Fishing for Career Answers
(Jan. 18, 2005)

Are we obsessed with marketable skills?

An Associated Press story on Jan. 14 raised this provocative question. A management consultant from California recently told some local 8th graders during a career-day program that they might find happiness earning $250,000 a year as exotic dancers, or strippers.

The consultant, who listed about 140 career possibilities for the teenagers, was giving a presentation that he calls "The Secret of a Happy Life."

Some parents understandably took exception to the consultant's advice. Most intriguing to me was the parent outraged because her son said the program had influenced him to declare that college would not be an option. He'd rather be fishing.

Other than perhaps promoting some naivete among kids about how easy, glorious and lucrative it is to be a stripper, I'd say the consultant wasn't really plowing new ground.

For decades we've heard complaints about the "rat race", and advisors who said that each individual should "do what you love."

The unfortunate truth is that the world is full of necessary jobs that don't automatically send people into romantic rhapsodies. Someone has to spin the oil filter at the quick-lube shop. Someone has to cart the garbage, empty the bedpans and attach gutter-cleaning-service ads to doorknobs in your neighborhood. Despite a federal clamp-down on the industry, some people still make a living as telemarketers.

These are all jobs that could be loved, but often may not be.

But is the love factor really any different between menial and white-collar work? How many employees at Fortune 500 firms actually relish the prospect of another day filled with inter-office grenades and miscalculations?

Maybe "what we love" is to hate our jobs.

So, with the cost of higher education rising constantly, it is easy to focus intensely on marketable skills. Families and students want to know what they're getting for the investment.

But, I keep thinking about that kid who just wants to fish. That's his American dream, and he has a right to it. But, a good job will certainly help to pay for the bass boat.

-- Jim Wisuri