Wednesday, September 18, 2019 // The Statement
6B
Trotter feels that liberal arts is truly
an education, not training. “If someone
is looking for a broader education that
is not going to prepare them just for one
particular job, but prepare them for a
lifetime of multiple careers, then an LSA
degree really can be a way for someone
to go,” she said.
During our interview, Trotter was
careful not to downplay the other
colleges on campus. She said she’s
always surprised to see what students
do with their major after they graduate,
in a good way.
“The degree that you’re getting here,
regardless of the major, sets you up to
be able to exercise so many different
skills and areas of knowledge,” Trotter
said.
I unloaded all my worries and
anxiety about finding a job after I
graduate. “Sometimes half the battle
… is to figure out what is it that you
want,” she said.
D
ylan Lange, however, knew
exactly
what
he
wanted.
Graduating in 2019 with a
BBA from the Ross Business School
and a minor in global media studies,
Lange did not follow the traditional
Ross recruiting route. After graduation,
Lange moved to Los Angeles and spent
two-and-a-half months applying for
jobs before landing a role as an assistant
to a talent agent at Paradigm Talent
Agency.
Over those 75 days, Lange interviewed
at five of the seven major agencies, and
with each rejection he found himself
wondering if he had made a mistake.
“There were definitely times where
I was like, ‘Yeah, totally, let’s go down
a different route. If I wanna get back to
this down the road then I will.’ It was
something I was thinking about, for
sure,” Lange said.
“Well, it sounds like you’re happy
with what you’re doing now,” I said.
“Are you?”
“I’m glad you asked,” he said. “No,
I’m so not happy with what I’m doing.”
Think scheduling meetings, answering
phones and getting yelled at every day
by a very intense boss. Lange went on
to explain that in Hollywood “everyone
starts out as an assistant, unless your
uncle is George Clooney.”
To me, the idea of moving across
the country without a job or place to
stay sounds terrifying. The instability!
And to hate your job after months of
searching and years of education feels
like some sort of sick joke. But maybe
that’s what people think when I tell
them I’m an English major. Or maybe
it reminds them of their first job after
graduating.
“I think (with) any job, and especially
entry-level, you’re gonna have great
things that you’re excited about, and
you’re going to have things you’re not
excited about, things you’re gonna have
to work harder on,” Lange said.
Lange’s
advice
was
refreshingly
simple: “Stay positive. At the end of
the day, it’s just a job. If you don’t
find the perfect job for your first job,
you’re gonna find a job that you love
eventually. Whatever you do, make it a
step forward for you in some way.”
A
t the Alumni Association of the
University of Michigan, Louise
Jackson,
associate
director
of the Alumni Career Program, Louise
Jackson, oversees the career program
available to the more than 600,000
living alumni.
“We try to serve all our alumni as
much as we can, as well as in concert
with our colleagues on campus,” says
Jackson.
Jackson stated in an email that
there are over 100,000 members of the
University Alumni Association. Despite
the push for membership, the career
programs are open to any University
graduate.
“Our
job
seekers
are
typically
underemployed, unemployed,” Jackson
wrote. “They’re, in many cases, under
significant financial restraint. As a
result of that, we have made the very
intentional decision to make all of our
programs available to all alumni, with
only one or two member benefits.”
One
program
the
association
provides is a virtual Career Change
program that guides alumni through
identifying
strengths
and
skills,
defining their ideal career, finding new
career possibilities and creating an
action plan. This program also serves
as a metric for measuring how often
alumni are changing the course of their
careers.
“We have seen, as a result of that
program, that our alumni are pivoting
careers earlier than they were in the
past,” Jackson said. “(Millenials and
Gen Z) are only in jobs for 2-3 years
versus the typical ‘old-school’ where
you’re at a job for 10-15 yrs.”
Jackson attributes this change to a
shift in employee expectations.
“There’s less of a focus on loyalty
for the specific employer and less
dependence
on
the
employer
for
determining the career path,” she
said. “A lot of alumni and individuals
are realizing that … they’re the people
who have to create their future. As
such, they’re not depending on their
employer
to
provide
that
career
development.”
U
niversity alum John Wang
is
still
searching
for
his
passion. Wang graduated in
2003 with a triple major in Philosophy,
Biopsychology and Cognitive Science,
and Mathematical Physics. The summer
after graduation, he took car mechanic
courses
at
Washtenaw
Community
College and later moved to Texas. He
made money gambling online, playing
pool and going door-to-door selling
water.
In 2005, he enrolled at Yale Law
School and graduated with a dual
degree
in
law
and
business.
He
confessed to me, “To be frank, I’m not
a very great student in some ways. I
really hate classes.”
After working at a prestigious law
firm in Manhattan for a couple of years,
Wang quit to run a marathon in Paris.
Fast forward through a couple of failed
start-ups and business partnerships
to today, Wang now operates Queens
International Night Market in New
York. QINM attracts 10,000 people every
Saturday and celebrates the cultural
diversity of New York and Queens with
independent vendors selling food, art
and merchandise along with small-scale
performances.
Given
his
employment
history,
I asked if he thinks
he’ll stick with Queens
Night Market.
“I have no idea. I’ve
been telling everyone
every
year,
half-
jokingly, that, ‘This
is my last year. I can’t
do it anymore.’” This fall will mark
the end of Queen Night Market’s fifth
season. “There’s always this question in
the back of my head which is ‘What am I
gonna do when I grow up,’ and I realize
I’m nearly forty now,” Wang said.
I wondered aloud if Philosophy,
Biopsychology and Cognitive Science,
and Mathematical Physics have any use
in his day-to-day life. He laughed and
said maybe in some
abstract way, but “to
be quite frank, I’ve
forgotten to how to do
99 percent of what I was
doing
in
theoretical
mathematical physics.”
He
followed
up
by saying he uses his Washtenaw
Community
College
car
mechanic
training more than anything else. His
parting words to me were peppered
with “I don’t knows” and long pauses.
He joked that he probably wasn’t the
best person to be giving career advice,
but I disagree.
“Life is long,” he said. “If you’re happy,
great; if not, take risks. Who cares if it’s
related to your major or not?”
I
n a way, I’m comforted by these
stories. Even more reassuring is
the beautiful block ‘M’ soon to
be stamped on my diploma — a symbol
that represents my work ethic and the
universal gold standard of all University
graduates.
Yet, as with
many of my
peers,
the
question
of
what life holds
after I throw
my graduation
cap
remains
unanswered.
When I set out to answer this
question, I was searching for validation.
I wanted to know that deciding on a
liberal arts degree was the right choice.
Now, I recognize my bias as an English
major — it was my own self-doubt that
made me desperate to prove liberal arts
was worthy of respect.
After talking to the alumni, not one
of them voiced regret about pursuing a
liberal arts degree from the University.
All of them admitted
to
doubting
themselves
or
feeling lost at one
point or another. But
is that particular to
the experience of a
liberal arts major,
or is it just being
human?
When
I
think back to all those New Yorkers,
radiating confidence, I have to believe
there’s some part of them that questions
their path. That “making it” in NYC isn’t
perfectly linear.
From Page 5B
remains
unanswered.”
“Yet, as with
many of my peers,
the question of
what life holds
after I throw my
graduation cap