"So I think I have three options," he told me. "I can start my own company now, or I can go work for an established startup, maybe that has some stable funding, or I can get a job in corporate. What do you think I should do?" He had just spent the last 10 minutes telling me about his volunteer work with a local entrepreneurship organization, his desire to travel, and his participation in the campus incubator program. His passion was pretty clear: this was a man born to start something. So that's what I said.  

"Oh thank God. I really thought you were going to tell me to go work in Corporate." 

Why did he think that? Because that is what most well-meaning, middle-aged people (Just for the record, I am NOT middle aged...) would probably say. They might say - "Build your resume!", or "What about this grad program at XYZ Bank?" or "Your cousin just got a job at this consulting firm". They might encourage a young college grad to think about his student loans and go out and get a great job that will help him save up some money (because after all, the real estate market you know...). But there is a dark side to choosing that road. 

"I only looked for jobs in Seattle because I feel like this is a relationship I want in my life. I'm interested in us being together. I limited my search for HIM," my exasperated friend ranted, "and then we're visiting with his parents, and he started talking about how maybe he'll move back to Wisconsin! UGH!" She threw her napkin on the table. I could relate. 

"What classes should I take this year?" 

"What kind of education should a young person have to be employable?"

"What skills will get me a job?"

These are all questions I hear in my office and in my inbox regularly. And there are lots of ways to answer this question. I can encourage you to study what you are interested in (and you should do that), and I can use employment statistics to tell you which majors have the highest employment rate or earn the biggest salary. But there are themes in education that I think will serve you well to be part of the new working world. Because an education needs to not just get you a job in 4 years, it needs to build you up as a functioning member of society and the global economy for the next 50 years. So kids. Here's what you should study this year. 

"I googled him but nothing came up," Lisa said to me, "isn't that weird?". 

"Yes." I had to agree. 

She was serving on the hiring committee for a job in our office, and wanted to learn more about one of the candidates. And I get it, with all the hype about your personal information and privacy issues and how all of your material could be used by corporations or employers, one possible reaction to all of this is to hide out in a digital bunker on lockdown. But Lisa's impression of this invisible candidate and his digital quietude was not good. "I mean, he doesn't have a social media presence. Like, at all," she said with disbelief. 

You're looking at your boss or your parents and thinking "No way am I interested in working like they do." You witness the focus on competitive professional performance, the quest for a raise, the stress about saving money for retirement, the cubicle-dwelling HVAC-maintained ecosystem, the polyester wardrobe. And you think, 

There has to be a better way. 

I hear this all the time. "Every job description I look at says 3 - 5 years of experience required. How am I supposed to get that experience?". Fear not, there's a lot you can do to build experience when you need it! 

I write a lot about finding your passion, conquering fear, and doing something different to pave your own way in the world. And these are still the most important topics when we talk about career. But, you may be thinking, what about the money? Because once you've figured out the passion piece, you still need to earn the cashola. Right? Right. And there's a lot to think about when you're managing all that money you're about to be earning, from before you accept the job, to when you're well on your way. 

I submitted a resume with the wrong dates on it. I'm a career counselor, my whole JOB is resumes, I look at hundreds of them, and am adept at picking out a misplaced period or a misaligned bullet point and the best word to start a sentence with, but I submitted a resume to a job I was really excited about with major errors on it. The difference on my incorrect resume dates was a whole year, which effectively misrepresented my level of experience for the position I applied for. Even worse, I caught the error in formal government paperwork for the new position after I was hired, necessitating an incredibly embarrassing email exchange with an entire team of people, including human resources, lawyers, and my new supervisor, to address the error.