{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1680733,
        "msgid": "graduates-switch-tracks-when-passion-isnt-enough-to-meet-reality-1776315081",
        "date": "2026-04-16 11:12:08",
        "title": "Graduates Switch Tracks: When Passion Isn't Enough to Meet Reality",
        "author": "Ambaranie Nadia Kemala Movanita",
        "source": "KOMPAS",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Economy",
        "summary": "In Indonesia's challenging job market, only 64.64% of workers are employed in roles aligned with their education, with 35.36% in mismatched positions, highlighting widespread overeducation and undereducation. Nadia Murti, a 30-year-old early childhood education graduate, exemplifies this by leaving low-paying teaching for entrepreneurship in furniture, animal feed supply, and egg farming alongside her husband, adapting her skills to new ventures. This trend underscores the economic pressures forcing graduates to pivot careers, revealing a disconnect between academic preparation and real-world opportunities.",
        "content": "<p>JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Not all degrees lead to jobs that align with\nthem. Amid economic realities, many university graduates find themselves\nveering in directions they never planned. This is not due to a loss of\ndirection, but rather the demands of life forcing adaptation. The choice\nto switch tracks is slowly becoming a common story that is rarely heard\naloud, but is truly felt. As of October 2025, only about 64.64% of\nworkers are employed in roles aligned with their education. Meanwhile,\n22.36% are considered overeducated, and about 13% are undereducated. In\nfact, around 35.36% of workers are not in positions matching the level\nof education they pursued. Nadia Murti (30) is one portrait of this\nphenomenon. Nadia\u2019s path was never truly straight like the line she\nimagined while still in university. She once followed what was\nconsidered an \u201cideal\u201d path, pursuing a degree in early childhood\neducation and then entering a career aligned with her knowledge.\nHowever, like many other stories that are rarely voiced loudly, that\npath slowly changed direction. Not out of mere desire, but because of\nrealities that forced understanding. The 30-year-old woman began her\njourney quite promisingly. That experience gave her much preparation,\nnot just academically, but also life skills. \u201cThrough that experience, I\nlearned about time management, analysing problems, solving problems,\nbeing brave to express opinions, and being brave to create new\ninnovations,\u201d she said when contacted on Wednesday (15\/4\/2026). However,\nthe realities of the working world do not always align with\nexpectations. After completing her assistantship period, Nadia tried\nworking as a teacher at a private kindergarten. She arrived with simple\nhopes, at least a decent income to survive. That hope was not fully\nrealised. The salary she received was far from her expectations, even\nnot reaching the standard she had imagined beforehand. Moreover, she\nalso had to spend personal funds for classroom learning needs. \u201cI\u2019m not\nungrateful. But with a salary below the minimum wage as a teacher (at\nthat time), I sometimes still had to invest my own money to create\nlearning media for children. So, the salary wasn\u2019t enough for living\nexpenses,\u201d she said. From there was born the decision to build a\nbusiness in a field completely different from her educational\nbackground. \u201cWhat made me switch to my current field is that I married a\nhusband who shares the same vision, mission, and goals,\u201d she said. No\nhalf-measures, they chose to run three business lines at once:\nfurniture, animal feed supply, and layer chicken farming. Nevertheless,\nthe career direction change was not without disappointment. Nadia admits\nthat initially she felt lost. However, she then viewed that experience\nfrom a different perspective. \u201cHonestly, at first I was really\ndisappointed and very sad. But I reached a point where I finally\nthought, \u2018okay, maybe this field doesn\u2019t need me, but there\u2019s a\npossibility that another field does need my knowledge\u2019,\u201d she said. For\nNadia, the decision to switch paths did not immediately make the\nknowledge she studied irrelevant. Instead, she saw a common thread that\ncould still be applied.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/graduates-switch-tracks-when-passion-isnt-enough-to-meet-reality-1776315081",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}