25 years old and deep in debt

[Phillip V]

Job Market Embraces Massive Online Courses

'Big employers such as AT&T Inc. and Google Inc. are helping to design and fund the latest round of low-cost online courses, a development that providers say will open the door for students to earn inexpensive credentials with real value in the job market.

New niche certifications being offered by providers of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are aimed at satisfying employers' specific needs. Available at a fraction of the cost of a four-year degree, they represent the latest crack in the monopoly traditional universities have in credentialing higher education.'

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324807704579087840126695698.html

[crazy canuck]

Here is a nice opinion piece from the Globe topical for this thread.

Dear undergrads: Your degree was never intended to land you a job

Dear Applicant: Thank you for your letter inquiring about positions in our economics department. At this time, we have no openings. However, I will keep your letter on file should an appropriate job become available.

At least, that's what I am required to tell you. But here's what I'd really like to say to you – and to every recent economics graduate who sends me the same letter.

First, I know it's lousy for bachelor of arts grads looking for a job "in their field." Twenty years ago, it was lousy for me too. It's almost always lousy. In a way, it's kind of supposed to be – a small rite of passage to welcome you into the working world. It's sort of like being froshed.

But if I may, I would like to offer some advice.

Don't be too fixated on landing a job "in your field." The truth is, you don't yet have a field. In university, you majored in economics, but that may or may not be your eventual field of professional work. The world is full of possibilities; limiting your search to an economist job is a terribly narrow way to start out.

You chose to study economics, which doesn't necessarily imply that you'll be an economist. Rather, it implies you have an aptitude for problem solving. You're probably good at analyzing data. You can see different sides of an argument. And I'll bet you're excellent at finding solutions to problems. These are essential skills required in hundreds of rewarding (and lucrative) fields of professional employment.

Your ultimate field may actually be in sales for a biotech firm. It may be analyzing crime statistics for the city police. It may even be a rock star (just ask Mick Jagger). The world is full of "fields."

What you're facing is a common problem: BA graduates confuse their major area of study with what they expect to be their eventual careers. It doesn't matter if it's a degree in history, film studies, sociology, or comparative feminist literature.

You've successfully navigated your way through a four-year degree. Congratulations! That is no small accomplishment. But now you're embarking on a totally different program of learning – one that will last the rest of your life. It's called "What am I here for?"

That may sound all spiritual and existential, but don't let it throw you off. It just means that your challenge from here on is to find what you're good at, and keep getting better and better at it.

An apology, by the way, on behalf of society. We are sorry if we led you to believe that attending university would land you a good job. That's not actually true. A polytechnic college will do this – and the job opportunities available right now are fantastic. A good option for you might be to continue post-university studies at a polytechnic.

But your university education, at least at the bachelor of arts level, was never intended to land you a job. It was intended to make you a more complete thinker. It was intended to teach you how to absorb complex information and make reasoned arguments. It was, quite simply, intended to teach you how to learn. Those are skills that you'll use in any field of work.

Open your mind to all sorts of job possibilities. Don't be too proud to start out in the service industry, or where you might get your fingernails dirty. Talk to as many people as you can about their career paths. Go live overseas for a year or two. But never, ever, allow yourself to think you've wasted your time in university if you don't land a job as an economist.

Meanwhile, be encouraged and stay positive. And yes, I will keep your letter on file. But my guess is that when a position in my economics group eventually opens up, you'll no longer be available.



Todd Hirsch is the Calgary-based chief economist of ATB Financial and author of The Boiling Frog Dilemma: Saving Canada from Economic Decline.

[garbon]

Is it really just about what they are good at? Interest also should play a role and that might be why they call it "their field" even though they aren't currently in it.

[Ideologue]

Parasites gonna parasitize.

[CountDeMoney]

Dear undergrads: Your degree was never intended to land you a job

So why do so many employers require one?

[MadImmortalMan]

Is it really just about what they are good at? Interest also should play a role and that might be why they call it "their field" even though they aren't currently in it.

Interest has almost exclusive authority over what a person will become good at, assuming the person hasn't practiced something they hate for years out of sheer necessity or force. That's generally not true for recent grads.

[mongers]

Is it really just about what they are good at? Interest also should play a role and that might be why they call it "their field" even though they aren't currently in it.

I'm head and shoulders above others in my field, I was standing on a pile of cow pats/truds.

[crazy canuck]

Is it really just about what they are good at? Interest also should play a role and that might be why they call it "their field" even though they aren't currently in it.

Sure it plays a role.  But just being interested in a field doesnt make it their field.  He makes a good point that for it to become their field they first have to actually enter it.

[crazy canuck]

Dear undergrads: Your degree was never intended to land you a job

So why do so many employers require one?

For the reasons he gave.  Good critical thinking.

[mongers]

Is it really just about what they are good at? Interest also should play a role and that might be why they call it "their field" even though they aren't currently in it.

Sure it plays a role.  But just being interested in a field doesnt make it their field.  He makes a good point that for it to become their field they first have to actually enter it.

So people should learn to find, identify and use gates ?

[crazy canuck]

Is it really just about what they are good at? Interest also should play a role and that might be why they call it "their field" even though they aren't currently in it.

Sure it plays a role.  But just being interested in a field doesnt make it their field.  He makes a good point that for it to become their field they first have to actually enter it.

So people should learn to find, identify and use gates ?

That is pretty good advice.  One needs to get onto the field to be able to play.

[CountDeMoney]

Dear undergrads: Your degree was never intended to land you a job

So why do so many employers require one?

For the reasons he gave.  Good critical thinking.

Then it is intended to land one a job., if employers recqure one.

[Eddie Teach]

I guess it depends on whether you look at it from the point of view of the student or the school.

[crazy canuck]

Then it is intended to land one a job., if employers recqure one.

It is intended to teach good critical thinking.  It is not intended to land you a job.  If you want to learn skills that are more likely to lead directly to a job then follow his advice and go to a technical school.

Good critical thinking is a necessary but not necessarily sufficient skill for getting a job.

[CountDeMoney]

Good critical thinking is a necessary but not necessarily sufficient skill for getting a job.

If good critical thinking is a necessary skill for getting a job, then that's the degree's intent.  Certainly seems that way for employers, or they wouldn't require one.