If only I knew then, what I know now…

Because summer is about to give way to autumn, my inbox is filling with CVs from young people, fresh from uni. They did nothing about job-seeking in years two and three and are now keen to avoid the career-path that empty supermarket shelves offer.

And because it’s still silly season, the mainstream media fills many pages with lists. They’re not always worthless page-fillers though.

One, in Forbes magazine, is about 20 things 20 year olds don’t understand. Written by Jason Nazar it is practical and useful and, unfortunately, will probably not interest many 20 year olds.

One key par – fourth on the list – is this:

“Social Media is not a career. Social media is simply a function of marketing; it helps support branding, ROI or both. Social media is a means to get more awareness, more users or more revenue. It’s not an end in itself.”

I couldn’t agree more. Way too many of the CVs I mentioned earlier talk way too much about a desire to ‘do’ social media as though it were a real job.

That list is closely linked to another, also in Forbes, this one by staffer Susan Adams. In it she outlines ten big mistakes far too many job-seekers make.

It may be just another list but it is as valid and true as Nazar’s. And, like Nazar’s it will almost certainly fail to resonate between the ears of the audience who need that wisdom the most.

I blame the parents.