Underrated profession

I'm a bit worried about the future. That's not because I'm afraid of finishing my education, but of the things that might come after that. The last few months I've been scanning job advertisements to figure out what I want to do after I graduate from university. Untill now not one job description seemed right to me. What is going on in the Netherlands?

Well, first of all we are in 'recession', or so we tell eachother. So the first thing for profit organisations do is cut down all overhead costs. Being a communicational specialist, especially focused on internal organisations, you don't stand a change: you cost too much so your being fired. Secondly, communication seems to be equivalent to marketing. Oh, I do hate that! When I'm graduated I'm not trained to design brochures and posters. Sure, there are students who like doing that. But communication is so much more than marketing. Just think of any organisation, everything depends on communication.

Thirdly, there is the lack of appreciation for academic scholars in the field of communication. In the Netherlands there is a level just below university, called HBO, which is more like vocational training. HBO-training is more geared to practice (learning the 'tricks') and you end up with a bachelors diploma at the most. University is (supposed to be) learning you how to think for yourself. This difference between the two types of education is enormous seen from an academic point of view, yet most people think HBO is very similar to university. Therefore organisations ask for HBO-level skills at minimum for jobs, but almost never academic level skills only. Organisitions still don't realize that they don't really need someone to design their brochure (there are other organizations that specialize in that), but do need somebody who can view the communication within the organisation from a broader perspective. For instance someone who can understand the financial situation of an organisation and translate that to other (problem)areas.

Finally, there are too much women around in the communication field. That results in a lot of parttime jobs being offered for low salary. Come on, I don't have kids yet! When I'm fresh from university I want to work, fulltime. Maybe lots of overtime if I enjoy my job. And I want to get payed enough, because I have to pay of my debts after years of education. A friend of mine, who also did communication studies, told me last week that I should just try and accept that this is the situation for our workfield. But I don't want to do that! I have a vision on how certain things should be and that doesn't include me being underrated as a communication specialist. The past few years I've been learning to go of the beaten path and I'm not willing to go back on it again. That would mean that all the energy I invested was for nothing. I can only hope that by the time I finish my masters thesis the world has drastically changed.

Permalink | TrackBack (by Elmine Wijnia on December 12, 2003 01:01 PM)