As an American of South Asian descent who likely espouses traditional familial and value structures, you may be
wondering how traditional career paths became obsolete. Raised in an environment where the medical, engineering and at times, legal professions were considered highly prized career choices, the economic realities of our world now paint a different picture. Industries are shifting and evolving. Markets are saturated. Developing countries such as China and India are becoming vociferous consumer markets with low-cost talent in abundance. No longer is a medical or law degree a guaranteed ticket to a stable, high net worth career. As industries consolidate in an increasingly globalized world, and the commercial and consumer needs of the market evolve, the current generation of new graduates and young professionals will need to take a long, hard look at how they will succeed in the next 10, 20, and 30 years.
What Has Happened
To enter the market as a new graduate today is akin to venturing out to an unfamiliar, untamed jungle, where the rules are constantly being broken and refashioned to fit those who understand the mechanics of industries. For example, take the legal profession. Once upon a time, if you graduated from a top 20 school with above average grades, you may have been offered a plum job at a global law firm with a starting salary of $160,000 in New York. Today, consider yourself lucky if you can find a volunteer, part-time opportunity simply to put something on your resume. The medical profession is no less immune. The economic crisis has propelled one of the largest overhauls of government since the New Deal. Between the creation of multiple executive agencies regulating industries and the on-going legislative process, industry forecasts with any predictability may as well be a psychic’s exercise. For doctors, this may mean that payment and current compensation and incentive structures may be in jeopardy.
Even less traditional careers are not yet secure – advertising, media and creative agencies are peering into a saturated market, where budgets for creative risk-taking have shrunk and advertising dollars are constantly fluctuating due to the rapid evolution of new media.
So what’s your pricey degree worth? What trade or profession can you affirmatively state you belong to?
Think Outside the Box
It’s time to throw away the old rulebook. No longer can you simply send off resumes in the hope of landing an interview or fear being pigeonholed to a specific job. Rather, you must conduct your research on a macro level that captures the emerging trends of your industry. How is your industry evolving in the next five to ten years? What business, economic, legal and social forces are enabling the proliferation of untested market space? To get ahead of the curve you must understand the long-term perspective. If your industry is becoming relevant in one way and irrelevant in others, then you must take advantage of yet-unseen niche opportunities that may exist in your industry. In this context, your brand value plays a transformative and critical role in positioning you as a thought leader, however young, in your industry. Read and research every piece of industry analysis and follow current developments so you are thoroughly versed in the subject matter of interest. Join associations and special interest groups that deal with what you want to do. Write blog articles and increase your professional web presence as a means of introducing yourself to your target market.
An engineering degree is more than simply engineering. You can leverage it in the biotechnology and alternative energy industries. A law degree is not merely to get in front of a large law firm. It enables you to apply your knowledge base to your passions, whether its art, music or history. Even museums and freelance artists need legal assistance. A boutique practice in art law may provide that added value to your career. A medical degree can be leveraged in multiple ways, including shaping health policy on a local or state level or working with a local doctor who operates several clinics. Enjoy tinkering with software? Think about publishing an industry blog. Always wanted to write a series of short stories? Then do it. You’ll be surprised how today’s leaders in every imaginable industry reached their pinnacle. Most were not the products of traditional career paths.
The method behind such maddening thoughts lies in strategic networking. Your efforts in shaping your brand value and expertise base must be focused and consistent, targeting those segments of the professional population that fits your goals and aligns with a general industry. The power of mobilizing on an individual level has never been so great as it has been today. And if you have assistance and offerings of complementary skills from family and friends, that core network will propel you even faster.
Such strategies may seem counterintuitive and daunting to those accustomed to a traditional career mindset, if not outright frightening. But it is exactly this type of ingenuity that enables an individual to become indispensible, and even land a coveted job. It may take more time, but this market has compelled a large segment of an entire generation to reevaluate what it means to have job security, in my opinion, a fiction in itself. It’s time to step up to the economic plate and bat your homerun.
– Sheheryar Sardar is a partner at Sardar Law Firm and a Social Media Risk & Compliance Consultant with Global Executive Board
