Account Type: Basic | Upgrade

Karla Stingerstein Companies News More

People

Add Connections
Advanced

Home

Profile

Contacts

Groups

Search Jobs Inbox

Search...

Penelope Trunk
Co-founder, Brazen Careerist

2 Posts

Follow

The Strongest Careers Are Non-Linear

April 25, 2013
Tweet 243 Like 782 114 Share 3,117

Penelope's Recent Posts

Why Sexual Harassment Claims Often Backfire Against Women

Like (549)

Comment (209) See all

March 29, 2013

Top Posts
Today This Week All

Penelope Trunk The Strongest Careers Are NonLinear

54,418 views

Vivek Wadhwa In Defense of Older Workers: Theres No Substitute for Experience And Maturity
22,132 views

Cyrus Massoumi My Best Mistake: Starting a Company

17,732 views

Chip Cutter What a Top Gov't Official Says About Marissa Mayer's Telecommuting Ban
15,481 views

Joel Peterson Is Your New Hire a Star or a Diva? 3 Ways to Tell

11,667 views

For years we have been talking about the education bubble and the problem that colleges charge tons of money and then graduates are unemployable and in debt. Colleges are responding by becoming job preparation centers. And Frank Bruni, opinion editor for the New York Times, says this is a waste of time and resources. Heres whats better: 1. Skipping college. The real issue we have with admitting that college is not a path to the work world is then we have to ask ourselves why we send our kids to high school. There is plenty of data to show that teens are able to manage their lives without the constraints of school. The book Escaping the Endless Adolescence is chock full of data, and a recent article by my favorite journalist, Jennifer Senior, shows that high school is not just unnecessary, but actually damaging to teens who need much more freedom to grow than high school affords. 2. Focus on internships instead of school. Kids should be working in internships in high school. Because the best path to a good job is a bunch of great internships. But great internships dont go to people who need money. They are mostly for young people. Yes, this is probably illegal and classist and bad for a fluid society. But we will not debate that here. Instead we will debate why kids need to go to

See more

One Question Site Survey

IT IT TAKES TAKES ONLY ONLY SECONDS SECONDS TO TO ANSWER ANSWER BELOW BELOW

Which of the following health care providers do you have the highest opinion of?
SELECT ONE ANSWER

UnitedHealthcare Humana Aetna Cigna BlueCross BlueShield

VOTE VOTE TO TO SEE SEE RESULTS RESULTS

POWERED POWERED BY BY VIZU VIZU

VIEW VIEW PRIVACY PRIVACY POLICY POLICY

More Influencers to Follow

college if the internships are what make them employable? Kids should do internships in high school and by their college years, they are capable of real jobs where they are doing work that people value, with cash. You cannot take this route if youre saddled with huge student loans. You cant take this route if youre inundated by homework in required subjects you dont care about. You cant take this route if you have no work experience when you graduate college. Its too late. (Dont tell me you need to go to school to learn, okay? People just do not believe this anymore.) I was reading the Fortune list of 40 under 40 and I was struck by the career history of Kevin Feige (number 11 on the list). Hes president of Marvel Studios at age 39. He wrote that he interned with the Superman movie director as a film student and that was the last job application he filled out. Thats because if you get an internship with someone great, and your performance is great, your network will cover your employment needs for a very long time. 3. Start a company instead of writing a resume. Im struck by Marissa Mayer (number 3 on Fortunes list) whose announced acquisition strategy is buying small, cheap companies. Which is, in effect, buying the team. Silicon Valley calls these acqui-hires. She is looking at young people who start companies that are not necessarily successful in terms of product or sales but successfully market the founders as visionaries, self-starters, and hard workers. You cant show those traits in school, so if you have those traits, you slow yourself down by going to school where you cannot exhibit your best, marketable traits. 4. Refuse to present yourself in a linear way. Do any workaround that lets you forgo the linear obsession the standard resume format. Because linear presentations favor people who have long, rule-following careers which dont necessarily make you look good anyway. I could write a post ten thousand paragraphs long of all the new things people with nonlinear work histories are doing to get jobs. People use twitter as a resume, according to the Wall Street Journal, which requires only that you publish ideas, not any sort of academic experience. Young people are selling stock in themselves - paying out dividends for decades at a time. Agents represent workers who pick and choose projects that match them rather than signing on for indefinite amounts of time. The Harvard Business Review calls this supertemping. Business Week calls it going Hollywood. But heres the big takeaway. A fundamental shift is taking place, where the path to getting a job is massively circumventing college credentials. And, at the same time, the American public is fed up with the insane debt that college are expecting new grads to take on in order to graduate. (Good essay: How College Ruined My Life.) If you are not going to school in order to fit into the adult world, then why are you going to school? The love of learning, presumably. But school reform pundits are 100% sure that kids will choose to learn if you put no constraints on them. They will just learn what they want. Best example: The MIT program that gave iPads to illiterate kids in Ethiopia, and they taught themselves to use it, program it, and read it in English. No teacher. No curriculum. The biggest barrier to accepting the radical new nature of the job hunt is the reverberations throughout the rest of life. If you dont need school for work, and you dont need school for learning, then all you need school for is so parents can go to work and not worry about taking care of their kids. It takes bravery to go against the grain. Its difficult to say that the great learning and the great jobs come from leaning out, doing things in a nonlinear, non standard way, and playing only by the rules that fit your own style for personal learning and growth.
Follow Follow

Jean-Marc BELLOT Business Partner with Customer How to use the concept of "ideal pipeline"? "The "ideal pipeline" (already discussed here and there) should be understood as an..."
April 7, 2013

Follow

Matthew Bishop US Business Editor at The Econ Move Over, Mark Zuckerberg: Lessons from Russia... "Pavel Durov's success in creating his country's leading social networking site seems to be making..."
April 17, 2013

Follow

Jordy Leiser Co-founder at STELLAService Best Advice: Work Hard, Get Lucky "The best advice I ever received was not really advice but more of an approach to living. It applies..."
February 26, 2013

Loic Le Meur Founder and CEO LeWeb confer My Best Mistake: Building in Someone Else's Yard "I have created 6 startups and as always when you start a business there are many challenges. One of..."
April 17, 2013

Follow

John Maeda President of Rhode Island School My Best Mistake: Taking the Low Road "I had joined the staff of a small research foundation in Tokyo just after completing my..."
April 23, 2013

See more

Posted by:

Penelope Trunk Follow See all Penelope's posts

People who read this post also read:

1-4 of 20

Its Time to Embrace the Principles of...

How to Build a Culture of Ideas

Towards a Sustainable Urban Century

Expert Advice: A Flight Attendant's...

Add a comment

and 544 others like this post 209 comments

Nadia O. Group Brand Manager at Nestle what will it take to succeed....strength vs. agility, new ideas vs. expertise...I feel that the human body exemplifies how this dicotomy works to perfection! Imagine a human embryo with it's stem cell; its unique ability to morph and develop different specialized cells from one mother cell. Hence the innnate adaptability capitalizes on the external stimulus and internal needs to develop something new. On the other hand,we have a mature, healthy adult, with hardly any evolutionary changes happening but having a huge scale backed by specialized cells and organs. Contextualizing now to the work environment, it is your personality and thinking style that determines what type of a career path, linear or non-linear will be the most beneficial for your development. Just like any well balanced team, organizations need to have a good mix of both and nurture both talents on a career diet that is most suitable for their respective growth and development.
41s

Fabio F. Senior Financial Consultant - Manager at IBSG (strategy consulting organization at Cisco) I respectfully disagree. This reminds me of Freakonomics and the confusions of cause and effect. In my opinion, the issue is a mix of needed reviews in educational system and a bit of market law. If the market is full of degrees and poor in terms of initiative and experience, the few who prioritized initiative and experience may enjoy unexpected success. But what if it was the other way around? What if we had trouble finding degrees and abundant practical learning? Would we be better off? Or would we be stale? If we work at something totally unrelated to what we studied it doesn't mean that studying is waste of time. We use what we learned, whether we notice it or not. I think that broadly recommending skipping college is not only premature but also a bit irresponsible.
1m

CASEY G. US Account Manager, Specialty Stores: Childrenswear at Ralph Lauren I am pro-education but I am also pro-initiative. If someone is just going through the motions of college, that might just be the best place for them. That way they are exposed to structure, organization, cause and effect outside of their "home" environment. Thus, also making them qualified to get a job and "go with the flow". I think the real discussion here is: What are we paying for in college and what is the true real life take-away". I took $200K of debt but also took 18 credits a semester, worked in a career full time between 3 states and still managed to volunteer and start my own business. I demanded more from my professors and went to the dean to inform him that I was not receiving enough homework for the cost of tuition. "I wanted more tools and more case studies". I should be learning something everyday; I mean... that's why I was in college. Critical and Analytical thinking is not being stressed in 95% of US universities and MBA programs are still not performing in a way to create a well trained solider in their field of study. Historical data compiled with proactive problem solving/strategy is not the focus of many curriculum. From Community College to State University I worked my way into the American University of Paris. I learned more there then the rest of my education and the key to all of my educational foundation is credited to their incredible way of teaching and high expectations. When the VP of Marketing from Unilever fly's in to teach your International Marketing class- you tend to pay attention and learn an immense amount of analytical skills that you take right into the office and put into practical and successful use. I skipped the MBA and the extra $130K to "go get" the information I wanted through work experience, entrepreneurship, and finding great mentors that inspired me. Countless books and a library card is only part of what someone needs (expectations, curiosity and direction are key elements to any success story) Too many 17 year olds are graduating High School without a resume, linked-in, self-

confidence, personal strength and ambition- or just uninspired). There are some people that cannot be detoured for learning what they want to know. I think the key here is "are parent's inspiring their children to discover their passion and building their strength to chase it full force". #InspireGreatness Truly enjoying the banter! I challenge every parent to STOP paying for their kid's tuition. The lessons learned through the process and the first 5 years trying to pay for it are VERY IMPORTANT. If you want to pay for it do them a favor and WAIT 5 years and give them the opportunity to accomplish it on their own. (p.s. after 5 years it is just a pain in the ass that starts getting in the way). My 2 cents.... would love a retort!
4m

Mauree A. Aspiring to solve environmental and socioeconomic problems through effective, longterm solutions. This is great! Thank you for another insightful composition of what's wrong w/ complying w/ everything set in place - the things that future generations have no control over. Systems should be contantly updated and accomodate those in the existing time for optimization. The fact is our developing a society and a world that is constantly changing, hence we ourselves need to accomodate this change and be adaptive.
4m

Diana A. Lab Manager at Pennington Biomedical Research Center I believe the majority of students are in this category for the other business areas- maybe having a little instinct for business, but no direction, discipline, or focus, & they will have to complete school for a chance to succeed in those fields.
7m

Patrick T. VP Sales Alliances Software with Expertise in Mobile, Cloud Applications, Sustainability | Open to New Opportunities Penelope, have enjoyed and benefitted from your Brazen Careerist research and advice at times. The mash up career path does fit most people, most of whom aren't linear, a job market which certainly isn't linear and a world which is increasingly less linear. However, like media choices, education isn't about doing this or that, it's about doing and experiencing all of it.
8m

Diana A. Lab Manager at Pennington Biomedical Research Center Some people have a great mind specifically aimed at a certain job or career path, and if there are not a lot of actual knowledge content required & they already know "how" or can figure it out, go ahead & use your ingrained/inherited skills to succeed in this world. But if you want to build interstate bridges or do brain surgery, sorry, even geniuses have to go through the schooling & get the degree.
8m

Diana A. Lab Manager at Pennington Biomedical Research Center I agree that traditional schooling is absolutely necessary for certain careers: doctors, engineers, scientists, for example. The gray area is whether or not one really needs the formal traditional education degrees for all the other stuff. Careers in fields like marketing, business, art, music, & a lot of liberal arts subjects (in which your only real career move is to teach) don't necessarily require degrees. Some people have a great mind specifically aimed at a certain job or career path, and if there are not a lot of actual knowledge content required & they already know "how" or can figure it out, go ahead & use your ingrained/inherited skills to succeed in this world. But if you want to build interstate bridges or do brain surgery, sorry, even geniuses have to go through the schooling & get the degree
10m

Michael B. Senior Technologist Great advise for someone who has the hindsight from their 40s, but simply is too large of a gamble for the teenager with no other life experience or wisdom to work from. While there are notable exceptions like the examples demonstrated in the article, most teenagers lack the maturity to guide a non-linear career to success.
12m

Mark L. Associate Engineer at Numerical Applications, Inc These suggestions may work for young people with good ideas about business models, superficial creative concepts, marketing ideas, etc. However when you consider that these jobs requiring these skills are created by technology and manufacturing, actual goods that drive consumerism and drive the economy, then these suggestions are detrimental. The suggestion that the hard work and mental conditioning that comes through education is not required undercuts the accomplishments of those of us that have finished high school and college. Has anyone ever met an engineer, teacher, scientist, software programmer or any technologist that

didn't earn a four year degree or less a high school diploma? This article suggests that hard work is needlessly linear and therefore ill-founded. Not true in the least. Anyone ever pass a calculus exam before taking geometry, trigonometry, and algebra?
13m

Brian A. Need help with Web/Android/iOS app development? or maybe SEO? contact me and let's talk. loving this article. though by nature most of the people will not want to do this since it's not mainstream and most people hate to be different with another. This is a great analysis on what you should do (and probably tell your kids what to do) when you want to become someone great, not just average person
15m

Ellen D. Lead Recovery Plan Coordinator at GeoCare Inc. What is the relatively young American educational system missing? Public School should end at age 16 at which point the high school graduate can either get a job and start their life, get vocational training in a field of their choosing, or start their college education with an abbreviated version of what is considered their basics in one year. Thus by age 18 we have trained them in special skills or prepared them for the last two years of their bachelors where they will be learning the employable skills they actually need and provide a one year entry level apprenticeship upon graduation. A simpler more clearcut path to employment and a career.
19m

Eric C. Antimicrobial Program Consultant at Independent Contractor Skipping college is clearly not even remotely an option to succeed in many fields that demand years of structured learning. I believe the point is that many types of careers are better learned in the workforce. The only time I regret not continuing my education is when writing resumes. Daily on the job, I rely on my years of experience that others my age do not possess. I have never had an interview in my career that didn't result in being offered a position with the company. The key is......whatever route you choose, you must continue to build the value of your abilities and regularly demonstrate your value.
20m

Sandeep S. Executive, R Square, Inc. It is amazing how many posts I have seen lately bashing college education. Apparently most of the bashing is from folks who are already established and often with stellar college credentials. I don't disagree that the cost to attend a US College is out-of-control and as a parent, I am experiencing this pain first hand. Most of the college degrees dont and cant translate to direct ROI because most kids dont attend college because they have a Million dollar job waiting after 4 years. They attend college because of myriad of factors, often prioritized in their own mind; financial security may or may not be on top of that list. In spite of all this, what I fail to understand is why there is a line 10 miles long outside each college to get in. Every year there are more kids applying to colleges and competition is getting tougher and tougher. US is looking at another bubble, $900 Billion in student debt and growing. Bottom line is, we are staring at a problem but there is no fix in the works or on the horizon. On the flip side, US Higher education is the only export that is 100% Made in USA and is selling well worldwide.
20m

Glenn A. Owner at Color Clarity Absolutely brilliant. Required reading for everyone. One of the new tasks of schools, I imagine, will be to prepare students for this sort of non-linear improvisatory career market without entirely losing their connection with traditional educational goals. How do you teach innovation, street smarts, grit and flexibility? Recognizing that these skills need to be a part of the package is a start.
21m

Rachel A. L. Business Analyst / Database Consultant Amen is all I can say. I've been involved in school reform since I was in Jr. High School way back in the Dark Ages. I corresponded with A.S. Neill of Summerhill, John Holt (How Children Fail) and even the then superintendent of NYC schools. Nothing has changed. College is, indeed, all there is for most young adults. No alternatives. Apprenticeships, internships, etc are what make sense. But they are not used as they should be, as you say in your article. With the Internet making learning anything available, I do question why anyone would bother spending a small fortune on college and then having to take any job that comes along just to pay it back. I am a big believer in alternatives and I am delighted to see that this subject is being discussed.
22m

Robert D. O. Articling Student at Deloitte LLP Unless of course you want to become a lawyer, doctor, accountant, banker, all of which require at least one, if not several, professional degrees, necessitating not only high school but all that "needless" college education that follows.
24m

Gnanaguru S. Middleware Developer at Wipro Technologies Great article, I wish this implementations comes to reality everywhere.
25m

Harsha V. Summer Associate at Hickman Palermo Truong Becker Bingham Wong LLP One of THE DUMBEST articles I have ever read. The logic doesn't flow from point A to point B. At all. You want a for-profit organization to hire someone whose only skill set involves whatever is learned in highschool or by the time one gets to high school!? The idea that you need to get your foot in the door to take control of your career is true and nothing ground breaking. However you fail to show how someone with only high school gets these "take-control-of-your-career" internships. The only example you provide is of a movie studio head who interned as a student in film school! Don't know if you know this but the top film schools are really hard to get into and no one considers them to not be a college! Yes, Marissa Mayer snaps up companies with no profits but talented workforce. I hope you are aware that these workers all went to college and interned at companies while in college and were able to secure their internships primarily through on-campus interviews which are facilitated because of the reputation of their majors at the college. As for high college debt, don't major in a subject that has very low employment. BE PRACTICAL! If you want to study English, then don't go to a private college when return from a state school (esp when practically every state has at least a solid state school) is the same.
26m

Nora T. Program Manager Latin America - Cengage Learning | National Geographic Learning Loved the last paragraph. Going nonlinear does take courage, but it does also require a true knowledge of our interests, talents and passions. It is also a response to the fact that traditional education systems are way behind the needs of today's learners!
28m

SHOW MORE

Help Center

About

Press

Blog

Careers

Advertising

Talent Solutions

Tools

Mobile

Developers

Publishers
Send Feedback

Language

Upgrade Your Account

LinkedIn Corporation 2013

User Agreement

Privacy Policy

Community Guidelines

Cookie Policy

Copyright Policy