When I heard about this book,
Where’s the Map? Create Your OWN Guide to Life after Graduation, I knew I had to interview its authors. Here's a little insight from Beth Hood, co-author of this 20-something guide.
Tell me about your book and your backgrounds.Jim, my husband, and I are co-authors of a book called
Where’s the Map? Create Your OWN Guide to Life after Graduation, which is a book we wish we had when we were in college (or even before college).
It’s essentially a book of questions, which guides the reader through identifying their top values, interests, skills, and dreams for some of the most important decisions they will ever make. We address educational and career choices, in addition to other life choices, like “Where do you fit in?”, “Who do you want to spend your life with?”, and “What keeps you going?”. We are also college speakers and coaches and we are most passionate about empowering young adults to uncover and find their unique life paths.
We live on the Big Island of Hawaii, where we originally moved in our 20s because we didn’t know what we wanted to do with our lives, and we needed some space and time to sort it out. We were struggling at the time in jobs that were not the best match for us and we got disillusioned with life. So we did what any other self-respecting suburban couple would do, and we moved site unseen to Hawaii to care-take a solar-powered goat farm! That alone is quite a funny story, but the journey led us through a lot of career and self-exploration, which ultimately led us to writing
Where’s the Map?
What advice do you have for recent grads who still don’t know what they want to do? Any good broad jobs they can explore to get more of an idea of what they want to do?Regarding job choice, we would recommend finding something that matches at least one criteria for what you are interested in, whether this is within a potential career field of choice (even if you are starting out at the lowest rungs), or involves some element of the job description that you have identified as a major interest or skill. For example, you might have determined that you really want a job where you primarily are working outdoors. It will be hugely beneficial to you to try out a starter job with this criterion even if the other criteria don’t match. In the beginning, your job and career search is all about eliminating and honing in on what’s most important to you and your desired lifestyle. Sometimes what seems at first glance to be most important (at least on paper) will turn out in reality to be inconsequential or maybe even something that you really don’t like.
We also are huge fans of internships, and service opportunities (especially those that give you a stipend and defer your loans, see below) that give you a chance to explore some career possibilities without taking a huge risk or commitment. We wish everyone had the chance even before college to check out as many internships as possible because you can’t get an honest assessment of a career without being fully engaged in the work. Even internships are only brushing the surface, but at least you are getting a much better idea than you would from reading about a career or watching an actor on TV play that role. We met a university professor earlier this year who told us about a student of his who decided to be an innkeeper after watching the "Gilmore Girls." Real experience always trumps perception from a distance.
How can students take charge of what they want out of their 20s when they’re bogged down with bills and sometimes less-than-desirable living situations?Jim and I are both avid readers and explorers of life. Regardless of our job or financial situation we have always spent some amount of free time (even if it meant sacrificing some sleep) to learn more about who we are and what we want to do with our lives. What we have learned is that this process continues to some extent no matter how old you are. So regardless of what job you take right out of school, if you still don’t know what you want to do with your life, pick up a book, CD, on-line course, or hire a life coach to give you some assistance in honing in. If you really don’t have any money to make this happen, use the resources on the internet or at the library.
Many of the most successful people in this country have great stories of struggle where they were working long hours, supporting family, paying back huge loans,
and improving themselves at the same time. Their clarity and success came from this time of self-growth and self-improvement. What is career exploration, but a means of self-growth? We know that you may be burned out from all the studying, but get in the habit now to become a lifelong student of self-improvement and you will find yourself so much more satisfied down the road.
Another suggestion we often make to our clients is to form a personal Dream Team to help support them in taking charge of what they want out of life. This could include parents, mentors, faculty members, peers, or community members, but most importantly involves people who can provide encouragement, support, and networking opportunities in relation to a young adult’s educational and career plan. We offer a free download of our Dream Team Action Guide at
www.wheresthemap.com if you’re interested.
Part Two of this interview will be up shortly, along with your chance to win a copy of the book. Keep reading RRR!
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