March 28, 2024

Are you one of the Unemployable Generation?

“It’s not the job I want. It’s not the hours I want to work. It’s not the salary I want. It’s not in the city where I want to work.”

Really?

What happened to get your foot in the door, proving yourself, and working your way into the position/salary/company/city you want?

CNN is reporting a story that you are becoming the ‘unemployable generation.’ In Texas, we would call “them fightin’ words.”

I took a job at a major market radio station as a secretary just to get my foot in the door. I practiced typing at home at night so I could pull it off. After I had proved my work ethic, then and only then did I tell the Program Director that I had college experience on the air and would appreciate an opportunity if it ever came along. It did and I was eventually given a full-time radio shift…at horrible pay.

Later, I took a job at another station as the overnight radio host, awful pay again, and even more awful hours. I knew if I could just get into this top-rated rock station, I had the ability to make my mark.

I did and I spent the next 20 years as a top-rated radio personality, working my butt off every day to stay at the top and make the big bucks.

Find the industry you want to work in and find a way to get your foot in the door. I swept floors and filed records. Offer to do the most menial of tasks, anything to become an employee at the company or in an industry, all the while forming relationships with people in the company and/or industry you want to work in. Once you’ve done that, if you work hard and have the talent you think you have, you will eventually have the job you want.

Hanging with your friends, drinking $5 lattes, and complaining is not how you get a job. Don’t be the ‘unemployable generation’ – be the ‘kick ass and take names’ generation.

Tip: 5 Things To Do Every Day For Success from FastCompany.com.

Getting my foot in the door at my first Rock Station! (and happy to be there!)

Another related post from Dayna –> LinkedIn for Success: When You Start to Look for that First Job

Serial entrepreneur, author, and speaker, Dayna Steele travels the world to improve performance, create strong teams, increase company sales and grow businesses with her Rock Star Principles of Success. Dayna is the author of Rock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World’s Greatest Rock Stars and her forthcoming book is 101 Ways to Rock Your World: Everyday Activities for Success Every Day.

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