The time has finally passed you by. Those four years are done. You now have a college degree. You’re ready to enter the “real world” or whatever the next step is for you. You’re done with college and you’re debating what to do next. You have so many options. You have the rest of your life ahead of you. What do you do next? How do you figure out what to do after college?
Let’s look at what you should you do your first month out of college to crush your finances from the very beginning…
Figure out your debt situation.
How much money do you owe? Did you pick up a student credit card? Did you rack up the student debt? The first thing that you need to do is to determine what your debt is like. It’s important that you know how much money you owe so that you know where you stand. This will also determine your next few moves.
It’s going to be tough to be care free if you owe tens of thousands of dollars to your student credit card and student debt. On the other hand, if you don’t owe that much money, you’ll have some interesting options at your disposal.
Find a part-time job.
My first suggestion for income is to find some sort of source of money coming in. This can be a simple part-time gig in your community or side work in your field. All that matters is that you slowly get your foot in the door to start making some moves. It’s also important that you have money coming in to deal with debt/save up. This is also the ideal option for those of you not impressed with the average starting salary.
Shouldn’t you try to find a full-time job right off the bat? You might be thinking that it’s counter-productive to find a gig that’s not totally steady. My logic here is that you don’t want to tie yourself up with a full commitment. You want to consider getting your foot in the door, without committing all of your free time right off the bat. Time is highly valuable in your 20s. It’s not always the best decision to take the first job that comes your way.
Get ready to work.
I know that you just finished school. I know that you’re tired of reading and the student lifestyle. You need to understand that finishing school isn’t the end of the road for you. Just because you’re done with school for now it doesn’t mean that the work is done. You’re going to work more now, so don’t be afraid of work.
Take a few days off.
As important as it is to work, find a job, and figure out how much money you owe, it’s equally as important to take a few days off. If you’re anything like me, this means that you’re going to get completely wasted and then have to worry about dealing with your hangover for the next few days. That’s all cool. There’s no hard in taking a few days off in your first month out of college.
Think about your next steps with your education (if applicable).
“If you’re not sure what you’re going to be doing, it probably bodes well to take some job, if you can get one, and get a sense first of what you want from college.” — Richard Freeman, Harvard economist
I personally don’t plan on going back to school just yet. That’s partially because I’m too greedy and I want to try to make it on my own. However, if you can’t get work in your field due to a lack of qualifications, you might want to start looking into graduate school funding options.
That’s how you can conquer your first month out of college. You don’t have to follow all of these steps. These are a few tips that you should consider as you look into what you want to do after college.
Are you ready to crush your first month out of school?
I liked the “Take a Few Days Off” advice. We took two weeks between college and our first days at our new jobs – it was very necessary. I was able to start with a much clearer head.
It always makes sense to take some time off in my opinion.