Changing The Mindset

A high percentage of well-paid blue-collar workers started their career at the bottom, they did not serve a formal apprenticeship. As teenagers, they were education rejects and did not know what their natural talent was. They searched for jobs in environments that appealed to them.

Then suddenly, by accident, they were offered opportunity that was in harmony with their natural talent. Being motivated, they learned a professional skill fast and advanced. Many successful blue-collar professionals started at the bottom of the ladder and accidentally found opportunity.

Instead of waiting for an accident to happen, why not train teenagers on how to start from the bottom?

What is wrong with starting a career at the bottom of the ladder and working up? Many successful people started their career this way. Why not make it an element of career planning?

People who have opportunity to start a few rungs up are given advice on how to advance. Why not do the same for people who don't have that opportunity and must start at the bottom?

Our society says no one should start at the bottom of the ladder. Get an education and start a few rungs up. This is fine for people with the resources to acquire the skill that puts them in the lead, but there will always be people needed at the bottom, there will always be people willing to fill those slots and there will always be people without the resources to start at a higher level.

Society seems to think, anyone who starts at the bottom will stay there. There is no reason to stay at the starting position. With aggressive attitudes, individuals can move up, but they need to know how.

In the blue-collar world, job-hopping is the way to advance until one is employed by a high wage company. Low wage companies are training grounds for high wage companies. High wage companies hire quality and experience, requirements that can be acquired by job-hopping from the bottom.You say you heard that job-hopping is bad for your résumé. That is true in the white-collar world, not the blue-collar.

In the blue-collar world, a high percent of skilled craftsmen do not go through a formal apprentice program, they start as helpers or machine operators. At job interviews, interviewers are not interested in years attended school, they are interested in work ethics, level of ambition and the ability to follow instructions. In other words, they are looking for positive self-esteem. This type of person will adapt easily to the company's needs.

Once on the job, unskilled have opportunity to work with skilled craftsmen and gain experience. Opportunity for advancement is based on the desire to learn, which is based on knowing how to learn. There are always tasks between unskilled and skilled. The aggressive worker can fill that void and, in time, become a qualified craftsman.