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My entire life I've done what everyone

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told me I should do.

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From kindergarten to my senior year of college

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I had a high GPA, I volunteered,

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I played sports, I was in groups,

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extracurricular activities, student council.

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I did all that stuff.

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I was checking off the boxes in order

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to become a successful American.

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And so by the time I graduated in 2008,

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even though we were in the heart of a recession,

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I fully anticipated that I would be able to land

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a 40,000 dollar gig without very much effort.

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And after 12 weeks of applying for jobs

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to dozens of companies -- maybe even a hundred,

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I had been turned down by every single one of them.

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With the exception of two:

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one was a staging company whose only

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job requirements were “have a pulse”

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and “be a chain-smoker”.

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And the other company was a pyramid scheme.

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So, thank you careerbuilder.com!

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(Laughter)

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And my friends were all going through the same thing.

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It wasn't just me.

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And I remember coming across a buddy of mine,

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and they were so excited because

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everyone had been saying,

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“You gotta take what you can get in this market.”

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And they had just landed a sales rep position

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at Verizon wireless.

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And they thought within a year maybe they could

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make middle manager.

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(Chuckles)

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I was like,

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“What? Did we really just spend the last 4 years --

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no, the last 17 years -- pursuing this stuff

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that other people told us to do,

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following the rules?

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And this is where it's gonna take us?

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Verizon wireless, selling crappy cellphones?"

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I hate Verizon!

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(Laughter)

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I didn't want that at all.

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And that's what brought me here,

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the bathroom floor, (Laughter)

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where I laid on the ground for an hour one night,

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just like pulling my hair out in frustration,

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being like,

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“That advice that I took for my whole life,

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it was a lie! It was a scam.

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It's leading me somewhere that I do not want to go.

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It's taking me to a place that

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is going to be unremarkable.

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And so, I decided I'm going to forget

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what everyone else is saying,

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I'm going to make up my own rules.

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And I asked myself,
“What is the worst that could happen?”

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In my early 20s, I had nothing to lose.

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Am I going to keep getting turned down by companies

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I don't want to work for?

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Am I going to keep not getting paid?

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I have nothing to lose.

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So, I'm just going to work on stuff that

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is interesting to me, that I want to pursue.

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And within 8 months of doing this new strategy,

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I had turned a complete 180°:

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I had done all the stuff that I really cared about,

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and was really passionate about.

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I had worked with all these best-selling authors,

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I got to help market a Hollywood movie,

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I had worked with successful entrepreneurs.

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And the coolest part was I didn't have

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to send out my résumé anymore.

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Like, really good companies were coming to me

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and offering me jobs, and I was turning them away.

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And I was doing stuff that I really loved.

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And it's not because I'm special,

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it's not because I'm smarter --

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believe me, Carnegie-Mellon, I'm not smarter.

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And I am not unique.

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I wasn't handed any of this stuff.

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Anybody could have done what I did.

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The only thing that separates me from everybody else

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is that I adapted and took a different strategy.

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And that's what I want to teach you guys,

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I want to teach you how to become

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recession-proof graduates.

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What does it mean to be “recession-proof”?

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First thing it means, is that the economy

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does not dictate what kind of work you can have.

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It doesn't matter whether we're in a boom,

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a bust, depression, recession, whatever.

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You can still work on stuff that you really care about

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and stuff that makes you happy.

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You're not going to do soul-sucking work

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in your mid-20's. Please do not work at Verizon!

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(Laughter)

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You're going to work on projects that

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you actually care about with people

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who are smarter than you.

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So you're going to continue to grow and learn.

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And most of all, you're going to control the lifestyle

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that you ultimately want.

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Because what I see over and over

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is people who get out of college

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and the first halfway decent offer that they get

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with a good paycheck, they take.

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And they think to themselves,

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“You know, I'll do this for 6 months, maybe a year,

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and then I'm going to leave and go pursue

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something I actually care about.”

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And then, after a while they get a girlfriend,

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and then they get an appartment,

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and a car, and their girlfriend turns into a fiancée,

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then turns into a wife and they have kids,

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and then they get a house,

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and then 10 years later they're in a spot they

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didn't want to be in, but they're in an industry

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that they didn't want to be in as well.

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And we want to avoid that.

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Don't expect anyone to understand

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this stuff that I'm going to talk to you about today.

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(Laughter)

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It took my parents like a year and a half

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before they were like,

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“Okay, maybe he's on to something.”

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Because the advice that I kept hearing --

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they keep giving you the advice that they were given

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because it's going to justify all of their past decisions.

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The stuff that my friends were telling me were,

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“Dude, you gotta keep shotgun-blasting

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your résumé out to these websites.

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We've got careerbuilder, monster.com,

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that's where it's at!”

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(Laughter)

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No, it's not!

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These sites are terrible!

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These sites are like city bars.

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They're where mediocrity thrives.

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Because there's only going to be

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2 hot offers in the bar,

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(Laughter)

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and the rest are going to be widely mediocre.

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(Applause)

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You don't want to have anything to do with them.

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And for some reason, douchebags

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wearing their party shirts snatch up all the hotties.

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I don't know why they thrive in this environment,

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they do.

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I don't have those answers.

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But, I can offer you an alternative.

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In terms of rapidly advancing your career

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and working on stuff that you actually care about.

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There is one way: it's my way

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(Laughter)

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that stands above the rest.

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And that is free work.

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And some of you might be sitting there thinking,

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“Oh, I know what free work is,

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it's an internship. That's not new, guy.

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You're not even that good of a public speaker.”

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Well, chill out, let me get through my speech -- jeez.

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An internship is actually very different from free work.

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In internship, you're applying for like it's a regular job.

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You're sending in your résumé,

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you're doing an interview,

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and you're competing with other applicants.

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And then, if you get that internship,

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you're going to be given menial work from 9 to 5.

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Because they don't trust you,

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so they're not going to give you much responsibility.

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Now, this is generally speaking, so --

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settle down.

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But you're going to be likely filling out

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spreadsheets and retrieving coffee

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and all this stuff that you don't want to do.

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And at the end, there are no guarantees:

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you might do this for 3 to 6 months,

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and the door is going to close,

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they'll tell you to hit the bricks.

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Happened to me.

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With free work, it's different.

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You can work with anyone in the world,

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and you can reach out to them virtually.

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So you can work at any time,

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you can work on your own hours

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and there are no dead ends.

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If you do this correctly,

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if you work for a bunch of people,

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then something will pan out

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and more opportunities will open up for you

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than you ever thought possible.

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And, most importantly, you're only going

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to work on stuff that you care about

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and you're going to be able to figure out

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what you're truly passionate about.

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Because you can objectively say,

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“I would do this even if I weren't being paid.”

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Because you're not being paid.

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(Laughter)

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And this is the key distinguishing point

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between internships and free work.

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You're continually building a foundation

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for your career.

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So, the 6 steps to become a recession-proof graduate.

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This is how it's done.

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Step 0 – this should not be a step.

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Stop acting entitled.

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For some reason, as soon as we throw our graduation

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caps into the air, we expect this 40, 50,

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60 thousand dollar job to land into our laps.

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But the fact is that

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college degrees are not given to

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unique snowflake children.

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(Laughter)

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Seriously, they aren't.

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The people who get college degrees

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are people who are good at taking tests

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and people who can afford them,

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generally speaking -- again.

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This is the truth:

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sadly, college degrees are commodities

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at this point -- but not Carnegie Mellon.

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(Laughter)

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So, step 1: choose a few areas

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that you'd like to work in.

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A lot of us get out of college

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and we feel completely pigeon-holed

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by our major.

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And it's like,

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“Aw, man, I just spent 4 years studying

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something that I'm not like that crazy about.

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Ah, I have to get a career in this industry,

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I have all these other interests,

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I like music and art, and all this other stuff.”

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Well, you can still do all that stuff.


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So choose all the things that you're still interested in,

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because you're in your early 20s,

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and again you have nothing to lose.

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So you can try all this stuff for free,

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and figure out what you really care about.

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You don't have to be pigeon-holed.

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Step 2: get some skills.

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It's so sad, because so many college students

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leave their university and they have

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no marketable skills.

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If you've thought about writing

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“proficient in Microsoft Office”

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on your résumé,

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or “I have excellent communication skills”

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you have no skills!

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(Laughter)

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Seriously, you're competing with 35-year-olds

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who are willing to take a cut in pay,

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who have 10 more years of experience than you.

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You're just not going to win.

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So the way I think of getting skills in those

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industries that you've picked,

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you look at the skills that are both

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in high demand and difficult to learn.

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Those are going to be the ones that are a value

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and will land you gigs.

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Seriously, if you want to be making

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100 thousand dollars right out the gate from college,

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go learn how to put out oil fires in the Middle East.

267
00:10:36,548 --> 00:10:38,683
Is it in high demand? Yeah.

268
00:10:38,683 --> 00:10:40,468
Is it difficult to learn? Yeah.

269
00:10:40,468 --> 00:10:42,427
Is it scary as shit? Absolutely.

270
00:10:42,427 --> 00:10:43,858
(Laughter)

271
00:10:43,858 --> 00:10:47,819
But more realistic, if you're an iPhone developer,

272
00:10:47,819 --> 00:10:49,645
or an iPad developer, whatever,

273
00:10:49,645 --> 00:10:54,052
the demand for that is so huge that even if

274
00:10:54,052 --> 00:10:56,182
you're not that good at Cocoa [Objective-C],

275
00:10:56,182 --> 00:10:58,406
which is a kinda difficult language to learn,

276
00:10:58,406 --> 00:11:01,241
you can command five-figures a project for doing that

277
00:11:01,241 --> 00:11:02,658
and you'll be able to market yourself

278
00:11:02,658 --> 00:11:03,929
super easily.

279
00:11:03,929 --> 00:11:06,207
So have skills that are in high demand

280
00:11:06,207 --> 00:11:08,695
and are difficult enough to learn.

281
00:11:08,695 --> 00:11:10,980
Step 3: build your online presence.

282
00:11:10,980 --> 00:11:12,795
I'm not going to get into the process of this,

283
00:11:12,795 --> 00:11:14,405
because we got into it earlier

284
00:11:14,405 --> 00:11:16,135
and ultimately what it boils down to

285
00:11:16,135 --> 00:11:17,855
is blog, blog, blog, dorky stuff, whatever.

286
00:11:17,855 --> 00:11:18,879
(Laughter)

287
00:11:18,879 --> 00:11:23,844
But the reality is that résumés are pretty antiquated.

288
00:11:23,844 --> 00:11:27,566
The truth is, you're going to be googled.

289
00:11:27,566 --> 00:11:29,806
That's more important than your résumé.

290
00:11:29,806 --> 00:11:34,157
And if you googled my name in 2007,

291
00:11:34,157 --> 00:11:36,630
in the top 5 results were the words

292
00:11:36,630 --> 00:11:38,789
“drunk” and “abortion”.

293
00:11:38,789 --> 00:11:39,525
(Laughter)

294
00:11:39,525 --> 00:11:40,861
I swear to god!

295
00:11:40,861 --> 00:11:42,447
That is like the worst possible result

296
00:11:42,447 --> 00:11:43,934
you could ever have!

297
00:11:43,934 --> 00:11:45,290
I can't make up anything worse than than

298
00:11:45,290 --> 00:11:47,323
except murder.

299
00:11:47,323 --> 00:11:48,636
It's terrible!

300
00:11:48,636 --> 00:11:51,179
And, while I didn't want to have a slide

301
00:11:51,179 --> 00:11:53,493
that said “Charlie Hoehn = Drunk Abortion”,

302
00:11:53,493 --> 00:11:54,762
there is a backstory to that, so --

303
00:11:54,762 --> 00:11:57,288
The first one, the “drunk” one,

304
00:11:57,288 --> 00:11:59,880
was me submitting a video of my friend

305
00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:02,642
to collegehumor.com of him drunkenly riding

306
00:12:02,642 --> 00:12:04,439
a bicycle down a flight of stairs.

307
00:12:04,439 --> 00:12:05,473
(Laughter)

308
00:12:05,473 --> 00:12:07,808
Very funny, and I didn't think it would come

309
00:12:07,808 --> 00:12:10,065
to bite me in the ass years later.

310
00:12:10,065 --> 00:12:13,797
But collegehumor has great SEO, so it did.

311
00:12:13,797 --> 00:12:15,326
And the “abortion” one,

312
00:12:15,326 --> 00:12:18,640
was me making fun of abortion protesters

313
00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:20,011
on my campus.

314
00:12:20,011 --> 00:12:22,714
Not because I hate or love abortion,

315
00:12:22,714 --> 00:12:24,541
I just think protesters are funny.

316
00:12:24,541 --> 00:12:26,909
(Laughter)

317
00:12:26,909 --> 00:12:29,167
Step 4: pay the bills and cut costs.

318
00:12:29,167 --> 00:12:31,399
Because you're going to be doing free work,

319
00:12:31,399 --> 00:12:33,333
obviously you're not going to be getting paid

320
00:12:33,333 --> 00:12:35,034
for a little while so you've got to figure out

321
00:12:35,034 --> 00:12:37,230
a way to pay the bills and cut your costs.

322
00:12:37,230 --> 00:12:39,066
So, do something on the side --

323
00:12:39,066 --> 00:12:40,622
doesn't really matter what it is --

324
00:12:40,622 --> 00:12:42,861
but you've got to make a side income

325
00:12:42,861 --> 00:12:45,851
to allow you to do stuff that you really care about

326
00:12:45,851 --> 00:12:47,755
for a while, because eventually,

327
00:12:47,755 --> 00:12:50,618
that stuff will transition into paid work.

328
00:12:50,618 --> 00:12:53,661
If you do it well-enough.

329
00:12:55,369 --> 00:12:58,920
Step 5: contact those targets and prove your worth.

330
00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,437
So you remember, you picked the areas that

331
00:13:01,437 --> 00:13:03,513
you want to work in, and now you pick your

332
00:13:03,513 --> 00:13:05,593
contacts or your targets,

333
00:13:05,593 --> 00:13:08,654
the people who are really high up,

334
00:13:08,654 --> 00:13:11,142
because you're an unproven college gruaduate

335
00:13:11,142 --> 00:13:13,268
with no experience and anything notable

336
00:13:13,268 --> 00:13:15,239
for most of you -- sad to say.

337
00:13:15,239 --> 00:13:17,849
And offering to do free work,

338
00:13:17,849 --> 00:13:20,123
they're going to have super-low expectations.

339
00:13:20,123 --> 00:13:21,364
And because you're doing free work,

340
00:13:21,364 --> 00:13:23,010
you're removing these barriers

341
00:13:23,010 --> 00:13:25,876
of, “Do I have to pay this guy?”

342
00:13:25,876 --> 00:13:27,699
and because you're reaching out virtually

343
00:13:27,699 --> 00:13:29,385
they don't have to pay attention to you

344
00:13:29,385 --> 00:13:31,612
so they don't have to spend time monitoring you.

345
00:13:31,612 --> 00:13:33,125
So you're removing these barriers

346
00:13:33,125 --> 00:13:34,905
and you can reach people who are further

347
00:13:34,905 --> 00:13:38,120
out of your reach than you think,

348
00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:40,859
like if you approached them for paid work,

349
00:13:40,859 --> 00:13:42,309
for a paid gig right away,

350
00:13:42,309 --> 00:13:44,129
they would have said no.

351
00:13:44,129 --> 00:13:46,908
So the way I always reach out to these people

352
00:13:46,908 --> 00:13:48,625
who are seemingly unreachable --

353
00:13:48,625 --> 00:13:51,075
but they're very, very approachable --

354
00:13:51,075 --> 00:13:52,837
is, I send them an email.

355
00:13:52,837 --> 00:13:54,624
I give them a courteous introduction

356
00:13:54,624 --> 00:13:56,470
and delicately elude to the research

357
00:13:56,470 --> 00:13:57,800
I've done on them.

358
00:13:57,800 --> 00:13:59,929
I say I'm a fan of their work,

359
00:13:59,929 --> 00:14:03,048
and then I offer three examples of free work

360
00:14:03,048 --> 00:14:05,001
that are going to have a positive impact

361
00:14:05,001 --> 00:14:06,705
on their business.

362
00:14:06,705 --> 00:14:09,587
And I tie them back into skills of mine,

363
00:14:09,587 --> 00:14:13,452
so, “I can edit video, I'm good at online marketing,

364
00:14:13,452 --> 00:14:15,336
and I'm a good writer”.

365
00:14:15,336 --> 00:14:16,288
So I'll be like,

366
00:14:16,288 --> 00:14:17,962
“Oh, you can improve this, this, and this.

367
00:14:17,962 --> 00:14:20,123
The way you are going to improve it

368
00:14:20,123 --> 00:14:22,185
is by hiring me, I'll do it for free

369
00:14:22,185 --> 00:14:25,061
and you don't have to worry about me,

370
00:14:25,061 --> 00:14:27,617
if you don't like my work, you can scrap it.”

371
00:14:27,617 --> 00:14:30,099
And then I'll just sign off with, you know,

372
00:14:30,099 --> 00:14:32,961
“I'll do this stuff for 2 weeks,

373
00:14:32,961 --> 00:14:36,705
and if you dig my work then let's talk about

374
00:14:36,705 --> 00:14:38,000
doing something a little more formal,

375
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,896
and possibly a paid gig in the future.

376
00:14:40,896 --> 00:14:42,604
Can you talk this week?”

377
00:14:42,604 --> 00:14:45,706
Pretty easy, it works very well.

378
00:14:45,706 --> 00:14:50,056
Finally, you transition to paid work.

379
00:14:50,056 --> 00:14:51,924
And if you've done your job,

380
00:14:51,924 --> 00:14:54,712
if you do a really good job doing the free work,

381
00:14:54,712 --> 00:14:57,831
then they're going to have more to lose

382
00:14:57,831 --> 00:15:00,723
by not paying you than you'll have to lose.

383
00:15:00,723 --> 00:15:03,408
So they're going to want to keep you around,

384
00:15:03,408 --> 00:15:05,539
and they'll eventually pay you.

385
00:15:05,539 --> 00:15:07,788
It's the way it works.

386
00:15:07,788 --> 00:15:09,373
But now, there's some bad news.

387
00:15:09,373 --> 00:15:11,643
America is in a tough time,

388
00:15:11,643 --> 00:15:12,892
and it's going to get tougher.

389
00:15:12,892 --> 00:15:15,264
I mean, honestly, we have to pay for your sins

390
00:15:15,264 --> 00:15:17,047
at some point, we can't keep this up.

391
00:15:17,047 --> 00:15:18,519
I mean, let's get real.

392
00:15:18,519 --> 00:15:21,879
And the economy is going to get worse,

393
00:15:21,879 --> 00:15:23,777
and jobs are going to be cut,

394
00:15:23,777 --> 00:15:24,709
jobs are going to be eliminated,

395
00:15:24,709 --> 00:15:26,309
jobs are going to be outsourced.

396
00:15:26,309 --> 00:15:28,018
It is a tough market for us.

397
00:15:28,018 --> 00:15:30,396
But, there's good news.

398
00:15:30,396 --> 00:15:31,742
And the good news is,

399
00:15:31,742 --> 00:15:34,897
as long as there are problems that need to be solved,

400
00:15:34,897 --> 00:15:38,071
there will always be work.

401
00:15:38,071 --> 00:15:42,245
And I'm here today to ask you guys to try free work.

402
00:15:42,245 --> 00:15:44,451
Because I want you to chase after the things

403
00:15:44,451 --> 00:15:46,954
that interest you and make you happy.

404
00:15:46,954 --> 00:15:49,223
You need to stop acting like you have

405
00:15:49,223 --> 00:15:51,600
a set path in life. You don't.

406
00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:52,473
No one does.

407
00:15:52,473 --> 00:15:53,705
You shouldn't be trying to check off

408
00:15:53,705 --> 00:15:56,094
the boxes of life in order to become

409
00:15:56,094 --> 00:15:57,934
a successful American.

410
00:15:57,934 --> 00:15:59,967
Those boxes are not real.

411
00:15:59,967 --> 00:16:01,951
And they were created by other people.

412
00:16:01,951 --> 00:16:03,222
Not you.

413
00:16:03,222 --> 00:16:04,697
Now is the best time,

414
00:16:04,697 --> 00:16:06,103
when you're in your early 20s,

415
00:16:06,103 --> 00:16:07,731
when you have nothing to lose,

416
00:16:07,731 --> 00:16:11,065
to pursue a path that you care about.

417
00:16:11,065 --> 00:16:14,324
And to start building a reputation and a history

418
00:16:14,324 --> 00:16:16,139
of work that matters to you

419
00:16:16,139 --> 00:16:17,946
and that you're proud of.

420
00:16:17,946 --> 00:16:22,846
So, when I ask you to try this “free work” concept,

421
00:16:22,846 --> 00:16:24,663
I want you to ask yourself the same

422
00:16:24,663 --> 00:16:26,945
question I asked myself on the bathroom floor

423
00:16:26,945 --> 00:16:29,503
3 years ago:

424
00:16:29,503 --> 00:16:32,821
“What is the worst that could happen?”

425
00:16:32,821 --> 00:16:35,544
Thank you.
(Applause)