You can check out his whole article in the link.
A few highlights:
You are a free agent
You are a small cog emerging from a big bureaucratic machine. Most of you will soon exchange your student number for an employee ID badge. But you don't have to be a cog. Think of yourself as a free agent, choosing where and how you work. A job is not your life, just a contract. Many new opportunities will present themselves. Some will be dressed as job offers; others disguise themselves as business opportunities, bad bosses, new technologies or career roadblocks. To stick with one job or one employer is to settle for a
limited experience when other people are moving from challenge to challenge, building their skills and networks.
Keep control of your personal finances
Has anyone talked to you about the perils of deficit spending, the tyranny of credit-card interest rates, or the real costs of owning a home? Don't get fooled by your first years out of school. If you're single, working full-time and renting an apartment, you may have more discretionary income now than you will ever see again. Spend carefully. Save a lot.
Governments are not your friend
They are unfocused, rudderless entities that understand neither results nor success. They have an insatiable appetite for regulations and process, featherbedding and living beyond their means. Every dollar of help they provide cost somebody $1.50. Be grateful for the good people you meet in government. Give them support. But avoid dependence on politicians, bureaucrats and the shifting sandboxes they play in.
Rick has a lot of other very good advice in the article. I hope everyone takes the chance to read it. It can be a little blunt, but the job world ahead of us is not the job world that existed a few years ago. The competition has increased, and while I believe today’s graduates are up to it, they need to understand it won’t be as easy as many people were telling them it would be. Jerry
I read the article and I was thinking it sounded a little harsh. Yes, kids today have been told that they can do anything they want, even without training and practice, and we make sure that they can’t really ever fail at anything all through school and sports, but I think most of them will learn the tougher lessons of life pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteToday’s kids can do so much with technology that I can’t even dream about, and they are sued to doing many different things at once. I think they will start working and learn how to be a good worker quickly, and end up being great leaders. The article tries to make it sound like these kids need to forget everything they’ve learned and start over from scratch. Young Dad.
Young Dad, I agree with most of your first paragraph, not with your second. The youth of today don't know how to work because their parents do everything for them and pay for everything. They are impolite, often downright rude, and have no respect or concern for anyone else. The youth I've had work for me don't know how to focus on a task and get it done. They have to type on their cell phones or listen to music all the time. I'm paying them to get work done, not listen to music and talk to friends. Frankly, I would rather hire a retired person who knows how to work than a younger person who is familiar with technology. This recession is going to be a wake up call to a generation that has been spoon fed everything and protected from the reality of failure. If they end up living with their parents until they are 28 years old, the parents only have themselves to blame. James
ReplyDeleteI know some youth who work hard and I would hire any day, but I know more that I would never hire and I could never recommend to anyone as an employee. Impolite, lacking respect, and lacking any type of work ethic makes me think many of our youth will be running straight into failure for a few years to come. And they'll take a long time to move out of their parents' basement. What have we taught them that will help them succeed? Does a positive attitude and self-esteem really conquer all? Not. Hard work, training and practice leads to success, not just visualizing that it will come your way. I’m scared to think these are the future doctors, teachers, and leaders. No wonder we need immigrants to come and start up new businesses and become our doctors.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that graduating students were told for so long that jobs would be plentiful because of a growing economy and retiring Baby Boomers. It is also unfortunate that for years work was so readily available. even for those who did not finish high school. Those boom years have given a false impression that work should be easy and that you can quit a job one day and get a different one the next. It will be a hard lesson for many of these youth. It will also take a while to realize that the Baby Boomers aren't retiring the way everyone thought they would, and in fact retirees are coming back into the work force. These youth will have to compete with people who are used to working hard and showing initiative. I'm sure most of them will learn, but the lessons will be hard ones for the next several years. Tim
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