11. People have diverse career paths
The traditional linear career path is dead.
People are now constantly transitioning into different career paths to suit their needs and circumstances through ‘bite-sized’ learning throughout their entire lives. They are seeking learning experiences at specific moments of need across their lifetime, delivered with the flexibility that their circumstances demand.
For young people, there is no need to be fixated to just one career. They will be experiencing diverse careers throughout their lifetime.
12. Careers advice is lagging behind
The concept of career advice at schools will have to change as the notion of a career for life is increasingly outdated.
Instead, career advice should be helping high school students understand that linear career paths are becoming the exception rather than the rule. They must understand that their skills and capacities must be transferred between jobs in the future.
This is where a deeper appreciation of a student’s capabilities, interests, and portable skills can open a range of possible jobs that they can explore through their working lives.
It is, therefore, important for career advice to equip young people with the ability to change careers as well as to choose them. They need to be actively supported by more technology and data so that they can keep abreast of the vast and fast-developing range of choices available.
13. ‘Dream jobs’ don’t exist
For most people, the whole notion of a ‘dream job’ — a job that you can look forward to each day because it’s intrinsically fulfilling and enjoyable — doesn’t exist.
What’s interesting is that a high percentage of workers also don’t enjoy their jobs.
Here’s the thing. Work is something you do in return for money to live on. There are financial motivations attached to work.
If you are working for reasons other than to earn money, then, by definition, you are not working. It’s a hobby or volunteering.
While there can be exceptions to this rule, most people have to work for the money rather than want to work for the pleasure of it.
Therefore, the advice to find your passion and interest in the form of a job does not work for many.
14. It is hard to find passion and interest in life
The reality is that discovering one’s passion and interest in life is not easy for many people.
More so for young people as they are also wrestling with their growing up questions like, “Am I normal”, “Who am I?” and “Where am I going?”
For many people, it often takes years of struggle and hard work to figure out what truly brings them joy and what their interests are.
Unfortunately, our school systems do not help young people find their passion and interest. They are designed mainly in a way that prioritises academic achievements over intrinsic motivation.
15. Young people do make bad decisions
Scientific research tells us that most human brains take, on average, about 25 years to develop. As such, areas of the brain that control decision-making don’t mature until early adulthood.
Consequently, school leaver’s developing brain places them at greater risk of being less able to consider the consequences of their university or job choices. They are likely to make poor decisions especially when they feel pressured, stressed, or seeking attention from their peers.
16. Degrees lack positive employability outcomes
Sadly, many students have not been measuring the value of their higher education by the employability outcomes that it should deliver for them – that is finding suitable jobs upon graduation and experiencing future career opportunities.
This is because many people don’t look at acquiring a paper qualification as a financial investment that requires a positive return-on-investment.
Compared with young adults who don’t have student debt, student loan holders are less upbeat about the value of their degree, as shown in the diagram below. (Paw Research, 2019) 49% of young adults with a bachelor’s degree or more education have outstanding student debt.
Investing time and money in acquiring a degree should be like any financial investment we make!
17. Confidence in educational institutions is wavering
Many people around the world feel that formal higher education somehow isn’t working for them.
Costly higher education did not prepare them for work. They did not think that they can do life without a college or university degree using alternative pathways like vocational training becoming more main-stream.
What’s more, colleges and universities care more about their reputation and global rankings than effectively equipping students for gaining their first job in their field of study.
18. Navigating the education system is risky business
Many college or university graduates would change their degree type, institution or major if they could do it all over again. This is because the increasing variety of post-secondary programs and credentials has become too vast and complex to easily comprehend.
Besides, the number of colleges and universities has also increased significantly over the past years. They are issuing a blizzard of degrees, certificates, licenses, certifications, badges, and other micro-credentials to meet rising demand.
With this array of options and choices and increasing complexity, investing in higher education is not as straightforward as it used to be.
The risk of making the wrong choices is ever increasing.
19. Outdated educations systems
The just-in-case, rote learning or industrial era education systems are broken.
Most educational system is also out of date. They must go beyond just measuring academic performance where schools and teachers are incentivised to maximise for exam results.
These systems do not give people the right outcomes-focused education and skills that young people desperately need to get their first job in their field of study. Their education does not prepare them to be fully job-ready to meet the needs of employers, now and the future.
20. Schools teach people to be poor
Robert Kiyosaki has frequently said that schools are teaching people how to be poor. The messages that schools are pumping into our heads are not helpful in today’s environment:
(1) Get an education.
(2) Get a good job.
(3) Get promoted.
(4) Earn a higher salary.
Young people are told to save part of their pay, put that money into savings accounts (with interest rates that don’t even keep up with inflation – so they will actually lose money), and invest that money (somewhere).
Robert maintains that the school system is designed to keep most people poor, or at least working hard for their entire lives just to keep their heads above water!