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AGCAREERS.COM
AG & FOOD CAREER GUIDE
C
lara Boles sat down with
Elizabeth Byers-Doten, Assistant
Director of Academic Excellence and
Transformational Education, College of
Agriculture at Purdue University, to chat
about life past college and managing
a full-time career. Elizabeth’s role at
Purdue is to help students discover
different opportunities in the college
of agriculture to help transform their
leadership experience.
You graduated and are starting your
full-time career, entering the so-called
real world—how different can this be?
Personally, I didn’t realize how big of
a life change this would be, and I don’t
believe I am the only one who feels that
way. Some of the following tips may help!
Go in with an Open Mind
Elizabeth gave this advice: “Go into
this process with an open mind and be
honest with yourself. Make sure that
your values align with your company and
coworkers.”
Just because you are graduating and
you might not have homework every
night, remember the learning is not over
yet! You might think you know everything
about this role, but you do not, and that
is okay! Find a way that works for you to
retain all this information. For example,
I took notes on my computer during
my training, and I still reference these
notes after being with the company for
over a year. Keep your mind open to all
opportunities and possibilities!
Set YouR Boundaries
Early
In college you are a student 100% of
the time. It is common to be checking
your email at dinner or doing homework
at midnight. Realize a full-time job has a
start and end time. Elizabeth mentioned
that a boundary she set for herself early
is not having her work email on her
personal phone. If you are going to be
tempted to check your email at night,
simply do not put the app on your phone,
or turn off notifications. Once you open
that door of answering emails or being
available to coworkers or clients outside
of work hours, it is going to be much
harder to shut that door later in your
career.
But, realize for some agricultural
roles this just won’t be the case, for
example, if you are a veterinarian, you
could be on call at certain times, or a
seed salesperson is obviously going to
be much busier ahead of the planting
season. There are also ways to set
boundaries for these types of roles, but it
may just look a little different.
Don’t get
too comfortable
This is a very new stage of life, so
don’t get too “comfy!” Make new friends
and try to get to know your coworkers!
Elizabeth told me, “I have found one
of the best ways to work with different
generations is to have mutual respect for
each other.”
Try to think of this as a growing
opportunity and learn something!
Having friends / mentors at work
makes learning new things easier and
asking those questions less frightening.
Feeling uncomfortable is part of the
change and growth; learn to be okay
with those feelings.
Remember to keep asking questions.
I know at one point when I was hired, I
almost got nervous to ask a question,
because I thought to myself, “If they
hired me to do this job, I should know
what I am doing, right?” WRONG! Yes,
you should have some idea of what you
are doing, but every company does
things a little bit differently. It is 100%
normal for someone to ask questions.
Wouldn’t you rather ask and clarify than
do something wrong?
You actually have
been preparing
If you really think about it, you have
been preparing for this life change! You
went to class, which is now your “work,”
and you were involved in activities
outside of class, like clubs, sports,
church, volunteering, which are now your
“social life.” The time management you
learned in college by balancing these
things in your life is now paying off!
Work may sound repetitive. We
don’t get a spring break or that summer
break we all dreamed of in school. Make
sure you are going into a company that
aligns with giving their employees the
deserved time off. Plan your time off
and look forward to that trip or even a
“staycation.”
KEEP DREAMING
Elementary school, high school,
college, dream career, okay…. now
what?? I am a goal driven person. I LOVE
looking towards the next thing. So, when
I got a job with a company that I could
see myself working for over the next
fifty years, I freaked out a bit. And to be
honest, I feel like I probably wasn’t the
only one.
When talking with Elizabeth, she
said, “It is so important to still dream and
have goals, and let other people know of
those goals.”
Everyone’s goals don’t look the same.
They could be saving money for a trip,
being a board member, or even finding a
volunteer activity they love!
It is so important to keep dreaming!
AG
by Clara Boles, Digital Marketing Coordinator, AgCareers.com
How Do I Handle This Full-Time Job?
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Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash