Work Smart or Work Hard?
Tom Rogers
Early Careers Practitioner @ BAE Systems | Championing Apprenticeships | Building FindATrainingProvider
'Work Smart NOT Hard' states this careers poster from the 1970s to drive more young people in the USA towards university and away from the trades.
We'll let you take that in for a second...
The photo has been referenced by Mike Rowe, an American TV personality who states that it was this very poster, shown to him by a careers adviser in the 70s, that inspired him to create the TV series, Dirty Jobs, on the Discovery Channel.
In case you aren't aware of it (I wasn't until I heard it on a podcast), the series puts Mike in various difficult, disgusting or just very unusual jobs alongside the current post holder!
In the world of careers, careers professionals have a common saying about the world of work - 'Young people can't see what young people can't see!' and Dirty Jobs is an amazing resource to inspire young people to find out more about and go and explore the massive number of jobs there are in the world.
But returning to the poster, what we also love about Mike's chosen area is he is helping to shine a light on those jobs that don't need a university qualification. After all, a strong, balanced labour market should have high employment across all skills levels - not just at the 'highly skilled' end. Indeed, take any industry, and you will find it is made up of lots of different jobs across the skills spectrum.
Let's take Health and Social Care which has the largest proportion of jobs in the UK*. At one end, you have the high-skilled CEOs, senior managers, surgeons etc but for the industry to function properly, it also needs the low-skilled roles in estates and facilities and domestic services teams. But also, it's important to remember the inter-play between the roles - the funding team might secure investment for a new project that requires a Project Manager. This person then creates a new team to deliver the project. Part of the project may include a new building which require a whole host of roles, again at different skills levels.
We could also consider the fixation on salary.
In 2023, ￡26,000 was the average graduate salary, compared to ￡29,000 for postgraduates and ￡19,000 for non-graduates** and yet, there are plenty of examples of high-paying jobs that don't need degrees***.
And, at a time when the new UK government continues to focus on economic growth, we are reminded that this growth will need a strong, highly productive skills base meaning higher salaries to attract and retain the talent.
And these individuals may well look to spend their disposable income on local service industries such as health and wellbeing, retail and cleaning services - all of which can offer new employment opportunities.
So, to sum up, we would both argue that perhaps we need to work hard and smart. But the focus needs to start with taking a look at where we are, how we got here and not being afraid to help our young people understand the true breadth and depth of the labour market and the different routes into and through it.
After all, a career path is no longer just a simple straight line...
Thanks to Jamie for the fantastic article, Tom speaking again... I personally get frustrated by the desire for economic development which prioritises higher level jobs, leaving behind many other industries. In fact, an affluent area is more likely to have a higher demand for the likes of cleaners, tradespeople, security, and so on.?
Without a varied job market, those living in their rich mansions wouldn’t have anyone to clean their house or build their bespoke walk-in wardrobes!
What do you think?