What is job security? New college graduates are still being trained that "job security" is the holy grail of work. We want to find a job that we'll get to keep no matter what. We've paid our dues. We spent sixty grand and suffered through four years of finals. We should have a job waiting for us on a silver platter. We should get a salary with excellent benefits. We'll work for 30 years and then retire on a ranch. That's the story we're told. That's how it's supposed to be.
Guess what? We've been lied to. That's not the way the world works. None of us, no matter how much we spent or how hard we studied, are entitled to jobs. Employers have little interest in what you know; they are far more interested in what you can do. And seldom does academia prepare us for the demands of the real world. We're trained as scholars but seek employment as workers. There is little wonder, then, that so many graduates find it difficult to find work and so many employers find it difficult to find talent. There is a great divide between what we are taught and what we must do.
What is Education For?
Certainly, I am not attempting to undermine the value of education. Knowledge is, or at least can be, power. The problem, I believe, is the paradigm with which we approach education. We view the knowledge as an end rather than a means. We learn for the sake of learning rather than for the sake of application. Students are training to become professors of future students. In some amount, that paradigm is acceptable. Surely, society has benefited from the men and women who have been paid to think and theorize. The problem is that those students who do not go on to be professors are still entering the job market with a theoretical mindset.
Most college graduates are looking to fill positions, to take on roles, to simply find jobs. This mindset is academic in nature. It implies that the job (professor) is there because the job-seeker (student) needs something to do. Jobs are "created" as people need them. If there weren't job-seekers, jobs wouldn't be necessary. This view runs counter to reality. Jobs are created from consumer demand. Someone wants something; someone else provides it.
Jobs, therefore, that are "created" artificially and have no purpose, are a drain on society. They produce stuff that no one wants. Far too many people are entering the workforce today, asking for a job for the sake of having a job. The pressure on employers, then, is to fabricate roles that have no end purpose. Employees end up working on a metaphorical assembly line to create a product that is assembled, pacakged, and shipped straight to the city dump. There is no need for said product, no demand, only a necessity to give those workers something to do.
Are You Seeking Employment or Opportunity?
Inane jobs can only exist for so long. So, what if you do find a "role" to fill with your college degree? How long do you think that role can be sustained? Eventually, inefficient employers are either going to get rid of useless jobs or go out of business. When that happens, will you be ready or will you be one of the many victims who "lost their jobs?" Perhaps you can rid yourself of that future headache and decide, right now, to make a shift in your thinking. Maybe it's time to stop looking merely for employment and, instead, seek out opportunity.
Stop seeking a job! Shred your resume. Burn your cover letter. Forget about your skills and qualifications. It's not about you. It's about those who truly create your jobs: the end consumers of whatever product or service you are providing. What opportunity is there to create something meaningful for them? That is the question you must ask yourself. It doesn't matter how qualified you are for a job if that job itself is not qualified for the market. Stop thinking in terms of what you bring to the table and start looking through the lens of what the table is asking you to bring to it.
Are you spending hours scouring Internet search engines to find a means to a paycheck? You are looking in the wrong place. I know; I've been there. Cut out the middle man. Go straight to the ones who will be served by the job you are filling. What benefit can you provide them? What opportunity exists to improve their lives?
If you want to make a great impression on an interviewer, approach the interview with this paradigm in mind. Be indifferent about what your interviewer thinks of you or your qualifications. Focus whole-heartedly on how you can leverage what you know to create value for your interviewer's customers. If that interviewer is put off by your initiative, he or she is not worth working for. Bypass the bureacracy and go straight to the market.
How long will you look merely for employment? Stop trying to fill positions and, instead, start looking to capitalize on opportunities.
Very true. This economy has proven my contention that when employers are forced to evaluate potential hirees based on the quickest path to ROI, their degree becomes far less important. Only when a long-term developmental strategy can be employed do employers see "value" in a degree over all else.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Jason. I think all fields would benefit from greater emphasis on application. Degrees would hold more weight if employers could truly see degree-holders as specialists in their fields.
ReplyDeleteJust watched a documentary " Human Resources"
ReplyDeleteThis was tackled as well. It talked about jobs history and how it bloomed
which were backed up by the Rockefellers!!!
Thanks for the comment. I'll have to look into it. I took a course in college on labor economics and am fascinated by the concept of human capital.
ReplyDeleteWow, Bob! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. You hit on something I missed entirely in this post: the lack of passion so many people have who are new to the workforce. Many people are just looking for jobs that pay enough to make ends meet. These people live for the weekend and are miserable for the rest of the week. It's a shame. To think how much more value would be created in this world if people were willing to give their dreams a shot in the marketplace!
ReplyDeleteI started college as an English major, obsessed with the power of the written word.I had little confidence, though, that I could sustain a career in writing, so I switched my major to business. It wasn't until the last year or two that I discovered blogging and the tremendous value it creates for people and businesses. The point? You never know what opportunities will await you until you throw something at the market to see if it sticks. Ordinary people respond to the market. Extraordinary people cause the market to respond to them. That's the difference between seeking a job and seeking an opportunity.
Love the MacArthur quote, but I think he stole that line directly from my blog ;-).