How to Help Your Child Transition Successfully from College to Career – Part 2 of 2
3. Don’t tell your children that, “If they finish college, they’ll be assured of a successful career.” This may have been true several generations ago, but it certainly isn’t true any longer. Today’s college degree is yesterday’s high school diploma – and it doesn’t guarantee ANYTHING. To succeed in today’s work-world, your children will need much more than a college degree. They’ll need your guidance, along with talent, determination, persistence, a strong work ethic and maybe a bit of good luck. They’ll also need a real-world perspective on what it REALLY takes to succeed.
4. Provide your children with resources, support and encouragement – but don’t coddle them. Many new college graduates have never had to work or assume responsibility for earning any level of income. Naturally, this leads to problems when the child graduates from college and is suddenly thrust into the job market. Even worse, many parents have indulged or “spoiled” their children, leading to a sense of entitlement. Your children will have to work for a long time, and it’s important that they get used to this idea from a young age. Once your children have finished school, make it clear that they must take responsibility for their own career and income, through good times and bad.
5. Explain to your children how important it is to create and control their image on the Internet. Every new worker has (or will soon have) an online presence. In this age of cell phone cameras, You Tube, and Face Book, the trail your children leave on the Internet will follow them for a long time to come. Employers know this, and they research job candidates on the Internet before making hiring decisions. It is vitally important that every young person take control of their online identity, and carefully monitor the “personal brand” they’re building on the Internet. Encourage your kids to use online career management tools such as Linked-In and VisualCV, to optimize and leverage their online presence.
6. Help your children get their first “break” by leveraging family relationships and business contacts.The work world is more competitive than ever, and new graduates face serious challenges in getting their careers started-out on the right foot. Even the most qualified young candidate can benefit from a bit of help in the form of “connections.” Rather than being overly proud and rejecting such assistance, encourage your children to welcome the idea of “getting a break” through friends or family as they launch their careers. It will still be up to your children to prove themselves on the job, or they won’t be employed there for long – even if they’re related to the boss.
7. Allow your children to pursue the career path they truly love; not the career path you think they should love. If your child is fortunate enough to discover a professional path that he or she truly loves, you must encourage and facilitate their pursuit of that career. Put the necessary time and resources into this mission, and the results will be powerful. If your children struggle with identifying their best career directions, engage a professional Career Coach to help them find their right work. Avoid the temptation to push your children into the career paths YOU think they should follow. Instead, let them find their own gifts and passions. This is one of the most generous and healthy things a parent can do for a child.
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How to Help Your Child Transition Successfully from College to Career – Part 1 of 2
Over the past year, we’ve received a number of phone calls from parents of recent college graduates. This is unusual for two reasons: (1) we don’t usually work with clients in their twenties; and (2) these parents are seriously concerned about their children’s ability to start careers. Indeed, many parents are now paying our career coaching fees, to ensure that their kids will have every advantage in the transition from school to work.
I’ve been saying for years that colleges do virtually nothing to prepare new graduates for the “real work-world.” Most college placement offices are woefully inadequate – and knowing this, most students avoid using these services altogether. Graduating from a fine university does NOT guarantee that a student will have a clear career direction, or that a student will know how to mount a successful job search campaign.
You may have heard the term “Boomerang Kids.” This describes the growing number of recent graduates who return home to live with their parents – often well into their thirties! Needless to say, this is not the outcome most parents had in mind when they sent their kids off to college.
So, what’s a parent to do?! Here are seven suggestions for parents, based on actual career coaching work we’ve done with recent college graduates. Following these recommendations will help produce far better results than those described above:
1. Invest in career development coaching. After spending tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars on college, it’s a pretty sure bet that your children never received ANY training or guidance in how to choose a career, get a job, or participate productively in the workforce. Don’t let all that money go to waste. Invest another 1%-5% to ensure that your children’s education will pay-off – with smarter career choices, better jobs, and higher long-term compensation.
2. Teach your children responsible work habits. Patience, discipline, respect, industriousness and punctuality are habits that were “assumed” in previous generations of new workers – but these qualities are all too rare among recent college graduates. Employers complain about this, and they are worried about how to find, develop and retain a workforce to replace the huge numbers of retiring baby boomers. The new employees who will get ahead are the ones who embrace and embody these traits. Therefore, parents should strive to model these behaviors and instill these qualities early in the lives of their children.
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Leadership and Industry Transition – Part 2 of 2
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ExecuNet: What skills are the most teachable? More specifically, what skills can a leader lack when accepting a position because those skills can be learned on the job? |
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Myers: Trade skills and technical proficiencies can be taught and fine-tuned to any company, professional role or project. Qualified candidates do this every time they change jobs or switch assignments. But the core personality traits of a leader cannot be readily taught. They must be born within the individual and developed over a lifetime. It is unfortunate that so many employers confuse technical mastery with leadership ability. When accomplished technicians are promoted into leadership roles, serious management issues inevitably ensue. |
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ExecuNet: When seeking to hire new talent, should an executive turn to a matrix (which charts "must have" vs. "nice to have" skills.)? What tools can an executive use to assess if a candidate has the right background and skills to succeed (despite that lack of industry experience)? |
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Myers: Using a “must have/nice to have” chart is a fine idea – depending on what’s on that chart! The “must haves” include all the leadership strengths listed above, along with a history of dealing successfully with challenges and issues like those that will be present at the hiring company. The “nice to haves” include such things as technical skills and experience in exactly the same industry or role for which the candidate is being considered. Character and leadership traits, however, are more critical than “trade skills” in any senior hiring decision. Therefore, if the employer wishes to use evaluative tools to determine “fit,” the best assessments would be those that address personality preferences rather than vocational abilities. These would include such profiles as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, DISC, and Personal Directions, among others. |
| ExecuNet: As a Career Coach, do you find that an increasing number of candidates are reaching out to you with the goal of switching industries? What advice do you offer as you begin working with these individuals? |
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Myers: There are now more clients who report being dissatisfied with their current industries than there were just a few years ago. As a Career Coach, when I encounter this situation, the first thing I do is determine where the problem really lies. Is it truly the industry that’s causing the pain? Or is it the company? Or the boss? Or the compensation? Or the workload? Or some other matter? More often than not, I find that the core problem is NOT with the industry – but with some other irritant. It is important for the Career Coach to find out what is RIGHT with the client’s current industry; not just what’s wrong. The candidate has spent many years building experience, skill, reputation and seniority in his or her field. Unless it proves to be absolutely necessary to make a significant career change, it is always best for the client to remain in the same industry – even if this means switching companies. By remaining in the same field, the client can enjoy the benefits of more senior-level positions and higher pay. Shifting to a new industry almost always requires a significant drop in job-grade and compensation. Naturally, if we determine through the career coaching process that a change of industries really is indicated, I commit all my skill and experience to helping my client make a successful transition to the new field. |
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ExecuNet: Overall, what should an executive do in the current position to ensure that he or she further develops transferable skills? |
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Myers: Every executive should practice “Perpetual Career Management.” This means continually expanding leadership strengths to higher levels. It means seeking-out greater challenges and producing stronger results. It means documenting accomplishments and using the stories at interviews. It means building a larger professional network and a higher level of visibility. It also means pursuing professional education and training, and continually growing intellectual capital. These activities, approached continually and synergistically, ensure that the executive will develop transferrable skills to optimum levels. |
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ExecuNet: What can an executive do on his or her own to hone these skills? |
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Myers: In addition to what is stated above, the executive can take classes, read and study independently, engage in dynamic conversations with smarter people, teach, give talks and presentations, publish articles, assume leadership roles in professional associations, earn new certifications or academic degrees, and reach out to others in the network. |
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ExecuNet: If an executive is serious about transferring to a new industry, what can he or she do to build knowledge of that industry? How does he or she learn industry language, and get a better idea of what opportunities really exist in that new industry? |
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Myers: Any executive who is serious about transferring to a new industry should commit to learning as much as possible about that field – on every level and from every angle. This can be achieved primarily through structured networking with accomplished individuals who work in the new field. There simply is no better way to acquire knowledge and “real world” insights about a new industry. Secondary strategies for learning about different industries include joining associations, reading professional journals, attending conferences and trade shows, taking classes and training, contacting recruiters within that field, visiting companies in the industry, and using the industry’s products and services. Another tactic that has worked well for some candidates is to do volunteer work or take apprenticeships within the new industry. |
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ExecuNet: How/why is networking such a crucial activity for an executive seeking to transfer his or her skills to a new industry? |
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Myers: Make no mistake: it is VERY difficult to make a successful transition into a new industry. As one who has done it (and who has helped hundreds of clients do it), I know of what I speak. The simple fact is that no matter how good your resume looks, or how practiced you are at interviewing, or how much career coaching you’ve had – most employers are narrow-minded about job candidates. They only want to hire candidates who “fit the mold.” They don’t want to get into trouble by making a hiring mistake. Going through “normal channels,” such as Internet job postings, human resource departments and even recruiters, will only lead to frustration. Indeed, the ONLY way around this dilemma is to leverage your network! Someone who already knows, likes and trusts you is much more likely to “take a chance” and give you an opportunity – even if the new role is a bit of a stretch. Having a strong and diverse professional network is critically important in career management, especially if you’re planning to make any significant career changes or shift industries. This is why I tell all my clients, “Your network is your MOST valuable career asset!”
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Leadership and Industry Transition – Part 1 of 2
ExecuNet (www.execunet.com) is recognized as the Internet's most comprehensive resource for effective career management, exclusively for executives and senior-level managers with salaries above $100,000. ExecuNet sometimes asks noted career experts to contribute opinions and information for the CareerSmart Advisor, their biweekly newsletter. I was fortunate to be selected for this honor. Below is the content I recently provided to ExecuNet in response to their specific questions about Leadership and Industry Transition. Some of these answers were featured in the September 29, 2008 edition of the CareerSmart Advisor. I hope you will find the information below to be helpful and interesting!
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ExecuNet: A leader needs to be able to spot talent regardless of a candidate's previous industry expertise. How can he or she effectively determine if an individual who possesses other desired skills, but not direct industry experience, could be a valuable team member? |
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Myers: It has often been said that technical skills can be readily learned, but character traits cannot. Talent is inherent – a deeply-rooted character trait. And talent is much more difficult to find than “trade skills.” Therefore, the smart employer hires primarily for character, potential, intelligence, motivation – and then provides the resources to bring the new employee up-to-speed with the specific skills that are necessary to do an exceptional job. The way to determine if a candidate has these inherent traits (even if some of the skills are missing) is to ASK. The employer should probe at the interview, to discover how the candidate has handled a broad range of relevant challenges in the past. How did the person think? What steps did he or she take to resolve an issue? To what extent did the person solicit the help of other team-members, or leverage available resources? What sort of results did the candidate consistently produce? By asking accomplishment-related questions like these, employers can get to the heart of the matter and decide if they’re sitting across the desk from the right candidate. |
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ExecuNet: What specific leadership skills are most transferable? What skills can be valuable regardless of the industry in which an executive works? |
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Myers: There are “trade skills,” and then there are inherent strengths. There is industry jargon, and then there is “plain English.” The leadership traits that are most transferrable are the ones that ANYONE can understand, and that can be applied successfully in any field and at any company. These strengths include: organization, analysis, problem-solving, management, innovation, communication, persuasion, observation, team-building, and follow-through. When you “boil it all down,” any candidate who offers a balanced combination of these strengths can transfer them into almost any leadership role.
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Benefits of Using a Career Coach in a Bad Economy – Part 2 of 2
The truth is that, even in this climate, you have more control over your career circumstances than you might think. There are specific strategies and tactics you can follow that will bring you stronger results in a bad job market. How do I know this? Because I’ve been working as a Career Coach for many years, through several economic downturns. I’ve taught hundreds of people these powerful strategies, so they could find better jobs, advance their careers, and earn higher compensation. Even now, our clients continue to land great jobs every week!
So here’s a question for you. Given how difficult things are now, how do YOU want to react and what do you want to do to improve YOUR career situation? I believe that you have a choice, and that the choice you make will determine how you fare in this market crisis. Some people will panic and “sit on the sidelines” – waiting for the job market to change. Others will remain in a state of denial, acting as though world events don’t affect them. Still others will assess the situation for what it is, and then do whatever it takes to rise above external circumstances to create success!
What’s needed to move your career forward is ACTION, and you don’t have to take on the challenge alone! All the guidance, tools and resources you need are available to you. When money is tight, the natural inclination is NOT to invest in getting help with your career. I’ve heard so many people say, “I’m just going to wait it out, and see what happens with my career.” Or, “I’ll handle my job search alone, and if I can’t find what I’m looking for, I’ll get career help in 6 months or so.”
Frankly, these are NOT smart decisions. In this bleak job market, you need all the help you can get! The time to reach out for career support is NOW. You can contact a non-profit job center, hire a career coach, participate in job search support groups, take advantage of local government employment programs, register for re-training in a new field, and so on. It’s NEVER a mistake to invest in your own career, because the investment always pays-off in multiples.
To get back on top, it will take time, energy, discipline – and career help. Despite the pressures you may be feeling, you’ll need to stay focused on your career goals. You’ll want to keep thinking strategically, being “proactive” and not “reactive.”
If you’re willing to adopt a new attitude, shift your assumptions, step outside your comfort zone, try new behaviors, and employ new tools – you’ll be able to get the job you want, even when good jobs seem scarce. While others remain idle, convinced that there are no jobs to be had, you’ll be out there “making it happen.” Instead of passively “waiting things out,” you’ll be taking advantage of vital career resources and support. Rather than feeling helpless about your career, you’ll have a sense of empowerment and control. And you’ll land the job you really want. What a relief!
To read the entire article, click here.
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Benefits of Using a Career Coach in a Bad Economy – Part 1 of 2
These are tough times to be sure. Just as a new President is about to be elected, the U.S. is experiencing the worst economy since the Great Depression. The stock market recently had the largest one-day drop in history. The shockwaves of the “credit crunch” are reverberating across the country and around the globe. Governments are being forced to bail-out entire industries and invest directly into financial institutions to keep them afloat. Millions of U.S. citizens can’t pay their mortgages, or are actually losing their homes. Parents can’t pay their children’s college tuition. Fortunes are being lost on Wall Street and the national debt is spiraling out of control. The job market is extremely weak, with unemployment claims and jobless rates higher than they’ve been since 2001. More than 750,000 jobs have been lost, and this number continues to rise with more layoffs and downsizings.
Previous economic downturns affected specific industries, such as technology, manufacturing or construction. But according toBusiness Week, 10/9/08, “With lending trimmed, and companies and consumers tightening their belts, jobs will be cut across broad swaths of the economy, from the tech sector to investment banking, and from manufacturing to soft drinks.” Worst of all, it seems that no one’s hiring!
The simple fact is that no one knows what’s going to happen to their jobs and careers. Everyone is concerned – even those who still have jobs. Some are terrified – especially those who have been out of work for a long while.
These reactions are understandable, and to be expected. If you’re feeling scared, depressed, lost, disoriented, anxious, helpless – you’re certainly not alone. You might even feel angry or victimized. Perhaps you’re saying things to yourself such as, “This shouldn’t be happening to me! I got a good education. I worked hard. I always did the right thing, and I don’t deserve this! I never thought I’d be in this situation. Maybe this is what OTHER people go through, but not ME!” Sound familiar? This is what I’ve been hearing from many of my career coaching clients in recent months.
In times like these, my clients need comfort and reassurance. My guess is that you do too. So, let me tell you the same things I tell my clients. If your job has been impacted by the current downturn, it’s OK to have all the feelings listed above, and any other emotions you might be experiencing. There’s nothing wrong with you, and you didn’t do anything to bring this fate upon yourself. You’re still a “good person,” and you still have all the qualities and credentials you had before. Although it may be difficult to believe right now, this tough employment situation WILL come to an end, and your career will get back on track eventually.
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Debrief After Your Interview – Part 2 of 2
How confident and relaxed were you?
How confident and relaxed were you going into the interview. How nervous were you during the interview? What could you have done differently, to reduce your anxiety about the interview?
How good was the interviewer?
Was the interviewer prepared, and did he or she manage the interview well? Did he or she describe the job requirements, listen well, and answer your questions? Did the interviewer put you at ease and establish good rapport? What kind of interviewer do you respond to most positively?
Positives vs. Negatives:
What three or four things did you do particularly well, that you want to continue doing? What three or four things did you do poorly that need to be improved for future interviews? What things did you NOT do or say, that you would like to include at future interviews?
Debriefing your interviews on a consistent basis can be challenging, because you have to evaluate your own performance – and it’s difficult to be objective. However, by reflecting on your performance in the above areas, particularly in writing, you will be focused and ready to “ace” your next round of interviews at the same company or another company!
To read the entire article, click here.
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