For so long, we, the members of Gen Z, have been asked what we want to be when we grow up. We spend all of our school years getting prepared and excited to get and work in our dream job, then spend another four years in college gaining specialized skills to make us succeed. From the moment we’re able to understand what a job is, we get lost in the thought of working in our dream job

So is it surprising then that when we finally graduate and start our first job, of course, we’re disappointed? After 12-16 years spent looking forward to working and becoming productive members of society, and climbing the corporate ladder, we run head-first into the reality of our first jobs. Our first jobs are a beginning that requires more training, more education, lots of emails and paperwork, and becoming an indispensable member of a team, which was very different from the graduation speeches that told us we could finally go out and realize our dreams and shoot for the stars.

So what’s the issue? Is it that Gen Z’s expectations are too high? Or is the workplace the issue? According to a study done by Pew Research, a little over half of recent grads (mid-20s-early 30s) are “very satisfied” with their jobs. Comparably, only 37% of Millennials are as satisfied with their jobs. That being said, I don’t think Gen-Z is necessarily the issue. 

Instead, I think the issue is the expectations that we’ve heard for our entire lives. As I said, from the earliest ages, we members of Gen Z were consistently asked what we want to do, but we were seldom asked how we planned to get there. For example, when you talk to your young niece, nephew, or cousin at a family party and you ask them what they want to be when they grow up and they say doctor or veterinarian or lawyer, you don’t ask them what college they want to go to or how they plan to pay for grad school. Partially because they’re too young to know the answers to those questions, and partially because that’s not the point of asking them. 

At every point in the process, we’ve been pushed to go farther and do better– to get all A’s in high school, go to a good college, get that coveted internship, pursue a harder program of study, apply to a prestigious grad school. For what? So we can land our dream job at our dream company.

But there’s obviously much more to landing your dream job than just getting high grades and going to college– there’s work you need to put in once you’re out of college, and that piece of advancement and learning often gets forgotten when talking about our dream job.

Honestly, graduating from college is a huge transition, and working an entry-level job allows us to actually acclimate to our surroundings outside of a learning environment. We should use this time to establish new hobbies, find new communities to get involved in, make new friends, and figure out who we truly are. 

At the end of the day, success in non-linear and looks different or every individual, and it also looks very different post-graduation from how it looks in college. Unfortunately, the real world doesn’t have the same feedback loop that traditional schooling offers– we don’t receive grades and feedback to gauge our progress and success. So instead, we need to define these steps of progress on our own and focus on experiences and learning, rather than outcomes. 

Ultimately, as much as your first job may not meet your expectations, it’s always an opportunity to learn about your trade and make the most of your out-of-work hours. Focus on yourself and what you can do to meet your goals, and go from there. You’ll land your dream job someday.