FreelanceFolder: Your university days are over. Gone are those structured, hard working (sometimes), but overall sheltered, days as a student. Making it in the big wide world is a daunting prospect for anyone, but in these tough economic times the difficulties and hurdles facing new graduates are bigger than ever. With rising student debt, youth unemployment and cutthroat competition for the small number of jobs available to hundreds of thousands of graduates, the prospects for university graduates may seem quite grim. Nevertheless, there are opportunities for those tech-savvy graduates who are comfortable with social media and the online world. For those who are anxious to get their first foot onto a career ladder online, freelancing may be a great opportunity.
6 comments:
This is an interesting article. It brings up some very good points. I also like that freelancing gets away from the corporate game and make jobs about an individual doing work for another individual or a company. It is more broken up and the worker is more connected to their work and what they really want to do. Plus their are the added bonuses of being at home, kind of working for yourself, and the tax write offs! I think that freelancing as a part of a union is really the best way to do it because then you have the protection of the union and the freedom because you are working for yourself.
This article focuses more on being an online freelancer and looking for work online, but freelancing out of school may be even more relevant to our industry than to others. We hear time and time again of people who take jobs at venues, for companies, or in the union - "golden shackle" jobs that make them reluctant from taking risks in the industry. Taking risks can put somebody in a much better position than playing it self in a day job, and there is no better time to freelance than right out of school before we have families and settle down, even if it occasionally raises doubt about from where our next meal will come.
I appreciate what the article brings to the table about the business world and how the fields have changed especielly for those who are looking at going into freelance work. there is alot of benefits that come with both sides of the coin, the freelance side has freedom and opportunities that allow for a more flexible schedule where they lose health benefits and other fruitful parts of a salary based career. the more and more i look into it and the closer i get to reaching that real world the more freelance is looking better for the type of life i want to live
I read an interesting article in the New York Times about how there are many businesses that are lacking employees. Their reasoning was that there is a mismatch of needed skills and skills attained by going to school.
While many are returning to Grad School as an option to avoid attempting the treacherous job market, designers and technicians may be better off learning the skills from the work. Many have learned that just because you have the education, doesn't mean that you'll get the job.
Though this article brings up good points, do you really want to rely on online job communities for income when not just you are depending on the revenue, but potentially a family? I believe freelancing is a great way to get into the field and establish yourself a reputation, but there comes a time when it is time to find a secure career where consistent pay is being earned. Maybe that isn't for everyone though.
This week my mom is in town with an APICS (The Association for Operations Managers) conference and I went to one of their cocktail hours over the weekend. While there I began discussing future plans and freelancing with another business professor as well as a student. According to this professor, young professionals should only stay with a company for three years for the first couple jobs, then five years at the next few, before settling into a long term position. The student we were speaking with was very concerned by the notion of constantly moving and not knowing your next job. To me the idea of freelancing seems exciting while only being a little scary trying to find that next job. In our industry it is a little easier, but it is interesting to see how other industries look at freelancing.
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