How the College Search and Job Search are Similar

When it comes to choosing a college, we try to base our decisions on where we really want to go. When it comes to choosing a job, we tend to base our decisions on who will pay us more. What if there are other factors that make these searches more similar than you think? I’ll discuss those in today’s episode including: Location, Size, Popularity, Incentives, and more…

#GameOfLife #LocationLocationLocation

www.glassdoor.com

www.niche.com

https://www.onlineu.com/

www.gradreports.com (A bit spammy with trying to get your info)

https://www.bestcolleges.com/ (Online only schools)

Transcript

Introduction

Job/Major Offerings

Location, Location, Location

Size

Population Variety

Popularity/Infamy

Competition

Incentives/Benefits

Exit Strategy

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello and welcome to the Thinking Ahead Podcast. My name is Ronaldo Stevenson. I'm your host on this journey to find out more and discover the truth about careers, college, and finance. Lately, I've been searching for a job and looking in the job market, and even though I am a teacher and employed, I am looking to widen my horizons and aim towards some of my original goals. However, I've noticed how much looking for the right job can be like looking for the right college. After all, you have the application for both. You have to write a cover letter for a job, which is basically like an essay on why you fit in that most colleges require. Your resume is essentially your transcript of your work history with completion rates, and even though there are no test scores, they do look at your results. And so today I'm going to discuss the similar things you should look for whether you're in the market for a job or a degree program at a university or college. A little disclaimer here, as always, the information that I present and the ideas, opinions are just for me. You may feel something different, and therefore you should also do your own research and also use your own requirements to determine where to work or where to go to school. After all, sometimes you do need a job just to have a job and get an income for that moment. But ultimately, the goal of this show and the goal that you should have in life is to find something that not only pays you well but fulfills you. First and foremost, let's talk about the job or major or program availability. Applying to a college that doesn't have the major you're looking for or the program you're looking for is a lot like applying to a company that doesn't have the position that you want or that you're qualified for. Sure, there may be some temporary clout you'll get from having the name of a prestigious university or a high-level company attached to your history, but ultimately you're seeking out your path. Not just to fill a seat in Harvard's classroom or a cubicle at a Fortune 500 company. Don't apply just to be somewhere. Apply to places where you will learn and grow. And again, that applies not just to university, but to jobs as well. Location is the next factor you should consider when looking for a college or employer. The question, do I want to move or how far do I want to commute should be in your equation. This is especially important if you're crossing state lines or moving over 100 miles away. For the college search, this will affect your dormitory and living options as some campuses require freshmen to live on campus. Not to mention the rising costs of out-of-state tuition. You'll easily pay three to four times as much as an in-state student just for having your address in another state or country. For your job search, you have to consider the costs associated with moving. Not just the move itself, but buying power. Are homes and rentals in the place you're wanting to live more or less expensive? Do you have to commute farther from affordable living areas to get to your job? If you have a family, you also have to consider their lifestyles and options as well. Are the schools good? If you share a car, is it possible for either partner to take public transportation? These seemingly tiny questions by themselves aren't going to make or break your decision, but the overall lifestyle that you envision will be affected and thus your quality of life. And these types of decisions I like to consider X goals, that is, a goal or decision that completes multiple goals at once. Let's say you've always wanted to live in a big city with public transportation, but you also want to be near the mountains. A place near the Rockies like Salt Lake City or Denver might be better for you. That is just one example how you should first define what it is you want, and then determine the place that can check off all the boxes for you in your search. If you're not planning on moving, then distance will also be something to consider. In other words, your commute. Whether you're talking about a job or college or university, the distance you have to travel from home to get to the place where you'll spend a majority of your working hours is a must for your consideration. If you live in a big city, then an hour commute is probably normal for you. But if you're used to suburban living, then anything over 30 minutes could be considered too far. In rural areas, there is not a real workaround to the distance problem, as you'll usually have a college or job that is part of the town center where everything is, and then everything else is at least a 25 minute or more drive away. The next thing to consider is the size of the company or university. You've probably heard of the analogy or saying, do you want to be a big fish in a tiny pond? Or a tiny fish in a big pond? But there are several other factors at work here. First, bigger schools and companies usually have notoriety. For companies specifically, size is supposed to be a testament to their success. Unfortunately, this has added to the globalist conglomerate attitude, and that is how you get American companies like Budweiser and AMC being owned by foreign entities. But I digress. For universities, size of the campus and student population is usually tied to their popularity. However, in some cases, it is tied to the surrounding city and therefore access to education. Even so, it cannot be understated that when you go to a bigger company or attend a bigger college, you tend to be just another cog of the machine, or a brick in the wall, as Pink Floyd would like to say. That was a terrible British accent. Never let me do that again. A benefit of working at a small company is that usually not always, but usually the company culture is based on partnerships in the office. You'll find more events, family outings, and you may even find more opportunities for promotion, as small companies tend to hire in-house and give unofficial responsibilities and titles. They kind of thrive on a you know how to do this, so can you please do this and we'll pay you for it? Mentality. At smaller schools, you'll typically find better professor to student ratios, but not always. Let's be honest, art history is probably always going to be a big class for the 100 level. The guidance officer or career counselors will also usually have more time to see you and to cater to your needs since they don't have to surge such a large student body. The downsides of small companies may be that the singular work culture that they have doesn't quite gel with you. In small companies, they tend to hire people that think, on let's be honest, even look like them. It's part of human nature. Sometimes this can create a rift where you feel like you don't fit in or that you are being personally attacked for certain ways of thinking. At big companies, there are typically clicks that form, much like the high school movies of yesteryear. Are you going to sit with the valley girls? Nerds are jocks. Though they typically stick to fantasy football in the office. You can also have the benefit of being anonymous in a bigger campus or company. That guy or girl in Cubicle 24 may just be the title you're looking for. Meanwhile, at university, the downsides of a smaller school is often less program offerings. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as sometimes universities offer every major just because they can, but at the same time, if you are trying to stay close to home, your local university may not have the program that aligns with your goals. Larger universities do usually offer more. Now, that doesn't mean better. It just means that they'll have a few programs that are their meat and potatoes, but then they'll have other programs that are available just because. An appetizer, if you will. Are the kids' menu chicken nuggets. The art program at your big school may just be a bloom and onion appetizer. Delicious but full of empty calories. Am I hungry? I think I'm hungry. One of the things that we also need to discuss is population variety. That kind of comes along with size, but what I mean is what kind of people are in the university or in the company. And this is not just demographics, as race and background don't cover the whole gamut of how people think. Earlier I mentioned workplace culture and clicks. At universities, you'll almost find every type of person that you can think of somewhere on campus. At big companies, this may be the same. However, at certain companies you will find that they cater to very specific mindsets. Don't let this stop you from participating. You'd be surprised at how many computer programmers are what people would think are nerds, love sports. And that Wall Street Trader probably watches more anime than either of us in his spare time. As much as we should try and as much as we try to separate work in our personal life to some extent, there's going to be some bleed over. What you do at work will lead into your hobby space, and what you do at home will occasionally leak into your workspace. Unlike work, university relationships are usually stronger because of these hobby or other bonds. You may not keep in touch with people you took classes with every day, but you'll still reach out to that person you played board games with every Friday night. And this also applies to your workplace. So again, see who's around, see if you can find out a little bit about what they have outside of work, what kind of events they host, and you'll be better off. Next on my list is popularity, or in some cases, infamy. There are many colleges and universities and companies that you've heard of, but when brought under the microscope of scrutiny, actually start showing their true colors. For example, colleges in the Los Angeles, California area would probably be expected to have the highest on-campus crime rate, but according to a study done by DegreeChoices.com, that honor actually goes to Ohio State University. Or, if you're job searching, ATT is a well-known company whose name has been around for ages, even though secretly back in the 2000s they were bought by the cell phone conglomerate Singular. However, ATT now is notorious for treating their call center workers as second-tier employees and giving little warning to those employees when they are closing call centers or planning on outsourcing jobs. Another interesting example is Defense Tech, our defense companies. If you plan to work with a defense technology company, don't be surprised if your bosses are selling to countries that don't necessarily align with the US's goals. Another dangerous trend to watch out with companies in their popularity or infamy is how many new tech companies that deal with trading crypto. What I'm trying to say is just because something is famous doesn't mean it's good. Looking at this from a college standpoint, you have to consider the fact that just because it's a popular school doesn't mean you'll automatically graduate or have a better chance of having a great career. Malcolm Gladwell did a talk with Google Zeitgeist about how the graduation rates among schools don't depend so much on your SAT or ACT score, or even what school you go to. It mostly depends on your relative ranking, that is, how well you do compared to those around you. He used data from Harvard and Hartwick colleges to show that the top third from both institutions graduated at similar rates for STEM degrees, even though the top third from Hartwick had significantly lower SAT scores than the lowest third from Harvard. And this actually ties into one of my next points, competitiveness, both internal and external. The competition of schools and companies searching for top candidates is no secret. Colleges scout high school students from academic and sports as early as freshman year, and depending on the high school teachers around, they may get the promotions at any time during their career. Fun fact: if you participate in a college-sponsored camp in elementary or middle school, they'll hang on to your contact information to send you something. They plant those seeds early. Employee headhunters don't start so early, but college career fairs are one of the ways that companies will look for top-tier entry-level workers. I think the funny thing about universities competing against each other is that we get to literally see them face off against each other in football games and other sports games, but to the presidents that run these colleges, the success of the athletics program is actually vying for students in the future. Some programs at schools around the nation tie their student enrollment success directly to the success of the football program. It goes that deep. An even more critical level of competition is the internal competition, or person versus person within a university or college, or the workplace. In the undergraduate years of college, this may look like somebody trying to one-up everybody by having the highest test scores. But in grad school, it may look like having the most published or best published essays and theses, or having steady grants. While healthy competition is a useful motivator, a lot of students make this competition their world, and if they were always at the top of their high school class, the first time they fell can turn their world upside down and cause damage not only for them but those around them when they crash out. And yes, I did just say crash out. Competition in the workplace often takes this a step further and can range from competition for positions, to competition for clients, to downright pettiness over the way someone dresses. I think the reason for some of these hostile work environments is because some people put their whole identity into their position. They neglect to round out their personality, whether that's with family, hobbies, or even independent thinking, and then whenever they encounter someone who is either more talented or has a more complete life that's not defined by the sacrifice for work, they feel threatened. I'm sure some of you can attest to the passive aggressiveness of managers or co-workers who feel entitled to tell you how something is, even when they are wrong or have completely no idea what they're talking about. In either case, college are the workplace, you have to consider how competitive the environment will be versus how collaborative the environment may be. In some positions, credit will have to be given to the whole team, even if you do most of the work. Or on the other side of the spectrum, if you're drowning in a case workload, your colleagues may leave you to dry with that mess, whether it was your making or not. Glassdoor.com is a great place to find out more about companies that you're eyeing so you can see what the workplace culture is like. And if you're a college student, I recommend niche.com. It's a great place for gleaning more information about how students feel about the colleges and their professors. I'll link both of those websites into the show notes. And the final stretch, but definitely not the last or only thing to consider, are incentives. That is, colleges and companies that put out benefits or incentives to try to pull people in. This kind of ties into the company competitiveness that we were talking about earlier, but it is also part of an appearance of a better culture. So you'll have fancy break rooms and the like for companies. That's pretty big right now. And I have heard of video game companies that promote how interactive and cool their workplaces are, with players being able to players. Workers being able to be players and play games in the studio. On the other hand, these companies also like to hide the fact that they have 70-hour work weeks during their crunch weeks, and surprise, every week is crunch week, so good luck trying to get to the break room during that time. That said, job incentives and benefits, or college incentives and benefits, are an extremely important factor in choosing where to be. For the college minded, one of the biggest incentives you should look for is financial aid. How much of your schooling is the school going to help you pay for? Many students can be thrown off by looking at schools listed to a Price, but forget to take into account the fact that most schools, especially if you're a high-performing student, will find a way to either give you grants or scholarships or find ways to discount the tuition, and that's even without taking student loans. Furthermore, you'll want to see what types of support they offer the student body. One of the big pools at many universities is what campus life is like outside of the classroom. Some of the nicest and most state-of-the-art fitness centers are on university campuses for this reason. Personally, one of my favorite parts of UCF was that they had an on-site clinic for students to visit that gave affordable and timely health care to those enrolled, and it was a speedy, low-level way to get yourself seen. When it comes to work, you'll want to look for incentives and benefits besides those that are direct deposited into your bank account. In other words, something besides money. Healthcare in America is always one of the most talked-about considerations when looking for a job, simply because it is one of the highest costs of living, whether you're talking about a one-time accident that you pay for out of pocket or the cost of insurance. If your job offers insurance, chances are it will be better than anything you can get on your own. Definitely take that into consideration when choosing a job. Another incentive for work is time off. When you're young, time off is not as valuable as you take advantage of the fact that school has a set calendar year where you get time off, and usually even if you miss a date, you can make up the work. For the working adult, however, taking time off outside of the holiday season, depending on your industry, and other major holidays is a short-lived and just short in general time that you get. Two weeks off is the American vacation standard. But some company work cultures include the federal holidays in that. So you really only get about maybe seven days of maybe paid vacation. One of the best questions to ask when you're interviewing for a new position is how they treat sick days. Does it count against you in the point system? Does it take a vacation day? Are they separate from vacation days? The variations of this are far and wide, so it's best to ask questions and do research. A major but oft forgotten by the young incentive is that of savings and retirement options. Obviously, this does not apply to universities, but for those work-minded of us, 401ks or some other savings plan is something that I would argue is a must. However, if your paycheck is balanced out enough that you can comfortably take out 5% of your own pay and put it into an IRA or mutual fund, then you don't have to die on that hill. I will say, however, that if your workplace offers company matching to a certain percentage, then utilize that. It is literally leaving money on the table if you don't. The last thing I'm going to touch on is something most of us would rather not think about, but it's actually an important factor in the end, and that is the exit strategy. What do we do if the university or job that we've decided on isn't the right one? What if it turns out that the CEO spent all of the hedge fund investing in an always online juicer that nobody bought, and the board is demanding, you know, a change? What if the university is caught in a scandal and gets your program's funding pulled? These scenarios are, albeit rare, but they do happen. For university and college students, if you need to change colleges, first try to transfer to a school within the same state system. If it's part of state college system, you should be able to transfer the credits over without any loss. If moving to a different state or school system, then there's more scrutiny and therefore more research should be done. Thankfully, technology has made life so much easier than when I was in college, and there's now a website like Transferology. Actually, there is a website, Transferology.com, that can help you with finding out which schools will take your credits, and that should definitely be taken into account whenever your moving programs are moving schools. If you do have to change schools for reasons besides the school closing, I suggest making the decision before the end of the spring semester, and using the summer to work, decompress, and get your affairs in order so that you can start in the fall at your new institution. Some people may suggest taking a gap year, but if you're truly dedicated to earning your degree, the take a semester off trap is something to be aware of. When it comes to leaving jobs, you have to be a bit more discreet. Unfortunately, with so many companies being right to work, that is, red right to fire, if you walk into HR and ask about transferring 401ks, they may not be as open to work with you, and your manager may pull you into the office for a little chat. Next thing you know, they pile extra work on your desk right when a periodic review is coming up, and gasp, you underperformed. So we'll have to let you go. Not an unheard of tactic, but if you do find yourself being let go from a company, you can sign up for your state's unemployment program and you'll be able to have some substitute income while you job search. Ideally, when you are job searching, you should try to find new work through these loops, starting with the easiest connection first. So first, friends and former colleagues. Second, family members. I say family members second because depending on how close you are with your family, that may be a bigger strain on the relationship. Third, university connections, especially if you're within your first five years out of school or if you're close to the alumni program. Four, job fairs, specifically local job fairs, and then five, job boards. I'll go deeper into job searching process in an episode later this year, but that's just a brief rundown of which connections are most important. To prepare for the possibility of layoffs, you should have an emergency fund with at least three months' worth of finances in it. This can be attained a little more quickly by saving about 10% of your income for two years. If you do have wiggle room, you can also save a lot more and get there a lot quicker. Also, be mindful of what you post on social media. Your name is one web search away from being found, and if you're not careful, they will find out all sorts of secrets. Well, that's all the time we have for today. I'll be coming back around to discuss finance in college in the next episode. If you or your children are college bound, it won't be a bad idea to tune in, so be sure to subscribe or favorite the podcast. Until next time, set your goals, do the daily work, and of course, keep thinking ahead.