Go To Where The Jobs Are

“Go west young man and grow with the country.” The modern version of the Horace Greely (it was really John B.L. Soule of the Terre Haute Express – but no matter) recommendation might be “Go West, or East, or North, or South young men and women and grow with the world.” With unemployment at 10.2 percent and climbing compared to welcoming job markets in China, Dubai, Brazil, and Singapore – individuals are leaving the U.S for better opportunities overseas. At MIT’s Sloan School of Management, 24 percent of the 2009 graduates found jobs overseas, a jump from 19 percent last year.

Jobs don’t just come to you. More often, you have to go to the job. Too many Americans resist that truth and instead wait for their dream jobs to come knocking at their door. They treat the idea of living in a certain city or state or country as an entitlement that they’re not willing to surrender.

As Empires go, we have become a stationary bunch. The British Empire, after all, was based on people trying to get away from Britain. For a long time the only universal was to be English - you had British citizens in places like Hong Kong, India, and Africa extending the influence of British commerce, international relations, and culture. They are a country open to the sea which takes you everywhere - and they took advantage of their opportunities. At heart, the English are an island people of international merchants, traders, travelers, buccaneers, and pirates - international spirits.

Both individuals and the country are being left behind - research how many Chinese citizens are living in Africa exploring the many opportunities it provides. In some respects we have lost our “get-up-and-go” genetic makeup – where the native-born could learn from immigrants, foreign students, and anyone else who has the moxie to leave behind family, friends, and the familiar in search of a better life. Go far, stay long, see deep.