Give Up the Jigsaw Puzzle

As a senior who will be graduating in May, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately researching prospective employers. I’m from California, but want to stay in New York after graduation. So obviously, I need to have this all figured out (job, money, apartment, etc.) before May 18 (cue the dramatic music). As one would guess, this process is rather stressful and time-consuming. Looking for a job is like having a job.  And even as someone who tries to steer clear of misleading websites like Craigslist, I often find myself sifting for hours through more legitimate websites like Monster.com , Career Link or the like. Though what I'm realizing about myself is that thinking about finding a job actually creates more stress and worry for me than finding the job itself.

This is not to say that my career hunt is half-assed (on the contrary, it is quite rigorous). But I’ve realized that I’ve been looking at my job hunt the wrong way. Rather than see my search as a jigsaw puzzle, in which I need to find all the pieces all at once (job, money, apartment, roommates, etc.), I need to be looking at my hunt as more of a map—a process that I take one step, one stage at a time.

So, if you find yourself in a similar situation—thinking more about what you have to do than actually doing it—I recommend that you give up the jigsaw puzzle and pull out your map; even if you are the world’s best puzzler, it’s impossible to get all of the pieces all at once.