5 Career Myths You Should Ignore.

Did you know that plenty of the career advice that you receive from well meaning friends and relatives could actually not be true? Here are five of the most popular career myths that you should ignore.

1. Your degree in university will lead to your career. Students often come out of school thinking that their degree or major will lead them to their life-long career path directly, but it's very often not the case-especially for degrees in the arts. You might have an English degree but end up in HR, or a sociology degree but end up selling ads. On the other hand, degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering, and math are more likely to end up pointing you toward a more defined career path.

2. A college degree will get you a job. Many students have been told that if they get a university degree, they'll easily find a job afterward. Unfortunately, it's no longer so clear-cut. Degrees no longer open doors the way they used to, and too many new graduates are remaining unemployed or under-employed for months or
even years, as employers opt for more experienced candidates. You should remember that employers hire skills, not the degree itself. So, what skills did the degree help you get is the more apt question you should ask yourself.

3. Do what you're passionate about and the money will follow. In reality, not all passions match up with the realities of the job market. If you're passionate about poetry, you're going to find very limited job opportunities for those things. In fact, the people who get to do what they love for a job are the lucky ones; they're not the majority. A better goal is to find work that you can do reasonably happily; it doesn't need to be your passion. The most successful professionals are those that find a career that is an intersection of their passion- what they love doing, their talents- what they are good at doing, and what the world needs- the job market demand.

4. If you can't find a job, just start your own business. Starting your own business is hard, and it's not for everyone. It's not as easy as just having a skill and selling it. You have to have something that people want to buy from you more than they want to buy it from your competitors. You also have to be able to market yourself, deal with financial uncertainty, have some savings as a launch pad, and overcome plenty of other challenges. It's not a cure-all for anyone who can't find a job or is unhappy in their career.

5. If you're not sure what you want to do, get a Postgraduate degree. Postgraduate school makes sense when you want to follow a career path that requires an advanced degree. But it's a bad use of time and money if you're hoping it will somehow point you down a career path, or if you're going because you're not sure what else to do. Many people who go to postgraduate school for lack of a better option come out a few years later saddled with huge bank loans, with lack of skills, and not any better positioned than they were before they enrolled.

Posted in: Career Advice