I like to think of my life as having chapters, when one opportunity is exhausted and exchanged for a brand new opportunity, and so the cycle continues in the ever changing story of life. But if I were to apply this analogy to finishing university, I would say it marked not the end of a chapter, but the end of an entire book. The purpose of this article is to help you, or someone you know though the transition from full time education into the real world.

It look some time for it to fully sink in that I really had completed full time education – it had been such a driving force in my life. All my major life changes had revolved around education. From going to first school, middle school, high school, sixth form and then finally university. It feels like there has to be another step on the education ladder. And there is, and some people take it. But taking on more full time education at this point is, for many people, just a delay tactic before facing the inevitable. Before jumping into the world of work.

When I finished university, I finally realised what the whole point of all this education was. It was purely to prepare for this moment. The moment when you’re forced to stand on your own two feet. For years you live under your parents roof. They provide you with food, pay all the bills, and your full time education shines your path, making sure you are achieving your best.

But now you’ve finished full time education, you’re on your own. How hard this will hit you depends on your circumstances. If you’re still living at home, then your parents will still probably look after you, you’re not going to starve. But if like me, you studied away from home, in a different country, then yeah – you’re on your own. And instead of your university making sure you’ve got proper housing and that you’re all okay, you’ve only got the government to go to for help, and the government aren’t exactly the most willing to offer a helping hand.

For me, I had to move out of my student property overseen by the university and into private renting. Thinking I was soon going to get a well paid job with my shiny new degree, I signed the contract on a spacious apartment in a nice area of South Wales, 5 minutes from the beach. Maybe this whole “world of work” thing wasn’t that bad after all!

There was only one problem – I couldn’t find work. And I don’t mean I couldn’t find a well paid job with my new degree, I mean I couldn’t find a job at all. Nothing. Maybe I was just unlucky graduating at the time of a recession. But it doesn’t look like the economy is going to be back on track anytime soon.

Thankfully I had around £4000 in savings, but I knew that wouldn’t last, and it didn’t. Determined not to move back home, I decided to ask for help from our friendly government. The problem is I wasn’t even given enough money to balance my outgoings. If I didn’t have those savings, I would have been screwed. And also, getting help from the government requires you to lose all sense of self respect while you get paid a pittance and are expected to feel not worthy of their help. If you’re thinking the world of benefits is like getting given free money, believe me it isn’t, they make sure you pay for it emotionally.

The only job I could get was a Christmas temp job shelf stacking at a well known butt slapping supermarket. This job literally lasted around 5 nigh shifts and it took them 6 months to my wages in full – but only after constant phone calls and then finally a visit in person.

Making things worse, my lovely beach apartment grew mould. It started with a patch, but then literally covered the walls of every since room. This had happened before, my nice neighbour in the apartment above told me, to the last person who rented. I had reported the first sighting of mould around 4 months pior to the whole place being engulfed in the stuff, but nothing had been done. To cut to the chase, I refused to pay the rent, and the landlord claimed I was the one responsible for creating the mould problem, and demanded that I paid to fix it. It looked like the case was going to go to court, but after a lot of correspondence backwards and forward, and with the rental agency taking the side of the landlord, the decision was made by a third party that I was not to blame, although I still had to pay the rent I owed. The landlord is now as we speak offering the apartment for rent to new unsuspecting victims.

The reason I speak of these problems is to emphasize that no one will come to your rescue. If you had money problems in while at university, there will be someone you could speak to who you could arrange a loan with. If you had problems with the house, the university’s housing association would be onto the landlord like a ton of bricks. Outside of university, don’t expect a nice person from the government to fight your battles. It isn’t going to happen.

But finally after the mould issue, I found a new house to rent and I’ve been here now for around 1 and a half years without any major problems. It isn’t the best house in the world, but it doesn’t have mould, and that’s a start.

I also found a job and one that actually uses my degree. Again it isn’t the best job in the world, but its more than I know a lot of other people have, and its a start.

When you’re thrown into the world after university, don’t expect to have nice things straight away and don’t expect a smooth ride. You’re going to have to work for everything you get. Yes its difficult and frustrating. But that’s the whole reason we decided to incarnate in the first place. If it was a walk in the part, there wouldn’t be much point in it.

Living in the real world requires you to stand on you’re own two feet and start from scratch. It’s dunting but it can also be incredibly rewarding to get something you have worked hard for.

Two years on from finishing university, I finally feel a little settled. I have the bases covered and I’m no longer fighting lengthy battles for survival. I’ve carved out a humble life, which isn’t perfect, but is a nice start.

Upon entering the world of work you begin to get a full grasp on the very mechanism in which you have been trained purely to acquire to say alive – money. My next task in life is to master money so that I can do what I was with my own time, where my time is no longer traded for cash by the hour. I plan to set up my own business, and I am in the mist of doing so.

Some people chase money their whole lives, but the goal isn’t to have as much of it as possible, it’s to become financially free, so you can move on to you’re next major life challenge. I believe the challenge after money is to really crave out for yourself a true sense of purpose. But that’s taking us way off topic.

I hope this has helped you prepare for finishing university or college and get a gist of what it’s like on the other side.

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