I’m in my mid-30s. When I was 23 I had a master degree and got offered 2 positions that I hadn’t even applied to - both starting positions with good pay in my chosen field.
When my boss was 23 he got offered a professor position at a good uni because he happened to share an office with the guy they were hoping to hire, so they hired him as well (?!).
In my parents life time, neither applied to a job and got rejected.
Times have changed drastically, even from just 10 years ago.
You (and me) had it hard when 23 and harder compared to the boomers (I had to do shitty unpaid internships to get ahead (on top of work not in my industry to support myself) which was a huge gamble looking back). But 10-15 years have passed and it’s even harder now and I couldn’t recommend that pathway to younger people — cause if they’d do an internship, they won’t get recruited 95% of the time. The gamble ain’t worth it.
I’m tenured in academia—I can only really talk about life here and funding models vary between countries.
I’d only advise people to do anything like an internship (but preferably you do it as part of your degree) with someone who has or is likely to get funding for a PhD student.
So to try and generalise this, my advice would be talk to people who are considered sound within the industry and get advice about what opportunities exist.
Same… find a mentor that understands the job market (ideally someone that has job openings so they know what they are talking about) and ask for advice for your own field. Teaching staff at colleges/uni usually has some insight on what is going on, but it’s biased by being on the sidelines
Yeah, the Boomers give the typical Boomer advice of “just walk in and give the manager a firm handshake” … because for them, in their time, that actually worked.
To be fair, being able to make a good impression to the boss will help you even today. It won’t guarantee a job, but you can make sure your resume at least gets seen by a human.
I’m in my mid-30s. When I was 23 I had a master degree and got offered 2 positions that I hadn’t even applied to - both starting positions with good pay in my chosen field. When my boss was 23 he got offered a professor position at a good uni because he happened to share an office with the guy they were hoping to hire, so they hired him as well (?!). In my parents life time, neither applied to a job and got rejected.
Times have changed drastically, even from just 10 years ago.
So it’s possible for both things to be true.
You (and me) had it hard when 23 and harder compared to the boomers (I had to do shitty unpaid internships to get ahead (on top of work not in my industry to support myself) which was a huge gamble looking back). But 10-15 years have passed and it’s even harder now and I couldn’t recommend that pathway to younger people — cause if they’d do an internship, they won’t get recruited 95% of the time. The gamble ain’t worth it.
What would you recommend now? I’m essentially a copy of OP, down to being 23. I think it must be 23-syndrome
I’m tenured in academia—I can only really talk about life here and funding models vary between countries.
I’d only advise people to do anything like an internship (but preferably you do it as part of your degree) with someone who has or is likely to get funding for a PhD student.
So to try and generalise this, my advice would be talk to people who are considered sound within the industry and get advice about what opportunities exist.
Same… find a mentor that understands the job market (ideally someone that has job openings so they know what they are talking about) and ask for advice for your own field. Teaching staff at colleges/uni usually has some insight on what is going on, but it’s biased by being on the sidelines
Yeah, the Boomers give the typical Boomer advice of “just walk in and give the manager a firm handshake” … because for them, in their time, that actually worked.
To be fair, being able to make a good impression to the boss will help you even today. It won’t guarantee a job, but you can make sure your resume at least gets seen by a human.