July 2007

Job Hunting Advice to the 2007 Graduate

By

Jane M. Lommel, Ph.D.

President of Workforce Associates

During the last year, I've conducted several focus groups with very bright graduating seniors in community colleges in several states. The future looks sunny to them and I'm sure that they'll do well. But I can't suppress my worry that, although they may be prepared academically for the world of work, their skills in finding and keeping multiple careers throughout their lifetimes are quite weak.

For example, when asked about how many careers they thought they might have, the consensus was two or, at most, three. Meanwhile, we who are over the age of 40 know full well that many twists and turns will greet them in life. They should expect to have at least 7-10 major career shifts during their working lifetimes.

Secondly, when asked about the number and variety of job shadowing and internships they have had during high school and college, the numbers were disappointingly low. Most had concentrated on community outreach experiences and volunteering, which is fine, but they did not connect those public service hours with exposure to the world of work. Career counselors had emphasized their becoming involved at homeless shelters or on environmental projects without connecting the value of these experiences to what an employer will expect on the job.

I'm certainly not against community service, but it is curious that these volunteer hours were not perceived as career-oriented internships or job shadowing experiences. Somehow, there is an erroneous notion our there that community service and work-oriented internships don't achieve the same goals.

Thirdly, when asked about adults who have influenced them outside their immediate families, very few of these students mentioned the help and advice that they received from guidance counselors. Instead, they mentioned sports coaches, clergy, successful professionals in their neighborhoods, volunteer leaders, but not the guidance counselors whom one might think would be instrumental in helping them prepare for the real world. In fact, when I asked specifically about the influence of their career resource center or their guidance counselor, the question met with a loud dull thud or a nervous giggle. And yet, a career counselor should be as valuable as their financial planner and doctor in the years ahead. Sad commentary!

Finally, when I reviewed their resumes for their first work experience, I was disappointed to see how traditional and dull they were. Here are the cardinal sins in first-time job seekers' resumes:

    • No keyword section in your electronic resume that highlights your technical, computer, academic, and people skills. These keywords also need to be spread throughout your application to make it through the automatic tracking system filter
    • Slavish attention to two-page paper resumes, although the world has gone almost entirely to the electronic resume format
    • No clear-cut career objectives that are tailored to the specific job you're applying for at the beginning of your resume
    • Padding a resume with a video that may make you look more like a pompous fool than a serious job hunter
    • No understanding of how important it is to have multiple versions of your resumes, each specifically targeting the job they're applying for
    • Not saving each version of your resume so you'll have it on hand when a recruiter calls to set up an interview
    • Too many buzz words in your resume that someone outside your field or university experience will not understand
    • Too much emphasis on courses taken, not on what you have learned that will be applicable to your new job
    • Too little mention of your real world experiences, whether volunteer work or job shadowing or internships or summer jobs or learning a new language during a trip abroad
    • Too much personal information like hobbies, religion, marital status, political affiliation that employers do NOT want to know about. Dumping a wheelbarrow of miscellaneous information to a recruiter in the hopes that they'll figure out how impressive you are does NOT work
    • Lack of understanding re how important it is to research the company that you're applying to before preparing your customized resume
    • Lack of willingness to prepare specific questions for your interviews
    • Lack of stress on your extensive computer skills. Employers expect that this younger generation can handle multiple software packages well.
    • No stress on your people skills that employers so highly value. Noting how many group projects you've been a part of, how adroit your problem-solving skills are, and your customer service savvy will get you far ahead.

Here are some websites to help you develop a more impressive resume and to find better jobs more quickly:

Every local newspaper has a job search section online. Career Builder is a valuable site that lists local papers throughout the country and gives extensive information about applying online. You'll also find that many local TV stations have jobs websites online.

There are hundreds of niche job boards. One of my favorites is Craigslist.org which covers major cities around the country with jobs in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The Chronicle of Higher Education lists jobs in academia, as well as foundations, research and training institutes, etc.

There are many job sites just for college graduates. The National Association of Colleges and Employers includes virtual job fairs to check out. There are also Collegegrad.com and Collegerecruiter.com.

There are also websites for every ethnic group. Some of the better known are Blackcollegian.com, Blackvoices.com, National Society of Hispanic MBA’s, and Asia-jobs.com.

Check out the American Society of Association Executives for their exhaustive list of professional associations under the "Resources by professional interest" section. Join the student chapter or the young professionals section of your association. You'll find a gold mine of job opportunities and scuttlebutt about your chosen field.

Small business journals can keep you up-to-date about the business climate and activities in major cities around the country. Here's an excellent resource about small companies: http://www.bizjournals.com/

The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, the Economist, the International Herald Tribune, and the Financial Times are all online with excellent career and business information. Use one of them as your homepage.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also has excellent information about labor market information in your area plus projections about what the "hot jobs" are projected to be as of 2014.

Vet your electronic resume with online experts such as these:

When making the adjustment from student to employee, you should remember that your first job is just that--a first job. Learn from your mistakes, ask lots of questions, find mentors to learn from, and keep a journal of your professional experiences and note points where you can improve. A professional journal can also be useful to write down ideas that you have for a new project or to improve a current one that you're working on.

I can always be reached at jlommel@WorkforceAssociates.com

Jane M. Lommel, Ph.D.

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