During the summer months college many college graduates will be looking for permanent employment. The United States Department of Labor stated that July 2010 was the lowest July rate on record for youth employment (ages 16-24) since 1948 but with the right approach, your child can beat the odds.
Career Strategies 101:
1. Be careful of social media naïveté
What do people think of when they hear your child’s name? What does their personal story say about who they are? With a well established brand, their reputation starts to precede them and companies come a calling. Your college graduates have developed great contacts; relationships, experiences, and a personal brand throughout their college years. The stories they’ve written in blogs and in newspapers and the speeches they’ve made through volunteering, have helped create and expand their brand. Have them continue to maximize their good name and good work ethnic while seeking employment. This means your child must be very careful with the types of experiences shared and pictures posted to social media sites as employers are known to search the names of potential candidates. The words (sexting; transmitting sexually provocative materials through the Internet) they say and the pictures they send to others or post on social media sites or through emails are out in cyberspace forever. Don’t let their immaturity damage their current and future opportunities.
2. Chutzpah, courage, confidence, whatever you call it, make sure they have some
Do you remember the one-shoulder, inauguration ball gown Michelle Obama wore? Well, 27-year old Taiwanese-born designer Jason Wu made that dress and the night Mrs. Obama wore it changed his life forever. However, he strategized and maneuvered his journey towards success with a unique story and hard work long before that night arrived.
Jason Wu began knocking down doors and creating opportunity long before January 20, 2009. At the tender age of 16, he started freelancing for Integrity Toys as a doll designer. He cold called the company and maneuvered his way into that job. Integrity Toys president Percy Newsum said, “He was very persistent and he even came to us with contacts and he knew a doll distributor who would take a chance with him (WMagazine 2010).” Jason still serves as partner and creative director for the company. At the time of the article, Jason was only 27 and had worked at Integrity Toys for 11 years.
Most companies will not turndown that type of preparedness, persistence, vision (he came with a doll distributor in hand) and talent and if they do, believe me, your child will be first on their call list when a position becomes available. Tell your child not to wait for opportunity to come knocking because Justin Bieber will be old and gray by the time it arrives.
3. Don’t let them go in blind
Help them perform due diligence because we all know, after they’ve been away for a while, we don’t ever want them to live with us again on a fulltime, permanent basis. Yes, the empty nest is not empty anymore. It’s filled up with the life you placed on hold, making your grads hopes and dreams come true and it feels good to be you. Help them with research. Have them research emerging markets (growth industries) and targeted companies to identify how their skill, talent and personality will fit. Make sure they research and understand organizational culture. An organization’s culture is extremely important and your child’s professional success will in large part be based on how well they adapt to it; make sure it is a good fit. Make sure they understand that many companies are moving away from a hierarchy to flat structures; they must like and know how to work in a collaborative team environment. Have them leave their egos at the door and arrive with their best manners and brightest ideas.
Tell them, every interview is about what they offer, want and expect from the employer versus what the employer is looking for, needs, offers and will provide. Make sure they can discuss intelligently and succinctly the needs and wants of the employer and how they can satisfy them.
4. They have 30 seconds to wow
Judgment is made within the first 30 seconds of the interview; it may not be fair, but that’s how long it takes the interviewer to size them up. So when they walk in the door they should have a smile on their face, stand tall and look directly in the interviewer’s eyes, hold their gaze and tell them how absolutely enthusiastic they are about the position. In the United States, research has proven that holding someone’s gaze establishes trust.
All that takes about what 15 seconds. When asked, ‘why do you want to work for us’? Make sure their VP, which stands for their value proposition and not the very important person they think they are is established and well rehearsed. It should be no more than two or three sentences. They can get into details during the course of the interview. Their value proposition tells the interviewer how the company will benefit from hiring them. They must know this going in.
5. SSHH – have them listen-up
When the interviewer is talking that person will be giving your grad direct information about the position they are going after such as, the company’s culture and what its expectations are. The ratio of “two ears to one mouth” is important to conversation comprehension; ideally, they should listen twice as much as they talk. This will give them the opportunity to gain valuable insider knowledge to use at the time of the interview and during their follow-up. So have them practice attentive listening with you long before they show up for the interview. Attentive listening requires that your grads paraphrase back to you what you’ve said to them. This verifies their understanding of the conversation so even if they don’t get the job, you’ll still end up a winner.
Have any questions or want to learn more? Call 404 567-5790 or log onto www.dgsconsultingllc.com. Korean Americans, log onto http://korean.dgsconsultingllc.com.
Comments