Graduation message to Class of 2021

Just the other day, I got a message from my alma mater, which is usually for a donation, but this email was different.

“What would you tell our graduating class?”

After getting over the surprise there would be no money changing hands here, I thought about it, and about how things had changed in the last 39 years ago when I walked across the same stage.

Here’s the learned response I came up with:

“Just because you have received your degree (congratulations, by the way) it doesn’t mean you stop learning. In fact, you are just starting on your lifelong educational journey. Enjoy your moments of accomplishments and learn from your disappointments, as you can learn so much from both. Don’t be afraid of failure, but instead, view it as an opportunity to learn and grow. “

I should have added one more thing...at some point in your career, find yourself with a job with a nonprofit organization as I did at NTI@Home.

For 37 years, I worked for for-profit companies or mostly for companies that didn’t make any money, until one year before my 60th birthday. That’s when I joined NTI@Home.

Judging from recent data, a lot of graduates are going to take the same road I did, and that includes even at Harvard University. A study showed that 72 percent of the Crimson Class of 2018 went to work at for-profit companies.

Back in 2018, this year’s seniors were freshmen in college living in a different world. Now they are in a post-COVID-19 world.

Graduates are entering a wide-open job market with endless possibilities, unlike the one I went into during the summer of 1982 when unemployment was higher, and opportunities limited.

Hopefully, there will be some who will hear the calling of the nonprofit world and devote their talents to helping others or fighting for causes they believe in.

Nonprofits need talented people with ideas, energy, and commitment. If you have those three traits, you are going to move up quickly in a nonprofit, unlike in a for-profit situation where it can be difficult to move up.

There’s a lot to be said, especially in these times, for being able to wake up in the morning and knowing what you are going to do is going to make a difference in someone’s life.

That’s a big one for me at this stage of my work life.

With a nonprofit, like NTI@Home that helps Americans with disabilities find at-home jobs, you will be working with co-workers who focus on accomplishing a mission. Chances are you are going to be working with dedicated people who are going to have a positive influence on you and your career.

Nonprofits, like NTI@Home (plug alert, go to www.ntiathome.org to check out the available jobs) always need people and recognize the value of having talented people working for them.

So, graduates of the Class of 2021, please look at the nonprofit sector. Take it from a graduate of the Class of 1982, you might just find the career you are looking for without having to wait as long as I did.

(Mike Hardman is the media relations specialist for NTI@Home and a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. He can be reached at mhardman@nticentral.org.)