President Obama signed a new bill yesterday that will overhaul the educational loan system. Even though the affects will not be seen immediately, this will benefit students for years to come. The bill will cut out the middle men, companies like Sallie Mae, who make up their own interest rates which are usually very high. Instead, students will be borrowing directly from the government, who will have a fixed interest rate, and will only ask for 10% of total income monthly. This will be a sigh of a relief for individuals who owe a lot of money on loans. All in all, I believe this bill is beneficial in the long run because student loans are getting out of hand, especially the interest rates on independent student lenders. Check out the article below for more details. Read more »

YPJimH says: I am in the process of doing research on my next career step, and finding out what I have to do to make it happen. I understand that what I do today will affect the rest of my future. 

So if you are thinking about your next steps in your career, here is a helpful article that talks about  jobs that will not be outsourced in the future. This basically means that you can count on them being around in this economy.

by Carol Tice, PayScale.com

Not so long ago, having advanced computer skills was considered the ultimate in job security. How times have changed. Now, tech jobs are among the most heavily outsourced. Research firm Computer Economics recently estimated that more than half of all software application development work was contracted out last year, often to workers in other countries, along with 44 percent of application maintenance tasks and 40 percent of website and e-commerce work.So which well-paid careers won’t be shipped overseas? Our experts — career coaches Susan Bernstein, founder of Work from Within, LLC in San Francisco, and feature writer and instructor Paym Bergson in Toronto — offer this list of hard-to-outsource jobs that highlights a variety of industry sectors. Read more »

Seventy percent of hiring managers say they plan to recruit recent college graduates this year, up from 62 percent in 2005, according to CareerBuilder.com’s “College Hiring 2006″ survey. Plus, nearly one-in-five hiring managers expect to hire more recent college graduates in 2006 compared to last year and one-in-four plan to increase starting salaries

College grads can also expect a bigger payoff this year. Twenty-seven percent of hiring managers anticipate increasing starting salaries for recent college graduates in 2006 and only 5 percent plan to decrease them. How much should new grads expect to earn? Thirty-four percent of hiring managers expect to offer between $20,000 and $30,000 and 28 percent expect to offer between $30,000 and $40,000. An additional 10 percent will offer between $40,000 and $50,000 and 7 percent will offer more than $50,000. Read more »

My son is graduating from college this weekend, and that has me thinking about things young people should know when mom and dad cut the purse strings.

Over the years, I’ve tried to teach my kids the basics about being good consumers, such as living within their means, safeguarding their financial information and understanding that just because people have a lot of things doesn’t mean they’re rich. “It means they spend a lot of money,” they’ve heard me say a thousand times.
Read more »

I just had a conversation with a friend who said, “Do you know that I was reading something that said ‘recent college graduates’ can’t even get a job at McDonald’s?”

My dear friends this really bothers me, so I must say a few things to you:
1 – College provides you with a wealth of knowledge, they do not provide you with a way on how to use that knowledge in today’s “real world.” What does? Reading AND applying a book a week from the best most successful people in the world in your particular area of interest. This will give you the equivalent of a Phd in your field. It won’t give you the paper that says “Phd”, but it will give you the information you need to succeed (plus it’s cheaper than tuition and you won’t have to incur any debt from purchasing these books on Amazon.com – unlike “school loans”). The only thing is, if you want “it” you have to fight to get “it,” and fight to KEEP “it.”

2 – I know you have issues with thinking on your own. I mean those that think differently and challenge “authority” don’t fair too well in college because all you need to do well in college is get good grades. In the “real world” good grades doesn’t get you much (and no one cares – unless you are using it to get into graduate school for an advanced degree in the field of medicine, law, etc). How does this transfer into the real world? “Good grades” in the “real world” means doing something “good” and expecting something “good” back. The problem lies in the frustration of not getting something back in return for doing something “good.” It happens and can continue to happen, BUT it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something “good,” just because you weren’t rewarded for it. The “good” stacks up over the years, and it ALL eventually comes back to you. Which brings me back to this… it’s OK to “challenge authority.” And furthermore you should NOT be “good” anyway. Be OUTSTANDING! “Good” isn’t good enough anymore.

3 – It is unfortunate that college doesn’t teach you HOW to BE you. You are on your own for this. It comes from knowing who you are and knowing who you are not. Once you do more of who you are and less of who you are NOT you REALLY start to find out “who you are.” Furthermore, I TRULY believe you know who you are, but because of the reaction you might get from the people you are around, you change yourself to “fit in.” You have probably done this in high school, and if this happened all throughout college as well… you need some time to REALLY think about it and not care so much what other people think. What do YOU want your life to stand for? What do you REALLY want to do if you didn’t care so much about what others think?

4 – Lets think about this…. since you could walk, you were in school for about 16 YEARS of your life. It’s hard to think about what YOU want, because for so long you were TAUGHT things that you might of had no interest in or what your parents THOUGHT were right for you. There is a point at which you must UNLEARN all the things you were taught and figure out things on your own. It’s OK to not know what you want. Just don’t lie to yourself and please other people (it’s YOUR life, not theirs). Also keep in mind that your parents probably don’t know what it takes to succeed today, because what worked when they were in school or building their business doesn’t necessarily mean it works today. If it does, great… but you are STILL not them.

5 – You need to know what separates you from all the other graduates. It’s REALLY important to think about this. “These times” are changing so fast that if you don’t know what separates you from everyone else, you are going to have a hard time telling someone this on an interview (or separating yourself from any business). Actually, I’m not sure I would even think about interviewing with anyone either, because most businesses in the next 10 years haven’t even been created yet. Solution? Create your own business. You didn’t work this hard to sit in a 4×4 cubicle cell to get a job with “great benefits” and a “401k.” Who cares! Get a life (instead of a job). Who wants to be “Just Over Broke” anyway (which is what j.o.b. REALLY stands for).

6 – Finally, its is really important to understand that no “test” a school provides (like the SAT) measures passion. Passion is something ingrained within your being. It causes you to stay up late and wake up early for only one reason, “Because you must do it, and will die if you don’t.” Very few people have a passion for taking a “test” and throughout the 16 years of my schooling I haven’t seen one teacher in the school system teach me how to build a business around what I am passionate about. I think that is pretty sad.

Passion causes someone to stay late, work harder, and find a way where there isn’t one (despite just having the educational background). If I had a choice between choosing a smarter person or someone with a dying passion, I would choose the passionate one. Sadly, most businesses hire “smarter” more “educated” people because it’s easier to measure. Passionate people you can only measure by giving them a bit of time to prove themselves. And what business has time nowadays? It’s true a smarter person may find a quicker solution, but if it doesn’t work time and time again and they keep “changing with the times” they quit because they don’t “have to” do it. The passionate person can’t sleep UNTIL they find a way to “do it.”

So that is it for now. I apologize for possibly sounding a bit harsh, but I think this is really important to share and hope it helped you or someone you know that might of just graduated.

My college degree (B.A. in Psychology) taught me NOTHING in how to get my music played on MTV, publish “The Poet and the Billionaire,” book/play/promote/market HUNDREDS of solo acoustic concerts across the US, book speaking engagements, start my own community called, “The Black Sheep Project,” how to get press… and on… and on… and on… However, college did get me away from my parents and cause me to think on my own. I’m not sure it was worth $15,000/a year, though. But what do I know? It’s just my opinion, and it doesn’t really matter much anyway (unless you think it does).

Jared Matthew Kessler
(Author of “The Poet and the Billionaire”)

http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com

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