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I met hundreds of recent graduates when researching for this book. I asked about plans and the reasons for those plans. I asked about fears and the thinking behind those fears. And the more of you I spoke to, the clearer it became that there are a huge number of myths, fibs and half-truths sloshing about out there.

The facts are twisted, moulded and mangled. They are repeated endlessly until they become ‘fact’ – or at least, received wisdom. The theme of these myths tends to be how gruelling life is after graduation. When you’re swamped by negative nonsense like this, it’s easy to miss the good stuff that would actually make your life easier. The truth is far friendlier than the myth. Trust me – there is no bad news!

Myth 1: ‘Most people have their career planned out by the time they graduate – or soon afterwards’
Perhaps you think...

You’re one of a tiny minority of graduates who haven’t yet decided what to do with the next 40 years of their working lives. Everyone else has their entire career mapped out ahead of them. All they have to do now is get on with it. You need to do the same – sharpish.

Reality check:
Every year, a king-sized slice of the student body graduate without so much as an inkling about what they’re going to do next – and most go on to live happy, successful lives. Honest. Our experts at The Careers Group can testify that very few 21 year olds know how they’re going to spend their entire working lives. And even if some think they do, many of them will change their minds later.

You can’t really plan a career at all – because it doesn’t actually exist until you’ve done it. For now, it’s simply the future. The whole point of the future is that you don’t know what it’s going to be like until you get there. Not only will your priorities shift as time goes on, leading you to make all sorts of decisions you probably never imagined, but the world will change too – and that affects the job market in ways you can never predict. Do you think students who graduated in the early 1990s had any idea how many of them would be doing jobs involving something called the ‘World Wide Web’? Instead of planning everything and then getting on with it, you’re going to have to get used to feeling your way, making decisions as you go along. Through trial and error, you’ll discover what’s working for you and what
isn’t. Anything can – and will – happen. Only one thing is certain: you’ll have to keep changing the plan.

Myth 2: ‘Holiday jobs don’t count as proper work experience’
Perhaps you think...
Unless you spent your uni holidays doing something seriously impressive, employers aren’t interested in any paid work you’ve done so far. Having casual work on your CV makes you look amateurish and unfocused.

Reality check:
Most employers view any experience as good experience. However fancy or loser-ish your job title was, and whether the work was paid or unpaid, to employers it’s all a ‘plus’. Any experience demonstrates that you have a responsible attitude to work and that you have experienced life beyond academic institutions. In other words, it shows you can exist in and interact with the real world, not just in the uni bubble.

OK, so maybe your holiday job isn’t quite as impressive as your friend’s internship at a political think-tank in Washington DC or traineeship at a big City bank, but make no mistake – it still counts. Yes, even if you spent your summers au pairing, stacking supermarket shelves or litter-picking at Glastonbury, employers want to hear about it.

So, just because your holiday job doesn’t sound great to you, that doesn’t mean you should downplay it to potential recruiters. And don’t even think about leaving it off your CV altogether. Instead, careers advisers suggest you squint and look at it differently. There’s a good chance you’re undervaluing the experience you’ve gained. Even if your work experience doesn’t seem related in any way to anything you might want to do in the future, it has taught you something.

T he good news:
It means you do have something to put in the section on your CV marked
‘Employment history’. And you’re not as far behind other candidates as you think. In fact, if you invest a bit of time, you can even make your experience sound halfway impressive!

Myth 3: ‘Eventually, your dream job will just strike you’
Perhaps you think...
If you don’t yet know what you want to do long-term, it’s a bad idea just to take any old job in the meantime. It’s a waste of time getting experience in a field you might not even end up in. If you wait long enough the idea for your ‘dream career’ will just pop into your head.

Reality check:
Whatever the circumstances, waiting time is dead time. Every minute you spend lounging around on your parents’ sofa, or killing time doing mind-numbing temp work, is a minute you’re not spending trying out something new to see whether you like it.

I know that the idea that there’s one perfect job for you out there is immensely seductive – rather like believing there’s one perfect soul mate – but this sentimental belief can be hugely destructive. Sitting back and waiting for your dream job to come to you is just about the worst thing you can do.

Even if you find a job you love for a while, you won’t love it forever – you’ll move on to bigger and better things. Or you might get your dream job and find you don’t like it as much as you thought you would. Second, this dead time spent waiting for inspiration to strike can be seriously bad news for your CV – not to mention your bank balance. Third, this ‘waiting for the big idea’ mindset tends to prevent grads from looking for great first jobs, where you’d gain experience and perspective to help navigate your future later on. And finally, the idea of a dream job triggers unmanageable levels of panic, expectation and even paralysis in graduates.

A much more sensible approach is to set out on the right path towards a fantastic first job – by which I mean your first proper job after uni. In this job, you’ll be picking up new skills and bagging some great experience that will prove useful when applying for future jobs that you’ll like even more.

T he good news:
You’re in the driving seat and you always were. You’re not leaving your job-hunt up to the gods, or fate, or the stars. You are in charge of your destiny. You don’t need a grand plan in order to ‘make it’. Instead, have faith in your ability to make smart decisions as you go along. You’ll end up where you want to be.

Reader offer
‘Dude, Where’s My Career?’ by Tanya de Grunwald is published by Summersdale and available through all good booksellers priced £8.99. GradJobs readers can order the book for just £6.00 (plus £1.95 p&p UK mainland only).
To order please contact Littlehampton Book Services by phone on 01903 828503 or send a cheque (payable to Littlehampton Book Services) to LBS, P.O. Box 4264, Worthing, West Sussex, BN13 3TG and quote reference ‘GradJobs’.

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