What if you could multiply what I just said 10, 20, or even 100 times? That’s how it can change lives. #incredible
People sometimes ask what makes me an expert? I tell them nothing. I’m just a guy who thinks a single conversation or story can help people find career paths that they didn’t know existed. I strive to help people ask the right questions and think about things a little differently. Life and Careers are about asking the right questions and meeting the right people. Please ask me anything, or just subscribe to the The Squab feed via RSS or Emailto receive notifications of new posts.
Seriously, not kidding. Alright, maybe I am kidding and it can’t hurt to attend but just don’t expect much. I understand that removing yourself from situations to meet new people and/or companies is never a good idea regardless of how you look at it. You can stumble across that one person or company at any moment and as long as you are prepared it could be the turning point in your career. The problem though is that the career fair usually = typical out of college $36,000 a year job that not a damn person, Gen-Y or not, would usually find rewarding. Penelope Trunk says it best,
Out of college jobs suck. Everyone wants reasonable work, not just Gen Y.
You are probably thinking, “I have to start somewhere to work my way up, right?” It is a valid question and there are many different thoughts on this, but I believe having that mentality with your career will only stunt your growth because you should always strive to find something that you enjoy, no matter what. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you know everything and that we should be the CEO tomorrow but I am saying that you should like what we do and work hard to find a company willing to teach us how to do better. Find a company that you feel like wants to help you get better. That’s what this journey is all about, learning from others. I often say that age is not a barrier, rather a number that can be silenced by ones ambition, passion, and ability to learn from those who are willing to teach. Here is the full post by Seth Godin that made me think about my past experiences at career fairs and what initially inspired me to write this.
So there are some exceptions to this and Gary Vee would be the first to come to mind. To his credit, he doesn’t brag about how many emails that he has at all and he has more email than anyone would ever want to deal with. The fact that he answers all of them is unbelievable. Kudos to that man. If you have an inbox that is out of control or you are the person who people consider spam, take a minute and read these 26 Email Etiquette tips from About.com.
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The day after I wrote this post and started editing it, I found Ms. Career Girl’s post, “The Best Education is Self-Education,” and Matt Chevy’s “I’ll Never Go Back to School,” which are both great reads. I want to dig a little deeper, ask some different questions, and think about it from another angle though. Before I start with my thoughts on college degrees and questioning the value of them, please know that I believe ongoing education is one of the most important parts of life and can honestly say that Self-Education has taught me more than anything. I also understand that Medical Doctors, Lawyers, and Bio-Molecular Engineering probably need years in a classroom. This is more about the ‘other’ majors, and I find myself thinking about this subject a lot lately when I see my student loans every month and the career path I took is a completely different route than what I studied in college, Finance and Economics. Sometimes you just have to wonder if you really needed that $60,000 piece of paper? Lately, mainly because of the free information era we live in, I feel that I have learned more over the last year than the past 6 combined. It is no longer about the resources available to us because we are only limited by our willingness to learn. Everything is out there and the best part is that it’s free. The bigger problem is knowing where to look. Here are 5 questions that I sometimes wonder about…
This year for Christmas I decided to do something a little different. I feel like many families, like mine, buy gifts just for the sake of having something to give regardless of what the gift is. Many families come together at Christmas yet rarely talk throughout the year. I was determined to change that this year and try to help our family build better relationships with each other. I also decided to give the money I saved on gifts to St. Jude instead. In the end, the only thing we truly have are relationships. This is the first podcast on The Squab and I hope you find this as a guide to careers and life in general.