Suze Orman on CNBC’s The Suze Orman Show (screenshot via CNBC.com)
It’s no secret that it’s probably the hardest it has been for recent graduates to enter the job market in a while especially considering the lacklustre economy and the number of baby boomers still in the workforce. It can be discouraging, and recent graduates (or actually anyone looking for a job) might wonder what the best career move is to find a steady job.
A few weeks ago, after coming across a few videos on YouTube, I came to realize Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, Jack Welch and Suze Orman all had the same sort of career advice: You have to find a career you’re passionate about and stick with it, regardless of how it pays as employers love and often promote people with passion. Additionally, if you enter a career you’re genuinely interested in, it makes it far easier to rise through the ranks compared to a job you took just because you think the pay is better. If you choose to jump ship to something else just for the pay, you’ll likely fall flat on your face because if you lack passion, you lose the main driving force that will move you anywhere further on the career ladder. There’s not only that, but you could also be miserable at that supposedly higher paying job, taking the overall quality of your life down with it.
So what if you found something that you want to do for the rest of your life and you have been working hard at trying to break into that industry, but it’s not going anywhere. Sorry to break it to you, but an element of finding a career you want (opposed to just any old job) is simply patience, and it can take a while to get there.
Suze Orman explained this concept during her PBS special Young, Fabulous and Broke with her story of Lauren, a recent college grad who wanted to be a shoe designer. Lauren sent out application after application to everywhere she could and heard nothing back. Then she nearly took a job as a toy designer because it paid well and she just didn’t want to be a waitress anymore. Suze, however, said not to take the job because it wasn’t what Lauren said she was looking for. A few months later Lauren found a job as a shoe designer, but the pay wasn’t great. Suze told her to work hard, really hard to demonstrate that she truly cared about what she did. A few months later, Lauren was promoted and raking in the cash. Now she had her dream job AND the money to live the life she wanted. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
It sure does to me, but keep in mind that there are some other elements at play like simple supply and demand for jobs, time and money that you may not have to devote to finding a career and people who want to take advantage of your enthusiasm. While those may be obstacles, finding something you’re passionate about and working towards a career in that field is a damn good place to start. I think we’ve all learned by now that nothing in life comes easy, and I’m sure that’s certainly the case with finding the perfect career. So keep at it, be relentless and when you’ve been discouraged and want to give up – don’t. That might just mean you have to tweak your plan, or find alternative ways to get to your goal. Just don’t lose that drive, that passion that gives you a reason to get up in a morning or else you’ve made things a lot harder on yourself.
