‘Pandemic or Not, I’m Terribly Confused’: My Thoughts on Choosing a Career Path After Graduation

By Reilly Dufresne 

I think that I may want to be a bricklayer. Why not? Decisions have been made on bigger whims. After all, I woke up one day and decided to study Spanish and English Literature at university. Five years later, I’m about to graduate with this exact degree, and I’m not entirely sure what to do with it.

I’ve never had a knack for foreign languages. I tried learning the piano. I wasn’t any good at that either – my neighbours rejoiced when I quit. People sometimes ask me if I have a knack for bricklaying. I’ve never tried it.

Of course, I have a backup plan, just in case the construction industry doesn’t work out. However, I never imagined that I would have to fit a backup plan around a pandemic. If I’m being honest, I didn’t have very much hope for my future before this economy-crushing catastrophe. I have even less now, and this is why:

1. I went to an online seminar for career advice. I felt reassured. Then the talk was over, and I felt desperate and miserable again.

2. A career advisor told me it was a good idea to gather a portfolio of my writing, so I did. I am now waiting for someone to want to read it, though I have attached said portfolio to my LinkedIn profile. (I hope an interviewer never asks me about my opinion on cleaning habits or the importance of journaling. If they do, I’ll know they haven’t bothered to read my portfolio.)

3.  I’ve made 46 felted woodland creatures but haven’t made a cent off any of them. Should I include that I like felting on my CV? I could put it under ‘hobbies and interests’. People say that you should try to make your CV stand out. Will felting do that?

4. I once made a blog about chickens. I don’t need to admit that I only wrote two articles and then abandoned the whole project. Blogging falls under hard skills, I think.

5. Soft skills include teamwork. My best friend and I were champions of the three-legged race at school. You have to be a good team player to win four years in a row. Including this fact may give me a leg up with recruitment. Maybe HR will think I’m good-humoured when they read my CV. More likely, they’ll throw it away.

6. Being an adult is hard work. I think I’d rather be a kid again. When I was a kid, I could recite a single verse of William Wordsworth’s ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ and people would say that I was talented. Last week I wrote a 3,000-word essay on ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’. I included 23 secondary sources. My professor marked me down as ‘average’.

7. A career advisor suggested that I take a career aptitude test. My highest score was a 92% match with ‘zoologist’. I’m not sure how this is possible. I’m afraid of dogs. My second match was with ‘epidemiologist’. My mom is quite sure that I am an undiagnosed hypochondriac.

8. Recently, one of my teachers explained that he was preparing us for the ‘real world’. I was informed that there are deadlines and that you have to meet them. There are no excuses when you get a job in the real world. This same teacher then proceeded to explain that the class’s essays would be returned late. There was no explanation as to why.

9. An internship was recently posted. When I read the description, it went like this:

Job description: organise paperwork, manage events, bookkeeping

Working hours: 18

Required experience:

o Excel and Word competency

o Should be willing to work unsocial hours

o Must not eat meat

o Must be an organ donor

Rate of pay: voluntary

10. I don’t see why I even went to university. According to my career advisor, I need to do a bunch of volunteer internships before I can expect a paycheck. I volunteered five years of my life to study at university. In fact, I paid for it.

11. The animal shelter rejected my application. They said that I could not be guaranteed a ‘dog-free position’.

12. My careers advisor reviewed the results of my career aptitude test. He confirmed that zoologist might not be my best job prospect. He didn’t think an animal shelter was a good idea either. He says that I should consider becoming a translator. I think I’d rather become an epidemiologist.

In short, pandemic or not, I’m terribly confused. And I can’t be the only one. So, I’ve decided to become a careers advisor myself. I’ll have a better chance at it than becoming a bricklayer. After all, I have plenty of experience on how not to write a CV.