2. 2
Choosing what to study at university is one of the biggest decisions you'll make
as a young person. So how do you decide what's right for you?
Should you follow your heart and study something you're really passionate about,
regardless of where it might lead you, or should you instead opt for a degree
with a more secure career route? Here two students argue both sides of the
debate.
'Study what you love,' is what I say.
Ask a student what they'd study if guaranteed their dream job and it's likely that
the answer won't correspond with what they actually choose. This is often
because their aspirations have been diminished by those who "know best".
3. 3
Most advice on which degree to study is concentrated purely on obtaining a job
in the future. We are discouraged by many from pursuing abstract interests
because, apparently, the prospects are unrealistic.
But is it really worth taking an unappealing route on the basis that it could
possibly increase your chance of securing a job? It's difficult to enter employment
from any angle, so why not try with a subject you enjoy?
The concept of standing by what you love despite the risks is dismissed by some
- namely disapproving parents and teachers - but I believe it to be more sensible
than focusing solely on a job.
In recent times we have noticed that many choose to study not what they love
but rather follow a bunch of friends who are doing that and they are comfortable
with and another one is being forced upon peer pressure or even family.
Seriously is that called studying what you love!
Having a genuine interest in something can't be faked and it's the surest way to
succeed. As Steve Jobs famously said, "the only way to do great work is to love
what you do".
In the long term, deciding to study the subject of your choice is generally more
beneficial. Simple factors such as a person's happiness and sense of fulfilment are
overlooked in this argument, even though they are largely affected by career
choices. These factors aren't just based on income, either - studies have shown
that there is little correlation between people's salaries and their job satisfaction.
4. 4
The fact is, there are few reasons not to study what you genuinely want to.
Achieving in the subject area that appeals to you is always possible and if you
don't do it, other people will. I believe you have to make the right decisions for
yourself, because no argument against this will counteract your regrets when you
see people of the same age and ability as you excelling in your dream job.
'Be realistic' says Kerry Provenzano
University is all about doing something you love, right?
Well, not quite. Choosing to study something you are passionate about might
not be as beneficial as you think.
When you study at university essentially you are making an investment: one
worth up to (and sometimes over) $30,000 per year to RM500,000 full course.
That's a lot of money.
5. 5
You don't have to know much about investments to know that the purpose of
them is to make a profit. Your degree is a long term investment in which you are
profited with knowledge.
However, investing money that will some day need to be paid back means that
your profit needs to be financial, not just academic.
So if you are naturally gifted with numbers but have a real passion for travel,
opting to study geography at university might be a mistake. You may find you
aren't quite sure what to do with your degree once you graduate, and find
yourself knowing you're capable of the mathematical jobs you see advertised, but
have no qualification to prove it.
There is a difference between your interests and your career strengths. If you
think you could really crack the world of modern art then great, but if art is just
something you enjoy on a weeknight, perhaps reconsider your choice to study
fine art.
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If you are currently choosing a course at university, or thinking of changing your
course, my advice to you is simple: don't confuse your hobby with your career
prospects.
Play to your strengths, not your passions. If you are lucky enough to have the
two overlap then great. But bear in mind that with the right job there will always
be time for the things you enjoy, regardless of whether you studied them at
university or not.
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CAREER DEVELOPMENT &
PLANNING RESOURCES
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE A CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLAN?
Career development is a lifelong pursuit of answers to the questions: Who am I?
Why am I here? and What Am I Meant to Do With My Life? It is vital that you
have a clear sense of the direction you would like to head with your career.
Career planning is a critical step and is essential to your success.
Career development is discovering:
Ones’ authentic self in terms of interests, temperament, personality, values,
skills, talents, hopes, and dreams
The types of activities, situations, and people with which one is most
comfortable, happy and fulfilled
The learning subjects in which one is most interested and the learning
styles with which one is most effective, engaged and comfortable
The types of extracurricular activities, hobbies, sports, pastimes one likes
most
The types of work, paid or unpaid, one might do which align with one’s
talents, preferences and aspirations, and are congruent with one’s values,
sense of meaning, and purpose
Organizations that are seeking the talents one possesses and offer
employment opportunities congruent with one’s career and lifestyle
aspirations
The 21st century knowledge and skills needed to market one’s talents,
qualify for positions sought or create new entrepreneurial opportunities,
interact well with co-workers, customers, and supervisors, and progress in a
career path
The knowledge to develop plans to reach short and longer term objectives,
and to adjust plans and objectives with changing circumstances and
emerging opportunities
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The knowledge and skills to balance work and life and become
independent, resilient citizens contributing to the prosperity of one’s family
and community
These are among the most intimidating learning challenges all humans face.
One's success in mastering them determines the extent to which one leads a
happy, fulfilled, and purposeful life. Therefore, the purpose of a career
development plan is to help you reach your career goals. Everyone has
aspirations in life and specific levels they would like to reach. Part of the
planning process actually involves you developing specific career goals and
mapping out a course on how to best reach them. This binder will provide you
with the necessary career resources you need to make your career dreams come
true!
9. 9
COLLEGE DEGREES AREN'T
BECOMING MORE VALUABLE
THEIR GLUT CONFINES PEOPLE WITHOUT THEM TO A
SHRINKING, LOW-PAY SECTOR OF THE MARKET
Every time a new study comes out regarding the “payoff” from college, I wonder:
Will this finally be the one that takes note of widespread underemployment
among recent grads and comprehends the impact of credential inflation?
In February, Pew Research released a study on the effects of college but the
instant I saw the title, I was sure that this would not be one that broke out of the
usual “college is a great investment” model. That study, “The Rising Cost of Not
Going to College,” actually moves further in the wrong direction by telling people
that those who don’t go to college are penalizing themselves.
The many “college is a great investment” papers present statistics showing
that, on average, individuals who have college educations earn more than do
people without them. They left the conclusion, “If you aren’t planning on college,
you really should,”implicit. As mention in the earlier subject the cost of education
is on a continuous rise.
Pew, however, makes that explicit. “If you don’t go to college, you’ll lose out big
time” is the message it sends.
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What makes that message particularly distressing is the fact that more and more
young Americans who have their college degrees are unable to find jobs they
couldn’t have gotten straight out of high school—or maybe even while still in
high school. They’re often struggling with large college debts. And yet this study
tells them that going to college is more important than ever.
Pew proclaims that its research is “non-partisan and non-advocacy” but they
don’t say that it’s “non-misleading.” This study is very misleading and if young
Americans take it seriously, many will go to college just because they think that
not going would be a self-inflicted penalty.
The paper declares, “As college costs have increased in recent decades, so, too,
have many of the economic rewards for getting a four-year degree as well as the
penalties for not doing so….”
But is it true that the rewards for college have increased? And is it true that
Americans who don’t attend college suffer a financial penalty?
Because Pew is highly respected, it is worth some time to closely examine its data
and conclusions.
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The most important data in the paper are in a chart showing a widening gap
over time between full-time workers who have a 4-year degree or higher, those
who have a two-year degree or “some college,” and those who are high school
graduates. Looking back to 1965, the difference was comparatively small:
college graduates earned on average $3,883 per year
the middle group earned on average $3,365 per year and
high school graduates earned on average $3,138 per year
By 2013, the inflation-adjusted figures were: $33,600, $21,600, and $9,600.
Average earnings for college grads are way up, but they’re down for people who
did not earn 4-year degrees or go to college at all. At a glance, those figures
certainly appear to justify the conclusions that getting that bachelor’s degree is
an excellent investment and that young Malaysian’s who don’t do so are seriously
penalizing themselves.
PARAPHRASING HAMLET, “GET THEE TO A COLLEGE!”
But before everyone who doesn’t have a college degree hurries to apply (or if still
in high school, take the diploma / certificate as the prelude to applying), let’s
inject a cautionary note.
Going to college guarantees you a lot of expenses, both in money spent and
time that could have been used differently), but it does not guarantee you a job
that pays well enough to cover your costs. In truth, it doesn’t guarantee you any
sort of job.
Reading through the report, you find no evidence of the fact that large numbers
of college graduates can only find employment in jobs paying the minimum
wage. Currently, according to Department of Labor Statistics data, 260,000 people
with college or even professional degrees are so employed.
Moreover, the percentage of college graduates who work in jobs that don’t
require any advanced academic preparation (the “mal-employed”) has been rising
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for years, and now stands at 36 percent. If college degrees are becoming more
valuable, why are so many graduates either unemployed or employed at low-
paying jobs?
Those facts clash with the report’s encouragement for anyone who does not have
a college degree to enrol and try to earn one. They comprise the elephant in the
room that Pew can’t see.
The report’s only hint that college isn’t proving to be as beneficial now as it
previously was is its finding that only 62 percent of the “Millennials” agree that
their college experience “has paid off” compared with 84 percent of the
“Generation Xers” and 89 percent of the “Boomers.” Conversely, the percentage
who says that college was not beneficial is growing. Among “Boomers” it was
only 8 percent, but among “Millennials” is has reached 12 percent.
Unfortunately, we never ponder this paradox: How can it be that college
education is getting more and more valuable in financial rewards when there is
abundant evidence that many students learn little while in college?
In the book Academically Adrift, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa quantified what
numerous professors have said for years—students can pass many college
courses with minimal effort owing to falling academic standards and the erosion
of the curriculum.
We can see this so evidently in Malaysia. Quality of today graduate’s is a concer
to employers and the market at large. Look into the skills of Thinking, Softkills,
Communication either in English or even the local dialect, trying new things, think
out of the box and many other weakness.
Falling academic standards and declining learning by students seems clearly
inconsistent with the notion that degrees are becoming increasingly
beneficial.
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The solution to the paradox is that the gap is widening because credential
inflation is steadily wiping out good careers for people who don’t have college
degrees.
Look back at the oldest of the data. In the mid-60s, prior to the great push to
increase the number of people going to college with federal student aid, the
average earnings gap was quite small. Up until that time, very few good careers
were foreclosed to Malaysian’s who didn’t have college credentials.
For reasons of professional licensure, some fields required college degrees—law
and medicine for example—but otherwise young people who had good high
school educations could get into entry level jobs in finance, insurance,
manufacturing, hospitality, and most other businesses.
When in the village or estates when you see a young man return and holding a
degree is like meeting an astronaut in today’s world. Reality today, throw a stone
it would hit a graduate and that stone would hit another two graduates there on.
After the government started vigorously promoting “access” to college, however,
something changed in the labor market: credential inflation.
Today employers, facing a market in which more and more job applicants had
college credentials, began to screen out those who didn’t.
Professors James Engell and Anthony Dangerfield noted this trend in their 2005
book Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money, writing, “(T)he Developing
World has become the most rigidly credentialized society in the world. A B.A. is
14. 14
required for jobs that by no stretch of imagination need two years of full-time
training, let alone four.”
Therefore, the explanation for the gap between the average earnings of college
graduates and people with lower educational levels, as well as the paradox
regarding the decline in learning, is that the latter group is increasingly confined
to the lowest-paying jobs sectors by our mania for college credentials.
Unfortunately, we never ponder this paradox: How can it be that college
education is getting more and more valuable in financial rewards when there is
abundant evidence that many students learn little while in college?
In their book Academically Adrift, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa quantified what
numerous professors have said for years—students can pass many college
courses with minimal effort owing to falling academic standards and the erosion
of the curriculum. Falling academic standards and declining learning by students
seems clearly inconsistent with the notion that degrees are becoming increasingly
beneficial.
The solution to the paradox is that the gap is widening because credential
inflation is steadily wiping out good careers for people who don’t have college
degrees.
15. 15
Look back at the oldest of the data. In the mid-60s, prior to the great push to
increase the number of people going to college with federal student aid (MARA
& etc), the average earnings gap was quite small. Up until that time, very few
good careers were foreclosed to Malaysians who didn’t have college credentials.
For reasons of professional licensure, some fields required college degrees—law
and medicine for example—but otherwise young people who had good high
school educations could get into entry level jobs in finance, insurance,
manufacturing, hospitality, and most other businesses.
But as a citizen and author I still have doubts in quality of some of the graduates
in the above fields which requires such graduates to practice it. The other
concern is the double standards practised in the education system which effects
quality in learning & delivery based on ethnic.
After the government started vigorously promoting “access” to college, however,
something changed in the labor market: credential inflation.
Employers, facing a market in which more and more job applicants had college
credentials, began to screen out those who didn’t.
Professors James Engell and Anthony Dangerfield noted this trend in their 2005
book Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money, writing, “the developing
countries has become the most rigidly credentialized society in the world. A B.A.
is required for jobs that by no stretch of imagination need two years of full-time
training, let alone four.”
Therefore, the explanation for the gap between the average earnings of college
graduates and people with lower educational levels, as well as the paradox
regarding the decline in learning, is that the latter group is increasingly confined
to the lowest-paying jobs sectors by our mania for college credentials.
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ONLY 27% OF COLLEGE GRADS HAVE
A JOB RELATED TO THEIR MAJOR
Here's some interesting new data from Malaysian Statistics Department. The vast
majority of Malaysian. college grads, they find, work in jobs that aren't strictly
related to their degrees:
There are two different things going on in this chart.
First, a significant number of college grads appear to be underemployed: In 2010,
only 62 percent of college graduates had a job that required a college degree.
Second, we estimated that just 27 percent of college grads had a job that was
closely related to their major. It's not clear that this is a big labor-market
problem, though — it could just mean that many jobs don't really require a
specific field of study.
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There's an important twist here, too. The chances of finding a job related to your
degree or major go up a few points if you move to a big city:
Our argument is that "big cities have more job openings and offer a wider variety
of job opportunities that can potentially fit the skills of different workers." The
odds of finding a match between college degree and job are about 6 percentage
points higher in a place like Kuala Lumpur then to Kuantan.
.
Indeed, it's the most common outcome by far. (My specific Business & Law
Degree doesn't really come in handy for journalism all that often, but college
itself was still useful.)
19. 19
The research does, however, hint at one possible advantage of large cities — and
might help explain why workers in denser cities tend to be more productive.
If there's a policy upshot here, it's that the broader economy could stand to
benefit if large cities loosened up some of their restrictions on housing and made
it easier for more people to live there — a point that writers like Matt
Yglesias and Edward Glaeser have made over and over again.
20. 20
60% Of College Grads Can't Find Work In
Their Field.
Is A Management Degree The Answer?
Sixty percent of Malaysian college graduates cannot find a full-time job in their
chosen profession, according to job placement companies locally.
Dubbed ‘Generation Jobless’, college graduates ages 24 and younger face an
uncertain job future that, even with improving employment numbers, is only
going to get more difficult if we continue to turn out graduates without what
an Apple exec described as “the skills we need.”
Career and job websites, such as Monster Worldwide, ostensibly exist to address
the challenge, but, in practice, offer only generic resume-building tips and
interview skills.
The needs of this job-seeking cohort are more granular. It is no longer sufficient
to have quality undergraduate training in a specific area (say, journalism or
architecture). Today’s employers can choose from candidates all over the globe.
And what sets one applicant apart from another are skill sets that transcend one’s
major or desired profession.
In particular, employers are looking for applicants with core business
competencies. Unfortunately, most undergrads, focused on training in their
desired field, never bother to accrue such skills.
I see this first-hand at all my past employments and when conducting interviews.
When we actively seek out creative professionals in writing, marketing, production
and post-production, we find that applicants often lack basic training in
21st century tech skills, such as programming, web design, and search engine
optimization.
21. 21
In addition, including
and shared inquiry that come from arigorous, deep chronological
reading of “the Great Books”.
Moreover,
.
That is probably why a new trend is emerging among universities to partially
combat ‘Generation Jobless’: specialized, accelerated Masters in Management (or
MiM) programs that take less time than conventional MBAs, cost less, and allow
students to break through a cluttered job market in order to join their chosen
field faster. This programs are particularly tailored to undergraduates from non-
business backgrounds.
I would have welcomed such a degree, but to my surprise the system has yet to
catch up in Malaysia, where we still believe and practice old school education
system and a believe in some failing system’s.
When would we see a change and be a front runner again? From awakening
giant of SEA to now a sleeping cow!
.
Currently there are at least four MiM degree programs (not to be confused with
Masters in Information Management, which are sometimes called MiM programs)
at local colleges. Class sizes range from 15-30 students.
Young entrepreneurs have been particularly drawn to MiM programs. According
to a recent study conducted, 54 percent of the nation’s recent graduates either
want to start a business or have already started one.
However, many would-be entrepreneurs do not major in business, even though
business majors continue to grow in popularity (about 22% of all majors).
Imagine, for instance, that you are a dance major, but dream of opening your
own studio. You may choose the MiM degree to learn business fundamentals to
22. 22
help you forge a marketing plan, read a supply sheet, balance your budget, raise
capital, and get your business off the ground. Perhaps you are an engineering
major. An MiM degree positions you to move up the corporate ladder faster
through better understanding of business fundamentals.
However, if one is going to invest one year in a MiM, why not invest two years
and get a traditional, and more respected, MBA? While both MiM and MBA
programs use the case study method and emphasize team work, the answer lies
in the type of student that would apply for each. MiM applicants are typically
college seniors or recent graduates under the age of 24, with little or no job
experience. They majored in a non-business degree, but now know that
management training will give them a competitive edge for even an entry-level
position. Alternately, a MiM provides essential skills to start one’s own business.
Moreover, with an MiM degree, a student will complete the degree in just nine
months at a much lesser cost, depending on the program.
By contrast, most MBA applicants have been in the professional workplace for
several years – the average age of MBA applicants is between 27 and 32 — and
want to pursue a C-level position. They seek an in-depth, specialized curriculum
plus a summer internship that leads to a job offer. Moreover, they have a flexible
schedule with two years available to complete a new degree, plus at least $47-
75K to spend, depending on the program.
In reality here we have people who live on credit or deduct from EPF. Then
comes the PTPTN Loan’s and etc.
So even before you begin something you are already with a huge debt on your
shoulders.
For the right entry-level or entrepreneurial person with an analytical bent, the
MiM degree is the cost-beneficial option. Heretofore, MiMs have been a
European phenomenon, where many students get them in lieu of an MBA.
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However, according to the Application Survey, the number of applications to MiM
programs has risen steadily since 2008, including a 69% increase in 2009
applications alone.
If the ROI of MBA graduates is an indicator, MiM graduates are likely to get not
only the job they want, but the salary they want too.
The rise in MiM programs suggests that universities are finally listening to
employers who’ve long decried the lack of strategic savvy, financial literacy,
technical competency, and entrepreneural drive among applicants for entry-level
jobs.
“Finding a job upon college graduation has historically been challenging and is
exacerbated by today’s down economy,” said Amy Hillman, executive dean of
Arizona State’s W. P. Carey School of Business.
In so doing, MiM programs are addressing a far larger “pain point”: the slide in
global competiveness among many firms due to a dearth of properly trained
undergraduates.
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WHAT YOU STUDIED HAS LITTLE
TO DO WITH WHERE YOU WORK
Many of my career counselling appointments go something like this: “Dr.
Amarjeet Singh, I just changed my major to XXXXX. I just want to know what
sorts of things I can do with this major.” Typically, my response begins with
something like this: “Well, it would be a shorter list if I just told you what you
cannot do with your major."
A couple of years ago, the statistics department released a pie chart that showed
the percentage of Malaysians with an undergraduate degree who work in a job
directly related to their academic major. The percentage was 27.3%. You read it
correctly, 27.3%.
Why am I bothering to write about this? Well, I think we offer young people
imprecise advice when we suggest that what they study in college is the “be-all-
to-end-all” of their entire career. Clearly the statistics suggest otherwise. Neither
working in a job within your field nor outside of your field carries a guarantee of
career satisfaction or dissatisfaction, career success or lack thereof.
As an example of someone who works in a field unrelated to their undergraduate
studies, I have undergraduate degrees in business management and law yet I am
a career office director and a college career consultant, and I love my job and
cannot wait to get to work each day.
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I have a friend who is chair of criminology at his university and his undergraduate
area of study was architecture. Yep, architecture! Another friend who is our
office's assistant director of career education studied, you guessed it, Biology!
And by the way, she is a fabulous career consultant and is revered by many of
our students.
Read up on the Theory of Planned Happenstance and the work of Dr. John
Krumboltz (one of my few heros – because what he says makes complete
sense). Life happens. If we know ourselves well and are ready to say “Yes” to
opportunities, then it matters not what we studied in college. The world is full of
opportunity and those who are most successful in finding those opportunities are
simply those with the greatest self-awareness and willingness to embrace
uncertainty and happenstance.
For those who advise young people to “find a career that makes lots of money”
or “look for a popular major with a growing industry” or “study something that
will give you some prestige” or “why in the world would you want to study
History or Philosophy”, take a deep breath.
Think about the statistic that the Statistics Department has provided us, and tell
them instead:
1. Study what you love, because then you'll actually want to attend class
2. Study in a field where you can be academically successful
26. 26
3. Build a strong network
4. Know yourself well
5. Then do what you want
Many people will be put off or dissatisfied by the uncertainty that is embodied in
this advice. Some expect a magical career professional who can look at some
complex computer program and tell them what to "be". While we do have the
ability to help a person find their way to a good theoretical career fit, anyone
who attests to being able to provide certainty to a person's future is full of
nonsense and frankly, is irresponsible.
The five points provided above just might be the best advice you can offer a
college-bound student as these points seem to fit best with the statistic shown in
the pie chart.
The Census Bureau has provided evidence that over 70% of college graduates,
including myself, already have.
