msuCatalyst →

Today's post is written by Nathan Bashaw and is the third in our series of posts from the James Madison Alumni Career Day. Check out the first and second here). Nathan Bashaw is a student-entrepreneur, majoring in Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy. Find out more about Nathan on his blog or follow him on twitter.

When Timothy J. Soave graduated from MSU in 1978, his prospects for employment looked bleak. He was a good student, ran an underground newspaper, volunteered in the community, and worked for political campaigns. He spent the summer before his senior year as a community organizer in Detroit. He did everything a college student is supposed to do, but when he got his diploma there was no office waiting for him to hang it in.

I bet a lot of you can relate. Jobs are scarce now just like they were then. You might look back at your college years and wonder what you could have done different. You might worry about how you're going to make it once college is over. It's always scary to face an uncertain future. It's even scarier when you add economic uncertainty on top. Tim Soave was scared too, but his persistence paid off. I got the chance to sit down with him at the JMC Alumni Career Day and listen to his story--to learn from his experience.

After he left college, Tim went back home to live with his parents. He spent his days doing construction work. He spent the rest of his time trying to find a way to put his degree to work. Job-hunting in '78 was a whole different game than it is today. There was no internet, no easy way to connect to employers all across the world. He put in applications by mail or by hand. He took aptitude tests to work in the government. He applied to work for the Feds, the state of Michigan, Oakland county, and Ingham county. He didn't hear anything back.

As summer turned into fall, things were getting desperate. Tim got married. He needed to get out of construction, into an office job, so he could start building a family. It went on like that until October, when things started falling into place. He got multiple job offers. He ended up picking the Oakland county job because it gave him the chance to influence policy.

Now, Tim is the manager of Fiscal Services for Oakland county. The tables are turned, he's hired hundreds of people. He spoke to me about what he learned from his experience after graduation.

Tim stressed the importance of passion. You've got to have a fire in your belly. You've got to be willing to learn. You've got to stay flexible. Employers can teach you the skills you need to do the job, but you've got to be a quick study. If you wait on people to tell you what to do, you'll get left behind. From preschool till now, our lives have been mapped out for us. But now there's no map. We have to face the world and figure out what to do on our own. It's scary, but hey--that's life.

Tim also stressed another important lesson. He learned it from looking back on his days as a community organizer in Detroit. One woman still stands out in his mind. She was elderly and uneducated, but people listened to her when she spoke. She commanded respect from her neighbors. His job was to convince her to start a community organization. She doubted herself. What could she do to turn things around? The problems in the world seemed so big and she felt so small that she couldn't have an impact. Tim got to know the woman and helped her gain the courage to lead. She rallied the neighborhood and things started to pick up. They made a real difference. Just like she made an impact once she overcame her fears, you too can make an impact on the world. You just have to find the strength to stand up and stand out. At the time, Tim didn't know how important that moment was for the neighborhood. It's only later than he looked back and realized what a difference he made.

It's like what Steve Jobs said, "you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

I learned a lot from talking to Tim. Most of all, I was reassured. When Tim graduated he faced a worse situation than most of us. But that was only temporary. It was a setback that he overcame. Things tend to work out, you just have to keep your head up. 

What lessons have you learned from an Alumni? Leave a comment!