Message to college grads – you have it all wrong! May 31, 2011
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Takeaway: What’s the benefit of an education if you can’t find a job? In this week’s blog, another perspective.
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It’s that season again. Across North America young adults are joining with fellow students to get their diplomas at the Grad Ceremony. I hope this will be a wonderful day or weekend for them all. They’ve invested a lot of time and money to get an education, and, certainly they deserve to celebrate their success.
Unfortunately, the grad ceremony may their last celebration for a long time.
Here’s why:
These young people graduate expecting to be able to put their education to use in a job that they care about; but unfortunately, real life’s not like that. You would hope after making such a major financial investment in their futures, the grads would be better prepared to move forward into the next phase of their life.
But they’re not.
Even after, for some, 4 years spent in college, new grads rarely have the tools they need to create a satisfying life. In fact, college focuses on all the wrong things. Anyone wanting a life that’s both successful and satisfying needs to know how to take a long term view and picture their lives 10 years from now. This doesn’t have to be difficult, there’s a method that’s been used by both individuals and organizations to do just that. But, without a clear idea of what you want, and how you’re going to get there, it’s unlikely that your college degree by itself is going to get you where you want to go.
Many colleges know that they’re not giving students the tools they need to enter into the real world successfully – a few years ago I was invited to speak on the subject to an organization called The International Academy of Business Disciplines. One of the key purposes of this group of academics is to assess current trends in the real world to ensure that the schools they represent are preparing their students adequately to succeed.
Unfortunately, far too few colleges and course providers are doing that as proactively.
Consequently, in college, many students focus on the current term and not on what happens after graduation. Unfortunately, many carry that same approach into the real world. And that can lead to disaster and disappointment. The key is to know what you want, and how you’re going to get it.
We talk about that a lot in our new book, The Plan, which was co-written with Helen Latimer. In it we outline essential techniques to realize true life-balance, career success and financial independence. We use an approach to creating a plan for their lives based on a method of planning used by successful businesses and organizations around the world.
The good news is that it’s not too late for grads to get on the right track. There are clear steps to achieving a full and satisfying life. Hopefully, they recognize this themselves, or someone will point them to the benefits of making a clear plan.
Here’s to the future.
John
Why get a degree? April 4, 2011
Posted by John M McKee in "John M McKee", Action Plans, American Dreamers, career planning, career success, Career Wisdom, CBS Interactive, Coaching, DIRECTV, Gen Y's, Job advice, new jobs, Personal action plans, The Secret, Veracity.add a comment
For most people, getting a degree today has become a bad investment.
I believe that most of these individuals would be better off simply getting into the workplace sooner. It’s not that I’m against education – I’m actually a strong advocate of lifelong learning. It’s just that – for most college kids – the job market is no longer likely to provide any kind of ROI.
Consider these stats which I picked up in Forbes Magazine:
During the past 30 years, overall inflation in the US was 106%
Health care costs went up 251%
College tuitions and fees? Up 439%!
Translation: the cost of tuition / room / board are increasing at a rate 6 times faster than the average earnings of a college grad. Combine that with the fact that there are fewer hi pay jobs today as a result of global hiring, and the math simply no longer is right.
Many very successful people are college dropouts. They include Steve Jobs (Apple) , Bill Gates (Microsoft), Clare Danes (actor), Richard Branson (Virgin), Dave Thomas (Wendys), Albert Enstein. I’m in the same boat (– although clearly not in the same league..)
I discussed this trend more deeply in my 2nd book Career Wisdom. At this point I now use a ‘rule of thumb’ when giving students ideas to noodle about their career: Don’t go into any type of work that can be done faster or cheaper:
– by a computer (eg: accountants hate Turbo Tax)
– by someone overseas ( this now includes doctors by the way)
– online (eg: lawyers hate sites that do divorces or estate plans for 1/4 their cost)
We are truly moving into an era of the creative class where people are valued for their new ideas and approaches. And we’re also moving into an era of hands-on work, where a job cannot be automated or done elsewhere – these include mechanics which pay pretty well and flipping hamburgers.
Just don’t get stuck with an education bill for a hundred thousand dollars with a false expectation that you will be able to pay it off and then find out that the “job” you’d expected is now done in a different way and you’re too expensive to hire.
Here’s to your future!
John
Survey: Workers remain nervous about employment August 31, 2010
Posted by John M McKee in "John M McKee", Action Plans, career planning, career success, Career Wisdom, coaches, Coaching, executive coach, leadership coach, business consultant, career advice, new jobs, unemployment action, Veracity, Women.Tags: allies, first day on the job, mentors
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STILL NERVOUS: Americans remain nervous about their job security and the strength of the economy, according to a survey by jobs website SnagAJob.com.
Worries about jobs are pervasive: 35 percent of those polled this summer said they felt their jobs were less secure than in 2009. That’s an improvement from how respondents felt a year ago, though, when 52 percent said job instability was worse than in 2008.
Part of the reason for worry may have been the experience of being laid off. The survey showed that 34 percent of people who said they had changed jobs in the past year did so after losing their previous position, up from 25 percent who said they had changed jobs because of a layoff in summer 2009.
The number of people polled whose top fear for the future is losing their job has tripled since the 2007 survey to 9 percent, this summer’s survey showed. Saving for retirement and college education remained the biggest worry throughout the four years that the survey has been conducted.
SnagAJob.com, an online jobs board, randomly polled 1,000 U.S. adult workers by telephone from July 8-26. The margin of error for the poll was 3.1 percentage points.
BACK TO WORK: The first day on a new job can be overwhelming. The new hire has to interact with hordes of unknown co-workers, customers or clients, figure out the responsibilities that go with the new job, and learn the layout of a new work space.
Career coaches offer tips on how to have a first-class first day:
• BE OPEN AND FRIENDLY: Present yourself well to co-workers in an effort to form bonds. Walk around and introduce yourself to everyone. Keep conversations brief, polite and listen more than you talk: Ask questions about workplace operations and culture.
Follow “the rules that they teach us in kindergarten. Play nice, share, be cooperative,” said Paul Bernard, an executive coach with his own consultancy in New York.
• CONNECT AND LEARN: By being cordial and curious, you begin to form relationships that may help you later on. Your goal is to turn new co-workers into allies or mentors within the organization, said career and business coach John M McKee, who has run a business strategy and coaching firm, Business Success Coach.net since 2001.
Being friendly and asking questions also helps new hires figure out how the office works and what their role should be.
“There are informal power brokers in all organizations,” McKee said. Learning the unofficial structure of the workplace can help you achieve your goals.
• DRESS THE PART: During the interview process, keep on eye on attire. Overdressing on the first day can appear arrogant, McKee said. Underdressing, on the other hand, is just as bad: It looks sloppy and disrespectful.
Still, slightly conservative is more appropriate than too casual, said career strategist Daisy Swan, the owner of Daisy Swan & Associates in Los Angeles. “Don’t go overboard with anything: jewelry, perfume cologne.”
• ADAPT AND STAY POSITIVE: Often the reality of a new job will include more responsibilities than were presented during the interview process, especially since companies cut costs during the recession. If that’s the case, the new hire needs to be ready to grin and bear it, Bernard said. It is “dangerous to complain … people mess themselves up by being negative,” he said.
There’s also no need to refer to an old employer. “The way you did things at a previous job may not apply to where you are now,” Swan said.
$6 got him a job May 13, 2010
Posted by John M McKee in "John M McKee", business success, Business Success Coach, career planning, Coaching, new jobs, Personal Success, succeeding during a recession, unemployment action, Veracity.add a comment
Came across this today, and I agree with others at You Tube that it’s probably the most clever approach one could use to get a job.
Looking forward!
Veracity 