Will Young and Innovative Win Over Mature, Tried, and True?

I met someone a few weeks ago who's been in the working world for more than a few years now. She has a pretty good, well-paying job and I asked her what did she do prior to what she does now. To my surprise, about six years ago, she held the job that I currently hold today. She got me thinking. Am I on the right path? Am I doing what I should be doing at this age?

In this time where the current NBA MVP was born the same year the A-Team ended, college dropouts are billionaires, and successful, qualified 40-50 year-olds are unemployed or underemployed, this 27 year-old (aka ME) is having a hard time understanding where I should be in my career and what I should be doing.

Can I really be this woman with a well-paying management position six years from now or would companies see me as being "too young"? That got me thinking about other 20-somethings in my shoes.

Should degrees matter as much as they do? Is this structure of "advanced degrees = more money" the correct structure to promote in a time where college costs are rising and people aren't putting an emphasis on education as much as they should be? I know people with masters and doctorates degrees that are not doing as great of a job as one should expect. In the meantime, there are passionate, innovative, and extremely talented young people who are constantly being looked over because they do not have enough years under their belt or letters after their name. Age discrimination?

Unfortunately, age discrimination doesn't work for those under 40...

"Age discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) less favorably because of his age.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) only forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. It does not protect workers under the age of 40, although some states do have laws that protect younger workers from age discrimination.

- US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm) 10:35 PM EDT March 27, 2012

I understand that there are certain skills and competencies that can only be acquired through experience but can't there be a way to recognize a talented, employable individual standing in the front office with a nice suit, youthful glow, and a brain more powerful than any computer in the building? Don't even get me started on how companies undervalue our young Military Veterans!

Companies, here's an idea, if you aren't doing this already; provide these young individuals a mentor (current staff) to build the skills and competencies you see necessary to do the work! Your company will actually do some succession planning (ensuring the future of your company) AND will benefit from the technological skills, youthful energy, and innovative minds of the younger generation (not saying that the older generations don't have those skills...). Plus, you'll be investing in the future instead of pretending to be.

Is society's demographics, talents, education, and technological competency not matching up to the traditional "I've-been-here-for-25-years-and-I-deserve-that-management-position" mentality of yesterday?

Until the current culture of employment and career mobility changes, I think that there will be more and more frustrated, talented, educated, innovative, hard working, passionate, young adults (Vets and Non-Vets) walking around feeling as if they are unemployable AND companies continuing to be frustrated, understaffed/poorly staffed, and struggling thinking that there just aren't people qualified for their positions.

Is Loving Someone Enough in a Relationship or Should There Be More?

I've been thinking a lot about love. I'm not saying if I am in love or if I've been in love. Nor am I saying that I'm an expert in love. I just notice that a lot of songs are about love and I've been noticing them more than I used to.

I feel that loving someone is much different than being in love. Is it bad that someone you used to be in love with is now someone you just "love" and nothing else? The feeling of that fire of passion, whether a blazing inferno or a dim ember should and must exist in order to "be in love". Otherwise, you are no longer in love. Now you just love the person like you love a friend and sex is just a physical activity.

Being in love is a state of being, not just an action, not just a description of the status of your relationship. It is being engulfed by a new world: one in which you realize that this other human being is not only someone worth loving (and they equally think the same of you) but in which you both realize that you are both being raised up to a level you both could not reach at an individual level before.

The key to staying "in love" (at least what I think) is having the ability to maintain this level. Once the ability is forgotten or no longer there, you fall out of love. You may still "love" the person, but he/she is no longer someone that can make you feel and be more than you are alone or you are unable to do that for him/her. That lightheartedness, puppy love, newlywed honeymoon feeling that is usually tied to "being in love" has ceased.

I'm not saying that roses, chocolates, or excessive romance is necessary on a constant basis. To keep love going, to remain "in love," all you need to do is remember that you need each other to stay at the level you cannot be at on your own. Well, at least that's what I think.

Love to me does not require material things or making someone do things they do not normally do. Love is finding the person who will walk with me on my life journey and will raise me, as I would raise him, to a level of happiness, comfort, and being that no friend, best friend, or family member could take us.

I'm not dreaming of Prince Charmings and Mr. Perfects. I'm wanting someone that can make the awesome person I am even more awesome and I the same for him.

Blogger On My Phone Means More Me

Total dork but I just installed the blogger app on my phone and now I have a feeling that I'll be talking a lot more *=D.

I basically got back to blogging because I opened an about.me account and I linked my blogger to it. I realized I have nothing in the blog so hopefully that'll all change.

I'm currently blogging from my phone while my laptop is in my lap. That's sad. Is that what this world is coming to? The other day, I was so lazy to pick up my house phone (yeah I have one still in case of emergency) and too lazy to open my laptop that I downloaded the app for dominos and ordered my pizza from my cell phone app. Maybe its just me degenerating/hopping on the technological waves of the future.

Anywho, I'm going to stop blogging from the phone and get back to the laptop to do other things that aren't really important haha. I'll get back to studying for the GMAT this weekend when I'm not thinking about work.

Learn more about me at http://about.me/JaCaBran

Peace!

Jackie