What Do You Do Now?

Over the last four years, I conveniently hid under the shell of “studentship”. Whenever I was faced with the “what do you do” question (which wasn’t really often), it was always a straight-forward, obvious response. Well, good things surely come to an end don’t they?

Now you’re done with school so what is it that you do? Too many times this year, I’ve been faced with this question and each time I’d stutter or beat around the bush. It was embarrassing! But then you’re a fresh graduate, no defined job yet so what do you do?

You see, this question is simply a professional way of asking “who are you?” which is probably an even more demanding question. However, your job defines to a large extent who you are and vice versa (who you are defines what you do). If you’re just another country man looking to put food on the table then you would be doing just about any and everything that comes your way and we can’t exactly define that, right? But if you’re aware of your worth and unprepared to settle for less, then you’ll aspire to do so much more and God will open up the universe for your sake.

So here are a few steps to finding an answer to that disturbing question:

Discover who you are by asking yourself these questions. What makes me tick? What are my goals? What am I passionate about? What consumes my mind most of the time?

Discover your talent. By talent I mean that skill that you were born with and not a skill you learnt sometime. Your talent is not necessarily singing or acting, it could just be something you’ve always overlooked. For instance, you could be exceptionally good at making people happy when they’re in their worst moods. You didn’t learn to do that. It’s a gift you very born with. (I should post an article on talents soon. yay or nay? – kindly leave a comment below)
Create a link between your passion and your talent. Well, sometimes the link already exists; for instance, if you were born with an amazing voice and you love singing then that’s it! Other times you have to create it; for instance, if you’re a born problem solver and you’re passionate about talking to people, create technical problem scenarios in your head, offer solutions and blog about them!
Now that you’ve got a blend, give it a professional name. Oftentimes, this is the most tasking part. What do I call a “making people happy” skill? or what do I do with a problem solving skill? Start by blogging! One blog post could be the solution to a thousand problems and it’s quite an easy route to take. Whatever it is, pick a term that sounds rather interesting and give people a reason to want to know more. Then you can briefly describe it in a few, short sentences. If you’re looking to start a business, you could simply say – “I’m an aspiring entrepreneur in the X or O industry” that does it. This may not be a permanent job title or a permanent answer to the ‘what do you do” question but it would work for you till you get a more defined path and letting people know who you are while trying to answer the question could open doors to opportunities in line with your dream.