Sunday, September 27th, 2020
I wanted to be a Planner. This is what first brought me to Pattern for Progress. It was here that I discovered an innovative group of creative thinkers and planners. Each were seeking out opportunity, and the means to overcome the issues of a highly diverse and expansive region. Hopeful and eager to learn, I sought out an internship experience amongst these inspiring professionals. At Pattern, I developed valuable knowledge and skills, which have followed me into all of my future endeavors.
I also knew that I needed to build a solid foundation through graduate education. Beyond professional experience, the opportunity to further develop myself as a planner through rigorous education and study was an appealing prospect. At Cornell University I had the opportunity to spend two enriching years enhancing my knowledge and skills through varied experiences. My studies gave me the opportunity to engage with a variety of valuable topics: research methods, data analysis, graphic design, history, environmental science, contemporary politics, negotiation, and much more.
And while these were arguably the best educational experiences of my life, I also yearned to return to enacting real, tangible impacts in the professional world. I was therefore excited to conclude my time as a student and rejoin the world as a now accredited “Planner”. I looked forward to completing my studies, the joy of commencement ceremonies, and the prospect of joining an organization to which I could now dedicate the considerable knowledge and skills I had developed.
Then there was COVID-19.
Unpredictable circumstances that have completely upended what a traditional transition out of graduate school might have looked like. I could see it through Zoom, written all over the faces of teachers, staff, alumni, and my fellow students. Opportunities were beginning to dwindle, funding becoming more and more limited, uncertainties were making the environment appear incredibly bleak. Despite professional experiences and a graduate degree, I was beginning to feel the acute social and economic impacts of the Pandemic, much like millions of other people throughout the world.
And while I had never imagined that finding a job after graduation would be easy, the severity of the pandemic has made it clear that finding the right opportunity would require more than the usual approach. These circumstances have pushed me to reimagine how I can continue to engage with planning as a recent, still unemployed, graduate student. While the beginning of my employment search consisted of browsing through LinkedIn, job aggregators, alumni connections, and news articles, I have begun to see that this new employment landscape requires vastly different tactics.
While I continue to search for opportunities online, I have also sought to encounter opportunity through developing relevant projects and work material. During graduate school I had the benefit of being immersed within a rich atmosphere of learning—now that I have left, it falls to me to source and develop my own network of knowledge and inspiration from which to draw upon. Part of developing this knowledge network consists of reconnecting with the professional network I had before graduate school.
Engaging with Pattern for Progress has been an integral part of this process. While an intern, I benefitted greatly from the perspectives and insights that the members of Pattern brought to the table. Many of the issues that Pattern’s work addresses, from housing to economic development and equity, are what inform and inspire me as a planner. They have no doubt been a part of what has informed and fostered my current interests within the realm of planning. To help me stay involved and inspired in my quest to becoming an ever-more effective planning practitioner, I have recently elected to contribute to Pattern’s work throughout the region. Though similar to academic work in that it is unpaid, professional work is immensely rewarding in its own right. Whether it is engaging with new and exciting projects, or completing old ones, I believe that bringing my energy and excitement to this work is an effective way to help me pursue opportunity more broadly.
This is in part a letter to all the other unemployed graduates currently in search of their next opportunity. I believe that one of the most successful ways to find direction and meaning, is to discover methods and sources to inspire and motivate you. One important way to accomplish this, is to engage with the people and institutions who have made it possible for you to be where you are today. Though we might not know when the next opportunity will materialize for each of us, I truly feel that engaging today with your current network will help find your way to grasping it.
