We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexandra Rothman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alexandra, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.
College is a scam.
There, I said it.
Now before the hate mail comes rolling in, let me just say that I myself have two college degrees. One from a community college, and another from a private well known school, the University of Miami. Let me be clear – I am anti-college. I am not anti learning.
In the months leading up to my graduation in 2019, I was shocked to see the job requirements for an entry level position. It felt as if all the hard work I did in college was meaningless – almost every employer wanted 3 to 5 years of work experience, plus internships, plus a masters degree preferred, plus a second language preferred, for a whopping salary of $39,000 a year. No one, not one guidance counselor or professor, warned me of the upcoming workplace challenges I would face once the college bubble popped. Even more so, the Covid-19 pandemic proved to rock the workplace to it’s core. Jobs were now becoming remote, almost everyone learned how to do social media…there went my media management degree out the window. I felt as if my once revered and respected degree now held very little weight in the face of an extremely competitive job market. I have also seen the majority of my friends (half with masters degrees) work in a completely different field than what they studied! After three years of struggling to find work in my field, I decided to take my skills and put my hand to real estate. I feel like I fell flat on my face after graduation, and although I take responsibility for my failures, I can’t help but wish that someone who I crossed paths with in higher education would have taken the time to prepare me for the harsh realities of post college life in the workplace. After growing weary of trying to change the system, I decided to pivot a different direction by getting my real estate license. During my licensing course, I learned about real world skills, such as calculating mortgages, understanding insurance, and reading contracts. Even though not everyone will have a career in real estate, those are useful skills that all could learn from. I spent my first two years of college studying subjects like astronomy, algebra, etc; these are classes I will never use in life. I wanted to be taught how to balance a checkbook, apply for a loan, and undersatnd a 401K. I would love to see the day where real life skills are taught and taken seriously in accredited universities. Guidance counselors should sit with students and go through the jobs and salaries that they would be qualified for if they chose a certain degree. Professors teach students what a job consists of day to day. Those careers are the backbone of our society, and deserve just as much respect and recognition as a Bachelor’s in liberal arts from an Ivy League school is. I truly believe that students will have a more fulfilling life and career if college was taken off a pedestal; so many of us millennials feel like failures for not living up to old fashioned educational standards that do not match the realities of life today.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Hi! I’m Alex, and although my job title is a realtor, I am truly a communicator at heart. Through all my life hurdles, I believe that my strong people skills and ability to truly connect with others has brought me success despite my challenges. Many people think that real estate is just the business of buying and selling houses; I stand firm on the fact that real estate is connecting with people, establishing trust and rapport, and building relationships that last. Anyone can put an offer in for a house or list their home on Zillow. But getting someone to trust you through one of the most important (and potentially stressful) experiences of their life is a whole different ballgame. I never push a personal agenda on my clients, or try to sway them one way or another. I am there as not only an advocate, but also as a confidant, listening ear, shoulder to cry on, and professional to give tough love when needed. I’m proud of the fact that I can for see potential hurdles, which saves my clients unnecessary headaches. I am truthful and straightforward when needed. My motto is “I’m a realtor, not a magician.” Although no one can be perfect, I try to go above and beyond the call of duty in my career. As a newer agent, I’ve learned that what I don’t have in years of experience I have made up for in customer service. Real estate doesn’t allow you to hide online behind a screen of anonymity. The best agents are the one’s who show up, are educated, prepared, and engaged. I am one of them.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I was 11 years old, my family and I lost my childhood home in the San Diego wildfires. We spent three months living in motel. I was not only dealing with the loss of all my family memorabilia, but was also grieving my stable childhood and was facing a new feeling of misplacement. This was a life changing, traumatic, and confusing event for a child to process. That experience was a significant event that impacted my character, personality, and ability to handle sudden change with little to no time to prepare. It catapulted my childhood, as the loss pushed me towards a level of maturity and understanding that unfortunately, no eleven year old should have to face. I began to develop a deep inner strength and resilience that carried me through other unexpected, stressful and life changing events. I told myself that if I could get through this and come out on the other side, I will make it through anything. It seems as if I have come full circle, for now I help people in all walks of life find something that I find so priceless: a home.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I am a firm believer in “what you think about, you bring about.” Success, failures, strength, weariness, etc, all come from the same place: your mind. This concept is explained beautifully in one of my favorite books, Battlefield of The Mind. Although based on some spiritual principles, it explains concepts that transcend religion. If we do not take hold of our thoughts, they will take control of us! Just like the book title says, we all face a constant battle to stay positive, push fear aside, and not let trauma dictate our thoughts and actions. I do not want to give up the battle and give in to what my insecurities and anxieties tell me. If you’re like me and struggle with spiraling into a never ending rabbit hole of thoughts, this is the book for you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: alexrothmanrealty
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/alexandrarothmanpr
Image Credits
Headshot from Julie Shinabery