In the 1980s, I had the opportunity to interview Ross Perot for an article I was writing for Business Week’s Careers magazine. Perot, as one recalls, left a career at IBM to found and build Electronic Data Systems one of the great technology firms of the emerging computer era. It turned him into a billionaire several times over.
At one point during the interview, I asked Mr. Perot what one piece of advice he had for new college graduates. “Just begin someplace,” he said. “If you work hard enough, people will notice you.” While that can sound like tired advice for those who are growing up with the high-tech successes of today, the reality is that people like Mark Zuckerberg and the Google guys are anomalies. Not only did they have a great idea,
but they were in the right place at the right time. The media has done it’s fair share to lionize these individuals, leading many impressionable young people to believe that they are one idea away from winning the lottery.
In a way, Perot’s success can be counted as a anomaly because he began EDS at the dawn of the computer age. But this success came after graduating from the Naval Academy, four years of military service and a record-breaking sales career with IBM. The reality is that most of us simply begin someplace. Over time, most of us make a comfortable living and go on with normal lives. There’s nothing to be ashamed of here. But it comes down to hard work wherever one might be at the time.
With an unemployment rate of some 25% among new college graduates, many of the assumptions they made about careers when they were in school have lost relevance. The somewhat automatic process of applying for and securing a job within the first months after graduation have been dashed.
Employers have the temporary luxury of selecting from individuals with more experience who are willing to work for considerably less right now. But this phenomenon is already beginning to pass. There are those out there who say, “With the college debt I’m carrying, I can’t afford to just begin anywhere.”
While I empathize, I would argue that holding out for a job that will pay all the bills has two debilitating effects:
1) You don’t make any money.
2) Most employers wonder about the self-initiative of someone who remains unemployed for months at time at age 22 or 23.
No matter how you explain it, it reflects poorly on “hustle factor.” Yes, times are tough, but the the vast majority of new college graduates are working someplace and beginning to make an impression.