A friend just completed her Bachelors in Liberal Arts and asked me if I had any suitable positions for her.
On asking further about what kind of job she wanted, she said “anything that will make me money”.
A lot of young people have the same attitude and get disappointed when the world doesn’t give them high paying jobs. I am writing this post to help you (and my friend) understand how degrees, jobs and money work in the real world. Let’s get started!
Pursuing degree for passion? Kudos, great work! However, don’t expect a job unless your degree has a clear job path.
If you are in engineering, medicine, MBA and similar career oriented courses, congratulations. There are tons of jobs waiting for you. If you are not in such career oriented domains, job hunting is going to be tough.
An employer is not responsible for telling you what you can do. They have ZERO time for that. Instead, tell THEM what you can do.
No one is giving jobs for degrees anymore. Employers are giving jobs for skills.
Can you code? Can you design? Can you teach? Can you conduct a surgery? Can you consult? Can you fly an airplane? Can you do content writing? Can you edit videos? Can you do sales?Haven’t figured out any skills? The world doesn’t owe you anything. Explore more. Do internships. Do free gigs. Take online courses. Talk to your seniors, mentors, industry leaders. Read books. Read blogs. Travel. Meet interesting people.
Prioritise for learning tough skills if you want to make money. Money is an outcome of the value you add in the world. Do you know how to mow a lawn? Millions of people know that. So, competition is intense and pay is low. Know UI/UX designing for e-commerce websites? Awesome, the competition is way too low and demand is insane.
The core lesson is simple : Learn skills that the world wants, show that you possess those skills and grab a job. It’s that simple, silly! :)