Alex FriedrichIn reading about education, admissions and jobs, I’ve noticed what I’d consider an overuse of the word “passion.” It has become a marketing buzzword — along with “brand” and “narrative” — that newly minted college grads have absorbed and now use to explain their interest in, say, accounting, volunteering or watching foreign movies.
This piece by University of Maryland – Baltimore County career services director Anne Scholl-Fiedler in the Wall Street Journal, however, made me realize that many students haven’t yet gotten with the program:
Students frequently ask me, “What can I do with my major in….?” I in turn ask them, “What do you want to do?” My question is then typically answered with some kind of “job title” or abstract function. There usually is not a lot of enthusiasm behind the answer and I am not convinced. And if I am not convinced, then a potential networking contact or employer won’t be either.
How do you become convincing or even convince yourself of what you want to do to make a contribution to the workplace and the world as a whole?
