Paradox Of A College Graduate

The other day, while browsing on the internet, I came across a job posting. The posting was for an entry-level job in the marketing department of a company. After reading the job description, i went on to read the "Qualification Requirements" where the first sentence read "2-3 years of experience is required for this entry-level position". I then found myself wondering about a variety of thing regarding someone who's on the job hunt.

Speaking from a recent college grad perspective, this was quite perplexing. First of all, the posted was for an entry-level position. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't an entry-level position for newcomers like recent college grads or individuals who looking to change careers? If I had 2-3 years of experience of entry-level work, my next step would be a forward progression up the job hierarchy. Who actually jumps from one entry-level job to another?? Seems pretty stagnant to me, but I digress.

My next point is: where do companies expect you to gain valuable experience if they are looking for 2-3 years of experience for an entry-level job?? For college students, internships are great ways to gain relevant experience but how many college students can actually gain 2-3 years of experience from internships? Most companies seek college juniors and seniors for their internship positions, therefor most of them spent their first 2 summers of college working menial jobs at the local department store or fast food restaurant. So if your lucky, you'll typically come out of college with about 6 months to a year of relevant experience in the field you intend on working in. Thankfully, many universities curricula now require their students to find at least one internship to satisfy graduation requirements.

Most college graduates go from undergraduate studies straight to graduate studies but times has changed. A master degree used to separate someone from other in the employment pool, but now it seems as though one requires a master degree just to enter the fray of the competition. Even if you go straight to graduate school, the problem still exist. Now you have a master's degree but you still don't have the amount of relevant experience these companies are looking for. The cost of education is too high for someone to have a an advance degree and not be able to find a decent job.

In tough economic times like these many people are forced to settle for any job to makes ends meet, until something better comes along. However nobody likes to settle, and. Furthermore is settle a good idea??? All these companies are looking for 2-3 years of relevant experience. Hypothetically speaking if someone was a marketing major but couldn't find a job in their field, so they settle and start working in a group home. What are the odds that they'll be able to find something in their marketing field?? After all, although they are working they still don't have the relevant experience.

It's things like these that make me wonder and question the choice to go to college. You can't help but wonder if you wasted time and money going to institutions of higher learning when there is virtually no career fulling jobs for recent college graduate.

Things that make you go "hmmmmm"....

Exactly Why Are You Doing That?

While browsing the plethora of social networking available to the public i notice some common trends. I noticed that a lot of people are making changes in their lives. Some of these changes are big changes and some of these changes are subtle changes. Whatever the change may be, I often ask the person this one question "Why did you decided to change ? To my amazement, most of the times people don't know why they are doing something. Whats the point of doing something if you don't know why your doing it? In this day and time people like to emulate others, but don't truly understand why that person is doing what they're doing.

You shouldn't do things just because someone else is doing it, you shouldn't do things because someone else thinks it's right,and you def shouldn't be doing something because someone else told you to do it. For ever action there is a reaction, and often times when you change things in your life other things and/or people are affected as a byproduct. If you don't truly know and understand why your doing something, you may not be ready for what results due to the change.

For ex: The decision to settle down and get married because everyone in your friendship/associate circle is doing it. If you aren't truly ready to settle down and commit to a monogamous relationship, chances are it probably won't last. Furthermore, if you don't understand why you want to settle down and get married your gonna wind up in a situation that you don't want to be in.

The point of it all is this: Do something because you want to do it, not because of others. Ask yourself: Why am I doing this?? What's going to change as a result of doing this?? Do I really understand what I am doing?

Taking It To The Next Level

It's been quite some time since I've last posted on my online blog, I've been neglecting it like Cinderella stepmother neglected her. However, I was thinking to myself the other night and realized it's time to stop being lazy. It's time to take this blog to another level. A long time ago I realized that I talk to myself a lot. Call me crazy if you will, but i find that i say some deep and insightful thoughts when I talk to myself. All that remains is for me to put my thoughts into txt. Since I have an ample amount of time on my hands I will be blogging more frequently.