There’s no way around it; life can be tough for our kids when they graduate college. They’ve spent the last few years in a bubble surrounded by peers and (mostly) protected from the outside world. So when they leave, the real world can come crashing down on them, hard.
But that doesn’t mean they’re set up to fail. Knowing and understanding the hurdles that they’ll come up against is half the battle. It’s much easier dealing with a life struggle when you’re aware that it might be on the horizon waiting for you. And the other half is productively tackling them.
As parents and guardians, educating yourself on the issues is a must. That way, you can prepare your teens in advance. And you’ll be waiting in the wings with tried and tested solutions when they need them. So what exactly can your kids expect to face when they finally graduate college and enter the big wide world?
Finding A Place To Live
Finding somewhere to live after college can be one of the biggest obstacles your kids will face after graduating. Likely, they won’t have a high-paying job, and buying real estate after college isn’t available for everyone. They may have to rent with friends or move back home while building a good deposit for a home.
It’s right to assume that this hurdle will play on their mind even before the ink is dry on their diploma. Finding a place to live isn’t always a simple process. There are lots of things to consider. Is it worth them moving to a new city for more job opportunities? Should they go smaller or share to save as much money as possible? Having a conversation about it sooner rather than later can help allay some fears they may have.
Solution:
Help your kids weigh up the pros and cons of all avenues they can take. Play an active part in helping them find what works for them and be open to the idea that what they want isn’t what you want.
If you can, start saving some money to give them long before they’ve finished college. That way, they can have a nice little bundle of cash that’ll enable them to buy property. It can feel far-fetched that your fresh-faced graduate would be able to own their own home, but the benefits are exponential. They’ll have a place to call their own that they can retreat to after a long day. And it gets them on the all-important property ladder.
Finding A Job
Getting a job in their major straight out of education is unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. And that’s ok, they have 40 years to nail down their perfect job, so it’s not worth worrying about.
In the current climate of the post-COVID world, finding a job is harder, full stop. It’ll take a lot of elbow grease and maybe even working some jobs that aren’t anywhere near what your kids want a career in. And you shouldn’t forget, they’re not the only ones entering the world of employment. Their whole class and thousands of others are getting on the job hunt all at the same time. So competition is fierce. And their little work experience and low skills mean they aren’t all that employable, so how can you help?
Solution:
While they might not have the skills or experience, there are ways to land a quality job. It’s all about writing the perfect CV. And you’ll have years of experience in this area. Use your expertise to help them build a CV that employers just won’t be able to ignore.
It can also pay dividends to get your kids into work before the end of their degree. Some subjects won’t give them much time to think about anything but their work and classes. But if they are doing classes that allow them some free time, encourage them to get a job. Even if it’s part-time. It’ll give them the jump on classmates, and they’ll have experience. That gives them the ability to climb the ladder quicker and get a better and higher-paying job at the end of their college stint.
Competition Among Friends
You teens will build friendships that’ll last into adulthood during their college years. But these friendships might be challenged as they leave the confines of student life. Because at least one of their friends will become successful almost instantly.
It happens to all of us. There’s always that one friend that will move somewhere new, and all the puzzle pieces will fit together instantly. They’ll get the perfect job, the perfect place to live, and they won’t be quiet about it. And if that doesn’t happen, friends from their course may go up for the same job. So they could face being pitted against people they want to succeed too.
Solution:
There’s no real solution to this problem. There’s always going to be competition. Whether it’s amongst friends or strangers, it will always be something they face. And it’s not just straight out of college that they’ll face it either. Competition in the workplace is a fact of life. It’s all about how they deal with it.
It’s best to just be there as continual support. They may need a pep talk or even just to vent. So be a kind ear ready to listen to your kids. And make sure they know that their time will come. It may not be as soon as they leave the college threshold, but success finds us all when we put in the work. And success in the workplace isn’t the only kind of success worth celebrating. If they’re happy and healthy, that’s celebration enough.
Loneliness And Stress
In college, your kids are surrounded by like-minded people their own age. It’s an echo chamber of comfort. But life in the wide world isn’t like that. Meeting up with people their age that they know is difficult. Not only because they’ll be busy with adult life. But also because they won’t have their college friends and people their age around them all the time. Making friends as adults is difficult. There’s no escaping that fact. But it’s probably something they don’t realize might happen.
Along with the loneliness of a new city without their friends, they’ll also face stress. A lot of it. As parents, you understand that adult life is hard. There are a lot of elements to balance in life, and it can be a learning curve.
Solution:
Help your kids seek out friendship and company. It’s easy for them to wallow alone when making friends is hard. Search out groups for them to join, encourage them to get out. And stay in contact. They might feign annoyance, but they’ll thank you for being a constant in their lives. And it’s always nice to have someone to talk to.
Handling stress is a little harder. Maybe you don’t handle stress well yourself, so how can you suggest stress-busting tactics? That might be true. But it doesn’t mean you don’t have tried and tested techniques learned over years of experience. Let them in on your hard-earned secrets and encourage conversation about it. The more comfortable they feel talking about stress, the easier they’ll find it to deal with it constructively.
An Obscene Amount Of Paperwork
You will be well aware of this hurdle your teens will face. Life comes with a hell of a lot of paperwork. A surprising amount of it. Taxes, healthcare, real estate contracts. Sometimes it can feel like you’re your own secretary. And you don’t get paid to do it. Not forgetting they also have their student loan to think about. Imagine being in debt before you’ve really started living?
Solution:
If they don’t stay on top of paperwork, the consequences will come around and bite them in the future. Make sure they understand the importance of it. They shouldn’t assume companies will have healthcare in the contract or that taxes will sort themselves out. They won’t. And not doing the important stuff most likely means they’ll get bad credit, or worse, someone knocking on the door asking for money.
Final Thoughts: Everything’s An Audition
The most helpful thing you can do for your teens is prepare them for what’s to come. Knowledge is power. They’ll get a lot of the knowledge they need from their college classes, but some of it only comes from experience. Something that you have in abundance. And while they might squirm with embarrassment as you teach them some life lessons, they’ll thank you when your experience helps them navigate life.
They should know that everything in life is an audition. Even when they land a job, their employers will continue to assess their suitability. They should continually put their best foot forward. You never know who you might meet and what doors they could open for the future.
And one of the most valuable bits of advice in life is that they should always be true to themselves. There’s nothing worse than getting halfway through life, realizing you made most decisions based on something that doesn’t make you happy. And happiness is more important than anything.
