Follow this 'get rich slow' scheme to success

Peter Gray

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At this time of year, thousands of new college graduates, along with their anxious parents, are taking part in a rite of passage as universal as tossing a mortarboard skyward: They are agonizing over what career direction to take.

Should you pursue your passion wherever it might lead, or target a sensible career path that promises better financial security? The clich�d commencement-speech advice, to follow your heart, is often ignored by careerist graduates stampeding into practical professions. But my experience as a recruiter tells me there is a lot of truth to it. Time and again, I've encountered people who rose to prominence, even in generally lower-paying fields, making more money than those who went into supposedly high-paying professions but got stuck in the middle of the pack. What differentiates the higher-earning high achievers from the journeymen is not intelligence so much as a passion for what they do, and the courage to pursue work they care about.

My favorite piece of evidence backing up the "follow your heart" bromide is from Mark Albion's wonderful book, "Making a Life, Making a Living." Albion cites a 20-year study of the career success of 1,500 business school graduates. At the start of their careers, they were asked whether they intended to pursue work they loved right away, or defer their dreams in order to make money. Eighty-three percent said they planned to make money first, then do something fulfilling later. Yet 20 years later, the most financially successful people in the sample were disproportionately from the 17 percent who chose to pursue their interests, not the money. Moral: If you know what you are passionate about, go for it and the rewards will follow.

Now the fine print: Certain caveats apply. Notice that the above example is limited to business school graduates. The odds of following your dreams to success are much longer in some pursuits, notably glamour-chase paths like acting or professional sports. These fields are like lotteries or tournaments in that they are flooded with a huge supply of players fighting for very limited opportunities. A tiny proportion of the competitors do everything right when it counts, and win big, but the overwhelming majority fall short.

While it's hard to counsel aspiring performers or athletes to give up on their ambitions, think about backup plans for a related business career if the dream's allure starts to fade. For example, imagine (or maybe you once were) the 20-something ski bum with Olympic dreams, whose parents despair that she'll never settle down into a "real" job. One approach for her is to look for fields that might offer a fit with skiing, such as tourism or the sports equipment industry.

Even within business careers there is always the fad-career trap, the lure of a trendy profession that seems to promise quick riches. In the 1980s it was investment banking. The '90s saw the rise and fall of sell-side equity research, dot-coms and tech-driven venture capital. Real estate has lately been hot, but is cooling along with the housing bubble. For several years hedge funds have sustained a long run of trendiness. I've gotten many urgent inquiries from job-seekers who "really want to get into hedge funds." Many of them, when pressed, could not coherently explain what a hedge fund was or why they wanted to join one, beyond the mystique that hedge funds convey as secretive places where people can make startling amounts of money.

In each case, the same cycle played out. A few early movers made millions and made headlines, then opportunists opened up me-too companies, and masses of fad-struck job seekers followed. But by then the best opportunities had been exploited by industry pioneers, the flood of later entrants created more competitive business conditions, and most of the latecomers found only average financial rewards and unspectacular careers.

A lucky and talented few may indeed get rich quick that way, but as with the lottery, many more end up disappointed. The more sensible approach is to find what you love doing, commit to it and "get rich slow" as you advance.

What if you are unsure what career path you want to take? Then my advice is to go ahead and be mercenary. Find what offers the best combination of short-term money, prestige, and transferable experience. This may sound awfully cynical, but odds are you'll be unhappy in your job and looking for a change soon, so you might as well at least collect a decent paycheck and build a marketable job history. Meanwhile think hard about where your long-term career passion lies, and don't make your next move -- no matter how unfulfilling your job is -- until you figure it out.
peterg@qstaff.com

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