Why You Need To Rethink Your Career Aspirations

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This spring, millions of 20-somethings have suddenly found themselves in a staringcompetition with the real world. For the college seniors of the Tiger Mom generation, thisusually means a search for “prestigious jobs,” or jobs that can provideinstant validation of their hard work. But there’s more to the real world thanrankings and superficial expectations. It is useful for us to understand some of thefactors that we use to gauge the “prestige” of professions, in order to trulyidentify jobs that will make us happy after college.

1.Industry
Some industries are stereotyped more favorably than others. At aschool like mine, where successful parents send their children to befriend other smartyoung adults in order to cultivate a life of achievement, this is even more prevalent.Certain jobs, such as banking or consulting, or a gig with Teach for America or the PeaceCorps, have been placed on a pedestal over the decades. But your success in life (in thepursuit ofhappiness or professional prowess alike) is no more guaranteed by a job with a Fortune10 company, as it was by your admission into an Ivy League school. There’s more to ameaningful career than the name of your first employer.

2.Pay
It is certainly nice to be paid for our hard work for once, instead ofpaying tuition (or taking on insurmountable student loans) in order to work hard atschool. Pay dictates prestige like none other. This is why our society revolves aroundworshipping the elite: the elite have money! But it is prudent to ask yourself how muchmoney you really need to feel fulfilled. According to numerous claims (including this one from Gallup), themagic number tends to hover around $75,000. Maybe this isn’t right for you, buteveryone has a range, and you should honestly assess yours.

I should add,though, that there is no shame in admitting that you want to get wealthy. In that case,your pursuit of that Big 4 accounting firm should include a conscious understanding ofwhether it will truly help you attain a level of wealth that will satisfy you.

3. Exit Opportunities
For young professionals, the purpose of ajob is often to set them up to reach a desired target, often resulting in opportunitiesafter their tenure with the first employer. Some jobs have more exit opportunities, or atleast more evident ones, and these tend to be perceived as “better” thanothers. Many companies make this abundantly clear, for example, with web pages like McKinsey & Company’s “Where we can take you.”

Taking a job just because of the things you could possibly do as soon as youleave it is a fairly cynical approach to the next few years of your life. Is it reallyworth it to slave away at a job for which you feel no passion, only because it could maybeplace you at a grad school that you realistically don’t know whether you’dlike to attend?

4. Location
Where you work is primarilydriven by what your career entails. Politician types tend to end up in Washington, DC, while fashion typeswould rather fancy New York. However, the location of your work can affect people’sperception of the value of your job. The concept here is the same as branding. Certainbrands of clothing are considered higher-end than others, even if they’re notobjectively any different in quality. Similarly, cities have a “wow” factor,in that if they’re recognized as a popular location.

My fellow Stanfordgraduates probably find Silicon Valley attractive partly because, around here, it has beenbranded as the be-all and end-all of human knowledge and progress. Location is importantinsofar as it informs your social life,and proximity to certain places and people (downtown or mountains, family or tech scene,etc.). It’s not good enough to pick a place to call home simply because the massesthink it’s “sexy.”

5. Rat Race
Radiohead, Jean-Paul Sartre, and your average man facing a midlife crisis have one thingin common: a skeptical approach to the things we desire in life. I don’t mean tosound anti-establishment, but it is true that high demand for a particular kind of jobmakes it seem better. If a certain job has a lot of applicants, due to some combination ofthe factors above, or other factors, it will appear to be more prestigious. In our superhigh-strung society, the rat race beginsway too early, so obviously when faced with choices in the job market, we have a gutreaction to go where everyone else does, too.

You don’t necessarily haveto reject popular jobs, but it is healthy to figure out your primary influence whenhunting for jobs.

Redefining “Happy” Jobs
As an incoming management consultant at a large firm, I will be the last to preach toyou that jobs that have traditionally been perceived as “good” under thecriteria above are necessarily ones that will make you miserable. On the other hand, a“happy” job doesn’t have to ask you to drop your pursuit of wealth orpower.

Being able to truly discover my motivations kept me sane during my jobhunt. I learned to place importance on finding the right “fit” for me. And whywouldn’t I? After all, every employer out there is doing exactly that. Continue Reading

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