Life after University | Getting Used to a 9-5 Job
University is a funny old place. It makes you feel like a grown up, like you're in the big wide world, and in a sense, you are! It's something you've never done before, with people you've never met before, and a situation you've never been in before. From moving to a new city, to learning new things, to meeting new people, it's all a very scary prospect before you actually go and do it. But once you're there, you'll blink and it'll be over in a flash! The thing about this is that it all goes by very quickly and before you know it, you're walking across a stage in a ridiculous robe collecting a certificate that you spent three years working hard to get, only to then be kicked out into the 'real world'.
Don't get me wrong, some universities are better at letting their students go than others, and by that I mean the support you receive in terms of getting a job will either be fantastic or non-existent. The thing here is if you don't ask, you don't get. If there isn't evident support at the end of your university journey, then ask someone for it instead, especially if getting a full time job is something you're particularly worried about - that's what I did.
When I finished university, one of the first things I did was get an internship through them. I worked 9-5 four days of the week, but the benefit here is that because I did the internship through the university, I got paid for doing it as well! I say I did it through the uni, I still had to apply for the internship, much like a normal job and I even did a telephone interview with the company I was doing my internship with. The university was just the middle man in the whole thing, almost like a point of contact.
That internship helped me to get used to commuting (as I lived in Nottingham and had to commute to Leicester through the duration of my internship), it helped me understand the importance of earning a decent wage (as I also worked part time at a supermarket chain in the evenings) but above all it gave me experience, and that's how I got my first 9-5 job.
I wrote a blog post detailing my top tips for being an intern, together with some of my own experiences - in case you're interested, I'll leave that here. You can also read about what I learnt during the five years I worked in retail - Lessons I've Learnt Working in Retail.
Getting used to the 9-5 life
Despite what many people will say, it's not easy to fall straight into that routine when you're so used to working a part time evening job and having the day beforehand to yourself. Not only that, but university isn't 9-5 every single day of the week. Some days you have a 9am lecture and you'd have to get up early and attend it, but other times your day may not start till one in the afternoon, you don't really have a routine, especially if you're always in the library or doing some kind of work outside of lectures and seminars.
I was part of the swimming and triathlon club back then, and that gave me some form of routine for the weeks that were a bit more up in the air. Not only that, but it also made me more disciplined, in more ways than one. Not only was I utterly committed to training, I also watched what I was eating and had more of a schedule in terms of times I ate, times I studied, times I was at uni, times I was training etc. So to go from that to nothing was a bit of shock to begin with, but I didn't realise exactly how much that would help me until I started a full time 9-5 job.
When I first started my job, regardless of the fact I'd done an internship for a short while, I was knackered after my first week, as neither my body nor my brain was used to waking up at 7am, working hard non-stop all day, going to the gym, juggling life with my boyfriend, my family, my friends and having time for myself. But this is just something you learn to juggle - I adapted relatively quickly to my new way of life and I found myself loving every minute of it, and nearly a year later, I still love the routine I'm in.
Don't get me wrong, there are days where I wish I could stay in bed a little longer (which I could do as we have flex-time at my current place of work), or I'm feeling a bit under the weather and I then have to force myself out of bed and into work, but once I'm there and getting on with things, then I feel absolutely fine!
The only thing is, I find myself getting a lot more tired in the evenings, like I've burnt myself out for the day, which is understandable after a long day at work and everyone finds that. The trick is adapting to it and making it work for you :) I love my job, and I can't really see myself doing anything else now and you can learn to feel that way too.
Posts I've done about university and life after it:
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I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it was of some use to you! Let me know what your experiences were getting used to working a 9-5 job after university. I'll be back again soon with another blog post for you, so keep your eyes peeled :) until next time!
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Today was my second day at the internship that I got through my college, and it converts into a job after I graduate which is great. But I can already see myself struggkust with the timings. My classes started at 8am and went on to 4pm somedays with only two small breaks, so that's not the problem. The problem is that I just found out my internship is 9:30 to 6:30 from Monday and... I'm not looking forward to it haha.
ReplyDeleteHoping it'll ease off later on!