THE WAY I SEE IT

For many of my peers, soon-to-be college graduates, the last four, five or six years of your life were probably based around papers, exams and late night Ramen noodles.

With graduation forthcoming, I have switched my focus to more school, with a graduate program or more likely, entering the “real world. ”

Over the past four years, I have worked hard toward my degree. And I am proud of that.

 I still have friends in my hometown working the same job they had in high school or worse… jobless.

But a college degree is not my ticket out of being unwaged.

Here are the latest unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Americans over 25 years old: those with less than a high school diploma, 12.9 percent; those with a high school diploma and no college, 8.3 percent; those with some college or associate degree, 7.3 percent; and, those with bachelor’s degree or higher, 4.2 percent.

As intimidating as the job market may be, I have learned to embrace my competing peers, and I don’t mean my classmates or graduating seniors around the nation.

My direct competition are the professionals who already work in the “real world. ”

My philosophy is, “If you want an employer to take you seriously, you must do professional things: researching what your com­petition is doing, understanding the power of networking, and working your butt off and not settling for average. ”

In the article, entitled “Average is over,” published online at the nytimes.com, the writer, Thomas L. Friedman,  discusses the theories of high unemployment and slumped middle-class incomes, “… employers have so much more access to so much more average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment. ” Basically, you have to go hard.

In this crazy automated society, it is not enough to only further your education; you must find what you are good at and work harder than the next person.

Competition for a job/career after college is getting tougher.

But there is good news: You are in control of your destiny.

Being average is not enough.

Period.