Part Three: Tertiary Education sells you on Dreams

It’s sad, but true.  Tertiary education is a business like any other.  They must sell you on studying qualifications through them, with the promise of amazing careers, dream jobs and huge salaries.  The truth is, that a lot of the Student Advisors are students themselves and have no idea what the business world has to offer.

You study for years, excel in your exams, enter the employment market, only to find that the jobs and salaries are not what you expected.  Business on the other hand is less interested in your qualifications, and more interested in who you are and the value you can add to their business.  And without practical experience behind the theory that you learnt, they will have to invest more in you initially, than the value you will add.

The reality is, that when entering the job market, you need to see what the market is paying, and the value of the experience that you will gain.

The good news is, that while you may not necessarily be the next Marketing Intern for Unilever, or Account Manager for an Advertising Agency, with hard work and a little time, you will achieve those great things.  And there will come a day when you and another applicant apply for a job or promotion, and you will get it, because of the qualifications you studied.

(A final note- I am not for a second saying that studying is unnecessary or irrelevant.  As a recruiter, if a CV passes my desk of a graduate, I immediately assume that they are intelligent and have work ethic, simply because they completed a qualification.  That alone will open doors for you!)