Create a Job to Keep a Job

Scott Gerber thinks that Gen-Y'ers should burn their résumés and shift their focus from getting a job to creating a job if they want to survive the new realities of the economy and unemployment. “The crux of the argument is that the old model of ‘work hard, get good grades, and go to college to get a job,’ just doesn’t work,” says the 27-year-old serial entrepreneur. He has launched Sizzle It!, a New York City-based company specializing in promotional videos for PR professionals, and Gerber Enterprises, an entrepreneurial incubator that invests capital, marketing, and business-development expertise into mid-stage companies.

“Everywhere you turn, people are telling us to take a pay cut, take any job, and our future will be fine. But that approach is so antiquated, and sending out hundreds of resumes just to possibly land a mediocre job is a waste of time, a waste of energy, and a waste of talent,” he argues. Gerber, who launched his “Death to the Résumé” movement Monday, and has a book Never Get a "Real" Job coming out in December, says that there just aren’t enough jobs in our current system, especially considering that the financial incentives of outsourcing and manufacturing outside the United States will stay cost-effective for years.

His solution is not that every young college grad needs to come up with the Facebooks of tomorrow. “What we need to do is build new industries that focus on generating revenue based on smart business models,” he says. “Instead of sitting around and trying to [create] the next Google, think about starting a local deli, or barber shop.”

Not that he’s trying to discourage innovation. But with the unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent and contraction hitting virtually every sector in every industry, Gerber says that “the only really safe position is one of your creation.” And for a business to be successful, the entrepreneur should be intimately involved with the idea or the problem it aims to solve. “A lot of entrepreneurship is about common sense. It’s difficult, but it’s not complicated, and people can overthink it,” he argues. “At its core, entrepreneurship is about taking your destiny into your own hands.”

Gerber’s tips for those inclined to start their own business are the following:

1. Be unoriginal: Stop thinking big picture and start thinking about how you’re going to get paid tomorrow. Don’t think Facebook, think opening a dry cleaners. Because that has a seed of an idea that has a proven track record.
2. Keep it simple, stupid: If it’s not simple, you’re stupid. If you’re just starting out and want to open a restaurant, finding funding is going to be nearly impossible. But if you target your plan to maybe a food-delivery service that starts at a local college campus, that’s something doable.
3. Have a moneymaker, not a money pit. Do your research and keep this question in mind: How are you going to make money out of this business? Answer that with as much solid evidence as you can find, because with evidence of probable success, others are more likely to invest in your idea.
4. Kill your ego. Gen-Y'ers walk around like they’re entitled, spoiled, and untouched by the sting of failure. They expect to graduate from college and say "Where’s my job?" But the truth is that they’re going to have to work harder than other generations at creating their own opportunities.

It's important to Gerber that people understand he’s not advocating that teens to drop out of school to start their own ventures. What he is advocating is that they should be open to creativity—and not be discouraged by failure.

“The first business I started while I was 21 years old almost bankrupted me,” he says. “But I took the $550 I had left in the bank, thought hard about what my mistakes were, and used the lessons I’ve learned to create a business that now generates tens of thousands in revenues monthly.”

And he adds that the millennial generation is very flexible, which promotes entrepreneurship. “Most of us can easily change our status. We’re not married, don’t have a mortgage, and don’t mind sleeping on a friend’s couch,” he says. That, coupled with young entrepreneurs’ inclination to think globally at the onset of their ventures, can often prove to be a winning combination. “Not everyone can be their own boss, but we shouldn’t expect to live in a handout society either,” says Gerber. “But when you build a real business based on real understanding about how and when you’re going to break even, you’re a step ahead.”

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Romy Ribitzky is an associate editor at Portfolio.com.