WORK IS LIFE, BUT THAT’S A GOOD THING
Grads can now live their passions in ways counselors couldn’t imagine
If you’re graduating this spring, you can take bets with your classmates over when the speaker will extol you to “follow your passion.” You may also be tempted to ignore this cliché. After all, new grads average five figures in student loans. That road less traveled leads to serious cash.
But the good news is that the economy is evolving in ways that make this advice more practical than your graduation speaker realizes. The key is recognizing two things:
First, work and life aren’t separate; a career is ideally a way to profitably live out your interests.
And second, you don’t just want to follow your passion; you also want to rally other people to follow your passion. Doing so is how you will get to do what you love for the rest of your life.
Fortunately, building a following is more possible than ever, even for young people, if you play your cards right.
Leaping from school to work is never easy. While the job market is heating up, well over a million people will graduate from college this year. Everyone has taken the same classes. You’re competing for jobs doing work that might not interest you anyway.
LATITUDE FOR RISK
Smart grads, though, recognize that you don’t have to march straight from one structure to another. When you’re young is “the time we’ve got the most latitude for risk and experimentation,” says Nathan Gebhard, co-author
of the new career book Roadmap, based on the Roadtrip Nation
documentary series on public television.
There are numerous ways to solve cash-flow needs: babysit, drive for Uber. Then, if you haven’t already, you can focus your energy on becoming a center of gravity for your real interests. Dorie Clark’s new book, Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a
Following Around It, argues that anyone can become a thought leader, even young people. “If you’re 22 years old, you’ve had time to develop some serious passions,” she says. “You can really set yourself apart if you have chosen to embark upon a personal project that demonstrates your passion and expertise.”
If you love fashion and writing, you can join thousands vying for entry-level spots at fashion magazines. Or you can start your own fashion blog, supplemented with a presence on Pinterest. You can garner thousands of followers for your cute pairings and pithy insight. If your work is convincing — and it will become more so as you incorporate feedback — soon people in the fashion industry will pay attention to you. The contacts you make will help you do whatever work you’d like.
Why don’t more people do this? “Even 10 years ago, it wasn't an option,” Clark says.
‘BUSINESS CREATOR’ Social media and independent publishing are new phenomena, and well-meaning career counselors might not grasp their power. They’re not going to tell you to research and self-publish an ebook called Tactical Urbanism, with case studies on pop-up parks, or citizens planting gardens on empty lots. That’s what Mike Lydon did after starting an urban planning firm in his 20s. The treatise was downloaded and shared thousands of times, and “it’s definitely been a business creator for us,” he says.
Counselors are not going to tell you to self-publish a book on your master’s in community art research, called Don’t Make Art,
Just Make Something, which Miranda Aisling did. The book helped her score a job when a friend gave it to his boss at a local arts center. It has opened doors for her as she hosts community art projects and workshops.
But the old résumé-driven approach is not the only way into a dream career. As Gebhard puts it, “You’re an actor the second you start acting, even if you’re just acting to a camera you push record on.”
You have the ability to share your passion with the world, and “the thing that can set you apart is having persuasive ability around the issues that matter to you,” Clark says.
After all, no one has to pay attention to you. When people do, says Clark, “That is a tremendous third-party vote of confidence.” That ability to persuade others to follow your passion will impress anyone you want to work with.