First let me say that he is trying to make a valid point. There are some things that you might love doing that don't make a decent living, and going through life broke, hungry, and homeless is not a good plan for the future. Certainly the job outlook and the ability to make a living must figure in to the decision. However, even that is difficult. We are being told now that 50% of the jobs that will be available to today's high school graduates after college haven't even been imagined today. It's hard to imagine what the prospects for that job will be when no one has dreamed up what it is at this time.
He even uses himself as an example as a "starving artist". However, he ignores that there are plenty of paying jobs, many with benefits, from employers who need an artistic designer for their advertising, their buildings, landscape, parks, etc. Ask any teacher. Just because your job doesn't pay in the top 20% of all careers today doesn't mean that you can't make a living and that you can't find satisfaction and make ends meet.
McCoy asks if a doctor loves going to the hospital to see a patient in the middle of the night or a fireman loves going in to a burning building. Maybe they don't, but I sure hope that - if I am lying in the emergency room - that doctor isn't spending her midnight drive time thinking about finding another job that would be less hassle. Or that the fireman isn't hoping that the building will stop burning before he has to go in to it.
Mr. McCoy, when you find a job that only involves doing things that you really enjoy, let me know. I will be the first to apply.
Following his advice would direct our graduates to only seek what pays well. or will be hiring in the future. I selected a college major in the midst of the first energy crisis and picked engineering because I thought I would enjoy it. I did, for 20+ years and have enjoyed the past seven helping others get a start in to similar career paths. Many of my fellow college freshmen, however, selected petroleum engineering as a major for the singular reason that they would be paid the highest salaries of any college major at the time. Never mind that most of these people didn't know what petroleum was or where it might be found and that an engineer to them wore a blue and white striped overalls and hat and sat at the front of a train.
My point is that, as miserable as being unemployed and penniless is, working just because you need a paycheck isn't much better. You may have a roof over your head and not have to worry as much. However, you will easily spend 80,000 hours of your life doing work. It makes them go much easier and faster if you spend this hour looking forward to the next rather than looking forward to 5:00 when you can go home.
So look to your passion. Consider what will make you want to go to work every day and then look at where you can use those skills in a paying job.
Now I will sit by the phone waiting for those invitations to speak at graduation.
