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Chronicles of a Graduate: Driving in the Whiteout
By Patty Marra, Series Guest Blogger Last Friday I drove home from work in a complete whiteout. Traffic was horrendous. It always amazes me how quickly people forget how to drive in the snow, even when they live in the Midwest. Some people go recklessly blazing past everyone at speeds higher even than those recommended in ideal conditions. Often, we see a couple of those people a little after they pass us, sitting in a ditch. Then there are the drivers who are overly-cautious. They creep along at speeds even a snail would call slow. They back up the traffic behind them for blocks. A Career can be like a Whiteout As I was sitting in my car without much else to do but think, I found myself smack inside an illustration of what I currently feel about my career. Driving in a whiteout is scary. You know that there are other cars out there, and other obstacles waiting to trip you up, but you can’t see them. All of a sudden, they will come flying into view: masses of color amidst an otherwise white landscape. Starting out my career has felt a lot like that. One minute I’m chugging along, the next some new change is thrown into my path. Sometimes it’s an expectation that I have set for myself, and I have finally realized I can’t meet, sometimes it’s someone else’s expectation, sometimes it’s a new skill or anticipated staffing changes. Whatever it is, it flies out of the white oblivion and into my path, which means that it is mine to which to adapt. Those moments are really scary. In fact, the great white expanse of the unknown is scary—and I think that’s what makes starting out in a career so difficult. Last year, I was talking with one of my younger friends about my plans for post-graduation…which consisted of a lot of hypotheticals and sorely lacked any concrete plan. After I ran through my spiel, she looked at me and said, “I don’t understand how you can be so okay with having no idea what you are going to do.” At that point, I wasn’t all that okay with not knowing where I was going, but I put on a brave face for everyone else around me…and maybe to convince myself that I was okay with it. But as I’ve continued driving through the whiteout, I’ve come to realize that life is about learning to be a smart driver. No, I’m not speeding ahead at 100 miles an hour in the slush, but I’m not inching along at less than 5 miles per hour either. I can’t see all the obstacles, but I can be ready to roll with them when they come my way. If I drive too quickly, I won’t have time to react, and if I drive to slowly, I may miss them all, but I may also spend longer on the road than I have to. About the Author  Patty Marra is a freshly graduated alumna of Marquette University, who is working on answering the question, “…what next?” She is navigating the ever-evolving hiring maze of today’s business environment, and sharing the pieces of knowledge she learns along the way. She loves social media, but appreciates a good face-to-face conversation. Long-term, she is looking to establish a career in marketing project management, and help everyone she can along the way. You can get in touch with her by email, or you can find more of her thoughts via herblog, Twitter, and LinkedIn.Does this sound familiar? Are you in the same situation? Have you been here before -- what's your advice for Patty? Please comment below. |
