Upon graduating from the Mihaylo School of Business at Cal State Fullerton last May, I was left with a bachelor’s degree and no prospective employers. I did what graduates were advised to do and went to the career center, only to be told that I would be lucky to get an internship given the current economic situation. Taking matters into my own hands, I decided to put my entrepreneurship degree to work and start my own business. I had read a book titled, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, in which Tina Seelig explains that just because you have always wanted to be something and American culture says you can be anything you want to be, doesn’t mean economic or genetic factors will allow it. It was that cold hard fact that made me ask myself a few things before deciding what kind of business to start:

1. What skills do I have to offer?
2. What skills could I offer and not get bored doing?
3. What would people pay me to do in this economic situation?

Given that I have extensive knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver and that I had worked as an art director throughout college for a small print shop, I knew people would pay for design services. However, I knew that industry would bore me.

Another skill I had developed was social networking. (Like most Gen Ys, I grew up using MySpace, Facebook and other similar sites.) And this was something that didn’t bore me. I had also worked in restaurants from the age of 15, but knew it wasn’t something I wanted to make a career out of. So by putting these skills, interests and work history together and assessing my personal network, I decided to approach all of the restaurants I had worked for or frequented to see if they would like me to manage their marketing. All of them said no, except one.

How did I convince this business owner? I offered my services for free for three months. In a sense, I designed my own internship, because I learned more from this experience than I could have ever imagined. Once the word got out that I was working pro bono for three months, five other people approached me to ask if I could help them with their social media. These clients ranged from a Skytyping business (the airplanes that write in the sky) to an insurance company to a famous chocolatier in Beverly Hills. I didn’t do any traditional advertising; these people heard about me purely through word of mouth and approached me. Out of these six accounts, two of them became long-term clients. In doing this pro bono work, I was able to create a job for myself at a time when most graduates can’t even land an unpaid internship.

In addition to my start-up, I simultaneously applied for every new media position I could find on Craigslist and was recently hired by a tech start-up called Symbaloo. Without the self-initiative to educate myself, I would have never been able to land this amazing job. I had never worked for an agency, but I learned everything on my own by joining social media clubs, attending tweetups and reading case studies online. Community manager positions are in high demand now and will continue to be in the future, because traditional advertising is shifting to include new media.

This is also one of the only positions you can talk your way into. Why? Because we are Gen Y, we are cheaper labor than boomers, and we grew up using these tools everyday. We know how to market to our peers. If you never considered this avenue before, think about it now; there are probably family friends, local businesses and business professionals that could use your help with using social media. Learning new media tools while you’re unemployed will give you the upper hand over other candidates. Opportunity is everywhere, and it is up to you to take advantage of it!

Daniela Bolzmann is the Social Media Community Manager for Symbaloo, a tech start-up in Southern California. She graduated from California State University, Fullerton, in 2009 with a B.A. in Business Administration and a concentration in Entrepreneurship. Daniela also freelances as a social media marketer, helping restaurants and retailers in find their voice in social media. She writes about her lessons in being a community manager, freelancing and being Gen Y on her blog and can reached via her many social networks.

How will you create your own opportunities?