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Real World Education vs. Real World Experience

Kimberly S. Smith · Thursday, November 10th 2005 at 11:37AM · 292 views
Yeah Yeah... We all spent our money going to college, valuing ourselves for the future job market.
The day you receive your Degree, you are now stepping over in the transition that our parents like to call "The REAL WORLD".
Who's hiring me? Who's interested in my status; B.A., interns, jobs, scholar, and completement of a 4-year degree in 4 years?
So you have the education, you got the "work" experience when you were in school that
They don't consider "real work" experience. YOu mean to tell me that I bust my tale in school to educate myself, work myself, and gain the experience to tell me that I don't EVEN meet the MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS!!!!! ANd when the job is offer, you're going to pay me BELOW average entry-level salary. YOU must be kidding me.
Am I the ONLY one feeling this.... OR am I NOT valued yet????

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Kimberly S. Smith Pine Bluff, AR

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Comments (2)

Terence Hendrix Thursday, November 10th 2005 at 4:40PM

Okay, I guess it's time for me to step in and drop science for any and all who may be listening, reading, or just in the general vicinity. "Let us begin......what, where, why, or when.....will all be explained like instructions to a game...."

Here's the deal: you dropped your cash to get the knowledge and spent 4 years of your life (for some it's more than 4) to get the supposed education that you need to be a useful cog in the infrastructure of the American working landscape. In laymen's terms, that means that you just spent 4 years of your life getting trained on how to be a good employee. You have been trained on how to pay your taxes, and how to make this great nation continue in it's mediocre endeavors. You have been trained on how to fit in like the masses of your peers who are content to follow the paradigm that was set up back when your parents were kids on how life is supposed to go. What you are feeling right now is a disconnect from old-school thinking and your new school values.

You are a child of the MTV, VH1, BET generation of "I want it now, and I deserve it all!" That has it's benefits and downfalls. The main downfall is that it doesn't directly coincide with the current state of the Union. The economy is screwed...has been for quite sometime. The majority of folks have been distracted over the recent years by war, gas/oil prices, Extreme Home Make-Over, America's Top Model, American Idol, Michael Jackson, and a myriad of other distractions to keep you from seeing the seriousness of your crisis.

I say all of this, not to sound like a conspiracy theorist (although you need to pay attention), but to say that in all actuality you DON'T HAVE ANY REAL WORK EXPERIENCE until you actually get the job itself. All of this is subjective, meaning that it truly is about WHO you know when it comes to the job market. If you are up against an O.T.B. in these trying economic times, they typically look out for their own. And with a glut of over-qualified, unemployed execs out there with years of experience and multiple degrees under their belts, a new controversy is once again created for the new graduate. You may no longer meet the minimum requirements because the employment pool is overflowing with the over-qualified who are willing to take what would've been your job just to maintain the prizes that they've collected back in their heyday.

This means that in order for you and your contemporaries, as well as anyone who may see this on this site needs to do is restructure your approach. If there are no opportunities available to get what you want, then you must create a new situation to get what you need.

I hope this helps.

WILLIAM W. HEMMANS III Saturday, November 12th 2005 at 4:30AM

This was a very rude awakening for me when I graduated from college. O had up till that point based my life and fought for the Goal of a college degree.
Once the protected reigns of being in a college community were lifted, life hit me left and right with Mike Tyson punches.

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