In this time and age, one thing is becoming increasingly clear, there is still no guarantee that completing 4 years of college will land you a job. In fact the rate of unemployed college graduates in America this year has risen to 8.5% according to the Economic Policy Institute.
This statistic, however, doesn’t mean that the chances of getting hired are slim to none. In fact, there are still a lot of professions in which an individual can earn big and which don’t require a college or university degree to boot!
We all know of the many success stories of people who were college drop-outs or in some cases didn’t even go to college. The people who come to mind instantly are Steve Jobs, the late founder of Apple, Bill Gates the co-founder of Microsoft and another guy who founded Facebook.
These people did something extraordinary and created business empires worth millions and billions all through sheer brilliance, a healthy dose of imagination and creativity and hard work.
I will explain in the remaining of this blog, how a college drop-out or anyone really, can achieve success and aspire to become something. The first step to achieving greatness is to recognize it, therefore take inspiration from the many personalities who dared to dream big.
Have an early start in life
We all normally start thinking of what we want to be career-wise once we reach college, but those who find their passion and purpose early on in their life find it easier to pursue the dream with dedication, and single-mindedness later on. Athletes, for instance, found out their calling early in life and trained accordingly. Steve Wozniak, the guy who developed the first ever Apple computer tinkered with electronics as a kid.
Expand your network
One sure fire thing that leads to success is a large network of influential people, who can either grant you favors or promote and market an idea or brand you have been working on. Degree or no degree, this is a major requisite that all newcomers and ambitious people must have to jumpstart their idea.
Take a specialty program
Specialty programs are usually short-term certification courses, available for a number of various fields such as in medicine, computers, technical courses in welding or the culinary art for example. These are short and quick programs that can last for a few months to a year and can give you the skills required to get a job in that particular field.
Put in the work
This is perhaps the most important step, as well as a very obvious one. Putting in the hard work and rigid determination is necessary in order to get far in life, and this goes for every person whether they have a degree or not. Sometimes hard work is not always enough to get you where you want, however, which is why individuals mustn’t shy away from giving extra hours to their jobs, business, and career.
No matter what the educational background, the 41st hour is where you will separate from the rest of the herd.
