Graduation Didn’t Go Your Way? Here’s How You Get Back on Track!

You’ve waited for this day for a long time, probably since your first day of school. The day when you can finally go out into the world and live your life.

Graduating is one of the many bittersweet moments of life. Bitter because you’re going to be leaving behind the security of school and sweet because you can finally go out into the world and prove yourself. However, there is one thing that can throw off this fine balance in favour of bitterness. Any guesses?

RESULTS.

You got that right. There’s nothing worse than an alphabet (grade) to mess your dreams and plans up. From the day that you penned your last paper to the day of the results, the worry about how you’ve fared has probably been nagging you! While you may have pushed it to the back of your mind all this while, now there is no escape. While most of you can finally bid that worry goodbye, for the others who haven’t fared well, it’s just the beginning of a whole new worry.

If you belong to the latter, this one’s for you, buddy. We just want you to know that as much as your worry-sick mind and relatives push you to think about the “I-should-haves,” it’s better to focus on the “I-should-now“.  Stressing over your results is not going get you anywhere. And that’s exactly what you need right now, someone to help you understand what your next steps should be. Lucky for you, we’ve got your back. Things might seem bleak now but there are still plenty of ways you can still go about living your dream. Here’s how:

1. Don’t let anyone bring you down.

As much as you would like to be left alone, this is that time of the year when all the known and never-heard-of relatives make their presence felt by asking about your score and giving you advice that might help or hurt you. It’s okay, you can’t relly escape it. So, just listen to everything they have to say, but don’t let anything negative get to you. Especially, if they say your dream job is unattainable or that you can’t study further. You can do both. Trust us, all you need to do is tweak your path to reach your goal.

2. Be clear about your goal.

Maybe this score is a blessing in disguise. If you were having second thoughts about your chosen career path, now is the time to sit down and re-evaluate what it is that you want to do. If it seems like it’s getting too confusing, you can come to us. Our Assessment will help you understand where your interests and abilities lie and accordingly help you find your true calling so you can not only enjoy but also excel at what you do.

3. Start focusing on getting experience.

“When employers do hire from college, academic skills are not their primary concern. Work experience is the crucial attribute that employers want even for students who have yet to work full-time,” says Peter Cappelli, a Wharton professor and the author of a new paper on job skills.

While marks are important, about five years from now what your employers will care about is your work experience and your skills. Start looking for internships in your field to develop the soft skills for your chosen career. Not all the internships will convert into a job so you have to keep trying until you find the one that does.

4. Hold the door for education.

Don’t give up on further studies yet. Your chosen college might have a high cut off but there are many colleges and universities that don’t. There are also some universities and colleges who don’t look at your graduation score but have their own entrance tests.  If you want to pursue an MBA, there are also nation-wide tests like MAT and XAT that have a minimum cutoff for their eligibility. Don’t hesitate if the college that accepts your score is in another city. In fact, this will only add to your kitty of experience and skills. With more exposure and real-life problems to deal with, you will be more than ready for your future.

5. Go the unconventional way.

You can find a lot of certificate courses online and offline which are short term and give you the knowledge you need for your career. These courses are designed in such a way that you can complete them at your own pace so that you can do these courses and work at the same time. You can find plenty of courses at Coursera, Udemy, etc. Also, look at correspondence courses from universities like Indira Gandhi National Open University – IGNOU.

6. Build your soft skills.

Start looking for workshops that offer to teach you soft skills which are required in every job. You have workshops that teach you an advanced level of working on Microsoft office – New Horizons and Koenig Solutions or workshops that teach you the phrases and the language – Talk Corporate and Busuu – you should use during interviews and when you are in a professional setting. Once you’ve figured out which field you want to get into, look for the right skill-building workshop and start learning!

7. Second time’s the charm.

If you still feel like you could’ve done better and don’t mind taking a drop year, consider applying for a re-exam. This way you can work towards getting a better score and stick to the path that you had envisioned for yourself.

Underperforming in crucial exams can be very disheartening. More so because we have always been taught to give marks more importance when it comes to education. However, we must rise above this thinking. While yes, good marks tend to open more doors for you, these doors are the more conventional ones. There are still options available for you. You just need to know where to look for them. We hope this article helped you find a way to fulfil the dream you have been nurturing for a while now. If you need any help, know that we are here for you. All the best!