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寄语毕业生:烂工作好过没工作

寄语毕业生:烂工作好过没工作

Laura Vanderkam 2012年04月23日
随着发给应届毕业生的工作录用通知越来越多,这就给戴着学位帽的人们带来了一个问题:到底是接受不够理想的录用通知,还是坚持等待更好的机会?

    随着经济形势缓慢回升,应届毕业生就业市场正在好转。根据美国大学和雇主协会(National Association of Colleges and Employers)的调查,2012届毕业生的起薪中位数达42,569美元,比2011届毕业生的起薪中位数高出4.5%。

    录用通知越来越多,这就给戴着学士帽的人们带来了一个问题:到底是接受不够理想的录用通知,还是坚持等待更好的机会?

    比起以前的人们,现在的年轻人坚持等待的可能性更大。由于第一次婚姻的平均年龄上升至20多岁(25岁以上),只有极少数的应届毕业生需要养家糊口。经济大萧条(Great Recession)时期,搬回家同父母居住这种行为的耻辱色彩与过去相比已经淡化了很多;由于医疗改革,成年不久的人可以继续使用父母的医疗保险直到26岁,因此缓解了寻找提供福利的全职工作的压力。虽然许多毕业生都背负有助学贷款,但是根据联邦现有的按收入偿还贷款计划,没有收入的年轻人依然可能在一段时间内暂时逃避高额的还款。

    那么,到底是否应该等待并继续寻找完美的工作呢?职业专家们的意见可以归结为一个字:不。

    “一定要尽快开始工作,” 亚历山德拉•莱维特说。她著有《盲点:通往成功道路上10个信不得的神话》(Blind Spots: The 10 Business Myths You Can't Afford to Believe on Your New Path to Success)。理由如下:

    首先,到底什么才是“完美的工作”呢?最近的统计发现,美国人在一份工作上任职的中位数仅略超过四年。男性和女性都一生中做过的工作数量都达到了两位数。普林斯顿大学(Princeton)校友会职业委员会(Alumni Council's Committee on Careers)对该校校友进行了非正式的分析,发现25周年同学聚会的时候,只有6%的毕业生仍然在从事大学或研究生毕业后的同一份工作。莱维特说:“如果第一份工作不够理想,或者说是别的什么情况,我们唯一能要求的只是一个机会,以便掌握通用的技能。”

    幸运的是,“每份工作都可以学到东西,”她说。“甚至连在麦当劳工作也不例外。”如果是在当服务员,可以学学如何促进消费额。如果是在做辅导,可以掌握客户关系、开发潜在客户的实战知识。如果是在办公室工作,即使并非身处自己喜爱的领域或企业,也可以调查其他可能吸引你的工作类型,还可以参与公司可能赞助的志愿活动,结识新的人。也可以参加会议,建立人脉,帮你找到未来的工作线索。

    这一切都有助于建立一份履历,它是一种证据,可以证明你的积极主动性,有助于你找到下一份工作(理想情况下,它更接近你想要做的事)。

    第二,虽然毕业后雇主可能会给你一段宽限期,但卡罗琳•赛尼扎-莱文说:“现实情况是,任何超过6个月的空档都必须给出解释。”她是一位职业指导,也是职业网站SixFigureStart的联合创始人。“问题就变成了你为何什么都没做?这种情况很难自圆其说。”说自己当时在等待完美的工作,这并不会特别有用,因为“有经验的人都知道,完美的东西并不存在。”

 

    With the economy slowly emerging from the muck, the job market is looking up for recent grads. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the median starting salary for class of 2012 grads is up 4.5% (to $42,569) from that of the class of 2011.

    As job offers become more frequent, it's raising a question for the mortarboard set: should you take a sub-optimal offer, or hold out for something better?

    Holding out has become more of a possibility for today's younger set than those in previous generations. With the average age of first marriage up in the late 20s, few new grads have families to support. During the Great Recession, moving back home with mom and dad lost much of the stigma it previously had and, thanks to health care reform, young adults can stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26 -- reducing the pressure to find full-time employment with benefits. Many graduates have student loans, but with income-based repayment schemes in place for federal loans, young people with no income may be able to avoid steep payments for a while.

    So should you wait and keep looking for the perfect job? The advice from career experts boils down to one word: No.

    "You should definitely start working as soon as possible," says Alexandra Levit, author of Blind Spots: The 10 Business Myths You Can't Afford to Believe on Your New Path to Success. Here are a few reasons.

    First, what exactly is this "perfect job"? Recent statistics find that the median tenure in a job for U.S. workers is just north of four years. Both men and women can expect to have double-digit numbers of jobs in their lifetimes. One informal analysis of Princeton alumni, conducted by the university's Alumni Council's Committee on Careers, found that only about 6% of graduates celebrating their 25th reunions were in the same job they'd gotten after college or graduate school. "All you can really ask of yourself in a first job -- suboptimal or otherwise -- is the opportunity to learn transferrable skills," says Levit.

    Fortunately, "there is something to be learned from every job," she says. "Even working at McDonalds." If you're waitressing, learn how you can increase your tabs. If you're tutoring, you can gain know-how on customer relations and bringing in new prospects. If you're in an office job -- even if not in your preferred field or company -- you can survey what other types of jobs seem interesting to you, and participate in volunteer initiatives your company might sponsor to meet new people. You can participate in conferences and network with people who can help you find job leads in the future.

    All this helps build a track record -- evidence that you've shown initiative -- which will help you land your next job (which, ideally, will be closer to what you'd like to do).

    Second, while you'll probably get a grace period in employers' eyes for a while post-graduation, "The reality is that any gap longer than six months has to be explained," says Caroline Ceniza-Levine, a career coach and co-founder of SixFigureStart. "The question becomes why didn't you take anything? It's hard to justify." Saying you were holding out for the perfect job isn't particularly helpful because "anyone with experience knows there's no such thing as the perfect thing."

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