Future income risk
At the end of high school, you are at a point in your life where you have to decide what to do in the future. I went in an art high school with focus on media design and photography. I chose this school because my biggest hobby was art and I thought that you should do what you like because then you are always good at it. Going to that school was a lot of fun and I liked my decision. We went to a lot of photography galleries, museums and learned how to do pictures professionally. Moreover, we produced the photos by ourselves in a darkroom. I learned a lot in this field but after visiting this school it was clear for me that I will keep art as a hobby but will not spend my future life with art and photography. One other reason why I haven’t chosen to go to an art university was that my teachers were not able to have fixed incomes with art so they had to become teachers.
In this school, I also had a good economic professor. This was the reason I chose to go to the Business University of Vienna because it was a very interesting new field for me and I wanted to learn more about this topic. Another aspect was that in Vienna we got a beautiful new business University build by Zaha Hadid. She was a famous architect, and I knew already all the aspects of this building from my art course and liked the atmosphere there. That was another reason why I decided to go to this university.
(Business University Vienna)
Generally, it was easy for me to make a decision after school because it was clear that I wanted to study business or medicine and there was nothing else I wanted to study. I started with business and only wanted to see how I liked it. It turns out that I enjoyed it so much that I couldn’t imagine doing something different now. Sometimes when I see a lot of documentaries about doctors I think how my life would be if I had chosen to go to the medical university. However, I think I had done the right decision, because I love what I am doing. One aspect that I like about studying business is that it is easy to work internationally and we have a lot of opportunities to study abroad which is perfect for me. But I think you are never too old to make something different when you are at a point in your life when you think you need something different.
Now I would like to talk about the money aspect. I want to mention that I had luck because I am really interested in two subjects that are well paid and it is easy to find a job after the university. But I would also say that when I was interested in art I wouldn’t study it because it is also very important for me to find a job after visiting university and have job security, which you definitely don’t have when you do art professionally.
My major is Human Resource Management and after the master in Vienna you nearly always get a job after the first month because they only take 100 people every year and the master is well ranked internationally. Furthermore, almost every company has a human resource management department, which will make it easier to find a job after university.
To sum up, I would like to say that it is always important that you do what you love but for me it is also very valuable to have job security in my life. When I would be interested in a field where you cannot earn a lot of money I would do it as a hobby and search for a job with more security. When you earn a lot of money you can also invest more money in your hobby, for example a photographer in a new camera equipment. In my opinion it is very important to attend a good school and study a lot so you have financial safety in the future.
I have no background on Austrian Universities, so you may have omitted some information that I deem important. In particular, I can imagine you taking a somewhat similar path had you grown up in Illinois. But then I doubt very much that you would have been admitted to the Gies College of Business. Perhaps you could have come to Illinois as an Economics major and do a Business minor, which a number of the other students in our class are doing. So could you explain how you got into a college of business after going to an art school for high school.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed fortunate to work in a field where you enjoy the work and where it is reasonably well paid. That's an ideal that most people aspire to but many don't attain it. If you can do it, you are lucky indeed.
They way you told the story there wasn't really much future income risk to be concerned with. So let me introduce some - from macroeconomic shocks that might upset your earnings as the overall economy under performs. I must say I don't follow the Brexit situation much at all, other than read some headlines, but there is a general sense that the global economy is slowing down and experience slow growth. The trade war that Trump has instigated with China is but one factor contributing to this possibility. If you will be graduating soon, you will enter the job market at a time of possible market slowdown. If so, are there things you can do to lessen the near term risk? If so, what might those things be?
In Austria it doesn’t matter which high school you take. I took a so called “Gymnasium” which is the general school in Austria, which you normally attend when you want to go to university after. It is very general and you have from all subjects a bit. There are some which have extra major like art but this is only extra to the general studying plan so it doesn’t matter in which university you go afterwards. After school leaving examination you can choose every university you like and it doesn’t matter which school you took.
DeleteOne way to lessen the near term risk is to be flexible at the job market. For example, I have two majors, which could help me to find a job more easily because you can search in two fields.
I think your choice to consider job security is a mature and admirable one. It's great that you have a fun hobby like art/photography to keep you busy in your free time!
ReplyDeleteIt's also really great that you don't have to sacrifice as much as others for job security. The fact that you're passionate about your business major is very lucky indeed. Most people don't have this privilege and, when the question of job security and/or salary come up, they end up sacrificing their passion and settling for something they aren't satisfied with. Luckily, it seems like you're immune to this effect.
How do you expect the upcoming recession to factor into your job security? You may have to work extra hard to secure a job. Have you done any internships or co-ops that might help protect you from this?
I have worked during my whole bachelor in a well known insurance company in the finance department. So, I have working experience already, which is what companies would like to see. Moreover, it is also good to make an exchange semester because companies value that you can live internationally and speak good English.
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