The Art of Job Hunting

Out in the North American forests, a hunter sips their coffee in a tree stand at 5 a.m. and waits for the perfect prey to stumble into the cross-hairs of their rifle. They waits four hours or maybe even more when they spot it. There, right in front of their sight, is a large eight-point White-Tailed buck gnawing on some grass.

The hunter is stealthy as they grab their rifle, line up the shot, and take it. The buck tries to bound away, but he falls a few yards later, dead as a door nail. The hunter drags the deer from the forest and takes it to a meat processor, and has the choice to get the deer stuffed as a trophy.

You're more than likely wondering what the point of that story was. You see, the deer trophy to that hunter is a work of art. It's something they can mount on the wall or stuff the whole thing and display it, something that they can be proud of and say, "Yes, I shot that. This was my doing." Hunting in general can be seen as an art medium. In that respect, so can job hunting.

I know. It's a strange analogy, but work with me here.

Before a hunter gets a license, they need to determine what kind of prey they want to go after. For all intents and purposes, let's go with deer. A hunter chooses deer. You are the hunter. The deer is a real world job.

After you pick your prey, you have to go through the procedures of obtaining a hunting license and gathering hunting equipment. The hunting equipment symbolizes your workforce skills. The license is any experience or any degree you obtain.

You have your prey, your equipment, and your license. All that's left is the actual act of hunting itself, right? You have to start early, but not too early as you might miss something in the darkness, or a better opportunity down the road. You skulk trough the woods, and you notice a lot of tree stands or hunters muddling around. Remember, you are not the only hunter out there. There could only be one deer that travels through your selected patch of woods. You could all be vying for that one deer. It's best to put yourself out there ahead of time and get your equipment set up, so if that deer comes into your sights you can snag it quickly.

That brings up another point, though. You should make sure your equipment fits you and the prey you're going after. You wouldn't bring a rifle to harpoon a whale, or a harpoon to shoot a deer. Make sure your equipment matches the prey you want, and hone that equipment so you're better qualified to shoot your prey.

You are now that hunter sipping coffee at 5 a.m. while you sit in your tree stand and wait for the perfect job to cross your path. Your eyes scroll the landscape of online job postings, and you polish your resume so you can start shooting at jobs. 

Not every shot is a hit. Sometimes, successful hits aren't rewarded with instant gratification like a job offer (or the death of the deer, if you're keeping up with the analogy).

Sometimes, you have to follow the injury trail and keep after the prey before finally having it in your grasp.

It may take several hours, several days, or in some cases several weeks before you finally have your prey in your grasp. When you get it, though, you'll be just like the hunter who gets their deer mounted: proud, beaming, because for the time being, you have mastered the art of job hunting.

Pittsburgh Public Schools' Visions...Clouded?

I'm rarely on my Twitter account (which is @EyeoftheWriter by the way), but when I am, I come across some interesting Tweets. I'm from Pittsburgh, and a journalism major, so I follow many Twitter accounts from the Pittsburgh area like officials and journalists. Scrolling down not but five minutes ago, I found this little gem from the Post-Gazette Education editor:

Before I continue, I want to say that this post is not targeted at the editor or at any specified individual. It is meant to be editorial in nature only.

When I read this post, at first I thought it was a fantastic vision. All schools envision their students graduating from some college or getting some level of workforce certification. It's drilled in our heads from the time we're in elementary school that we're going to grow up and get "big people jobs." I'm not disputing that. What I am disputing is why they are possibly going to push all their students into getting some kind of special paper saying they learned something.

Not every job requires some form of certification. Let's take writing for example. There are writing majors and minors in many colleges, and several writers have a degree of some sort. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that you need a degree to be a writer. Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, dropped out of law school to pursue a career in writing. William Faulkner, author of The Big Sleep, also dropped out of college...twice. Both writers lacked a college degree, and they wrote beautiful works that won awards and are read by high school and college students everywhere. Am I making my point?

If not, consider this. What about all of the entrepreneurs in today's society?  What about the people who work from their home without a degree as a start-up business? You may get technical and say, "Well, they need documentation for these things." That point I'll give you. However, they don't always necessarily have "workforce certification." Look at Steve Jobs! He was highly successful, highly intelligent, and highly creative. Guess what? He dropped out of college. You know of something called a Big Mac? Next time you order one at the only place these are sold, McDonald's, you can thank high school drop-out Ray Kroc, the founder. The list of people who don't have any certifications but made a successful living for themselves is endless (but for a small taste, you can click here).

It's great that these schools want their students to succeed. I'm not arguing against that. I'm just arguing about the methodology and the psychology behind it. Options for students aren't just black and white. They don't have to go to college and get a degree. They don't have to get any sort of workforce certification. I understand that many if not all jobs nowadays requires it, but there are plenty above examples to demonstrate my point that you don't need certification to be successful.

I was going to close with advice to parents and teachers as well as students, but I'm not going to tell a parent or teacher how to do their job. That isn't my place. However, I can give advice to all of you students out there. Don't think you are limited to getting some form of certification. If you want to go to college or a trade school, that's fantastic. If not, that is too. Look at your options, explore possible careers, and do what makes you happy. That's the most important thing, because it's your life.