What’s Next For Recent Grads? — Experts Weigh In

We’re just about wrapped up with graduation season, and grads everywhere are anxious to break into the real world and figure out what’s next. Some are headed straight for the corporate world while others may take some time off to travel. Some will start off with internships and some will start their own businesses. We spoke to a handful of recent grads to see what’s next.

Here’s what they had to say…

“I just graduated from the University of Missouri – Columbia (Mizzou) this past May with a bachelor of science in parks, recreation and tourism with an emphasis in tourism development. I currently am employed as a marketing and planning intern at AnnaBelle Events & Jubilee Planning Studio for the summer. While this is a great internship program, when the summer is over I will have to seek a full-time job. I’m hoping to land a position in the tourism industry or even look into my options for a career in real estate as well.” –Taylor Brickey, Jubilee Planning Studio, AnnaBelle Events

“I’m planning for both the entrepreneurial route and the marketing route with a larger organization. My ideal route would be to start working on large branding and marketing projects with a larger organization. This could be accomplished either by working with a team under Empac Design or committing to a full-time position with a larger company. Between my experience working with a high-profile company and my education split between marketing and computer science, I feel like I may end up working with a larger company in the tech sector.” –Britton Lorentzen, Empac Design

“I am an American College of Sports Medicine – Certified Personal Trainer and Founder and Owner of the Heart Move Collective. After just recently graduating in May from Malone University in Canton Ohio, I have decided to pursue the entrepreneurial route. My goal is to use my education to pursue building my small business, Heart Move Collective, as we use fitness and nutrition to help the world combat the monsters of depression and anxiety.” –Emily Harsh, ACSM CPT, Heart Move Collective

“I’ve decided to take the entrepreneurial route. I spent the last two years of my university degree learning about how to start and run an online business so I could help my friends and family members start their own businesses. I then realized that I could teach others how to do the same, and that started my entrepreneurial journey. I’m working part-time as I grow my business but I’ve given myself a deadline, and by end of the year I will be employed full time in my online business!” –RJ Connell, Freedom 2 Choose

“I graduated in April from Brigham Young University in public relations and business management. For me, it was really important that I get a job as soon as possible. My wife still has another year of Nursing school and we’re trying to graduate debt free, so we needed the income. During my last semester I was constantly interviewing with different companies so that I could have a job lined up before graduation. I’ve loved working full time so far, and am excited to see if grad school makes sense in the future.” –Alec Sears, Communications Specialist at Frontier Business

“I just graduated in May 2017 with an MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. I just launched my own eCommerce business, Casablanca Exchange, whose mission is to bring Moroccan style to the world. I wanted to pursue my passion and so I launched my website and have been growing sales every day since.” –Erica El Hilali, Casablanca Exchange

“I am a 2017 graduate with a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Montana. I accepted a position as the Marketing Manager at a tech startup in Seattle called Geniuslink before my graduation date. I wanted to start hard after graduation and dive right into what I’d been working so hard for the past five years. With the goal to become a world-class marketer and I feel that Geniuslink couldn’t be a more perfect place to start working towards that goal.” –Meg Dowaliby, Marketing Manager at Geniuslink

“I started a two-year Masters Program in the field of Bioinformatics, at The University of Toledo, with hopes of achieving an industry job. Personal genomics companies like 23&Me are all the rave nowadays and are continually hiring people with Bioinformatics degree, so I envisioned working for someone like them after graduation. However, I ultimately decided to continue my education and pursue a Ph.D. I’ll be moving 578 miles away to Ames Iowa in about a month, and attending Iowa State’s Doctoral Bioinformatics Program, in hopes of better career opportunities.” –Basil Khuder, Bioinformatics Student

“I’m finishing my MBA in Sports Management from UCAM; a sports focused University in Murcia Spain 2017. I am positioning myself to be in the entrepreneurial sector of Sports Management while keeping a part-time job with a company in Bilbao Spain called KimetSports. I did my undergraduate work at San Francisco State University studying Creative Writing in 2014. Aside from that I’m managing a non-profit called Circulo Literario which values the opportunity to connect writers and artists of Latin America with similar tribes of people in the United States and beyond, while also working as a consultant for my father’s offices BarbieriCPA.” –John R. Barbieri, KimetSports, Circulo Literario, BarbieriCPA

“My name is Jaclyn DiGregorio and I graduated from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business this past May. I am excited to share with you that I am launching my startup, CUSP Three Six Five full-time. After publishing my first book in April, The CUSP Method: Your Guide to Balanced Portions & a Healthy Life, I knew that this passion I had for living a healthy lifestyle was shared among millions of people. But, at the same time, so many people across the world are still constantly struggling with fad diets and quick fixes. The CUSP Method teaches people how to live a long-term healthy lifestyle using what I like to call “rule-free lifelong nutrition.” –Jaclyn DiGregoria, CUSP Three Six Five

“I am a recent graduate of a 4 year business degree in Dublin Institute of Technology. After spending five months hunting for a full-time marketing job (trying to avoid having to do an internship) I was lucky enough to bag myself a Marketing Communications Executive role in a fantastic tech company called Blueface. I have been working here the last month and absolutely love it!!

I have some great tips for any other recent grads that are struggling to get a well paying job without having to work for free for 6 months prior to it!! Especially in the marketing/PR industry.” –Michelle McKeown, Marketing Communications Executive at Blueface

“I am the owner of the start-up tutoring company, Suprex Tutors Houston, and I graduated from my MBA program three years ago.

After graduating, I decided to pursue my side hobby, tutoring. I had already put in two years of part time work in my hobby but soon decided to spend 40 + hours a week.” –AJ Saleem, Academic Director at Suprex Tutors Houston

“When I was in my second year of law school at USC, a friend approached me about working on a startup related to the improvement of healthy lifestyle habits because of how big of a role my own healthy habits played in my life.

What started out as sort of a hobby in working to develop a mobile application has turned into a full-fledged self-help company with multiple products and services related to helping anyone improve their habits. The hustle, heart and daily struggle it takes to get up and work as hard as you possibly can knowing that there’s no security involved in what I do has become my greatest motivator and life teacher.

The idea of a salary and being capped both in terms of how much I can make and the fact that my work output is not directly correlated with my earnings is something I never want to deal with. Even though I passed the bar last year and spent an extra year studying tax law at NYU, I will probably never practice.

We’re doing really cool stuff with Habit Nest right now! Our Morning Sidekick Journal has been pretty successful – over 3,000 journal sold since October.” –Ari Banayan, Habit Nest

“My name is Allison Moraga and I am recent graduate from Florida International University, located in Miami, FL. I majored in public relations with a minor in general marketing. In PR, there are a substantial amount of job opportunities but the competition is intense. Throughout my undergrad, I interned at 4 different PR firms and those experiences allowed me to have a portfolio that I could demonstrate to potential employers.

In May, I secured a job at ANDER & Co, a full-service public relations and digital strategy firm headquartered in Miami, Florida. This is my second week on the job and I feel fortunate to have found a stable position where I am empowered and challenged to surpass my own expectations.” –Allison Moraga, ANDER&CO

Looking to start your own business? Need trademark or copyright help? How about a Registered Agent? Give us a call at 877 692 6772, or visit us at www.MyCorporation.com.