By Chuck Bentley

There’s good news for the college class of 2015, according to a recent article in Yahoo Finance: The odds that you will land a job after graduation are looking pretty solid. Unemployment is down and graduates are getting hired. In less than a decade from now, millennials will make up nearly three-quarters of the American workforce.

Workplace consultant and career coach, Alexandra Levit, offers some practical advice in the article.

“Just because you have a passion doesn’t necessarily mean you can or should make a living at it. Find a job you like well enough. You’re not going to love every minute of every day, but you want to genuinely get some satisfaction out of it. And then leave time for other things in life that are important, like your personal life, hobby, friends and family.” I agree with that!

Her answer to what is the biggest mistake young workers make early in their careers:

“They try to see their first job as the end-all, be-all of their career satisfaction. They get paralyzed because they think they should know what they want to do with the rest of their lives when they are only 21 or 22 years old. They need to realize that’s not realistic. Take the intelligent first step—get a job, even if it means settling, where you are able to get transferable skills. Those are skills that no matter where you choose to go in the future, you know those skills will be relevant.”

In summary–Get a job. Ask yourself what your organization needs. How can you use your unique skills and talents to provide it? Then learn as much as you can to add value toward your next career step.

I’m passionate about helping young people really know their gifts and talents. We developed an outstanding assessment over 20 years ago called Career Direct. You can take the assessment online or hire one of our trained consultants. Learn more at crown.org.

Originally posted 3/30/2015.