- The first and most central point is that — this page title notwithstanding — there is no simple, formulaic way to find a job or a career after graduating. Almost all degrees at the Claremont Colleges are not pre-professional degrees, and therefore there will be a transition period for you post-grad.
- But you should take heart, because many have already walked the same path as you and we can learn a lot from their experience.
- Perhaps the single biggest piece of advice we can offer is: don’t avoid the question about “what to do after college.” It’s scary (of course it’s scary!) but you just give the fear power by not addressing it. You will see below that there are many low-stress options to start investigating things below that you can do from the comfort and safety of your bedroom, so start there.
Some suggested steps, and guidance:
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- The first step is to give yourself some context about what others have done.
- You can look at where some of our LGCS grads have gone over the years: our LinkedIn group can provide a quick overview, and you can read more in-depth narratives, where we interview LGCS grads about their transitions out of college and into their careers.
- You can also look more generally at what kinds of careers people have gone into in your field or main areas of interest. A nice overview is given in short form here for linguistics, and the Linguistic Society of America has a aggregated resources on non-academic jobs toward the bottom of this list of resources.
- It is easy to think that fellowships like Fulbright or Watson are a solution to what to do after graduation; they are, but they are only short-term solutions. Even if you are considering graduate school, you still need to be thinking about what you would like to do long-term. So considering these possibilities is valuable but mostly just delays addressing the question.
- Once you identify some main areas of interest, a good strategy (especially for seniors) is to contact someone who works in those areas and arrange a phone interview for you to learn about how they ended up where they are. Sagepost47 is helpful for this, as is our LinkedIn group, and you can also consult SagehenConnect to find links to Pomona alumni. But the person you interview doesn’t have to be a Claremont Colleges graduate. If you need help figuring out how to contact someone, or what questions to ask, consult with Elizabeth (elizabeth.contreras@pomona.edu); she can give you some ideas about how to make that leap.
- SaghenConnect has also set up a mentoring program (SageCoaches); once you have made an account on the site, you can read about getting a SageCoach here.
- Consult the Pomona CDO resources (or, the career development office on your own campus).
- As you are processing these questions, in addition to using the resources above we also welcome you to talk to LGCS faculty/staff. Our department culture around post-grad is that we are enthusiastic about students going into a broad range of careers, and we want to help you find your way to a post-grad situation that works well for you.
- Learning about various pathways into careers will give you a sense of possibilities for your own situation. It will also help you address immediate next-steps after graduation.
- There is no formula to finding a post-graduate career. There are vastly different paths people take, and vastly different careers that they end up in. Your education has equipped you very well to take the next steps, but the clear path that education through college provides dissipates at this point, and you have to be more intentional and proactive about finding your next steps. This can be terrifying, but we have seen our previous students in your same situation go through the transition into thriving careers on the other side, and we are confident you can do the same.
- The first step is to give yourself some context about what others have done.