Over the course of the academic year, The Lions’ Pride will highlight its graduates in a series of articles. The articles will update and inform the community on life after graduation.
A four-month search for a job following graduation with no leads seems like a typical recent college graduate’s experience. This was the situation faced by one of Saint Leo’s recent graduates, Brian Cerosky, a former history major.
Cerosky is currently employed as a Creative Production Artist with Amalie Oil Company (The name holders of Amalie Arena). Cerosky’s job entails proofreading, editing and writing consumer labels for their motor oils. After an intense six-month search for a job, he was able to land this job in an unexpected field only after changing his prospects and rebranding himself.
Originally, Cerosky was seeking a job as a teacher; however, he found it difficult to tap into the field.
“I was planning on becoming a teacher, and I searched for four months incapable of finding anything solid in that field. I decided to rebrand myself in mid to late June when prospects were looking bleak teaching wise. I simply examined myself and my skills in terms of what I’m capable of and went with what made the most sense, that being writing,” said Cerosky.
He landed this job in September just two to three months after opening up to new job opportunities and re-branding himself. This brought up his job search total to more than six months. Cerosky began to describe the experience of the lengthy job search and what it took out of him to find a job.
“Finding a job is, simply put, soul-draining. There are a lot of ups and downs emotionally when it comes to job seeking, one week you have two or three interviews you believe you nailed, and the next you get absolutely nothing, no call backs, no follow-ups, nothing,” stated Cerosky.
He mentioned key lessons he learned while searching for a job that he would like students to know.
“The key I suppose is to stay determined and always seek to do something that may be a bit outside your comfort zone. If your first few options fail, don’t be afraid to rebrand yourself and sell yourself to hiring managers in other areas you otherwise couldn’t see yourself doing, you might just get the job.”
He mentioned what helps in college to do what he was able to do with re-branding himself.
“My major (history) allowed me to brand myself as an analyst, writer and researcher devoted to facts and presenting them in a way that was compelling and persuasive. The newspaper helped me with this as well. Anyone seeking to land a job after college as any sort of writer, editor or anything of the sort should look to work for the newspaper, it will take you far,” said Cerosky.
He talked about what helped him for his job search and what advice he would give, but he also talks about one of his biggest regrets involving the job search as well; he felt that he didn’t fully prepare for his job search before graduation.
“I regret taking as much time off as I did and I regret the sheer amount of slacking I did. You really need to hit all the job sites and postings immediately after graduation: Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Monster and more,” said Cerosky. “You should have a resume completed and up to date far before you graduate. Do not wait. You need to be aggressive, quick and tenacious. Capitalism waits for none and second chances are few and far between.”
He advises seniors in college to make sure they prepare for job-search after college by getting accustomed to interviewing and by starting to craft their resume, but he also talked about a feeling faced by a lot of recent college graduates.
“My anxiety is through the roof considering now I would have to pay back what I owed, and I’m not sure how I’m going to do that yet. If you don’t have debt coming out of college, consider yourself very lucky and be humble.”
Nevertheless, his goal right now is to do his best at this current company and really show himself as a hard-working employee.
“I want to do well in my company, so, for now, my career goals will be completing my work to the best of my ability and skill on time. I want to show up every day early, eager, and awake. I want to feel like I’m needed,” said Cerosky. “Down the line, I would like to lead my own writing and editing team. My current position will obviously help out as many of them can be achieved by simply having any job. Start out small and work your way up.”
Finally, Cerosky mentioned what he wished he knew while he was in college, such as seizing the moment.
“I wish I knew just how much could change in just 3-4 years when attending University. I wish I knew how fast it would go, and how I’d be wishing I could go back and do it all over again. I wish I knew how much your life will change after college. Enjoy your time while you still can. It sounds cliche, but I mean it.”
