Business graduates enter their professional lives with a step up; their degrees indicate to would-be employers their entrepreneurial instincts, their work ethic, and their passion for business.

However, a recent NY Times article suggests that a lot of the fastest growing start-up companies employ few workers. Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, Groupon and LinkedIn together don't employ more than 20,000 people, though they are collectively worth over $160 billion. Many of the companies, especially in the recession, are increasingly looking to use more automation technologies, software, outsourcing, and robotics. Moreover, employees are being evaluated more frequently and judged against less expensive (or less human) options.

With many qualified MBA grads entering the bearish job market, Reid Garrett Hoffman, a lead entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, suggests that young workers need to reconsider how to build a career. He and Ben Casnocha have co-written a book called "The Start-Up of You" with the (simplified) message "this is not your parents' job market." The old track of climbing a consistent career ladder is dead and gone. Instead, they claim "you should approach career strategy the same way an entrepreneur approaches starting a business." Thinking out the script of your life is unrealistic; one must constantly be learning, adapting, and updating plans. There is a surplus of qualified college (and MBA) graduates out there, so finding a niche which is valuable and unique is crucial to sustained success.

In short, every employee must live by many entrepreneur's grim slogan "differentiate or die."

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