Parents

Parents. As the age old saying goes; you can't live with them, you just can't live with them. But as some of you might find, once leaving Uni going back to live with the family is not something that appeals in terms of that-"i've paid my own bills and fed myself for three years and now you don't think I can get the bus at night"- kind of way.


From personal experience I try to counter this by rarely being in the house so I can therefore fully appreciate the time I spend with the family. However by living with your parents after finishing Uni you give up certain rights, such as privacy; particularly when it comes to job hunting. 
 This is something that the family will follow with great interest and boundless curiosity. If you haven't received some sort of article torn out from some newspaper spouting rubbish about 'graduate jobs' and the 'current financial climate' then count yourself very lucky.


To some extent the family has the right to do this as in one way or another they will have supported your education thereby causing a shift in emotions from: the immense pride they felt on your Graduation Day (which if you played your cards right should have bought you at least a few weeks of slacking off) to an underlying expectation that now is the time to be doing something with your life. This therefore leads me to my second rule.


Rule 2: Do not listen to your parents.


Funny Story: after coming down the stairs from a blissful lie-in though still having to go to work in the afternoon. I find a note from my father with references to the careers section of that days newspaper telling me to read it and "quickly" apply to the placements that they were suggesting. To be fair to him he does not have a clue as to what I want to do with my life nor does he know about 'My Plan'. But the placements were for various chain stores and the like. What annoyed me was that this was after the conversation I had had with my parents telling them how I felt retail wasn't really for me. Though I don't think it needs saying, I put that little note in the bin.
Second to the sage advice that your parents will give you is, not only their tact at making you feel like crap for not having found a job yet, but also their strange ability to know which of your friends have got jobs already as well as their constant reminders to you about this very thing.


The advice that your parents will give you about what lies ahead can often be soul-destroying. The innate ability each one of us, as sons and daughters, have is to want to please our parents. Though sometimes we protest that this is not the case it can sometimes cause you to take offers or follow certain paths that aren't really for you.


Though this can be true for many situations it also leads me to my third rule when finding a job:


Rule 3: Listen to your parents


Parents are wise and have lived a fruitful life full of experiences! Why would you ever take the advice of someone stuck in a full-time job, which to them feels like someone squeezing the air out of their lungs, and who constantly refers to a 'Plan' which hasn't progressed past the first stage!


In reality parents and other people you know will always put in their two cents about how to find a job and what to do. But it's up to you to pick and choose the advice that you take. Sometimes certain offers that you might get from parents and others may help in the long run but as long as you know that you have a goal that you want to achieve and you don't become complacent then that goal will always be achievable.
It's time to think 5-year plan now.