What is #25Reasons?

How would you measure a year in your life?

In daylights? In sunsets? In midnights and cups of coffee? In inches? In miles? In laughter and strife?

I’ve measured my life in all those ways for the past nine years. The last time I watched Rent was when I was packing up my belongings to start a new chapter of my life that would prove to be the hardest and longest three years of my life. In December 2007 I remember sitting on the floor of my boxy room in an even boxier campus apartment. When I left, I tried to hide my puffy eyes and put on a brave face so no one would know how deeply ashamed of myself I was. Six years in college. Three million one hundred fifty three thousand six hundred minutes of coffee drinking, all-nighters, roadtrips, and life lessons.

73% of college graduates moved back home in 2007.

It seems I wasn’t alone.

Degree vs No Degree

Some people are reluctant to share the fact that they don’t have a degree. They believe it is a weakness and evidence of a lack of intellect. Even Match.com features a commercial with a woman telling her date that she graduated with a 4.0 GPA. Her date’s response? “Oh…wow…that’s uh…yea. I didn’t.” I’m grateful that some people are willing to share their story. I spent a good deal of time drinking the dropout hatorade, believing that I was less skilled and able to handle the responsibilities of a “real job”. That sort of thinking festers into a giant, oozy boil that you dread popping once you can’t stand the sight of it anymore.

The past three years have been a long journey of personal growth and development. I’ve learned that not having a degree is not a reason to hold yourself back from pursuing jobs. You just have to use a more personal touch than a resume. Thus, #25Reasons was born.

25 Reasons to hire me

#25Reasons is a branded Twitter campaign that will, hopefully, inspire some great conversations and show why I should be hired to become part of your team. For the next 25 days I will write posts and tag them on Twitter with “#25Reasons”. I will also link to these posts on the There From Here Facebook page. These posts will discuss thoughts and ideas but will also include actionable tidbits.

525,600 minutes can go by extremely quickly when we’re not looking. I plan to stare down 2011.

Good jobs with no degree

Some people that don’t have degrees and are making a great living for themselves: @AmberCadabra Amber Naslund, VP of Social Strategy for @Radian6 and Co-Author of The Now Revolution; Andrew Norcross, a WordPress ninja, freelance web developer, and IT consultant.

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