Today my clients include five college seniors I’m helping to secure a post-graduate job. While they have been doing all the right things since January, it is taking time to get responses. For all you college seniors out there, here’s the advice I’m sharing with my clients in real time:

Seniors, I’m hearing from a lot of you that you’re having a tough time finding the right job and graduation is looming.

A panicked college senior at University of Michigan, my alma mater, contacted me recently.

Dear Ms. Cheston,

I’m graduating in May and have been applying for jobs with nothing to show for it. I’ve completed over 100 online applications and haven’t received one call back.

Happy 2017! I don’t know about you, but I find the onslaught of tips for committing to New Year’s resolutions anxiety-producing. Personally I prefer – and find more effective –making incremental and realistic changes as I feel inspired – by a book, a talk, a client…or a thought in the shower. Then I’m able to plan for that change in a specific and habit-forming way, propelled by positive energy. But everyone’s different. How do you feel?

Dear Ms. Cheston,

I am graduating from college this May with a B.S. in Public Health from Syracuse University, but I’m no longer sure I want to go into this field. While I’ve taken some business courses as well, I don’t know what to look for in a job, and when I apply to jobs online, I never receive a call back.  As I move closer to graduation, I am nervous that I don’t have a job lined up for after graduation. Please help! I’m getting desperate.

Many of my clients are seniors in college and awaiting May graduation with some dread. The reason? They haven’t been focused on career; instead, they’ve had their heads down, working away at school to produce good grades. Yes, they’ve discussed the idea of a career and a job ad infinitum, late into the night with their friends—but unfortunately that’s a far cry from actually taking concrete steps to figure out what they want to do and where they want to do it.