Career, Education
A Tips for Final Year Student
I’ve done more than 10 interviews, and none of these HR asked, “What is the meaning of your life?” or “What do you think of the critique of pure reason?” or any other philosophical question that I learned in college. I bet the same is true for you, who came from a related field — the humanities.
Choosing French literature as your major doesn’t make you a French native speaker. Choosing archeology as your major doesn’t make you Indiana Jones. Choosing philosophy doesn’t make you a monk. Therefore, in these four minutes, because my major doesn’t give me practical skills like engineering, medicine, and so on, I would like to share my strategy on how I can gain a full-time job before I even graduate.
I come from a middle-class family. This forced me to get a job quickly after I finished my education. At the end of my year as a student, I recognize that my major is sucks when it comes to career — occupation. It is not as prestigious as communication, economy, politics, or management. Hence, I began to think, “What should I do?”
After several moments, I got an idea. I need to collect as many certificates as possible in order to get a job. At that time, I was thinking that the main purpose of a company hiring people is to solve their problems. How the fuck can I solve their problem when I come from a major that loves to give problems to the world? Lmao.
I still got confused at first. I do research on what kind of skills, at least, align with my major. The first question is, What did I learn from philosophy? In general, I learn a lot about logical thinking, reasoning, analytical thinking, and how to see problems from a helicopter view. The second is, what did I do in my daily activities as a philosophical student? The answer is writing and reading. Therefore, I can conclude that creativity and writing are going to be fun, and I chose copywriting as a skill that I want to learn.
I took several courses from different online platforms — Skill Academy and Udemy. At that time, I also wrote on my medium. I remember that my medium followers are reaching 1K. Therefore, I make a writing portfolio in the shape of a magazine. I asked my friend Randu to help me work on the design. Thanks, Randu; I’m not surprised that now you are the designer of the Coldplay concert in Jakarta in 2023. I hope he doesn’t read this, lol.
Anyway, after gaining and collecting a copywriting certificate, I started to apply to several companies so that, at least, I could become an internship copywriter and gain experience and knowledge from the real world. I spent a month applying to about 100 companies. I sent my resume and portfolio, but no one accepted me. At the edge of my desperation, I feel like, “Fuck it. I just want to give up and finish my thesis.”
During that period, suddenly, my friend Adam sent me a message through WhatsApp and said, “Do you want to apply to my girlfriend’s office as a full-time copywriter? They need it urgently.” I take my time to think. They’re surely going to reject me again, like the others. It just doesn’t make any sense that I got rejected for a lot of internship opportunities but got accepted for a full-time position in which I only rely on my online certificate courses. However, I have nothing to lose. I sent my resume and portfolio to him. Maybe this is my last shot before deciding to stick to my previous plan — to finish my thesis and gain my bachelor degree.
On the next day, the HR department of the company contacted me. He asked me to come to her office to do an interview with the user. This will be my first ever interview in my life. Shit, I’m nervous as hell. I ask Jo (my little cousin) to drive me to the building. After the interview, I drank a cup of coffee while smoking in front of the building with my brother Jo. Not long after that, my cell phone started ringing. It is from HR. She directly gave me the offer letter with a Rp4.5 million salary per month. I directly hugged Jo. This is beyond my expectations. I call my mom and cry. This was one of the happiest moments of my life.
The moral of the story is that we should never underestimate the power of discipline and networking. Sacrificing my monthly snack money for online courses and the tiredness of learning to gain a certificate. I build this shit on my Medium brick by brick to create my own portfolio. Until now, I have gained a lot of followers, and Ivan Lanin has given me a clap on my article. I always respect my friends and keep good relations with them because we never know on which door God will lend us his hand.
And now you know. Have a great day…
