For this assignment, the alumni we interviewed (hereafter will be referred to as X) is currently employed as a project manager for a team-building company. Prior to X’s current job, X obtained a number of different degrees and worked in a very different field than they do now. Initially, X attended UBC in order to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Education, specializing in teaching French Immersion at an Elementary level. X also received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a Critical Studies in Sexuality minor. However, they saw getting a degree in Psychology as simply a prerequisite for getting a Bachelor’s degree in Education, remarking that they “did it for fun” and went about working toward this degree with a “‘let’s try it’ mentality”. After gaining qualification, X spent five years as a teacher, but realized that the education field was not for them. One problem X faced was that everything they did prior to this realization was geared toward being employed as a teacher. While teaching, however, X noticed that they enjoyed planning the extracurricular events students would take part in, such as Sports Days and talent shows. In order to explore the fields of event planning and business, X went on leave from teaching for a period of three years, and is currently in their second year of leave. X then found multiple volunteering positions that would allow them to gain event coordination experience, and later became involved with a party supply company. In addition, X is currently a part time student at BCIT to study and gain experience in event planning and marketing.
As a group, we started by analyzing the alumni’s transition through a structural functionalist perspective. Structural functionalists see education as an institution with the purpose of providing individuals with means to obtain careers in specialized fields. However, the extent to which education leads to a predetermined career can be limited. For example, X states that specific personality traits and gaining practical experience makes a more significant difference when working as a teacher. In order to be successful as a teacher, it is crucial that one is able to handle stress and engage in emotional labour – the process of managing and controlling one’s feelings in order to achieve what is required of them. X notes that these skills were not taught, nor mentioned at UBC, where the focus was mainly theoretical. It is important to note that education does hold significant value, as many fields want their prospective employees to have background knowledge in addition to necessary skills and experience. However, X’s case illustrates how education does not always provide the foundation for a stable career. A degree alone is not be sufficient for a smooth transition into the workplace.
The reality of the structural functionalist approach is also limited once the prospect of career-switching is considered. Namely, career-building for many people is no longer linear, and often includes job shifts, or in the case of X – complete shifts in careers. Durkheim’s functionalist view of everyone studying for one specific job does not account for changes in career paths, unless perhaps in the sense that it leads to people leaving careers they are not suited for. Durkheim also points out that mechanistic societies (such as Canada) are characterized by a complex division of labour. This is functional because workers are no longer as instrumental since substitutes are easily found, but once career linearity is abandoned, this means some people face the danger of falling through the cracks once they no longer fit into the idealized division of labour.
In a sense, such failure of perfect division of labour is an evidence of how rationalization of education and workforce can go awry. The education system is in place to transition students into more efficient workers, but in X’s case the message professors gave them in university was that they would need to work for 5 years to see if teaching was truly a good fit. Considering they gave up teaching as soon as 5 years passed, this was hardly a rational decision as it only led to frustration and waste of time. Another example of such ‘irrationality of rationality’ evident in X’s account is the notion that X feels alienated in their current job due to the highly competitive and hierarchical bureaucratic environment. X said they felt uncomfortable, after years in teaching which they saw as being more focused on teamwork and collective efforts. While seen as justifiable and rational, encouraged competition among workers may ultimately hinder functionality as it induces feelings of discomfort which may lower workers’ motivation. Again, students are not explicitly taught to deal with such environmental demands, making the education-career shift more stressful.
In addition, by living in a credentialed society, there is a belief amongst students that grades and getting a higher education are the two most important factors that matter within the realm of academia and career. X’s own career experience shows that although this current perception of the importance of educational credentials is widely applicable, it is actually limited. Only when X decided to switch careers did they realize that social capital, the collective value of all of one’s social network, can at times be more important than educational credentials. X studied 3 classes in BCIT regarding events planning and coordination in order to get credentials. Although this helped them know more about that field, what ultimately aided them in landing a job were the connections (mostly weak ties) that they made while volunteering. Since the events industry in Vancouver is small, everybody knows everybody and companies hire people through their social network- through “word of mouth”. Moreover, our alumni shed light on the fact that degrees provide a claim of competence and status but they aren’t necessarily what gets an individual a job. Social capital also offers various benefits, one of which is the advantage of weak social ties – the type of social ties that can help one gain access to more possible employment opportunities.