Seth’s writing is 100% brilliance. Today’s post is no exception…

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Career fairs…

are neither.

Of course they don’t exist to help you plan or execute a career. Most of the organizations with booths are bottom fishing, looking for enough willing and able employees to fill established gaps in their companies. This is hiring on the hoof, wholesale filling of average jobs with people trying to be average. Planning a career at a career fair is a little like looking for a soulmate at a singles’ bar.

And fair? Hardly. Because there are no average people, right? There are average jobs, certainly, average in that they require people to fit in, do what they’re told and follow the manual. I’ll grant you that those jobs need to get done, but I’m not sure they have to get done by you.

By the time a job opening hits the career fair, it’s a job you don’t want. And by the time a job seeker is walking down the aisles, standardized resume in hand, it might be too late for her to find a job that’s worthy of her.

Here’s to a new, better sort of career fair, one that’s selective, interactive, long-term and both career and fair.

Authored by Seth Godin.

In an earlier post, I mentioned the vicious cycle.  This idea is also mentioned on my website.  And I mention it every time I speak about TAG.  Why is the concept of the vicious cycle so important to me?

Because I know someone – someone very close to me – that is caught up in the vicious cycle right now.  Let me tell you a story about my brother…

My brother was the kind of guy that never had a career plan.  He was always much more focused on enjoying the moment – he was perfectly happy “just getting by”.  Until graduation day came.

I don’t remember much of that day, but I do remember one brief moment we shared at his celebration dinner.  As our glasses were raised and he was receiving his “we’re proud of you” speech, he leaned over and whispered to me, “What the hell am I going to do now?”

I told him, “Don’t worry, it will all work out” or something brotherly like that….

Three years have passed since that date.  His first 6 months were rough…he searched around aimlessly for something – anything – that would be considered a “good job”.  Desperate and out of funds, he took a job at a temp agency, finally landing a full-time data entry job.  He entered D-A-T-A for two and a half years.  And his life was miserable.

And now, he’s back in school, getting his masters.  Why?  Because he’s trying to break the vicious cycle.

What is this vicious cycle?  Well, it goes something like this:

• Don’t get a great job out of school
• Toil in a second-rate job for 3 years
• Your background is now no longer a good “fit” for employers
• Go to less-than-top-tier business school with hopes of resetting your career direction
• Your education and experience now confirm you will never be the right “fit” for your dream job
• Repeat the gut-wrenching process until retirement

From missed income to lost opportunity, a wrong first career step has a compounding effect that will cost you a fortune.  My brother is one of many to learn first-hand the lesson of the vicious cycle.

He is now getting his masters.  Hopefully, he will be one of the lucky ones that can manage to break away…

And now that you know why the vicious cycle is so important to me, I ask you: do you have the knowledge and network to avoid the same fate as my brother?