Transition to the labour market

Source: https://careerzone.universiteitleiden.nl/en/develop-your-skills/application-skills/from-study-to-labour-market Parent: https://careerzone.universiteitleiden.nl/en/develop-your-skills/application-skills/networking/mentor-network/

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Transition to the labour market

And then the time has come. You've graduated and are ready to the transition to the labour market.

After all those years of hard study, many students look forward to the next phase of their lives. Yet, you can have mixed feelings about this period. You have your diploma, are happy and proud that it’s over, but at the same time you might find it a difficult time. Everything is changing.

Transition phase

The transition to this new phase of your life isn’t easy for everyone. You might experience all sorts of emotions or thoughts, such as:

• A feeling of sadness about the loss of your student life and perhaps even your group of friends: everything will be different.
• The feeling of having no free time left; of losing your freedom once you get a job.
• Perhaps a tendency to postpone this and continue studying (to avoid responsibility of make choices for a while).
• Having no idea how to proceed, what you want, and feeling stressed about that.
• Uncertainty about whether it will all work out.
• Feeling pressure / expectations from others, or the feeling of having to perform. That you’re essentially signing an employment contract at the same time you receive your diploma.

In short, it’s a transitional phase that can be quite difficult, and some even call it the well-known 'black hole' after graduation. If this resonates, you’re not alone.

Take your time

Despite this, try to take the time to enjoy the graduation period and the celebrations and the feeling of satisfaction and recognition for everything you have achieved. \ Perhaps you will travel, go on vacation, or do other things before you start your first job after graduation. Whatever you do, give yourself the time to experience all the positive and negative feelings that come with this transition phase, literally, the transition from your student identity to your work/professional identity.\ \ Give yourself time to adjust to this new reality - transitions are rarely quick and painless! Besides, it might take a while to find a suitable job and that’s perfectly fine.

You're not alone in finding this phase difficult. Read more about this in the blogs below:

• Life after college
• Tips for dealing with Post-Graduation Anxiety
• Navigating Post-Grad Anxiety

Discuss your situation with others and ask for help, when necessary, from family and friends, but also from the career advisors of Career Services.

Career services

Especially if you find it difficult to determine what you want to do after your studies and how to approach it, you can still contact the Career Service for support up to a year after graduation.

You may already have completed the Career Planning step-by-step plan, but if not, we invite you to start with it. These modules can help you to make the transition to the job market as smooth as possible.

In three steps, you'll learn more about yourself and the job market, and your CV will be addressed. You'll take tests and assignments, and you'll receive tips and tricks.

What you learn from this step-by-step plan can be applied immediately to your first job after graduation, but also to the next steps in your career.

Your first job

And so you have landed your first entry-level job and your first day approaching. You might need some tips for that.

• Tips for your first working weeks
• Tips for communicating in the workplace.

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