I’m graduating from college in May and I’m not really sure what I want to do for a career. There also don’t seem to be many interesting, good-paying jobs available, so I was thinking it’s a good time to go to graduate school, acquire more knowledge and defer the job search for a couple of years. What do you think?
I think it sounds like a good strategy to be a career student until you figure out what you really want to do. You could wind up with a Ph.D. by then! Listen, if you’re not ready to enter the job market, for whatever reason, then you’re unlikely to have the focus you need to articulate what you want, which is critical in conducting a successful job search. Rather than set yourself up for failure, if you can’t figure out a path right now, by all means continue your education. Just don’t fool yourself into thinking that it’s the economy, or that the advanced education will improve your chances of landing a job. Figuring out what you want to do, acquiring relevant experience and then mapping out a strategy for targeting people, companies and jobs to get started in your career is the prescription for success. Good luck.
You always give advice to people who work in office jobs, but I’m a cabbie who wants to get an office job. If I don’t want to be a taxi driver any more, how can I convince an employer that I can do something else?
“You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here . . .” OK, De Niro, if you want to change professions, you’ve got some work to do. First of all, you never know who in the back seat can help you. If you’re serious about a transition to an office job, perhaps dress the part when you drive, and keep a bundle of well-groomed résumés to boot. Create an affable, warm greeting and elevator pitch for your passengers. Acknowledge this is an unconventional approach to finding a job — but indicative of your entrepreneurial, innovative and self-motivated work ethic. Ask if you can give them a copy of your résumé, and tell them you’d be grateful if they’d pass it along to anyone who may have a job. I’m confident this approach, if done properly, will be every bit as effective for your particular situation as a conventional job search.