Preparing for an Episodic Career Post-Graduation

Finding the perfect job right after college is not a reality for most of us. In a study conducted in research for the book There Is Life After College, author Jeffrey Selingo found that 65% of twenty-somethings nowadays wander or struggle to get their careers off the ground post-graduation.

I would count myself in that majority. As an engineer at my previous company, I changed jobs and locations twice in two years. Then this past year I quit to go work for a small consulting firm.

The first three years of my own career after college could be described as mildly turbulent as I’ve been challenged to figure out what path is right for me.

Newfound Freedom and Rapid Change Make for Difficult Terrain

For most of us, graduation represents real freedom for the first time in our lives. The majority of our college experience is curated. We get to choose an elective here and there, but after we declare a major, our path towards graduation is pretty well defined.

All of that structure disappears when we pick up our diploma. Suddenly we’re faced with the prospect of navigating what to do all on our own. Faced with indecision, some find it easiest to simply postpone the real world and apply to graduate school.

But for the majority of us who choose to begin our new career right after college, we must chart our path amidst an economic environment that is changing at a faster rate than ever before. A clear-cut career path is extinct. Companies today are forced to reorganize and adapt in response to dynamic markets.

Even if you feel that you’re one of the few who’ve landed in the job of their dreams, statistics say that you probably won’t stay there long. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average worker will change jobs 12 times throughout their career.

Faced with such uncertain decisions in a tumultuous job market, it’s no surprise that most of us find it hard to find our footing in the early years.

Preparing for an Episodic Career

In a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, I watched John Oliver address the common fears and misconceptions of automation. His conclusion was that the pace of technological change today is so rapid, that we may need to reconceptualize what it means to prepare for today’s job market.

The economy today requires the ability to adapt faster to new career opportunities as they present themselves. So instead of thinking about what career we want to have someday, we really should be thinking about what 5 careers we want to have someday.

We should be thinking about what it will take to navigate an episodic career successfully.

Bet on Yourself

So where does all of this leave us today? How can we move forward, even after a shaky start?

I think the first step is acknowledging that the threat of competition for your job is real. There’s a reason why the median employee tenure is only 4 years. Technology disrupts in a way that exponentially increases the level of competition.

No matter where you work, you are not an employee – you are in a business with one employee: yourself. You are in competition with millions of similar businesses. There are millions of others, all over the world, picking up the pace, capable of doing the same work that you can do and perhaps more eager to do it.

Andrew Grove in his book High Output Management

Faced with this reality, there is only one option. We must work to maintain our individual competitive advantage.

Bet on yourself and your ability to adapt. Learn how to do human work – the kind that demands creativity and complex problem solving; communication and relationship building.

Despite where we are right now, we can be confident in an uncertain future if we embrace a growth mindset. There will be abundant opportunities tomorrow, so long as you keep putting in the effort to learn something new today.