I ran into a real life story last week that points out a big problem in the university system. Here’s the story to illustrate the problem.
Chad (not his real name) was accepted into a prestigious university in the Pacific Northwest in 2000. Chad chose to major in finance, because his dad was in finance, and he saw lots of opportunity in finance. Besides, he seemed to be good at numbers.
Through the four years of school, Chad got great grades and was hired right out of college in a job in his degree. He worked for Washington Mutual. OK, OK. You think you know the end to this story, but there’s more… much more.
Chad worked for about four years before WaMu got bought by Chase, and Chad was out of a job. To Chad’s credit, he immediately got interviews and was hired by Microsoft in a similar area.
About three months into his gig with Microsoft, Chad came to us because he really didn’t like his line of work. Even though he was really good at finance, he didn’t want to do it anymore. He wrote us a four page letter where he tried to describe his dream job. To paraphrase what he said, “I don’t have a @%&# clue what I like to do and I’m totally lost.”
Here’s the point to this discussion and the RRRREST of the story. If you were to talk to the university about Chad, would they think Chad was a success? The answer is “yes”. They’d likely say they were successful. After all, Chad got a degree with great grades. Chad knows a lot about finance. Chad got a job in his major. What more could he want? (BUZZ, wrong answer.)
Now ask Chad the same question. Here’s what Chad said. He feels like the university failed him even though he got the degree. He spent four years of college (and about $100,000) only to get a field that he is good at, but he clearly doesn’t like doing it at all. When you look at Chad’s university experience through his eyes, the university clearly failed… or at the very best got a D. There are millions of hanging Chads (sorry for the bad pun) across this country that pay great money and sacrifice for an education that doesn’t translate through to a career they love.
Isn’t it about time for the universities to do more than just give us a degree? Most universities agree with that statement, but most are stuck on an old paradigm. “Get the student a degree, and hope that it’s the right one for them to get into a job.”
Hope doesn’t work well in this area. For most universities, Career Services is an underfunded afterthought. Typically, students get acquainted with it when they go through orientation, and then they don’t visit Career Services again until their senior year when it’s time to put together a resume. By then it’s too late. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!!!!!!! (BUZZ again.)
We are working with several universities to change this basic paradigm. Students need to go through career planning as a freshman. They need to understand their uniqueness as a freshman and how that will play out in the job market.
Some would say, “Let the student wander. They can’t know what they want to be so early in life.” To that I say BUZZ again. If that methodology works so well, why are 86% of us in jobs we don’t love?
A student’s basic makeup is more than enough established as a junior or senior in high school to know what careers they’re going to excel in and what they’ll love. I know that for sure by working with lots of students. (Our process called The Clarifier uncovers a person’s particular unique core way of thinking and acting in about 90 minutes. We call that core way of thinking and acting your Given Talent. Your Given Talent is very predictive of the kind of careers you’ll be good at AND love. Your Given Talent is alive and well long before high school graduation.)
In these days of shrinking pocketbooks, doesn’t it make sense to spend a little time in a student’s freshman year to make sure they are going on the right course? Isn’t the charge of our universities more than to get us a fancy piece of paper with our degree stamped on it?
Enough ranting!! Please join me in finding ways to help the universities become more career focused.
Have some fun with just being YOU!!
Author:
Dave Dutton - Founder of stuckinarut.com - Answering the question for all ages, "What do I want to be when I grow up.” Try our free online Reality Check to see how much you're using your Given Talent today.
