Leadership

Dear Grads: Stop Whining, Start Freelancing

By Jessica Stillman

Updated on: October 25, 2011 / 7:24 AM EDT / MoneyWatch

With so many young people struggling to find good jobs, the media has been chronicling the efforts of many to use entrepreneurship as an alternative. Here on BNET, Donna Fenn interviewed author Scott Gerber who urged Gen Y to never get a real job. And the idea that starting your own business beats slaving away at an unfulfilling office job has even jumped the pond with the BBC recently picking up the theme and reporting that "unwilling to put their careers in the hands of others, some Americans are quitting good jobs to start their own businesses."

The trend towards entrepreneurship makes for great media fodder as newspapers cover heart-warming stories of lawyers who quit their jobs to start baking baklava for a living. And it's also true that surveys show young people have a particularly high appetite for starting their own businesses. But is setting up shop really a solid choice for recent grads without gigs?

Recently blog Freelance Folder suggested that rather than spending all their hours chasing scarce jobs, rolling out the filo pastry or investing resources in start-up costs for a new venture, some grads with the right skills should consider what amounts to entrepreneurship lite -- going freelance. Freelance Folder explains:

The idea that freelancing could also be an ideal career choice for a new graduate may be new to some people, but in reality, it's the perfect option.
If you are a graphic design graduate and have ambitions of joining a professional agency, you'll discover that the competition for these positions (even lower-paid junior positions) is extremely high. Thus, no matter how passionate you are, you simply may not have a diverse enough portfolio of work and satisfied client recommendations to back up your credentials as a graphic designer.

Freelancing on a variety of jobs, working with a diverse clientele, is the perfect way to expand your portfolio when you're fresh out of college. Moreover, to the client, opting for a graduate freelancer may be the more economical choice over opting for a big-name agency or other seasoned professional.

Those with social media, communication and tech skills could also consider working freelance, for instance. And for those who object that getting employers to entrust work to a young, untested grad would be difficult, Freelance Folder has a host of suggestions about how grads can get started and prove their mettle. But even if you follow their advice to the letter, getting off the ground as a freelancing newbie is sure to be hard and involve small amounts of work, low rates and less than prime clients at first, but still it has to beat sitting around and waiting for the phone to ring.

Several career experts who have spoken to this blog, have argued that unemployed grads need to prove they're using their time productively and gaining skills while they job search to stand out from the pack. Freelance work may be one underutilized way to accomplish this. Maybe you're efforts will blossom into a full, long-term freelancing career. Maybe they'll result in a stronger resume and, eventually, a decent job. Either way there doesn't seem to be much downside to hanging out your shingle if you're a grad with the right sort of skills.

Do you agree?

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(Image courtesy of Flickr user CarbonNYC, CC 2.0)