A lot of recent graduates, especially the most ambitious and talented ones, are dreaming of finding the perfect job right after college. They are looking for a position which would provide them not only with huge salaries but also career opportunities, recognition, and self-fulfillment at once.

However, this is so difficult to achieve that the odds are somewhere around one in a few hundred thousand. But our goal in this article is not to tell you that you will hardly get a dream job after graduation. On the contrary, our mission is to reveal that finding your dream job after college is actually a bad thing for you.

Although it sounds completely counterintuitive, it is really the truth in the vast majority of cases. Keep reading our article and you will find out why.

8 REASONS WHY IT’S NOT GOOD TO FIND A PERFECT JOB AFTER COLLEGE

There are many reasons why you should not be disappointed if you don’t find an outstanding job right after graduation. According to HR experts at Aussiewritings, none of these reasons alone is big enough to slow you down but the combination of a few factors can really make a big impact on your professional development later on.

This is especially important for the generation of Millennials as more than 90% of them expect to stay in a job for less than three years. In such circumstances, young workers need to know why it is bad to do some things in the early stages of their careers.

One such mistake is to find the best job immediately. Below you will find a list of the 8 most important reasons why it is not good to chase the dream job after graduation.

Reason 1. It prevents your all-around growth

If you manage to get the perfect job opportunity at the beginning of the career, it may sound like an offer you can’t refuse. But what you don’t know about it is that it will most likely prevent you from learning a lot of important things in different areas of the business.

Namely, while we are trying to find what fits us the best, we are also acquiring new skills, knowledge, and experiences. It helps us to understand an entire niche more thoroughly, which is the basic precondition for future professional success.

On the other side, when you instantly choose only one – usually very specific – field of work, you get to specialize in this one area alone. It is great if you want to stick to it during the entire career but it’s very bad if you find yourself dissatisfied with your current position after a few years.

And this thing usually happens sooner or later. It’s just the matter of human nature: we can never spend our whole lives doing the same thing over and over again. Finding a dream job after graduation will make you satisfied at first but you will soon realize that it gives you no more room to advance.

Reason 2. You will not understand the company you work for

All companies, but especially the big ones, are complex in structure and organization. If you stick strictly to one role, there are substantial chances that you will lack understanding and personal experience about the company that you work for – and not to mention the industry in general.

Keep in mind that the rules of business differ from industry to industry, from company to company, and from sector to sector. If you isolate yourself and focus on your position too much, you probably won’t be able to follow the company requirements in the long run.

For this reason, we suggest you open your eyes and wander around during the first few years of your professional growth. Meet the people, follow the trends, and see what is going on behind the scenes of the targeted niche.

If you do this, you will get a clearer picture about your profession and you will be able to choose the best job opportunity wisely. With this kind of initial experience, you won’t have to worry about making the wrong choice as each step you take will be reasonable and logical for you.

Reason 3. Your first failure may become way too painful

Have you ever wondered why people often say that the beginning is half of every action? Well, it is popular simply because the saying is so true. Each action you take has its consequences.

When you are young, you really don’t know many things. After college, you are going to face new duties, colleagues, and expectations. In such circumstances, it is easy to make the mistake and lose your self-confidence. Your first failure may become way too painful. That’s one of the key reasons why more than 60% of Millennials leave their jobs within 3 years.

As the fresh college graduate, you don’t have the experience to struggle with older competitors. As much as people keep saying that team work is crucial in every business, the truth is that most of the employees are lone wolves who want to protect their own positions.

They will kick you out of the game easily because they know all tricks. Senior staff members learned company procedures and got acquainted with internal affairs. At the same time, you don’t know this and you could make a cardinal sin if you rush in the business without an appropriate preparation.

Reason 4. You know for sure what you truly love to do only after doing what you really hate

When you are young, there are no bad professional experiences – there are only experiences. Most people realized that they love doing something only after they had tried out a few other options which they hated.

This is the so-called reversed psychology, otherwise known as one of the basic behavioral patterns in classical psychology studies. The only difference here is that you need to apply it to yourself if you really want to develop the most fruitful career.

This is one of the biggest advantages of young professionals: they may not be well-experienced but they have every right to discover new things and try even the jobs that they will probably despise. Use this period to learn about all areas of the business and you will soon realize what it is that attracts you the most.

It’s a system of elimination that proved to be very productive for a wide variety of college graduates, so don’t hesitate to give it a try. More than half of all workers are looking to leave their current jobs. We strongly believe that it’s because they forgot to explore all options in the beginning and determine what they love by doing what they hate.

Reason 5. College grads hardly find a niche-related work

A sad but true study revealed that barely a quarter of college graduates are able to find the job that is closely related to their major. It’s a disturbing fact that shows you the real nature of the labor market.

Following this logic, it is reasonable to assume that you won’t have the opportunity to find a dream job immediately. That’s why you need to use the time before you do to gain as much experience as possible and prepare yourself for the coming job offers.

There are a lot of skills to learn along the way. It’s not only about your major: you can also master a new language, expand the network of professional contacts, or finish a course that could help you later on in your career. For instance, you can attend an online course in graphic design, social media marketing, or whatever works for you.

All these activities will make you better and more skillful, so don’t fall into despair if you don’t find the perfect position after college. Stay positive and learn – the dream job will come soon afterward.

Reason 6. People change jobs frequently

What is a dream job? Is it a fixed category or something that depends on your current needs and the state of mind? College graduates will probably say that it’s an immutable category which remains the same and resists all temptations.

However, more experienced employees know that it’s not the same whether you work as a single 20-something or a mother of three young kids. In all stages of our lives, we have different priorities and we try to organize our work accordingly.

This is why an average person changes more than 10 jobs throughout career and spends around four years at one position. It’s a pursuit of happiness: sometimes you need more money or demand better health insurance, while sometimes you need a life-work balance.

In each one of these cases, the definition of a dream job is drastically different. Bear this in mind while searching for the right position after college. It could help you to get over disappointments much easier and give you encouragement to move on with your career.

Reason 7. You don’t get to socialize

Humans are social beings. Social belonging is one of the basic elements in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and our jobs don’t only serve to hone our professional capabilities but also to build relationships with other people.

A job brings you many benefits: it gives you the chance to meet and communicate with new colleagues. It helps you to develop social skills and enables you to expand the network of professional acquaintances. These are all very important elements of your career success.

Namely, socialization is essential if you want to stay mentally fresh but it is almost impossible to achieve this if you stick to the one and only job forever. On the other hand, working in various environments allows you to meet all sorts of psychological profiles and perfect your communication skills, which is extremely important in business.

Additionally, when you change companies and meet many people, you also expand your professional network, which increases the chance of getting an ideal job offer. Most people actually find their perfect spots this way, so don’t run away from switching jobs – socialization is a great side effect.

Reason 8. You don’t get to learn how to be patient

If you deserve the dream job immediately, you will be happy and willing to do your best. It’s the position that you prepared for and you will do whatever it takes to keep it. However, it won’t teach you one important quality in life – to be patient.

Working a bunch of boring jobs which are not directly related to your field of expertise, you will discover the beauty of patience and hard work. Since you are not prepared for this type of work, you will have to invest much more time and efforts into it to complete all duties.

This can be mind-boggling but it is also something that you should embrace as a valuable lesson. The best things in life don’t come easily and sometimes you will have to be very patient and wait for the right time to catch the business opportunity.

Consider it your comparative advantage over peers – when the hard times come, you will be the one who can stand it all and overcome obstacles successfully. You will have enough knowledge, experience, and patience after a few low-profile positions. And that is more than enough to make you prepared for the dream job.

CONCLUSION

It’s never easy to finish your studies and then face the harsh competition on the labor market. However, most college graduates think that the best option for them is to try to find a dream job immediately, earn a lot of money, and set the foundation for future professional success.

But this is actually not that good. Instead, you should consider other options and alternatives because getting the perfect job brings a lot of shortcomings along the way. In this article, we explained 8 reasons why it is bad to find an outstanding position after college.

Feel free to consider our recommendations once again because it could help you to determine the right direction in your career.

About the author

By Olivia Ryan, a young journalist who is passionate about topics of career, recruitment and self-development. She constantly tries to learn something new and share this experience on different websites. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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