This is a fairly random story, let me tell you about Monday night this week - let's see where this goes. I can be accused of living in my little bubble - I have been working for the same company in asset management for a while, I am financially sound and I have plenty of free time on my hands to blog about the world around me and the crazy stuff I get up to. Now I like this band called The Courtesans - they had a free gig in Hoxton on Monday night to promote their new single 'Daydreamer'.
I thought, yeah free gig, great band, live music, rainy Monday night - why not? So off I went for the gig and as it was a last minute decision to go, I went on my own and talked to random strangers at the venue whilst waiting for the gig to start (it started an hour late).
I said almost half jokingly to Dave, "Maybe you're aiming too high, if you're applying to the major banks and big companies - I don't mean you should apply to McDonald's and get a McJob but ..."
"I did. They rejected me. I couldn't even get a job at McDonald's." Dave said.
Dave: Kingston (95 out of 120)
Will: Bedfordshire (103 out of 120)
Brendan: East London (115 out of 120)
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2012/may/21/university-league-table-2013
All three of them had degrees related to media studies - which has the reputation of being the most useless degree you can possibly get in the UK. Yet a media studies student from Kingston would enjoy the same rights for funding as a student doing medicine at Oxford or Cambridge, because we have this notion in the UK that it would be unfair to discriminate against students with poorer grades. With these three lads, I was left wondering if this protection from elitism did them any good - or if someone along the way should have just told them, "don't bother getting a useless degree from a crap university - you'll end up unemployed."
Sigh, these guys didn't come across as stupid - they were jovial, talkative, charming, yet they were unable to find work because they had made some really bad choices when it came to their education. Was there a way for people like them to succeed in life, start a career in spite of these bad choices? Shouldn't a degree help you launch your career, rather than hinder it? Shouldn't your university degree be something you are proud to talk about on your job application - rather something you deliberately omit?
My regular readers would know my attitude towards universities at the wrong end of the league table - it's not about being a snob, it is about the practical implications about investing 3 years of your time and money into getting that degree which isn't going to help you find a job at all. In fact, Will said to Dave, "You shouldn't have put down your degree on your application to McDonald's - they'll think, this guy is a graduate, why would he want to work in a fast food restaurant like this? They will spend all that effort training you up and the moment you have the chance to get better job, you'll leave. That's why they wouldn't employ someone like you. Do you think I would've gotten the job as a security guard if they knew I was a graduate?"
Dave replied, "Great. So I am overqualified for a McJob but underqualified for better jobs, what the hell am I supposed to do? I just need a job, I need to earn money, I'll sweep the floor, I'll cook burgers, I'll do anything. I am just so sick of being unemployed man, I am so sick of looking for work and all the rejections. I just wanna get a job and have a bit of money. Even if it's working in McDonald's, that's better than nothing."
The three of them listed some pretty random things. "Work for the BBC, maybe something to do with new media, websites,documentaries, magazines..." Such is the nature of a media studies degree - they try to teach you a bit of everything. It was clear none of them had any idea what they wanted to do with their careers and they certainly did not get any career advice along the way. I felt sorry for them - they were terribly let down by their universities who were really only interested in their fees and didn't care if these guys went on to get any kind of gainful employment upon graduation. There was something incredibly wrong with the system.
"What do you do then?" Brendan asked me.
"I work in asset management and dabble in media like you," I replied.
"What is asset management?" They asked, wide-eyed.
"Kinda like investment banking."
I could've told them everything I said in my blog, but given that these guys are stuck with a useless degree from the wrong university, I didn't think it was the time nor place for me to dish out career advice. Instead I just said, "Just luck I guess. Hey I've not eaten yet, do you wanna go get something to eat? There are some food places on Old Street we can go."
Rather than answer me immediately, they each took out their wallets and counted how much money they had in their wallets. Brendan said, "I don't have enough money."
Naively I replied, "Oh there's a cash machine just around the corner on the high street, we can go there."
I wished them luck and left the venue - we didn't exchange numbers or try to add each other on Facebook. Why bother? I guess I didn't have that much in common with them in the first place and since they didn't offer to keep in touch, I didn't want to impose on them. I guess for one evening, I wanted to be the hip and cool young person in trendy Hoxton checking out the free gig by an indie-rock band, dancing away with the young people in the mosh pit. I didn't want to be the older uncle character, giving these young men career advice on how to get their lives together (I think I do that enough on my blog as uncle Limpeh) and quite frankly, even if I wanted to, I really didn't know how to undo the damage they had already done to their own career prospects. Even I don't have all the answers sometimes y'know.
It was too late for dinner - I went to get myself a nice, big ice cream instead on the way home and I thought, I don't think twice about spending money on an indulgent ice cream to spoil myself when I think I'm worth it, yet those guys had to count the money they had in their wallet before even thinking about having dinner. Is it really that tough for young people these days? Have I really been living in my own little bubble, blind to the challenges that they face? These three guys all want to work and are willing to do anything - yet it seems they cannot even get a job at McDonald's, why is that so? Was there really anything I could do to help them?
LIFT, you mentioned before that you think you cannot sing.
ReplyDeleteImagine then, a world in which singing is obscenely lucrative, like finance in this world is.
But in that other world, suppose finance is as 'worthless' as media studies supposedly are in the UK (and perhaps, many other places in the rest of the world, including Singapore?).
And assume you really love and are good at finance, more so than in this real world of ours.
What would you do for career prospects in the imaginary 'singing' world?
Consign yourself to belting out tunes for life, for the sake of income, while hypocritically denying your one true love of finance?
Yes, when we are desperate, we'd want to do anything we decently can, just to earn for our survival.
But is there no better way than to perpetually damn our gifts and loves at some level, just for bread and butter?
I have no clear answers to this, but you might have better solutions, so I'd be glad if you'd share them.
I think you're spot-on right, but I also refuse to go quietly into the night.
Yup, I can't sing at all, completely tone deaf. That's why I leave the singing to bands like the Courtesans and I appreciate their music.
DeleteIf finance was worthless and singing was the way ahead, then I would apply my business acumen in the showbiz industry - look out for my latest blog post when I was challenged, "what would you have done different if you were Sun Ho's business manager, could you have turned her into a star in America?"
I'm not thaaaat keen on finance, I was when I was younger, I'm a bit bored with it now but I recognize it as the job that will pay my bills and keep me in a lifestyle I am accustomed to. I have worked for years in media as well though (including my dance #1, remember?) - and I know that the way to get your foot in the door in the world of media is NOT to waste 3 years getting a useless degree in media studies from a crap university. Good grief. It's not respected and it's way too general - you need far more specific skills. You don't need a general degree that will label you as a jack of all trades, you need to be a specialist in order to get work in the media industry.
That's why I was able to get work - with my specific skills related to languages, music, gymnastics, dance and choreography: very niche market skills which make me a rare specialist worthy of paid work. My 3 new friends, well - a media studies degree is just way too general cos they try to teach you a bit of everything in 3 years. Such is the flaw in the system.
You're romanticizing the mistakes these 3 young men made, but my point is that those 3 years (and all that money that they no doubt spent) could've been far better spent focusing on just ONE aspect of media, making them a highly skilled, highly sought-after and highly PAID specialist, making a good living in the industry.
Getting paid work is v practical Alan: supply vs demand. You've gotta understand what skills are in demand at the moment, acquire those skills and then, et voila, paid work, it's not rocket science. And right now, there's zero demand for media studies graduates (from crap universities if I may add) - even McDonald's doesn't wanna hire them.
Let me put it in a context you understand a bit better Alan. You know I speak Welsh, I am passionate about it and love the language. I can wax lyrical about it and romanticize about the beauty of the Welsh language all day - but imagine if I tried to work as a tuition teacher in Singapore and I offered Welsh tuition. How many takers will there be? None. Not one.
DeleteSupply and demand. As a tuition teacher, I have to supply something the customers want - eg. maths tuition, Chinese tuition etc. If I want to make a living from tuition, it involves giving the customers what they like, not doing what I love or am passionate about.
There - does that bring that down to earth for you? So much for passion eh?
Hi LIFT, I do not speak for these 3 young men, much less romanticise their mistakes, since all I know about them is through your words here, in your brief encounter with them.
DeleteIf I didn't understand what you are talking about here, I wouldn't have already agreed that your observations are spot-on.
I'm also projecting and vocalising my frustrations at how in life, I've also been forced to move out of naive idealism, and focus with intense pragmatism at converting my skills and capacity for thinking individually, not just to provide for my single self, but also to contribute my part in the collaborative team we call family.
It's too Singaporean, too mercenary, too capitalist to just be a specialised slave to the modern global economy.
That streak in you and I would not go away, even living in another land.
Rather, I prefer your more versatile and broad-minded perspective, of taking stock of all those generalist skills, and mixing and matching, blending and synergising, innovating and transforming them to stay competitive and viable.
With that spirit I cannot join you to look down at the Jack/Jill of trades, especially when s/he uses that talent to become a Master of one (successful career) — which is what you have become!
My passion remains, otherwise why would we bother to expend effort in dialogue with each other?
My family is my career, but it's my affection for them that keeps me going every day.
My part-time teaching is my income, but it's my positive regard for the potential of every student, that keeps me going week after week to reach out and touch their lives, even if only via comprehension and summary and writing.
If I were not down to earth all this time, there would be no family, no work already.
So why do I still sound so idealistic?
Because that's how I evolve and thrive.
Without hope for tomorrow, work is just an epileptic fit incessantly repeated until the muscles finally collapse.
And without something always to delight and inspire us all the time, to re-ignite and sustain that passion, what's the point in surviving?
Which is the main drive behind why you keep this blog going, perhaps, since you earn nothing significant from it?
As to why I blog: http://limpehft.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/kenapa-aku-menulis-blog.html
DeleteMy cousin in the UK who isn't very academically inclined recently told me that he was going to get trained as a plumber. I was a little surprised at his choice, until he told me what a plumber makes in the UK.
ReplyDeleteI guess these guys just don't hate unemployment enough.
G.
Plumbing is a great profession. You can earn a very good living from it. We need plumbers - the problem with 'media studies' is that it doesn't point you in any specific direction and employers like the BBC are looking for people with very specific skills, they are not looking for people with a general degree and know a bit of everything. Such is the risk of doing a general degree like media studies - you will probably end up unemployed.
DeleteExactly. These fellas should stop bumming and apply for either formal training or apprenticeships in plumbing.
DeleteG.
Well not necessarily plumbing per se, but any kind of technical skill which will lead to paid work. There are plenty of skilled work available in the world of media - have you ever walked into a TV studio and seen the amount of technology and technical equipment in there?
DeleteThese 3 guys could've spent 3 years getting so much relevant training to help them pursue their dreams, realize their goals - so they could be gainfully employed in media today, rather than being unemployed like this.
The problem at the end of the day is that young people are simply not given practical, useful, honest career advice. Parents are not helping, schools are not helping enough (teachers are mostly terrible) and they are left to figure this out for themselves. I was very lucky to have somehow landed the right way up like a cat dropped from the third floor window - but these 3 guys clearly fell flat on their faces and couldn't pick themselves up. Sigh. I feel sorry for them, really.
Hurray for the primacy of essential technical skills!
DeleteOr as A Singaporean son in Australia has mentioned in his blog, Down Under these working folk are called tradesmen (tradespeople).
I do not believe in artificial distinctions of specialisations and dichotomies like blue-collar/white-collar.
That's why I believe that true generalists, the ultimate Jacks of trades, can make excellent specialists, provided they wisely choose what to focus upon.
And then, as previous specialisations become obsolete, true trade-Jacks can re-apply their resourceful selves to the new blacks of industry, and stay on top of things for themselves.
That could be much harder to do, for an over-invested specialist, possibly a surgeon, senior politician or niche banker.
Better perhaps, to have survived for milions of years until today as a humble generalist and survivalist cockroach, and indefinitely into the future too, than to have died out so long ago as a narrowly specialised T-Rex.
It's all about finding a job at the end of the day, nothing else matters. Nobody wants to be unemployed, especially when they have a family to feed.
DeleteAnd that's the problem with degrees that do not give you a trade and are way too general to point you in any specific direction - it's easy to pick on something like media studies and rubbish it, but the same can be said about anything like Geography, History, the social sciences, the humanities etc - it's not like an engineering degree or say a qualification which enables you to hit the ground running as a plumber.
I was lucky, I did a totally useless degree - but I was never unemployed because I went to a top UK university which certifies me as "smart" the moment I name drop my university. Kinda bizarre that it turns out to be my A level exams (which determined which uni I went to) then my actual university experience, but there you go. Hurray to VJC and thanks to them for helping me do well at the A levels.
There is really no room at all for a generalist in the working world - get real, it is the path to unemployment. I am speaking from experience, I made ALL the mistakes there were to be made, I did a totally useless degree (fortunately at a v good university), then tried to develop careers in 2 separate industries ... but somehow, like a cat dropped out of the window, I still land on my feet, somehow.
But you have just proven yourself to be a true generalist, by the very reality that you have succeeded in life, precisely because you have the versatility not to be stuck by specialisation!
DeleteYou have proven your ability to adapt and retrain, which is not what we expect from specialists.
Imagine if you were trained as a specialist surgeon, and work full-time.
Would you then typically go into media and acting, as you have done and made a name for yourself?
Actually, people successful in more than one field are flexible enough to be generalists by basic nature, specialists by necessity and training.
But the stereotypical expectation in society is, once stuck in a specialisation, stuck for life.
Brian May, guitarist of rock band Queen (remember Freddie Mercury), is an astrophysicist PhD and current university chancellor at John Moores in Liverpool.
And I just read that the successful California Pizza Kitchen chain (FOOD!) was started up by 2 attorneys (US lawyers — SUITS!).
So please don't put down generalists who know where, when and how to specialise.
As I already mentioned, we are the Jacks of trade who become relevant masters as needed, and BECAUSE of our generalist mindset, we can evolve far more easily than the stereotypical masses, to continue thriving in this rapidly changing post-modern world.
And again, no, I'm simply not defending your 3 acquaintances, simply because I don't know them at all!
I'm defending folks like you and I.
Hi LIFT,
Delete> There is really no room at all for a generalist in the working world
Not 100% true. Here are some reasons/examples why.
1. Remember your friend SAA with the astronomy science degree? Even as a generalist, she landed a job in banking. Her catch -- family connections (or some would call it nepotism).
http://limpehft.blogspot.ca/2011/11/finding-that-ideal-job.html
2. E.g. My acquaintances from wealthy families, who were expected to work for the family business after graduation. Who cares what degree they did, they already have a job waiting for them.
3. Specialist skills (a.k.a. worker bee skills) can open the door to some jobs, but it will not be the tool to move higher up the corporate food chain.
http://english.globalrencai.com/why-your-grades-dont-matter/
4. For unskilled jobs, such as a convenience store assistant or McDonald's burger flippers, having specialist skills or a degree may cause one to be deemed overqualified. E.g. The young guy that you mentioned in this blog post.
So I would like to qualify your statement. "If you're poor and without connections, trying to enter a skilled profession, then being a generalist will impede your goal."
> Hurray to VJC and thanks to them for helping me do well at the A levels.
Btw, I also want to qualify your endorsement of VJC. VJC worked for you probably because you were a good fit with the school and (don't forget) that you've put in effort to do well. I had a secondary school classmate who did better than me at O levels but worse than me at A levels. She went to VJC whereas I went to a neighbourhood JC. When we reviewed our A level performance, we realized that I did well because I was a good fit with my JC's approach to teaching/guiding students whereas she was a mismatch with VJC's approach. In conclusion, students should choose the school that will best meet their learning/developmental needs/approach.
That's my 2 cents above.
Cheers, WD.
OK some replies, firstly for WD:
Delete1. SAA my old friend - has two advantages: firstly, her dad had good connections in the industry and secondly, she went to a prestigious university (and got a useless degree). So it was not like she was this average plain Jane who got a useless degree from a very average university - that was hardly the case, she wouldn't have landed her job in banking without her privileged position.
2. I think for this discussion we're focussing on young people trying to get work (but cannot) - rather than those who are already employed moving further up the food chain.
3. True, I agree with your analysis of VJC.
And now for Alan, as for myself, I don't defend my mistakes - in hindsight, I would've made very different choices. Firstly, I would've chosen to have done a degree related to media or banking rather than the useless one I did - but hindsight is 20/20. I think the moral of the story is what one has to do when you find yourself in a fix and realize, okay, my degree is effectively useless, I have made a bad mistake - NOW WHAT? When times were good, when there were jobs everywhere, people were willing to take on people who didn't have the relevant qualifications and train them up - but when times are bad, like now, in the middle of deep recession - you have to be a lot more calculated in getting the right kind of qualifications and skills that will lead to the paid employment.
DeleteI suppose what people can learn from me (which is not rocket science) is the way I am able to put my ego aside and recognize that the job market is DEMAND LED, NOT SUPPLY DRIVEN. It's not what I can do, it's what kind of skills are needed out there. I study the situation and I adapt myself to the situation - it may seem like such a simple, basic thing, but I see so many young people who lack the humility, common sense etc to do that and that is why they end up unemployed.
If you want to be a generalist, then you have to be super adaptable and pick up new skills v fast, learn to get along with all kinds of people, fit into new environments, even learn new languages super fast - something which I have been able to do with ease. Now if you don't have that kind of adaptability, then you need a clearly defined skillset (eg. plumber) to get you work.
I have gotten to where you feel good for oneself, by moving in the opposite direction.
DeleteWhile it's natural for you to climb to the apex, my life as a family team requires me to work down to the foundation.
Same use of diverse resources and skills, different achievements, same outcome of desired way of life.
I believe you might then understand that since young, I have started instead with: I want to enjoy a simple, quiet life with those close to me.
I've eventually chosen to see today that world systems are means, not ends.
So when I realised more concretely, the most that my education could get me (not far up the rat-race ladder), I was disappointed at the narrowness of worldly success.
So no, I engage the demand-led job market because we have to, and not because it is something worth aspiring to: anyway, it does not stay in any steady state for long to die for.
So I suggest an alternative view, side by side to how you perceive a successful generalist: if you cannot fight with the young and single to be genius, super-fast, super-adaptable, then forget about being a mad March hare, and learn to be a wise, steady tortoise, you slow poke.
Take LIFT's advice to build a strong skill-set in reliable demand, but don't remain as a narrow, complacent specialist.
Rather, while seeming as dumb and immobile as a tortoise, wait for the mad March hares to grow old and burn out, while you steadily plod along and innovate yourself incrementally, evolve yourself inexorably.
Don't envy the hares their brief moments of glory, when you have an entire lifetime to challenge and thrive.
Haha, I like your analogy Alan. I was a mad March hare that crashed by my late 20's. Had to re-think my life and move in a different direction.
DeleteIMHO, every person is different, and thus what each person wants out of life is his/her own decision, and others should respect that he/she has a right to pursue his/her individual goals. There is no universal right/wrong way -- anyway, it is not up to us mere mortals to judge others.