1996: The Postgrad Playbook: How to Land Your First Real Job

**Farnoosh Torabi** (0:00)
Hey friends, if you've been sitting on a book idea and wondering could this actually become something, this is your moment. Join me in New York City on October 9th for Book to Brand. This is my intimate full-day immersive designed to help you turn your idea into a clear, compelling, pitch-ready book concept. You will meet the insiders, agents, publishers, and recent authors who can help bring your book to life. Spots are limited and early-bird tickets are on sale now. Head to booktobrand.co to reserve your spot. So Money Episode 1996, The PostGrad Playbook, How to Land Your First Real Job.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:37)
You're listening to So Money with award-winning money guru, Farnoosh Torabi. Each day, get a 30-minute dose of financial inspiration from the world's top business minds, authors, influencers, and from Farnoosh yourself.
Looking for ways to save on gas or double your double coupons? Sorry, you're in the wrong place. Seeking profound ways to live a richer, happier life? Welcome to So Money.

**Jahleane Dolné** (1:04)
The best thing to do is really understand what is your end goal and what are you getting out of grad school? Are you getting skills that are specifically needed for a job that will be here in five years and you will make X amount of money?
Are you getting a specific network that you would never have had access to otherwise without grad school? Or are you just doing it for vanity because you just want that degree? What is your actual reasoning and can you tie it to a specific outcome? I think that's your answer.

**Farnoosh Torabi** (1:37)
Welcome to So Money everyone. I'm Farnoosh. Today we're talking about one of the most stressful financial moments in a young person's life. It's that gap between graduating from college and earning that real paycheck. My guest is Jahleane Dolné. She's the founder of the PostGrad Playbook, a media platform and community that's helping Gen Z navigate the years right after college, including the job search, the identity shift and moving back home, all of it. But here's the thing, we tend to assume that young people will just figure it out. Most don't have a mortgage, no kids, they'll be fine, right? But this transition is one of the most underserved in our culture and the job market right now is making it even harder. New grads are spending six months, a year, sometimes two years searching. Many end up in jobs that don't require the degree they just paid six figures for.
And Jahleane has been there. She's a UC Santa Barbara grad, daughter of Haitian immigrants, and she found her way through a sales career, a TikTok community, a $20 LinkedIn course, and eventually a mission. Today she's sharing the playbook, how to position yourself for work, network without cringing, think about grad school strategically, and why a year in sales might be the best investment a 20-something can make. Let's get into it.
Jahleane Dolné, welcome to So Money.

**Jahleane Dolné** (2:57)
Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

**Farnoosh Torabi** (3:00)
I think we should tell the audience how we met, which is just the world is small. I want to give a shout out to Kate Santician, who was my producer at Yahoo Finance for many years, and y'all have found me through that. A lot of people are like, I knew you back when you did Financially Fit on Yahoo. I'm like, oh my gosh, you knew me when I was a baby. But yeah, that show has a very special place in my heart. We ran that show for three years on Yahoo. It was the number one personal finance video series, and Kate Santician, my producer.
Fast forward, I don't know, earlier this year, Jahleane and Kate are on a shoot for LinkedIn at the University of Texas, Austin, I believe.

**Jahleane Dolné** (3:39)
University of North Texas.

**Farnoosh Torabi** (3:43)
And I guess I came up somehow.

**Jahleane Dolné** (3:45)
Yeah.

**Farnoosh Torabi** (3:45)
And she connected us, and I'm so glad to meet you, because Jahleane, you are helping the most underserved population right now when it comes to finding work. We just assume the young people are going to figure it out. We're not worried. They don't have kids yet, maybe. They don't have a mortgage yet. We're like, whatever, they'll just take whatever they can get. But this is the most critical time, right? Tell us a little bit about, first, I'm going to get into, I will get into your background and how you got here. But first, let's just start with the macro, which is, what are you seeing right now with regards to Gen Z and workplace stressors, finding work? We know that if you have even a college degree, it's not necessarily equating to a job in the market. You could have maybe gotten that job with just a high school degree.