Were You a Damaged Good?
I sat in the front row of the classroom. In those days I still wore prescription eyeglasses because the ophthalmologist recommended that I should, otherwise my eyesight would significantly worsen. So, I sat in the front row, attentively listening to the professor who was passionately advising us on our future careers. He must have spoken for about 10 minutes.
Swiftly, I turned my neck and stole a glance around the room to see if everyone was attentive as I was. I noticed that my classmates were also paying attention to the man standing upfront. It was during the first semester of senior year at the university, so at that level everyone in the class was an accounting major.
Damaged goods we may become
The professor continued powering through what seemed like a monologue: “…so if you don’t get a job offer before graduating, every company will consider you as a damaged good…” The classroom was solemn.
Normally, this particular professor didn’t like to waste class time with small talk. But on that day before lecture, apparently he had enough of seeing so many accounting students who didn’t seem to know where they were headed in their career post graduation. He was concerned that his dear pupils weren’t employing the traditional path which leads to a successful career after graduating from college.
Precisely, he believed if we hadn’t interned at a firm during our studies, then it would become challenging to secure a job. Even worse, if we didn’t secure a job before graduating from the business school, then it becomes an uphill battle to get any meaningful job thereafter.
Evidently, we would become “damaged goods” to companies because even if we obtained good marks, hiring managers would wonder why other companies haven’t hired us yet. He explained the phrase.
Companies will find it difficult to hire you because they would wonder why you haven’t been hired yet in spite of your good GPA. They would think that perhaps no one wants you and they don’t want to take any risk by hiring you.
The advice created a climate of anxiety
During the remainder of the class period, the atmosphere was gloomy. Students didn’t participate much during lecture. I was under the impression that everyone was seriously thinking about the professor’s warning and therefore, wanted to return home to meditate about their future in the workforce.
Following the end of class, there was a commotion in the hallways. Everyone was talking with someone regarding the professor’s monologue. Some students manifested their fear by remaining in class after lecture to see the professor and to ask him frantic questions about any chance they might have to land a job before graduating.
A few students were upset because they did not agree with the professor’s approach of being so candid. Also, they made it clear to their classmates that they didn’t agree with the professor’s stance at all. Still, these students were apprehensive because after all, he was a long-time professor who was well-connected to large firms that often participated in campus recruiting. Perhaps, these students concluded, he knew what he was talking about.
I wasn’t worried though. By then, I’ve already interned during the summer as an auditor in a state entity and I participated in a number of extracurricular activities. Given this, I was convinced that I could land a job before wearing my cap and gown. The professor’s speech also gave me some reassurance because according to what he said, I had no reason to panic. Maybe.
But, after class I kept thinking about the situation. Damaged goods? Ouch. That’s difficult for many students to digest, the thought that they’d become damaged goods if they don’t have a job lined up before graduation. Like tropical fruits that couldn’t be sold in the market and left to rotten in the basket. Undesirable bunch.
There isn’t only one road that leads to a successful career
I was one of the students who didn’t agree with him. I thought that the traditional understanding of the ideal path to enter the job market was outdated. What this does is to merely enable the student to check a box and feel elated that he/she has fulfilled an important societal goal: obtain a job offer before graduating.
The professor’s vague perspective revealed a lack of appreciation of the diversity that each individual brings to the labor market.
We turned out all right
He ignored that we can’t all use the same road that leads to a successful career. If this was the case, then what’s the need for the diversity of experiences that many firms are now recognizing and encouraging? Some of my friends took a year off after graduating while others found work soon after. Still, a couple of them simply skipped the labor market and started their own businesses. We didn’t become damaged goods after all.
Nearly five years after graduating from the university, my theory proved right. While the professor was somewhat correct in regards to the challenge in obtaining a job after graduation, none of my classmates became a rotten fruit that was undesirable. Overall, time has played an important role in leveling the playing field in the job market and the professor’s advice, although appreciated, became irrelevant.
Today, all my classmates who didn’t intern in a firm and even those who didn’t secure a job before graduating, now have careers that allow them to live in dignity. If we were to sit in that very same classroom today, you wouldn’t be able to visibly identify people who didn’t have a job lined up before graduating from university.
The professor was not entirely wrong
This doesn’t imply that the professor was completely wrong. No, he had a point. Frankly, some students from the “damaged goods" group struggled for a while to find a job after graduating. Others settled with a job that they didn’t like. Eventually though, using the experience that they had gained in their first job, they found their way into the ideal role that they wanted.
Even more interesting, some of my classmates who secured a job before graduating didn’t even end up staying in those firms for long and the common argument was that they didn’t like their roles. Clearly, they felt pressured to accept just any job because they feared the reality of becoming a labelled damaged product.
The paranoia of not fitting into any traditional social construct can lead people to surrender their creativity or interests. It’s like wiping one’s feet clean at the door before entering this foreign and expectantly pristine world of labor. Only to discover that the owners of the place don’t have protocols before entering.
A caveat: students shouldn’t neglect their career and simply go to class, take notes, and pass their exams. That’s not suggested either. The goal however, is to never feel coerced into any career due to the fear of an imaginary clock.
To avoid this, it’s advised that students — really anyone — identify their genuine interest which is the priority. Then, they can begin to act upon this interest by drawing a roadmap toward a career in their interest area. Finally, the role of teachers and professors remains unchanged: providing students with the essential knowledge about their field of interest, without exerting undue pressure on them to change their interests.
