I have been a professional writer/editor at the Winston-Salem Journal for almost a year. Wow, how time flies! It still feels crazy to be a part of the “real” world, considering that I graduated in May. As students, we wait in anticipation for the day Chancellor Martin tells us, “Candidates, you may don your hoods.” Then Ms. Montgomery calls our name and we proudly receive our hard-earned degrees. Unfortunately, we can only bask in that glory for a day.After that, it’s time to face reality. It’s time to get ready to pay bills without contributions from our parents. It’s time to make critical decisions (if we haven’t already done so) about where we want to live in the world, with whom we want to spend our lives, whether we should attend graduate school, etc.These are some of the things I thought about and still think about. These are some of the things you will also think about.I hope you have kicked any bad habits developed in college. If you took an apathetic approach to your studies and managed to get by, the ghost of “make your bed and lie in it” is sure to haunt you. Keep in mind during those “I’m not going to class, but I’ll chill in my homeboy’s room” days that millions of students graduate from college each year. That means businesses and organizations get to choose from millions of candidates, and they are highly selective. Everything from your school’s reputation to who knows you is taken into consideration.The business world does not pardon the snoozer. Depending on the type of job, employers want to see examples of promise, such as good study habits and extracurricular activities that pertain to your major. Think about it. If you were the CEO of My Computers Inc., would you hire a college graduate with a 2.0 GPA and no related volunteer or work experience in computer science to head your computer systems analyst team?Professionals hire college graduates because they assume, based on interviews, performance tests and resumes that you can do the job and do it well. Some of us will not be able to get past this point. There may be others that can charm their way into a job and escape the initial tests for job performance. However, when it’s time to actually do the job and you can’t do it, you will be fired and replaced.Then there are those of us who will be prepared. We would have taken advantage of all of the resources available to us in college. We would have made an effort to learn both inside and outside of the classroom. We would have placed an emphasis on hard work because we know that businesses seek bright young people with exceptional grades, a reasonable amount of related work or volunteer experience and proven leadership qualities. Those are assets that we as responsible students must take the initiative to acquire. The competition is very stiff and you want to be a stand out graduate, not a mediocre one.Don’t find yourself kicking at the ground when graduation rolls around; start planning for the future now. In other words, “Handle your business.”
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