By Gabby Carlson | Echo
Emily Cho '16 Exercise Science
Absolutely not! And I find this quite hilarious. I graduated just last year with my B.S. in exercise science, so I figured I would be working in the fitness industry by now. However, within this last year I've been exploring some other routes as I've been a barista at Starbucks, worked at a YMCA and worked as a health coach/screener. I actually started my new job as a Project Coordinator for a big technology company this week! If you would've told me that I wouldn't be working in the fitness industry a year ago, I would've called you crazy.
Taylor does a really good job with providing students with a wide variety of opportunities to get involved with, as long as students take advantage of them. I feel like because of some of the opportunities I was able to be a part of (study abroad, ministry programs/volunteer, research, etc.), I've been able to have more success interviewing with different companies. I noticed that companies and interviewers really value those unique experiences, because it says more about who you are as a person. My one big takeaway I've learned is how to ask GOOD questions. I remember many of my professors stressing how to go about doing this, and I didn't realize how significant it is in the real world. Whether it's everyday conversations with friends or co-workers or breaking down a problem to solve, asking good questions is key, no matter the field you're in.
Two main things: 1. You MUST be open-minded. You will have expectations about how you think something will be or how you think it should be or how you want it to be, and most of the time those expectations don't become reality immediately. Some of them might! But probably not all of them. If you get your dream job-congrats! But if not, you can't be so hard on yourself, and you can't lose all hope. Do NOT compare yourself to other people's career paths or "success." Take every detour or "no" as positively as you can, learn from it, work at it, improve and try again. It's through those detours and "no"s that you might end up finding your other dream job, but you just have to be open-minded . . . which leads me to 2. REFLECT! No matter what stage of life you're at or what you have going on, take time to reflect on who you are, where you want to go and how far God has brought you to where you are. Through those reflections you may realize you want to try something new.
My senior year at Taylor I lived in Wolgemuth, which was great and so much fun . . . Now I'm living back at home with my family, and it has definitely taken some time to get used to. It's not ideal, but it is the smartest thing to do for me financially, and it's still good to spend time with my family. The other main change I've had to adjust to is missing my Taylor friends and community. During my time at Taylor I was able to make friends from all of the United States and world, and it was so fun and easy to run down the hall or across the street to see someone and hang out. Now with friends from all over, I definitely miss that sense of community and accessibility to spend time with friends. So I've definitely learned how to improve my "keeping in touch" skills with friends!
