Written by: Kerry Marchment, PCC, CPCC

Schools over? Another box checked in a long list of accomplishments you will achieve throughout your life. Congratulations!  

Please take some time to celebrate your accomplishment, your dedication to the process, and the good times you had during your career as a student.   

Reflect on any failures (with self-compassion), in which you can learn from.

Now what? Debt? Looking for a job? What do you do now?  

First step, always, is to take a breath. It's the first step to grounding yourself and calming the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing you to get some clarity and be ready to take action.   

This feeling of overwhelm is just that, a feeling. It is not who you are. It is temporary. Feelings/emotions have a job, they could be telling you it’s time to take action of that which is under your control. 

What is under your control?

• Is your debt at the lowest interest rate available? If not , who will you reach out to find other options?   
• Is your resume ready to go? Do you need some assistance with this? Who do you know that may have some experience in this area?  Is there an agency associated with your school that could be of service?
• Are you networking with people within the industry you want to get in to? 
• Are you networking with people outside the industry?    
  • How will you do this?  
    • Make a list of the people you would love to connect with, and a timeline by which you will connect with these individuals.

What is not under your control?

The job market.

Perhaps nothing out there right now is exactly as you thought? Questions you may ask yourself:

• What else is out there that may fulfill your needs at this time? Where can you gain valuable experience? 
• How else can you earn money to work off your debt? What is exciting to you?  
• Is this an opportunity to do something a little off track as you look for the ‘dream career’? 

What are your values 

As you look for the right job for you, will you consider what is important to you? Your values? (Give this assessment tool a try)

• How will you honour these values?

• What values are non-negotiable?

• Which ones must you honour in order to feel like your best self?

• Do these values feel authentic, as opposed to representing what you ‘think’ you should value or what you use to value?

Set an intention, visualize what kind of future you would like.  

Lose the expectations of a straight line to get there - there is no perfect path in anything, it is ‘your’ path to create, learn and amend as you go.

Once you are feeling grounded, and settled in to do some reflection, I would direct you to a webpage called Woop for some great tools to build your own strategies and create a plan tailored to YOUR needs.

Whatever you choose, I would encourage you to break it into "bite size" pieces, setting yourself up for success with each piece accomplished.

You've got this! Keep moving forward, taking action, focusing on your strengths (assessment tool), looking for ways to learn from any failures and always… breath. 

For the month of March, Andrew Huberman’s podcasts and YouTube channel is offering tools and the science behind Managing Stress & Anxiety.  

Kerry Marchment is a life and leadership certified coach. She is an accredited Professional Certified Coach (PCC), certified through the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and received her training through the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) obtaining her certification as  a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC).