I am at the end of a fantastic yearlong fellowship. This means that I (and quite a number of my fellow fellows) are now officially unemployed. This post is dedicated to them- but I know there are many other unemployed people out there who hopefully can learn from my experience.

This is what I know: It is going to be alright. How do I know? Because I have done this before.

I graduated in May of 2008 after a successful academic experience at a highly ranked university. I worked two jobs while in college, played a sport, had internships every summer, won awards and volunteered during undergrad. I did everything “right.”

I spent the summer after I graduated volunteering at a position that would have turned into a job, except that after volunteering for the summer it had become clear to me that the job was a horrible fit for…