I will have a job someday!
    

Make sure to check out Meg's blog all about the long, winding road to employment at megsgotbigideas.blogspot.com!