| CAREERS NOW 04-11-07 |
| Ten Tips For New College Grads |
DEAR JOYCE: I will be graduating this year from a state college and plan to
move to a larger city to begin my career. My family will be of little help - I was in foster care most of my life.
My college's career center is understaffed. As I try for my first job "off restaurant row" I'm scared.
Advice? - B.G.
Here are 10 tips to help ensure that your career launches with gusto and remains robust and satisfying in our fluid
and changing world.
1. Find a mentor. Until you can establish ties with seasoned advisers who will open doors and keep you out
of sinkholes, that mentor may be you. Spend as much time as you can understanding how to navigate the job market.
At your school's career center, read books and study such targeted job sites as CollegeGrad.com; CollegeRecruiter.com;
eRecruiting.com; NACELink.com;
jobsearch.About.com; and MonsterTRAK.com.
2. Gird for a competitive search. Although surveys of prospects for this year's crop of new college graduates
are universally cheerful, a new study by MonsterTRAK points out that "while 2007 grads will soon enter an
improved job market, competition among candidates remains fierce" and that "on average, employers anticipate
receiving 73 applications for each available entry-level position." If you aren't being snapped up by an on-campus
company recruiter, pull together a wish list of places you'd like to work and use online networking sites to connect
with employees inside the prospective employer companies.
3. When stymied, take a contract job. Rather than return to restaurant work, when you're unable to score
a "permanent" job (there really isn't any such thing any longer), aim for a short, fixed-term job in
the field of your interest. This move keeps your career slate focused and builds marketable experience.
4. Seek survival job benefits. When a survival job is the only quick answer, try not to waste the experience.
Suppose you're slamming together food in a sandwich shop; maybe one day you'll want to become an entrepreneur and
you can use your close-up view of the myriad of problems solved by small businesspeople to speed your progress.
Or if you're jockeying cars at a dealership, you could strike job interest if you're friendly with everyone you
meet and have your resume ready.
5. Don't fall off your career track. When you take a survival job, don't get too comfortable and stay too
long at the fair. Or one day, five years later, you'll probably wake up and realize you're not happy with what
you're doing and the question becomes "How do I climb back on my career track?" The short answer: With
difficulty.
6. Don't get sandbagged by generational myths. Every generation believes that it is substantially different
than those who have gone before, giving newbies a pass to rewrite the rules. That's true only in the methods and
technology used to make one's way in life. As scholar and publisher Dr. Ron Krannich (impactpublications.com) says: "Despite a trendy Generation X or Y designation, today's college
graduates still must learn to connect with the right people - those who can hire for good jobs - and show they
can add value to the organizations they want to join."
7. Watch your interviewing persona. Don't confuse attitude with confidence. Try to come across as able but
eager to learn. A hotshot attitude that implies workplace rules must bend to accommodate your preferences because
you're young and hip is unlikely to play well with older bosses who have the power to pass you by.
8. Review your preferences. You also have power - the power to pass by a job offer that clashes with what's
important to you. Sort out your values, interests, goals, skills, competencies and anything else you must have
to be a happy person. Presumably you've already flipped through the pages of the Ownership Manual for You but a
review can be a lifesaver before you get stuck in a place you don't want to be.
9. Choose your priorities. For your first job, experience, training and job market impact are more useful than
money - if a choice must be made. Ask yourself "Which job offers the best prospects of becoming a superstar
at what I do?"
10. Actively manage your career. This requires a specific budget of your time and energy, say, 5 percent monthly.
Or several hours a week. You snooze, you lose. Happy thoughts.
Email Joyce
Sorry, the volume of mail makes personal replies impossible.