One of my posts on this blog – Are You one of the unemployable Generation? – focused on getting a job and staying employed, especially for college graduates. Here is a recent comment on that post.
“OK Dayna. You’re clearly out of touch with the times. Getting a foot in the door was a great tactic in days of yore when getting a job meant job security, pay raises, and a career to call your own. Nowadays you’re lucky if your job lasts more than two years. My generation is constantly looking for the next step in a constantly shifting job landscape. Pay is low and stays low employers cut jobs willy nilly and truth be told, after a while it becomes hard to get that next job because suddenly you’re ten years older and you have a family and that starting salary you always seem to be offered doesn’t pay for the diapers. I can’t stand it when baby boomers such as yourself, the very people who through greed and short-sightedness put my generation in this quagmire, get on your high horse and criticize us for suffering through the mess you put us in. Go ahead, have fun with the social security that we’re paying so you can get the cherry on top of the cake you had and ate all at once. But don’t sit there and say that you’re a better generation because you had jobs and we have to suffer at your hands.”
My first reaction was… “I think I know why you don’t have a job.” I even passed this comment around at a conference I was attending just to see what others thought and got pretty much the same response, so that’s what I posted. However, I think this deserves a few clarifications:
- It is always about creating relationships with people and getting your foot in the door. Always has been, always will be. We are emotional mammals who thrive and survive through our relationships.
- Most jobs in radio have never lasted more than two years, it is just the nature of the beast. Radio deejays move from city to city, usually lasting about 18 months for low pay. I stayed on the air in Houston for over 20 years, 16 of that at the same station. I watched and learned what the others did wrong and figured out a way to stay.
- Greed? I have no debt, have always paid my bills, took second and third jobs when I had to. I never blamed anything on anyone else. I knew if I was going to be successful and secure in my life, I was the one who was going to have to take care of myself.
- There are jobs to be had now. If you open your ears\eyes and listen, there are opportunities to be had everywhere.
The bottom line is… YOU are the CEO of your life, business, and personal. Take ownership of your successes and your failures. You’ll go far.