Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me to speak to you today.
It has been many years since I was in your position — wondering what career I would pursue when I graduated. Oh, yes, I spoke to my high school career counselors and discussed it with my parents but I still had only the vaguest idea what I wanted to study in college. I did have a pretty good idea what I didn’t want to do. My parents owned a beauty salon and I was sure I didn’t want to do that. Also, insurance, accounting and embalming were pretty low on my list. I thought I might want to be an engineer.
I graduated from high school and found myself a freshman at an engineering college in New York City. During our first week we were all required to go to an orientation program and at the end of that program we were asked to decide what field of engineering we wanted to study. Uh, oh, what kinds are there? I was asked to choose between mechanical, chemical, electrical, architectural or aeronautical engineering. I chose chemical engineering without having any idea what a chemical engineer does. (And I have to confess to you that, to this day, I have only a vague idea what a chemical engineer does.)
So I began my college career studying to be a chemical engineer but for reasons too detailed to go into, I did not finally get my degree until 43 years later, and then it was with a degree in business administration. Hmmm.
What advice can I give you about choosing your career path? Let me answer it this way: I know a lot of people in all kinds of professions and all kinds of businesses. Almost all of them are working in fields that are totally different from the college degree that they graduated with. I know a very successful art dealer who has a degree in marine biology. I know another person who owns a highly successful cosmetics business who has a master’s degree in psychology.
The answer is this, no matter what you choose at this stage in your life and no matter what degree you eventually earn, you will always be able to be happy and successful in a totally different field if you study hard and get a good education. I know it’s a cliché’ but it’s true. A good education will never leave you. A few years ago when I had a business of my own, I found myself using some skills that I had learned in my freshman year in high school — about 60 years earlier! Another time I was managing a printed circuit-board company and discovered I was using knowledge I had acquired 30 years earlier in a college sophomore class. You just never know when something you learned years earlier will be useful to you. Hate algebra today? I can almost guarantee you will find it of value a few years from now — perhaps when one of your kids needs help with her homework.
Now let’s talk about the day you graduate from college, proudly holding your hard-earned diploma. Chances are that you will be looking for a job soon afterward. And of course in the field you studied. And let’s assume that you are successful in finding that job. What does your employer expect from you?
He expects an honest day’s wok for an honest day’s pay. And the pay will depend on what results you can produce for the company. It will not depend on how much you think you know, how good your credentials are or how much you think you’re worth. Your worth will depend upon how much you can contribute to the company’s profits. Please do not be offended by the idea that your employer wants to profit off of your labor. Profit is not a dirty word. Profit is the reason for all businesses.
Why else would anyone risk his own money and effort to create a business? A McDonald’s franchise costs around $500,000 these days. You have to have a minimum of $250,000 cash before they will even talk to you! Would anyone put up that kind of money if he didn’t expect to make it all back and then make a little more in addition? Or do you really think he invested in a McDonald’s because the neighborhood high school kids need date money?
One more idea about being a new employee. Believe it or not, your employer very much wants you to succeed. He did not invest in advertising the job and the time spent interviewing numerous candidates plus the initial training time needed for you to learn his company’s procedures — so that you will fail. He wants you to become one of his most valuable employees. Therefore do not believe that your new boss is hiding around every corner waiting for you to make a mistake so he can fire you. He expects you to make mistakes but that they will be “honest” mistakes and that they help you become valuable to his company. Remember that on your new job.
Thank you again, and I wish you the best in your careers.
— Paul Burri is an entrepreneur, inventor, columnist, engineer and iconoclast. He is not in the advertising business, but he is a small-business counselor with the Santa Barbara chapter of Counselors to America’s Small Business-SCORE. The opinions and comments in this column are his alone and do not represent the opinions or policies of any outside organization. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Click here for previous Paul Burri columns. Follow Paul Burri on Twitter: @BronxPaul
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