Still Applying: Notes From a Fresh Graduate's Job Hunt

Nobody prepares you for the part after graduation. The waiting. I finished my degree ready to build things. I did not expect the hardest problem to be the code. It would be getting someone to give me the chance to write it.

I graduated cum laude. On paper it means I started strong. Most days it feels like standing at a locked door, knocking politely, and hoping someone waits on the other side.

The same day, on repeat

My mornings have a rhythm now. I open my resume, read the job description one more time, and rearrange words so they line up with what the company wants. Then I do it again for the next role, and the one after.

• Rewriting one resume to match each new job description
• Refreshing LinkedIn, Indeed, and JobStreet for anything tagged junior or entry-level
• Sending applications into forms with no human on the other end
• Checking my inbox for a reply and finding none most days

Some days I lose count of how many I sent. It stopped being ten, then fifty, then a number I do not say out loud because it makes the silence feel heavier.

Entry-level, but make it senior

The part with the sharpest edge is the wall almost every fresh graduate hits. The entry-level role quietly asks for two or three years of experience. You need the job to get experience, and the experience to get the job.

We're looking for someone junior, with a proven track record.

Underneath all of it sits the noise about AI. Every other post says half these roles will change or disappear. It is hard not to wonder whether there is still room for someone starting out, or whether I am training for a race whose finish line keeps moving.

You are not the only one

Scrolling TikTok one night, I found a post from someone who graduated with Latin honors and still had not landed a role after a month of applying. She wrote about spending whole days on Indeed and LinkedIn, editing her resume and cover letter, sending emails, and hearing nothing back. Reading it, I felt seen. The doubt I carried had a name, and it belonged to more of us than I knew.

The advice I hold onto

One comment under a TikTok post stayed with me. Someone shared advice they got from hiring managers during their own interviews, meant for anyone struggling to land a first job. The answer reframed the whole wait for me.

Not getting hired right away does not mean you are not capable. It means your opportunity has not arrived yet.

The rest of it reframed my degree. They said not to box myself into the one path my diploma names, and to stay open, because growth often comes from roles you did not expect. Your first job does not define your future. Your persistence, your willingness to learn, and your courage to keep trying do.

Why I keep going

So I keep building. Small projects, real ones, the kind I point to and say I made this and I understand every part of it. If no one will hand me experience yet, I will make my own and let the work speak. The honor on my transcript proves I finished strong. The projects prove I keep going.

The rejections still land. Every application I send is a small act of hope, proof I still believe one of these doors opens. If you are in the same stretch, refreshing the same job boards and fixing the same resume for the hundredth time, you are not behind. Keep applying. Keep building the proof no rejection takes away.