Transitioning from college to professional life isn’t as smooth and easy as one might think. Maybe that’s not surprising. Either way, going from full-time student to full-time employee constitutes a big step in the lives of many people.

I’ve had a few years now to reflect on this transition as a 2021 graduate who’s subsequently worked full-time and frequently asked to speak on this topic. I feel qualified to put my thoughts on paper. Hopefully my experiences can help emerging professionals make the change — as well as employers working with employees in this phase.

My first piece of advice would be to understand the change. When I was in my final year at Colorado Mesa University, I felt like I was doing 40 hours a week worth of activities. Between classes, clubs, student organizations, an internship and a campus job,
I believed moving into a full-time job would be no different. I didn’t understand the significant difference between doing 40 hours worth of stuff a week and working for eight hours straight, five days a week. In school,
I spread my activities throughout the day or even into the weekend. A night class here, an early morning meeting there. It would leave me time to do things at other times of the day — a mid-day cycle class or trip home to get a start on dinner, for example. But once I started my job and my day became compressed into eight hours straight of work, I realized how different my schedule had become.

This was an adjustment I hadn’t anticipated. I had to consider when I’d eat during the day, what I was going to have and when I’d have to time to prepare it. When would I have time to exercise? How much time? What would I do If I lost a gym membership? How would I make time to still see friends, focus on hobbies and relax? It was daunting to consider things that seemed so simple and built into my life. But taking time to really understand how my life changed was incredibly helpful.

Employers can support this as well. Maybe you have an employee who’s graduating, but staying on with your company. Offer advice about what helped you along the way. Explain what you do to balance work and life.

In addition to understanding the changes involved, it’s important for those transitioning from college to careers to build networks. In school, you’re surrounded by people and your social connections are established. You have class with certain people and pursue activities with certain groups. It’s built into your life. In the professional world, you lose that infrastructure of social connectivity. You have coworkers with whom you spend the days, but then what? You don’t get to go to the next thing with a fresh group of people.

Fortunately, there are a lot of great programs and organizations in the Grand Valley dedicated to networking and staying connected with people outside of work.
The Young Professionals Network offers a great way to meet people from different backgrounds. There might be groups specific to your job. I belong to the Western Colorado Human Resource Association and enjoy the opportunity to connect with other HR professionals in the area. Connecting with others and building a social network that doesn’t involve school will ease the transition.

Once again, employers can help. Do you know of a local group an emerging professional can join? An organization associated with your industry that might be beneficial? Encourage employees to participate.

There’s one last note, and I’d like to make it clear this is valuable for students on any path. Emerging professionals include more than students who take the traditional route from high school straight into college. You might be a non-traditional student making this transition for the first time or the fifth. You might have employees who are non-traditional students, but could still use support to make the jump.

No matter the situation, this is an important transition and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Madison Donnafield, a Society for Human Resource Management certified professional, is a human resource generalist at DWC CPAs and Advisors in Grand Junction. She also serves as programs director for the Western Colorado Human Resource Association. For additional information about the WCHRA, log on to www.wchra.org.