Don’t just go to school to know only your books. Also, know your classmates.
The friends you made and the classmates and other people you were able to know during your time in school are very important. They could be the turning point in your career. There are true stories and I've witnessed a couple where friends from Uni and former classmates help pull each other up to success. Some students are not academically sound, but they are friendly and mix with people. On their own, they can become successful in future, but sometimes those friends they make can help connect them to opportunities. True, your studies are very important and good grades are the goal but don’t just make friends with your books only, they do have a human connection with others, make friends, good friends. Those friends could be the connection you need to a job opportunist tomorrow.
Think back to the guy or girl who always came first in exams when you were in school. Are they the richest or most successful of your mates? You see, it does not follow. School is good, writing exams and having good grades is important. But it doesn’t determine if you succeed in life as much as determination. There is more to success in life than having good grades.
Your university degree is like beauty, and your skills are like character. The most eligible bachelors marry for character, not beauty, and the best companies hire for skills, not degrees. So don’t just acquire certificates.
There is no job, they say, yet thousands of graduates leave the universities every year. The question is, what job are they going to get? That’s why many people graduations end up in the streets and some became Okada riders (commercial motorcyclists) just so they have provided their basic needs and pay bills. You have graduated with a first class or second class upper degree certificate, congratulations. What next? Can you apply what you have learned from the university in real-life situations? What else do you have to offer aside from your certificate?
For those seeking a job, that skill you learned while in school could be the major difference between you and the next job applicant. As aforementioned, your certificate is important but keep in mind that the best companies hire for skills not degrees. So don’t just acquire certificates, also acquire skills and be able to provide real-life solutions with the skills you have acquired.
When you attend school reunions, people ask the following:
What are you doing now?
Where do you live?
Are you married?
Do you have kids?
How many?
These questions are asked to see who is ahead of who.
What’s the primary reason for reunions again? Those that attend can share with us. I have never been to one.
Anyways, reunions can be a good way to hang out with your friends and classmates, who you have seen in a long time. It could also foster community building, as I have seen some school and communities projects carried out by old students of a particular academic institution from secondary school to the university. Some people genuinely come to reunions to congregate with each other, have fun and leave when it’s time. They go to sincerely spend time with each other. Among this group are those who attend reunions to show off, and check on the progress of their fellow mates. There you have some faking a lifestyle they can’t afford just to show off to their mates that they are successful and living the life.
Reunions aside, sometimes when your secondary school mates check on you few months or a couple of years after graduating from secondary school, some do so not because they care about you, they want to know if you are ahead if you have gotten admission to the university. Also, even when your old classmates check up on you, one of the questions is, "have you started working?"
Well said. The connection matters a lot. After school there might be no job but through friend and your relationship with them you might be opportune to meet with a better offer than you expected