You are in your last year of university. You’ve applied to many graduate positions but you secretly want that one role/type of role with (quite possibly) one of those big firms. This was true for me.
You might even get to the final stages of the interview process and think that you are this close to securing that job.
And then you don’t get it.
I know how you feel – I’ve been there too! It can be awful, you might even lose a little confidence, you might be anxious and think what will you now do with your life! You had a certain image of your life going down one direction, you hadn’t thought of it being anything other than that!
Trust me, it could be a blessing in disguise.
You never know what might happen throughout the long process of finding a graduate job. They take months to go through all the necessary processes and there could be multiple stages involved in finally securing a role.
The important thing is to respect and say yes to all opportunities and offers for interviews that come your way, and take them seriously.
Not landing that grad role with one of the big city firms was something I thought about often during the start of my career. I always thought it was something I had really missed out on – that it would set me back professionally because of all the opportunities and people I wouldn’t be exposed to, or worse, that I wasn’t ever good enough for those places.
Whatever twists and turns are taken throughout your career journey, you can never plan it out and think that it will happen exactly as you have imagined it. Personally, I am grateful that my career went down the new path I was paving for myself. Now, years after all the graduate intakes are through I have been able to hear from others’ experiences about working in one of the big firms for quite a few years, I realise that things have worked out for the better for me personally.
I put my all into the role I was fortunate enough to get. My job certainly was nowhere near one of the big firms, and not even in the city 😉 but I still did my best and I respected where I was.
I was able to gain great experience and move up the chain faster than I would have otherwise. And along with this came pay rises which happened a lot quicker than I would have thought! I also met wonderfully smart, creative, passionate and kind people along the way who were willing to help me grow in my career. In addition, I had a great personal and professional balance in my life which I greatly value. It certainly isn’t where I thought I would be, but I think it’s better.
