The month of May is an exciting time in higher education. The conclusion of the spring term brings with it commencement ceremonies. This rite of passage marks both an ending and beginning. Graduates have completed requirements to earn a college degree. It is a time of celebration, but it is also an uncertain time as they open the next chapter of their lives.
I don’t mean to sound too dramatic when saying that graduates’ future is on the line as they transition from college to career. Given the stakes involved, you would not want to aimlessly wander off a college campus and see what comes your way next. A plan is needed for a first career step. It does not have to be a quest to find the job or company to which you will commit your entire career. You are looking for a starting point as you build something unique and valuable: your personal brand.
This week’s One to Grow On quote speaks to college graduates embarking on their professional journey. But, it also speaks to all of us regardless of where we are on life’s path. Are you actively creating what you want to be, do, or have? Or, are you hoping it will cross your path, and you will know it’s what you want when you see it?
Creating Work Life
Transitioning from full-time student to full-time employee is one of the greatest challenges for college graduates. Their experience and understanding of business can be limited. Even if you study business in college you quickly find there are many differences between business as examined in the classroom and the inner workings of a business to which you contribute. In other words, college can help prepare you to be an accountant or salesperson, but it is not equipped as well to train students to be employees.
You can choose to find yourself or create yourself when it comes to your career. One way creating yourself is manifested among workers today is the trend toward a higher number of jobs held in one’s career. Research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that workers born between 1957-1964 held about 12 different jobs on average between the ages of 18 and 48 . Holding different jobs has become a part of the early career stages. A LinkedIn study found that workers have an average of four different jobs by age 32. This trend among Millennial workers is markedly different from Generation Xers at the same age who changed jobs an average of twice during their first ten years after college.
The frequency of job change might raise some eyebrows, but it can viewed as a positive behavior… if the change is done in the name of creating yourself. Workers stuck in jobs in which they are not challenged or find their work meaningful are prime “create yourself” candidates.
Lost and Found
The choice to create yourself is so much more appealing than hoping to find yourself. Choosing the latter suggests that you must be lost. Many people are lost when it comes to their jobs. Surveys of workplace satisfaction have found that about 70 percent of American workers are unhappy about their job. The degree of unhappiness might vary, but it is a sobering thought that most workers have negative feelings about their work situation.
Statistics on worker dissatisfaction suggests most of us will become lost when it comes to work at some point in our careers. If you are unhappy, you can take comfort in knowing you are in the majority. Now, it is up to you to be rescued. You can drift and hope for a rescue, or you can take actions to get rescued (create a desired outcome).
What to Create
The find yourself-create yourself quandary has no quick fixes. However, the choice to create the life you want is connected to creating the personal brand you want. Your brand is a representation of who you are (meaning), how you are trained to create value (makeup), and your interactions with others (message).
Creating the life you want is impossible without first creating the person you must be to live out the life you want. The 3Ms of your personal brand are the ingredients needed to make that happen.
