“跳槽”有理

My daughter called me last night to celebrate her news. “I got the job！”she said. “I’m going to be decorating cupcakes！”

I cheered. My daughter earned an honors degree in Natural Resources from a major university this past May. But this is the happiest I’ve heard her sound in months.

I bet you think you know where this blog post is going： oh， no， another parent 1）bemoaning the fact that our nation’s newly minted college graduates can’t find decent jobs！

But you would be wrong. This is a very different rant.

My daughter is the poster child for why college matters. She went to a decent suburban high school， finished in the top quarter of her class and played 2）varsity sports. Attending a state university allowed her to continue expanding her intellectual and social horizons. She worked closely with researchers in Natural Resources， learned Spanish， studied and worked abroad， and explored electives that enriched her perspective. She continually added to her resume， too， always building toward her post-graduation dream of working as a scientist.

She did everything right， and 3）lo and behold， the system worked. She landed a job with a West Coast environmental engineering company that paid her more money than she had ever dreamed of making right out of college. 4）Hurray！

Slowly， though， things 5）unraveled. My daughter loved living near San Francisco， but even on her hefty salary， she could only afford an apartment in a dire section of Oakland， which led to her being caught in the middle of a mini gang shootout. Meanwhile， her spiffy new job bored her， and her bosses were often negative， even 6）mean-spirited.

For months， she stuck it out. Her student loans were about to kick in and this job paid double what any of her friends were making， plus benefits. As time passed， though， my sunny girl grew more 7）despondent. Every day， she dragged herself into work. And， every day， things didn’t get better.

She started looking for work. In California， the unemployment rate is dire—11.3 percent. One of her job interviews for a coffee company required four different interviews， plus test taking. My daughter got the job and was thrilled， especially because the position includes health benefits. But the pay was 8）abysmal： minimum wage.

Did she really want to leave her posh job for minimum wage？ How could she—a driven student， a hard worker， a young woman who had always set goals and reached them—possibly justify making that leap？

There wasn’t any rational reason for her to quit. But there was every emotional reason to do so.

“Life is too short to be miserable for money，” I told her finally. “Just quit. Take the 9）barista job and figure out something else while you’re making lattes.”

I can hear the gasps of horror from most parents out there. How could I advise my daughter to join the ranks of the marginally employed， after our family invested so much into her college degree？

Easily. College， you see， is not really about preparing you for the job market. It’s about gaining the knowledge and skills you need to seize opportunities—and that includes knowing when to walk away from something that makes you unhappy.

There’s a lot of talk these days—well， all days， I suppose—about what good it is to get a liberal arts degree， what majors are most likely to lead to the best-paid and most stable careers， and the importance of building your resume while you’re in school so that you have an edge when it’s time to enter the almighty job race.

That’s all true， mostly. Obviously， you have to eat. But maybe the goal of college shouldn’t be so closely linked to employment. Actual life isn’t that different from 10）the game of Life， in the sense that there’s a point where at the start we all have to choose the college path or the career path. You can earn the same money either way， and the same good （or bad） spins on the dial can send you into a 11）tailspin of debt or misery： illness， accidents， divorce， tornadoes taking your house. College is no guarantee that you’ll be rich， or even middle class. In fact， there are some arguments that suggest technical training is a better bang for the buck.

（A handy example： my younger brother never finished his four-year college degree， yet he makes ten times more money than my other brother and I do， and we both have master’s degrees.）

College， if you’re lucky enough to get there， is really about figuring out your friends and your values as well as your dreams for the future. Nobody—well， almost nobody—finds a top-paying position right out of college. Most of us have to pay our dues and climb a dozen different career ladders before we find one that has rungs we can reach—and a place at the top with a view that suits us. If you land that seemingly “perfect”job with a salary worth boasting about， but then you hate it and are afraid to quit， your wings are clipped. That “safe” job will kill your creativity， drown your enthusiasm， and 12）smother your ability to get up in the morning with a bounce in your step. Why stay？

The answer most people give is “fear.”We’ve all heard the unemployment statistics.

But let’s turn those around. The unemployment rate is high—even upwards of 12 percent in certain U.S. cities. But that means that 88 percent of people have jobs. Can they make a living on their wages？ That depends on how you define a “l(fā)iving.” Maybe you don’t need a new car， or a car at all. Maybe you can find a seasonal rental or roommates.

Jobs are like college courses. Each one you take teaches you a set of new skills and offers a fresh perspective on life. They aren’t meant to be permanent， most of them. They are only stepping stones.

In my daughter’s case， the barista job led her to have enough free hours to do what she really loves： draw comics. She’s thinking about publishing her comics online. In her free time， she also happened to stop by a new gourmet cupcake store， where she chatted with the enthusiastic owner and was hired to decorate cupcakes and work the counter. Again， it’s not much money， but combined with the coffee place， it’s enough for her to 13）scrape by. Meanwhile， she has moved out of Oakland and into an affordable room in a house near the beach in Santa Cruz. She’s happily experimenting with cupcake flavors and thinking about helping this new business owner with social media and marketing. She is learning something new every day. Life is good.

When you quit a job， any job， it can be terrifying. But it’s also exhilarating， as you open yourself up to new possibilities. So go ahead. Take the risk. Quit that job， if you hate it. You might surprise yourself.

昨晚，我女兒給我打來電話以慶祝她所帶來的消息?！拔业玫侥欠莨ぷ髁?！”她說道，“我就要去裝飾紙杯蛋糕了！”

我歡呼起來。今年五月，女兒從一所重點(diǎn)大學(xué)獲得了一個(gè)自然資源榮譽(yù)學(xué)士學(xué)位。但這是多月來我聽到她說過的最開心的話。

我敢打賭，你以為你知道這篇博客文章的走向會(huì)是：哦，不，又一位家長為我們國家的大學(xué)新畢業(yè)生無法找到體面工作而扼腕嘆息了！

但是你想錯(cuò)了。這是一場迥然不同的碎碎念。

我女兒是體現(xiàn)“念大學(xué)很重要”這個(gè)問題的典型代表。她在郊區(qū)一所不錯(cuò)的高中就讀，以班上排名前四分之一的成績畢業(yè)，是學(xué)校體育代表隊(duì)成員。升入州立大學(xué)使她在知識面和社交面上得到擴(kuò)展。她與自然資源方面的研究員工作緊密，學(xué)了西班牙語，出國留學(xué)和工作過，探究過能拓寬她視野的選修課。她還不斷地豐富她的個(gè)人簡歷，總是朝著畢業(yè)后成為一名科學(xué)家的夢想努力。

她的每一步都走得很對，你瞧，這計(jì)劃行之有效。她在美國西岸一家環(huán)境工程公司找到了一份工作，所得的收入比她設(shè)想過的剛畢業(yè)的大學(xué)生薪酬都高。萬歲！

然而，漸漸地，各種問題開始接踵而來。我女兒愛住在舊金山附近，但即使她收入不薄，卻也只能夠租得起奧克蘭市劣區(qū)里的一套公寓，甚至還遇到過小型黑幫槍戰(zhàn)。與此同時(shí)，她風(fēng)光的新工作很快讓她感到厭倦，而且她的上司們總是情緒負(fù)面，甚至態(tài)度刻薄。

數(shù)月來，她都忍耐著堅(jiān)持上班。她的學(xué)生貸款就要開始繳付了，而這份工作的收入是她任何一位朋友加上福利后所得的兩倍。然而，隨著時(shí)間的推移，我那陽光的小女孩變得日漸沮喪。每天，她都是硬拽著自己去上班的。而且，每天的情況都沒有改善。

她開始找工作。在加利福尼亞州，失業(yè)率高得可怕——11.3%。一份咖啡公司的工作要求她進(jìn)行四輪不同的面試，外加筆試。女兒獲得了這份工作并感到激動(dòng)不已，尤其是因?yàn)槟莻€(gè)職位包括了健康福利。但薪酬卻糟透了：最低工資水平。

她真的想從一份高薪工作“跳槽”到最低工資水平？她怎么可以這么做——作為一名發(fā)奮圖強(qiáng)的學(xué)生，一名兢兢業(yè)業(yè)的員工，一名年輕女子，她總是不斷追求實(shí)現(xiàn)各種目標(biāo)——這次跨越要怎樣才能解釋得通呢？

找不到任何理性的理由來解釋她的辭職。但卻有各種情感上的理由來解釋。

“人生苦短，不值得悲慘地追求金錢，”我最終跟她說，“辭了吧。接受咖啡師的工作吧，在調(diào)配拿鐵咖啡的時(shí)候再想想其他出路?！?/p>

我能夠聽得出四周大多數(shù)家長因驚恐而發(fā)出的喘息聲。在我們家為她的大學(xué)學(xué)位投入了那么多之后，我怎么能夠建議自己的女兒去加入邊緣的就業(yè)隊(duì)伍？

顯而易見。大學(xué)，你懂的，并不真的就是為了就業(yè)而準(zhǔn)備的。它是為了讓人獲取知識和技能從而把握機(jī)遇的——包括讓人懂得何時(shí)應(yīng)該離開讓自己覺得不快樂的事物。

最近有很多談?wù)摗鋵?shí)呢，應(yīng)該是一直以來，我想——關(guān)于取得大學(xué)文科學(xué)位有什么好處，學(xué)什么專業(yè)才能最大機(jī)會(huì)地獲得一份最高收入、最穩(wěn)定的工作，還有在學(xué)校時(shí)就豐富自己個(gè)人簡歷的重要性，以便在那至高無上的求職競賽中保持優(yōu)勢。

通常來說，這些都是對的。顯然，你必須要填飽肚子。但或許大學(xué)的目標(biāo)不應(yīng)該和求職如此緊密地聯(lián)系起來。我們所有人都要從這么一個(gè)選擇點(diǎn)開始，選擇大學(xué)之路或者職業(yè)之路，從這層意義上看，真實(shí)的生活和“生活游戲”沒有太大區(qū)別。你可通過其中任一種方式賺得同樣多的錢，而轉(zhuǎn)盤上同樣的各種或好或壞的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)都能給你帶來債務(wù)或痛苦的困境：疾病、意外、離婚、帶走房子的龍卷風(fēng)。大學(xué)并不能成為你富?；蛘邥x身中產(chǎn)階層的保證。事實(shí)上，有很多論據(jù)表明，參加職技培訓(xùn)對賺錢而言更劃算。

（舉個(gè)身邊的例子：我的弟弟從來就沒完成他的四年大學(xué)學(xué)位，然而卻賺了比我另外那個(gè)兄弟和我多十倍的錢，而我們倆都取得了碩士學(xué)位。）

大學(xué)，如果你有幸能夠進(jìn)入其中，關(guān)乎的其實(shí)是讓你找出自己的朋友、自己的價(jià)值觀，以及自己未來的夢想。沒有人——嗯，幾乎沒人——能夠一畢業(yè)就能找到一份薪資最高的工作。大多數(shù)大學(xué)畢業(yè)生要償還貸款，并且在不同的職業(yè)階梯上攀爬，直到我們發(fā)現(xiàn)其中一把梯子上有我們能夠企及的梯級——以及一個(gè)位置，其高處有一片適合我們的風(fēng)景。如果你著陸在一處看似“完美”的工作上，有著值得炫耀的收入，然而你卻對它又恨又怕失去，那你的雙翼已經(jīng)被束縛住了。那種“安全的”工作會(huì)抹殺你的創(chuàng)造力，澆滅你的熱忱，悶死你早上從床上一躍而起的沖勁。為什么還要留下來呢？

大多數(shù)人給出的回答會(huì)是“恐懼”。我們都聽到了關(guān)于失業(yè)的數(shù)據(jù)。

但讓我們嘗試反過來看這些數(shù)據(jù)。失業(yè)率是很高——甚至在某些美國城市里一度高達(dá)12%。但那意味著有88%的人有工作。他們能夠以自己的收入維持生活嗎？那取決于你如何定義“生活”?；蛟S你不需要一輛新車，或者完全不需要車?；蛟S你可以找到季節(jié)性出租或合租的房子。

工作就像大學(xué)的課程。你選擇的每一門課程都將教會(huì)你一套新的技能，并讓你對生活有新的了解。它們并非是永久性的，就其中大部分來說。它們不過是進(jìn)身之階而已。

拿我女兒的情況來說，咖啡師的工作給她帶來了足夠的自由時(shí)間來做自己真正喜愛的事：畫漫畫。她正打算在網(wǎng)上發(fā)布她的漫畫。在業(yè)余時(shí)間里，她碰巧在一家新的紙杯蛋糕美食店歇腳，在和熱情滿溢的店主聊天后，她還被聘請到店里做蛋糕裝飾和柜臺的工作。這一次，也沒有很多收入，但與咖啡公司那邊的工作合起來，足夠她勉強(qiáng)維持生活。與此同時(shí)，她搬離了奧克蘭，搬到圣克魯茲海灘附近一所房子的一個(gè)她付得起房租的房間里。她開心地調(diào)校各種風(fēng)味的紙杯蛋糕，并尋思著幫助這位新興行業(yè)的店主使用社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)和進(jìn)行市場營銷。她每天都在學(xué)習(xí)新事物。生活得很美好。

當(dāng)你離職時(shí)，不管任何職業(yè)，這都會(huì)讓人感到害怕。但這同時(shí)也是讓人興奮的，因?yàn)槟阕屪约耗軗肀Ц鞣N新的機(jī)遇。所以勇敢前進(jìn)吧。接受挑戰(zhàn)。如果你厭惡那份工作，就辭了吧。你或許會(huì)為自己感到驚訝不已。