Build Your Network

May 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Social media is chang­ing the way we net­work for career oppor­tu­ni­ties.  But we can’t for­get to develop our in-person net­works as well.  This is espe­cially true for high school and col­lege stu­dents.  As you think about career direc­tions, this is the time to do some explo­rations and espe­cially if you are not work­ing dur­ing the summer. 

Tap into those net­works that are clos­est to you.  Par­ents and their employ­ers, extended fam­ily mem­bers and their employ­ers are all great places to begin.  Find out if posi­tions exist within their orga­ni­za­tions that you may inter­est you.  If so, a quick phone call or intro­duc­tion fol­lowed by a cou­ple of ques­tions could well set the stage for an oppor­tu­nity to spend a few hours or even a week explor­ing the career options related to the career you shad­owed.  By shad­ow­ing, you have also extended your own net­work for future opportunities.

In years past we only heard about net­work­ing as a busi­ness tool.  No longer!  It is a tool for every­one and stu­dents are no excep­tion.  Whether you are build­ing a net­work of coaches, admis­sions con­tacts or career pro­fes­sion­als, net­work­ing is pow­er­ful.  While Face­book, LinkedIn and Yelp are all proven social media net­work­ing tools, don’t over­look the obvi­ous.  Check out your own fam­ily net­work and the net­work of busi­nesses and pro­fes­sion­als used by your fam­ily.  It’s all part of pro­mot­ing your self.

 

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Your Elevator Speech

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you walked into an ele­va­tor, the door closed and you found your­self next to a col­lege recruiter, coach or poten­tial employer and had 30 sec­onds to pro­mote your­self, what would you say?  When the door opens and they walk away, what would you have said that makes you mem­o­rable enough that they want to know more?

The old “Ele­va­tor Speech” is a busi­ness tech­nique that has been used for decades, but it is still effec­tive.  In fact, for young peo­ple who have less expe­ri­ence pro­mot­ing them­selves to future employ­ers or col­lege admis­sions offices, it is a great way to col­lect your thoughts ahead of time so that when oppor­tu­nity strikes, you’re pre­pared.  I find that when young peo­ple are asked to, “Tell me a lit­tle about your self,” they get caught like deer in head­lights or ram­ble with no impres­sive points. 

So pre­pare ahead.  I can help you do that so that the ini­tial meet­ing or unex­pected oppor­tu­nity can be man­aged with a pre­pared and relaxed “30 sec­ond Ele­va­tor Speech.”  Pro­mote your­self by being pre­pared.  What will you say in 30 sec­onds that will leave them want­ing more?  Con­tact me.

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Your Image to Others

May 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

Do you have a social media pres­ence?  What does it look like?  Uni­ver­si­ties and employ­ers alike are using social media to “check out” their can­di­dates.  Every­thing from your email address and voice mes­sage to your pic­tures and com­ments on the Inter­net are avail­able for pub­lic scrutiny and feed into your pub­lic image or “social entity.” Some even check your credit rating.

Just as dif­fer­ent peo­ple have dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives on issues, dif­fer­ent gen­er­a­tions view and address issues dif­fer­ently.  The one thing we all have in com­mon is we don’t like to wait or have our time wasted.  Does your voice­mail ask that we wait while the party is located?  Change it.  Do you make flip­pant remarks or have blar­ing music?  Change it.  What works with your friends won’t work with col­lege admis­sions, col­lege coaches or poten­tial employ­ers.  So set your­self up for suc­cess and make sure your con­tact media is appro­pri­ate for your tar­geted audience.

Now ask your­self the ques­tion again and con­sider who may be on the other side of the com­puter mon­i­tor check­ing you out.  What does your “social entity” look like?  What do you need to do to make your­self more mar­ketable?  Are there pho­tos, trends, or com­ments that could jeop­ar­dize your oppor­tu­ni­ties?  Clean it up.

Pro­tect your image to oth­ers and man­age your social media so that you put you in the best pos­si­ble posi­tion to take advan­tage of oppor­tu­ni­ties.  If you’ve had a social media expe­ri­ence that net­ted a pos­i­tive result or a learn­ing expe­ri­ence, post your com­ment above so oth­ers can benefit.

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Follow Up On That Interview

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Are you inter­view­ing with a col­lege coach, col­lege admis­sions staff or with a poten­tial employer?  The rules of engage­ment are the same, Fol­low Up!  Mak­ing a great first impres­sion is impor­tant, but it is also impor­tant to leave a Last­ing Impression. 

Stu­dents, pay atten­tion to the arti­cles and tips pro­vided for job can­di­dates.  They carry the same impor­tance for you.  The dif­fer­ence is you will sub­sti­tute the word “coach” or “admis­sions staff” for the inter­viewer as you read the articles.  

I can help you struc­ture that tar­geted follow-up mes­sage, but you also need to pay atten­tion to the trends.  Here are some good reads that con­firm my mes­sage to you and the col­lege­ba­sics link has some good exam­ples of follow-up com­mu­ni­ca­tions for high school stu­dents mak­ing those col­lege visits.

http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/01/job-interview-follow-up-leadership-careers-advice.html

http://www.quintcareers.com/interview_follow-up-dos-donts.html

http://www.job-seekers-edge.com/interview-follow-up.html

http://www.collegebasics.com/applying-to-college/interviewing/59-following-up-after-the-college-interview.html

Con­tact me for your spe­cific sit­u­a­tion to get a great result!

 

 

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3 Keys to a Great Interview

April 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This month has been about plan­ning and pre­sent­ing your self.  I addressed the impor­tance of cre­at­ing a Plan and then fol­low­ing up with Updat­ing Your Resume’.  Now it’s time to talk about Pre­sent­ing Your Self…the Interview.

Key #1 – Pre­sen­ta­tion – Pre­sen­ta­tion is all about your image.  From your first impres­sion to walk­ing out the door you will be eval­u­ated.  Dress appro­pri­ately, make eye con­tact, pro­vide a firm hand­shake, and smile!  When you sit, sit square in the chair, not slouched or lean­ing on one elbow. 

Key #2 – Tar­get Responses – Be spe­cific in your responses to ques­tions and speak with con­fi­dence.  Even “I don’t know” can be spo­ken with con­fi­dence and fol­lowed up with “But I will find out.” They will be lis­ten­ing and watch­ing for how you react in sit­u­a­tions and how you solve problems.

Key #3 – Ques­tions – Have your own list of ques­tions.  The inter­view should go both ways.  Be sure that you are not ask­ing for infor­ma­tion that is already avail­able on their web­site or in lit­er­a­ture about the school, orga­ni­za­tion or firm.  Your ques­tions have to demon­strate inter­est on your part and that you have done your homework.

 Cre­at­ing a great inter­view for a job or col­lege admis­sions begins long before you walk through the door.  Be pre­pared to Present Your Self effec­tively, answer ques­tions with Tar­geted Responses, and take your list of pre­pared Questions.

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Bring It Up to Date – 6 Resume’ Reminders

April 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There is noth­ing worse than sit­ting down after four years and try­ing to recon­struct the work you’ve done, courses you’ve taken and awards received in order to write or bring your resume’ up to date.   April is the per­fect time to review or ini­ti­ate a resume’.   With sum­mer employ­ment pos­si­bil­i­ties or first job oppor­tu­ni­ties, now is the time to get it done.  Con­sider your resume or ath­lete pro­file as a “work in progress” and keep it updated reg­u­larly.  Have you recently added….

  • Courses or Spe­cial Classes for Training
  • Con­fer­ences (as an Attendee or Presenter)
  • Ath­letic Show­cases or Camps
  • Pub­li­ca­tions you have written
  • Scores on National Exams or most recent GPA
  • Awards or Recognitions

Stu­dents, employ­ees, employ­ers and stay-at-home par­ents who may one day re-enter the work­force all need to pay atten­tion to their pro­file or resume’ and bring it up to date.   In addi­tion to keep­ing it cur­rent, be sure that the pre­sen­ta­tion of mate­r­ial high­lights the most cur­rent or rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion for the posi­tion you are tar­get­ing.  If you were doing the hir­ing, what makes you look like the best can­di­date for the job?  Need help with writ­ing a tar­geted resume’?  Con­tact me.

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Mapping a Summer Plan

April 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Whether your sum­mer begins May 7th , June 4th or June 25th, the land­slide of sum­mer workers/participants will hit in full force.  You need to be pre­pared to sub­mit appli­ca­tions and do inter­views before every­one else.  So work back­wards.  Iden­tify your tar­get date for start­ing work and work back­ward with your plan.  You will need time for inter­views, phone calls, appli­ca­tion com­ple­tion, Inter­net or local searches and net­work­ing.  That means you start now map­ping a sum­mer plan.

There are some ter­rific web tools for iden­ti­fy­ing sum­mer employ­ers as well as tips for effec­tive inter­views.  Here are just a few:

                www.quintcareers.com                Great for search­ing Col­lege Intern­ship Opportunities

                www.getthatgig.com                     Oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents 16–21 years

                www.teenjobsection.com          Inter­ac­tive map of oppor­tu­ni­ties across the country

                www.snagajob.com                       Get­ting and mak­ing the most of your job

The impor­tant thing about start­ing now is you begin look­ing at the oppor­tu­ni­ties.  And oppor­tu­ni­ties do not apply only to work.  Oppor­tu­ni­ties may refer to ath­letic team participation, experiences or intern­ships.  What would you like to do?  Are there jobs/opportunities you are par­tic­u­larly inter­ested in doing and things you just would not con­sider?  What trans­porta­tion bar­ri­ers exist or what options are avail­able if a good oppor­tu­nity presents itself?  How many hours a day will you be avail­able to work/play/volunteer?  Is sum­mer class part of the equa­tion when fig­ur­ing sched­ules for work?  Dif­fer­ent employ­ers will embrace your avail­abil­ity as a sum­mer worker and as a stu­dent work­ing to get ahead.  Oth­ers may find value in your per­for­mance and embrace the oppor­tu­nity that you may be avail­able for the next few sea­sons.  The here and now impacts tomorrow!

By start­ing your search now, you have some time to explore options and acti­vate a net­work.  Just like busi­ness peo­ple net­work to expand and strengthen their own client base, stu­dents can net­work to find great sum­mer oppor­tu­ni­ties through par­ents, rel­a­tives and fam­ily friends.  Now is the time to get started!

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Making Yourself Marketable

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

  • Are you marketable? 
  • How will you dif­fer­en­ti­ate your­self from every­one else? 
  • How will you demon­strate key char­ac­ter­is­tics for max­i­mum opportunities?

So why ask these three ques­tions?  Whether you are in high school or col­lege and look­ing for sum­mer or full time employ­ment, you face a tough job mar­ket.  Being able to answer these three ques­tions in a tar­geted and pos­i­tive man­ner can help put you in a win­ning situation. 

Are you mar­ketable? When an employer does a social media check on you, what will they find?  When they call you, what will your voice­mail tell them about you?  Your social media is your first line of con­tact and will either pro­vide sup­port for you as a pro­fes­sional and seri­ous can­di­date for a job, or it can be a yel­low or red flag that dimin­ishes your opportunity.

How will you dif­fer­en­ti­ate your­self from every­one else?  What have you done that fur­thers your capa­bil­i­ties to per­form on the job?  Is it a degree or have you par­tic­i­pated in a learn­ing expe­ri­ence that mea­sures abil­i­ties?  Career­Builders and many of the top job search engines and head­hunt­ing experts have writ­ten about the need to have sup­port­ive data to back up your claims to job capability.  We can help you pro­vide that data through expert tools and guidance.

How will you demon­strate key char­ac­ter­is­tics for max­i­mum oppor­tu­ni­ties?  As employ­ers con­duct inter­views, more and more they are look­ing for evi­dence of your past per­for­mance as a pre­dic­tor of your future per­for­mance capability.   What exam­ples will you use from your past expe­ri­ences as a demon­stra­tion of your future performance?

Mak­ing your­self mar­ketable is a mat­ter of look­ing at you from another per­spec­tive and tak­ing action.  We can help you do that!  Con­tact us for more information.

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Getting the Biggest Return on an Education

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

When you eval­u­ate the cost or invest­ment in some­thing, some­times we humans can be a bit short sighted.  So when it comes to eval­u­at­ing the cost of a col­lege edu­ca­tion and your invest­ment of time, you want to make sure you invest well and pro­vide good mar­ketabil­ity for your­self.  You also want to reduce the poten­tial of debt after graduation. 

There is an excel­lent arti­cle, The Best Val­ues in Pub­lic Col­leges that ranks 20 of the best uni­ver­si­ties and rea­sons for the rank­ings.  I point this out because there is an addi­tional fac­tor to pay atten­tion to in these num­bers and it isn’t printed.  The last col­umn on the chart iden­ti­fies “Aver­age debt at grad­u­a­tion.”  This is important…many states, like Florida, offer aca­d­e­mic schol­ar­ship dol­lars to in-state stu­dents based on GPA.  But even with those dol­lars, the “Aver­age debt at grad­u­a­tion” for stu­dents at Uni­ver­sity of Florida is $16,013.  Maybe your most eco­nom­i­cal and major spe­cific insti­tu­tion isn’t in-state.  Look at all of your options.

By doing some work up front, you can explore careers, majors and schools that are inter­est­ing, make sense and are a nat­ural fit for you.  That’s where I can pro­vide you excel­lent guid­ance and steps to cre­at­ing an effec­tive plan for col­lege and career direc­tion.  Those steps help to lead you to a great col­lege experience, on-time grad­u­a­tion with a mean­ing­ful degree that is mar­ketable in a career path geared to your sat­is­fac­tion and reward.

Get­ting the biggest return on an edu­ca­tional invest­ment means:

  • Grad­u­at­ing on Time
  • Reduced or No Stu­dent Loan Debt
  • Mar­ketable Degree
  • High Degree of Sat­is­fac­tion in Career Path

Click here for more infor­ma­tion on cre­at­ing a suc­cess­ful high school and col­lege to work­place plan.

Click here for the full arti­cle and table – The Best Val­ues in Pub­lic Colleges.

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2 Points to Ponder – Investment vs. Return

March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Invest­ment vs. Return is not just about finan­cial planning, it also addresses the impact of your edu­ca­tional invest­ment and return on those dol­lars.   About a week ago there was an inter­est­ing arti­cle in the Wall Street Jour­nal, “Reid Hoff­man: Search­ing for Break­out Ideas,” with great ques­tions and answers.  One of my favorites was a ques­tion about how peo­ple see them­selves in their careers.  Hoff­man responded with sev­eral state­ments, but most impor­tantly he addressed the need for peo­ple to invest in themselves.

It is no won­der that Tom Rath’s book, Strengths­Finder 2.0, has been on the best seller list every sin­gle week since it was pub­lished in 2007.  Peo­ple have been out of work or lost in their search for a career path, or they are look­ing for ways to move for­ward in a time when there are new rules for employ­ment and jobs look dif­fer­ent.   That’s why it is impor­tant to pay atten­tion when he addresses the fact that Tal­ent x Invest­ment = Strength.  This applies to stu­dents as well as those already in the workforce.

Invest­ment vs. Return is now about invest­ing in you for your own future return.   What can you do for your­self now to posi­tion your self bet­ter in the future?   What or how much are you will­ing to invest for a pos­i­tive return?  This is a call to action.  What will you do?  For help with your plan……take action….click here.

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