No one wants to train you

I speak with people every month who just want a chance. They want a chance to learn how to apply their knowledge in the real world.

Maybe this is you.

These are often people who are early in their career. They all have a four year degree. Most of them have an MBA.

Sound familiar?

What they don’t have is experience and an understanding that most of their education doesn’t matter. A college degree, an MBA, doesn’t mean much. It’s like thinking that reading books will make you a great writer.

That’s not how it works.

To be a great writer, if you even have the aptitude, you need to write. Every day. You need practice, you need repetition.

The same goes for being a great accountant, chef, doctor, marketer, police officer, sales person, whatever. You don’t become great by learning something.

You become good great at something by doing it!

That’s the problem. College, and university are heavy on learning, but light on doing. The practice you do get is spent on things that don’t move the needle in the real world.

This gets worse when you start to realize no one wants to train you.

Companies are no longer investing in professional development and training programs like they once did. Even those that do make these investments, if pressed, would prefer to invest in other areas.

Remember, training you costs the company money.

It’s expensive to train people. This is why people lose out on jobs to those with more experience. It’s why people are so desperate to find a place where they can practice their craft.

No matter how many degrees you possess, if you have no real experience applying your learning, good luck thinking you’ll find some sympathetic corporation to sponsor you.

This is a trend that will only get worse.

So where does that leave you? You should stop waiting for others to give you the experience you need. You must go get it yourself!

You can gain valuable experience on your own. You can do it at any age.

Take on some freelance projects with small businesses. Launch a side project Website about your industry. Volunteer at a non-profit helping them with their books. Participate in hackathons and make something tangible.

Heck, start your own business.

Anything, really. It’s not that hard to gain experience doing whatever you want to do in the future. If you stop thinking that the corporate fairy is going to come along one night and leave a decade of experience under your pillow.

Remember, no one wants to train you.