My Address to Graduates
I am not scheduled to speak this year at any graduations, but many others will be. Many young eager ears will hear words of wisdom designed to motivate them into going forth and doing good. What would you tell them?
Following is what I would tell them.
You were given two chances, so far, to create the masterpiece of your life. When you entered college you were given a blank canvas and told you could sketch the foundation for any future you want for yourself. You now have the second opportunity as graduates.
My young artists, I am giving you two points of advice. 1) Decide what you really like and figure out how you can get a job doing it or leading you toward that. 2) Only accept a position that coincides with what you came up with in 1). Do not feel constricted by your education and major area of study if that is not the way you feel you really want to go. You have an opportunity to redraw the canvas, using what you learned and insights gathered to set out on a different path – one of your choosing.
Too many graduating seniors accept either the first job offered, the one with the highest salary or bonus, the job with the most prestigious company, where many of their friends or would be friends are going, or at a place that they think they can use as a stepping stone planning to leave within a couple of years to go where they “really want to work.” Not the way to go. This takes your future out of your hands.
The reality for many people is that their first job determines their business or professional future. There are many reasons for this but that really doesn’t matter – it is the way it is. Just ask anyone you admire that is over age 50 about how their first job created their future and if they could, would they do it again or what they would do differently.
So, go forth, and conquer the world if you must, just make sure it is what you really want.
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