In my last blog I covered a simple topic – How you choose to write your job advertisement can determine how many potential candidates you will have to apply for that job? The words you choose and the criteria you specify talks a lot about you as an employer.
Today, I want to turn tables and talk about average, mediocre
students who believe they are meritorious, the ones who will be job seekers
soon or will be picked from campus and miles away from entrepreneurship - How
their words, online behavior, daily activities/ routine and social interaction
talks so much about them. Regardless of what they pursue – PhD or Master’s
degree abroad, it is such a giveaway that they are just after "feeling
important" which is a very me-centric attitude rather than being resourceful
for family, society and greater good.
It is okay for a generalist to behave like that – go with the flow
and see what life throws at you. When you spend 20 to 25 lakhs on education and
sometimes with an education loan to pay off, it is very important to know what
you want to do with life, before you enroll for a degree.
We know most of the traits millennial generation have - the
way they think and their priorities. It is like a flow chart or you can call it
a blue print which means it is common knowledge now. In short, most of them are
easily predictable. You almost know what they will do next and what is going on
in their mind. With a deep sense of self entitlement and being a little low on
patience, they are not very security driven souls.
Some of them are surprise package though. The brighter ones in
this lot are purpose driven, with a huge need to express their thoughts and
opinions freely. Lastly they are hungry for recognition, which is rightfully
theirs.
Here are a few who belong to that population - You can draw your
conclusions about their future and their ambitions.
In my residential complex
I see an engineer who has graduated last year play football every evening,
chauffeur their family here and there in their new car and prepare for government/
bank jobs. Why Engineering then?
A couple of months back I
happened to hear two girls speak in excited tones about their forthcoming exams
and I was in the same public transport, on a seat opposite to them. I wanted to
know more about what they study and casually asked what would be the scope of
the degree that they will acquire – in terms of industry use. One of them fell
absolutely silent, not knowing what to say and nudged the other to explain. The
other one did give me a rough idea about how the degree helps in pharmaceutical
industry, Fisheries etc. I could also imagine the girl who fell silent will be
the one who will score higher marks. That is her goal. Her goal is definitely not learning or making use of her learning.
Just a month back, I met a
lady in her early thirties, who wanted to do Masters in Political Science but
ended up doing in Education, because her friends asked her to stand in that
queue when the form had to be filled. It will take me some time to digest this
one. Each time I tell her to make use of it, her standard response – “I have
the degree, that is enough”
I know a young engineer
who got a job immediately after he graduated and after five years in that
company –he quit to prepare for higher studies – and attempt for Government
jobs and civil services.
I know a young girl
pursuing Law from a reputed college in Kolkata while her interest is in
dancing, fashion and performance. I will not be surprised if she takes up
acting course this year.
I have a friend’s daughter who is pursuing Masters in Physiology
and while I am happy to know that she is keen to do PhD, every Tuesday I see
her with a friend of hers going to learn dance from a local studio. She
can practice para medical as she is qualified for that however as the pay is
negligible, she prefers PhD. because of the scholarship. Can anyone study a
subject for years and submit a thesis, if they do not feel strongly connected
to it?
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| Image Design: Canva The New Meritorious: Someone with 60% across multiple Intelligence |
If the adage, morning glory shows the day, holds true one bit, I
find most of these people clueless about what they want to do and have been
like that since morning, I mean, since childhood. Can anyone connect the dots? What they studied, what they like doing and how they want to earn their livelihood?
As they are not quite security driven, they see no reason to stick to a job
or work on building relations in work place. Not many have what it takes to stay, perform and succeed. The percentages are still in their heads and will be there for a while.
Education
Will a degree from a foreign university make any difference to
attitude or bring mindshift? If the 16 years of education that you had in India
could not even teach you how to build a vision first, how will higher education
that is built on that myopic base do great things?
Blended learning and use of multiple intelligence can shape higher
education - Physical and virtual learning
Career
Even if they are doing a very simple job functionally, even as an
entry level resource, they will talk about the education they are keen to
pursue that year or how they cracked a tough B School, rather than why they
chose that subject, what they plan to do after MBA. All internships are
experiences and displayed in social media channels lasting 3 months or 6 months
- Are they waiting to be taken seriously? What do these brief stints exactly
say about them? Patient to learn and perform or ready to quit and start afresh?
Moving to hybrid model
There was a time, even I was confused - I flunked in B Sc
Physics (H), I wanted to just get a degree in Arts, which I did however I
had also enrolled for Cost Accounting around the same time. I was clear about one thing - I will not
spend a thousand years on education and yet, decades letters the only thing
that keeps me going is - learning.
Internet is huge today with many learning opportunities,
particularly easily accessible online Learning Courses. We take it
readily at our own pace and we explore options to use it effectively because
there is an outcome to be achieved - Living, Lifestyle, Assets, Legacy. If the
outcome of a pursuit is limited to "feeling important" or "need
for recognition" it is a different narrative altogether.
It is never too late, find your IKIGAI today and streamline
education, career and learning.
