From temp job to graduate career: seeking professional growth in harsh conditions
Nobody should ever settle for less than they’re capable of achieving – unless it’s a short-term compromise for long-term strategic gain. In today’s tough graduate recruitment market you may find yourself taking on temp work or stopgap employment to tide you over financially after you leave university, until you get the chance to establish yourself in a role that matches your aspirations and can fulfil your potential.
While this may be demoralising – it’s not what you put yourself through years of study for – even relatively menial work can provide you with evidence of your skills, aptitudes and work ethic that will help you impress recruiters and make rapid progress when the economic climate improves. Adjusting your expectations can be a painful blow to your self-esteem – but only if you allow it to be. Stopgap work is not a reflection of what you deserve, it’s about doing the best you can under the circumstances.
Career progession does not always follow a predictable, linear path; it tends to be more organic, and in adverse conditions it’s likely to take time to establish a pattern of professional growth. Remember, you are not what you do – you are also what you can do, and the experience you gain in a temp or casual job will help you demonstrate your personal qualities to recruiters and convince them that you would thrive in their organisation.
Employers value work experience – any work experience, whether it’s from a temp or casual job or a formal, structured internship – because it reflects well on the person who’s gained it, not because they underestimate what that person is truly capable of. Recruiters look for candidates who are resilient, determined and adaptable. If you’re a recent graduate and you’re in work, even if it’s not what you want to do long-term, that’s you.
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Posted by Alison_TARGETjobs on 20 July 2010
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