My beloved nephew #2 graduated from Pomona College totally without direction. (Beloved nephew #1 graduated from Harvard/CIT knowing exactly what he wanted to do and is doing it)
After talking with a number of people about his interests, he reported his conversations with Boomers were somewhat less than helpful. "Aunt Carol, their advice was perfect--for twenty years ago. But completely out of touch for me and my generation."
Hence, the subject of today's post: When choosing a career path or on your job search, take all advice with a bit of salt. Check out what you are told with other people and through research. Take nothing as gospel truth until you've heard it from at least three people.
To illustrate the point, my colleague and guest blogger Maggi Payment has written the following post:
New Grads: Beware of Career Advice from Older People
By Maggi PaymentOlder people offer a lot of unsolicited career advice to new grads at this time of year. Unfortunately, most of the older crowd gives bad advice. They are well-meaning, but they don’t know enough about what’s going on in today’s world of work. You must do your own career research, and plenty of it.
To be fair, older and experienced workers may know a lot about their own small corner of the work world, but this isn’t likely to be very helpful to an entry-level worker. Career counselors at your alma mater may not know much about the work world either. Often, they only worked on a campus since their own graduations so the realities of other industries escape them.
Nearly everything we knew about careers and job search has changed in only one generation. Each month I meet confused and misinformed laid-off older workers. Oh, the things they say. They need good advice and information for themselves! That’s why I caution you to do your own due diligence.
You have probably heard some of the following career advice recently. Mark each item as Good Advice (G) or Bad Advice (B). My thoughts are after this quiz.
“Just get a foot in the door.” Bad advice. If a company wants a Help Desk Assistant or a Bank Teller, they will hire one; they won’t promote you from the maintenance crew. (But it happened that way in days of old, and that’s where this bad advice came from.)
“Get a job with a stable company.” Bad advice. Well, maybe not so bad for this moment; but it’s a crapshoot, not a sure thing. Over the past few years we’ve seen plenty of stable (and old, established, well managed, etc.) companies go out of business. Things change: people, markets, economies. Any parent can name so-called stable companies of their day that no longer exist. Organizations come and go. You think this will stop happening?
“Look into a ‘hot career.’” Bad advice. It’s about what’s You, not about what’s Hot. By the time you are prepared for the new hot career, it likely cooled off. Besides, for example, nursing is a hot career and if you don’t like the sight of blood, being around sick people, and you’re not good in science courses either….
“Go green.” Bad advice. Ok, for some people this is, of course, good advice because they have been preparing for work in certain industries and occupations where the focus is on sustainability. Look all around and you see that “green” is a new buzzword. All organizations are going green, so this isn’t such helpful advice. (Anyway, it’s about what’s You, not about what’s Green!)
“Get a good government job.” Bad advice. In the past, government workers didn’t lose their jobs. Today, they do. Layoffs are constantly in the news. Just watch for a week.
“Don’t job hop.” Bad advice. For parents and grandparents, this was standard career advice. Previously, it was a terrible thing to have several jobs within several years. Today the notion is as outdated as carbon paper. People DO job hop: even when they don’t want to. People across all industries and occupations change jobs frequently. So will you. (Even if you don’t want to.)
“Get another degree.” Bad advice. Unless you want the continuing education or your occupation requires another degree, why take on additional debt and delay your job search? Classrooms as temporary parking places…think again.
“You must stay for a year.” Bad advice. This idea seems to be in our DNA as everybody “knows” and passes it on. Your grandparents heard it from somebody. Just so you’ll know in the future, you will stay with a job for as long as it’s mutually beneficial. You may be asked to leave your new job long before a year passes, even when it has nothing to do with your skills or personality. Or you may quit. It happens. All the time.
“Stop twittering and get your resume out there.” Bad advice. I mean, bad, bad advice. But what do older people know about twittering for job search and using social media for job search and using that phone-gadget-thing all the time? Recruiters and hiring managers will find you and your resume/qualifications on the Internet. You will apply for advertised openings at companies’ websites. You will do a large share of your networking on the Internet. You can teach your elders how this leads to jobs. (They need to learn.)
So, all you new grads, party on. Congratulations! And please talk to older people about career and work and workplace topics. It will serve you to ask for, listen and thank people for their career advice. Just remember to consider their gift of ideas and opinions (including mine) as preliminary research about your entry in today’s workplace.
Maggi Payment, MEd, is a long-time San Diego, CA, career counselor who specializes in helping older workers reimagine their career paths and navigate today’s completely changed workplaces.
In addition to her professional life as a career counselor, workforce trainer, consultant, and writer, Maggi is easing into her encore career as a performer. She sings, dances, plays clarinet, and is perfecting her yodel skills.
(stop laughing!!)
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