By J.T. O'Donnell
Setting aside the fact the current economy has eaten up tens of thousands of jobs, creating the worst job market for new college grads in decades, the truth remains that even if there were plenty of entry-level positions available, many of today's grads would still feel at a disadvantage because they don't know what they want to do.
At CAREEREALISM.com, we tell students this reality: College teaches you everything EXCEPT how to get the job. The diploma gets you to the career starting line, but what direction should you take to engage in a meaningful and successful career after school? As many college grads have learned, that's up to you to figure out!
To further complicate things, determining what you want to do can be more than a little challenging when:
A) There are millions of career choices. And,
B) You have a degree in some general category with no special skill to market (i.e. history degree versus nursing degree)
Honestly, what do you do if the 'traditional' jobs related to your major aren't of interest to you?
I suggest a new spin on an old tactic....
Years ago, young people 'apprenticed' under an experienced professional to gain insight into the business, to learn new skills, and to develop a network of connections they could leverage in the future. More recently, Donald Trump made the concept popular again with his hit reality show by the same name. And yet, while landing a spot on that show was probably as difficult as winning the lottery, there actually is a job recent grads can snag which provides all the benefits of being an apprentice - it even pays well too! In fact, this job also begins with an 'a' - it's called being an ASSISTANT.
Professional assisting comes in all forms and is in needed in every field. Whatever your interests, you can find assistant positions that can put you in direct contact with an experienced individual in the field. So, how does one go about preparing themselves to land an assistant job? Well, I asked Ethan Bull, co-founder of Proassisting.com - an interactive assistant training site, to explain what it takes:
"To start, there are some things that can't be taught but must be present in a good assistant. Work ethic is one. A desire to be efficient at all times is another. Those who don't attack assignments with a sense of urgency also don't do well. But, if you do have those traits, then it's highly likely with a little training and access to the right resources, you can quickly become a top-level assistant and the right-hand person to a high-powered executive."
As a veteran assistant himself, Ethan started out as a production assistant in film and quickly moved up the ranks, eventually earning a spot as an Agent Trainee for The William Morris Agency, also considered an assistant role within the corporate side of entertainment. Eventually, he landed the coveted role of assistant to the Chairman of USA Films.
Ethan says what's great about being an assistant is that it can be a low-stress job, offering a high quality of life while giving the assistant an eagle-eye view of the company and industry they work in. In fact, he recognized the value of the skills he acquired as an assistant when he realized he was now able to move into different industries with ease:
"I wanted to be able to focus on my filmmaking pursuits outside of the office (writing and directing). I realized I could make more money and have my nights and weekends free by working as an assistant for marketing and advertising companies. This gave me that freedom and paid enough for a decent standard of living in the very expensive city of New York, which I love. I was able to make the transition because I have valuable assisting skills that are needed in many industries."
In fact, that's when Ethan realized there was a need for an assistant training program. He and his wife (also an assistant in the finance field) realized they could pull together their combined knowledge and resources (over 20 years worth) to create an internet-based program that would help college grads successfully launch either assisting careers or use the position of being an assistant to work in a field they're passionate about and then get promoted from within into their chosen career. You can check them out here: https://www.proassisting.com, where they have a blog with free resources to help job seekers learn more about becoming a professional assistant.
For those of you who have the diploma, but no direction, I strongly suggest considering a position as an assistant as a first step in your career. In spite of the bad economy, opportunities do await those who are willing to apprentice!By J.T. O'Donnell
Setting aside the fact the current economy has eaten up tens of thousands of jobs, creating the worst job market for new college grads in decades, the truth remains that even if there were plenty of entry-level positions available, many of today's grads would still feel at a disadvantage because they don't know what they want to do.
At CAREEREALISM.com, we tell students this reality: College teaches you everything EXCEPT how to get the job. The diploma gets you to the career starting line, but what direction should you take to engage in a meaningful and successful career after school? As many college grads have learned, that's up to you to figure out!
To further complicate things, determining what you want to do can be more than a little challenging when:
A) There are millions of career choices. And,
B) You have a degree in some general category with no special skill to market (i.e. history degree versus nursing degree)
Honestly, what do you do if the 'traditional' jobs related to your major aren't of interest to you?
I suggest a new spin on an old tactic....
Years ago, young people 'apprenticed' under an experienced professional to gain insight into the business, to learn new skills, and to develop a network of connections they could leverage in the future. More recently, Donald Trump made the concept popular again with his hit reality show by the same name. And yet, while landing a spot on that show was probably as difficult as winning the lottery, there actually is a job recent grads can snag which provides all the benefits of being an apprentice - it even pays well too! In fact, this job also begins with an 'a' - it's called being an ASSISTANT.
Professional assisting comes in all forms and is in needed in every field. Whatever your interests, you can find assistant positions that can put you in direct contact with an experienced individual in the field. So, how does one go about preparing themselves to land an assistant job? Well, I asked Ethan Bull, co-founder of Proassisting.com - an interactive assistant training site, to explain what it takes:
"To start, there are some things that can't be taught but must be present in a good assistant. Work ethic is one. A desire to be efficient at all times is another. Those who don't attack assignments with a sense of urgency also don't do well. But, if you do have those traits, then it's highly likely with a little training and access to the right resources, you can quickly become a top-level assistant and the right-hand person to a high-powered executive."
As a veteran assistant himself, Ethan started out as a production assistant in film and quickly moved up the ranks, eventually earning a spot as an Agent Trainee for The William Morris Agency, also considered an assistant role within the corporate side of entertainment. Eventually, he landed the coveted role of assistant to the Chairman of USA Films.
Ethan says what's great about being an assistant is that it can be a low-stress job, offering a high quality of life while giving the assistant an eagle-eye view of the company and industry they work in. In fact, he recognized the value of the skills he acquired as an assistant when he realized he was now able to move into different industries with ease:
"I wanted to be able to focus on my filmmaking pursuits outside of the office (writing and directing). I realized I could make more money and have my nights and weekends free by working as an assistant for marketing and advertising companies. This gave me that freedom and paid enough for a decent standard of living in the very expensive city of New York, which I love. I was able to make the transition because I have valuable assisting skills that are needed in many industries."
In fact, that's when Ethan realized there was a need for an assistant training program. He and his wife (also an assistant in the finance field) realized they could pull together their combined knowledge and resources (over 20 years worth) to create an internet-based program that would help college grads successfully launch either assisting careers or use the position of being an assistant to work in a field they're passionate about and then get promoted from within into their chosen career. You can check them out here: https://www.proassisting.com, where they have a blog with free resources to help job seekers learn more about becoming a professional assistant.
For those of you who have the diploma, but no direction, I strongly suggest considering a position as an assistant as a first step in your career. In spite of the bad economy, opportunities do await those who are willing to apprentice!
Bigstock
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
BigstockMake a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
- How did I learn about this job?
- How did I apply for the job?
- Did I earn an interview?
- What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
BigstockAre you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
Let's start with resumes!
Every resume should be tailored to the position in order for it to stand out to recruiters and hiring managers. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's actually less work than submitting the same resume over and over again and never hearing back.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
BigstockYour job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
- Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
- Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
- Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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