Networking Events: The Early Bird Has a Good Chance of Catching the Worm

The October 30th Wall Street Journal article “As Layoffs Rise, Jobless Throng Career Fairs” by Dana Mattioli had a concluding paragraph that caught my eye:

Nicholas Schulz, a 23-year-old from Woodbridge, N.J., looking at jobs in the marketing field, has developed his own trick for making the most of his time. He arrives early to reach recruiters before they get burnt out. “If you get there later on, you can see it in their faces that you’re the thousandth person they’ve spoken to,” he says.

This advice is particularly important for all “networking” activities. If you get to an event early and you recognize a speaker or panelist, that’s a very good time to go up to the person and politely introduce yourself. No, you shouldn’t pitch yourself then. You should focus on spending a few quality moments just talking to the person. Before you turn away, you could ask for the person’s card.

Then after the speech or panel when everyone else is storming the barricades trying to get to the speaker or panelists, you can smile to yourself and go home. You can be secure in the knowledge that you can send a follow-up email expressing gratitude for the public presentation and adding a comment about the pleasure of speaking to the person before the formal presentation began.

You can add in that email an appropriate request that follows from the brief chat you had before the presentation. This might be something such as: I enjoyed talking with you about companies offering internships for marketing personnel. Would you have any recommendations of companies that might be interested now in marketing interns?

Obviously, if the person thinks his/her company would be interested, he/she will say so. Yet you’ve given the person an out – permission to say he/she doesn’t know of any companies at this time. Because you haven’t backed the person into a corner by expressing asking about his/her company, the lines of communication are still open for a future email from you.

While I can’t promise you that the early bird always catches the worm, I can promise that you often have a better chance of catching the worm if you arrive early – and use that time to your advantage.

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Elevator Speech Revisited: Be Prepared for Opportunity

Last night I was at the event Penn in Pictures – a sometimes annual event sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Club of LA to strengthen ties with the LA entertainment community.

The event, as usual, had a panel of Penn alums in the entertainment industry talk about their paths to their current positions. Then there was a question and answer session.

This question and answer session could be someone’s opportunity. Not only is the panel made up of Penn alums, but almost everyone in the audience is also a Penn alum. And many people are partial to hiring or helping alums of their own college.

Up shoots the hand of one recent college grad, and she asks how someone might get help in finding a job in the entertainment industry. Naturally enough, a panel member says: What are you looking for?

And did this recent grad have a succinct, specific reply? She did not. She blew her chance of positive exposure by mumbling some insignificant response.

Do not let this happen to you! If you go to such an event AND you raise your hand to ask a question about help getting a job, be prepared with a one-sentence or two-sentence response.

State your goal (I’m hoping to become a television drama writer) and what you’re doing now (I’m currently working at an internet company and taking television drama writing classes). And, if you’re lucky, someone will offer to help you.

Be prepared for opportunity to strike!

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How to Avoid Your Own Career “Credit” Crisis – Part II

Here is the second of a two-part series by E. Chandlee Bryan, a certified professional resume writer and career counselor at www.careersincontext.com. She specializes in providing services and career advisement to emerging professionals, and she has worked in career services offices at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University and served as director of career services at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. She has also worked "on the other side of the desk" as a recruiter.

3. Ignore the conventional wisdom that the “best school you can go into” is the right school for you

Select the program that best fits your interests, career, and financial goals. Even at Ivy League institutions only an average of 30% of the graduating class begins a career with an employer met on campus. There are multiple reasons for this:

• Even in strong economic times, there are a finite number of available opportunities.

• The application process can be extremely competitive.

• Jobs aren’t always aligned with student interests—they are based on employer need.

4. Evaluate your options

There are many paths to achieve your personal and professional goals—playing the fugitive isn’t one of them. Here are two unconventional paths:

Start at a community college and blow away expectations. Over the years I’ve met several successful Ivy League students who transferred in from community colleges. Many states offer in-state students great programs that can help you with financial planning and assistance towards your education.

Take a break from your loans and get a credit towards your educational expenses. Two popular community service programs -- City Year and AmeriCorps -- offer eligible program participants the opportunity to apply for loan forbearance (i.e. deferment of loan payments during program participation) and service credits of up to $4,725 for one year of service, which can be applied towards past or future educational expenses.

5. Engage in on-going discussion on your career and finances and enlist a few advocates

Regardless of where you choose to go to school or what you choose to do, there are professional advisors who can help you at minimal cost. If you are currently in school or are an alumnus of an institution, you can frequently receive free career and financial planning assistance from school administrators.

If you are not, search online for potential resources and strive to connect with at least three individuals who are willing to invest time in getting to know you and whom you can turn to when you need it.

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How to Avoid Your Own Career “Credit” Crisis – Part I

Here is the first of a two-part series by E. Chandlee Bryan, a certified professional resume writer and career counselor at www.careersincontext.com. She specializes in providing services and career advisement to emerging professionals, and she has worked in career services offices at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University and served as director of career services at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. She has also worked "on the other side of the desk" as a recruiter.

Recently, the headlines on CNN.com showcased “student loan fugitives” — or individuals who’ve fled overseas to escape student loan repayments. The subtitle reads like a worst case scenario: “When faced with monthly payments and relentless creditors, some see leaving the country as their only way out.”

As a career coach, I don’t recommend the asylum or escape approach to student loans. If you’ve chosen to move your career overseas, it should be because you want to go.

Prior to starting my own private practice, I spent over a decade connecting students with career opportunities. I worked in career services at three Ivy League schools (Dartmouth, Penn, and Columbia) and two liberal arts colleges (Colby-Sawyer and the University of Richmond).

In the process, I’ve gotten to talk to employers from all industry sectors — from investment banks and engineering firms to new media companies and non-profits. I’ve surveyed students and employers on starting salaries — and voraciously read up on national trends. Here are five recommendations with respect to financial aid:

1. Transparency, transparency, transparency

Don’t hide your debt statements under the mattress. Talk to a financial aid counselor — and get help of an external financial planner. What you pay or don’t pay down will affect your discretionary income as well as your ability to get credit. Know what you will owe.

2. Consider an outcomes-focused approach to education and your career

There are some career paths that have larger financial compensation then others. This should never be the determining factor in what you choose to do, but know that your salary may affect your lifestyle. Gauge starting salaries in fields of interest before you enroll. Sources of information include:

• Salary reports from the National Association of Colleges and Employers

• Statistics on on-campus recruiting and accepted offers (frequently available through career services offices on campus)

• Salary calculators from Salary.com and general job search boards such as Monster.com

Once you have an idea of what you can expect to earn, you can compare financial aid packages, earnings estimates, and school tuition fees. As you start out, you can establish a budget to maintain long-term debt avoidance —and make choices that help you accomplish your goals.

To be continued.

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New Experiences: Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

I’ve written before about having an open mind (and recommended the book MINDSET by Carol Dweck). As it’s such an important topic, I wanted to revisit it again.

Most of us probably have a standard response to things we don’t want to do – NO (if we can get away without doing those things). Yet if you’re in high school, college or your first job – you might want to consider saying yes to things you don’t want to do because of what you may learn or who you may get to meet.

A long time ago my husband and I were asked to take with us to Israel two very bulky sweaters Israelis visiting the U.S. hadn’t been able to take back with them. At the time my inclination was to say no, but I was prevailed upon to say yes as we were taking half-empty suitcases so we could bring gifts home.

The irony is that neither my husband nor I had relatives or friends in Israel at that time. We delivered the sweaters to the head of Israel radio and his wife, and suddenly we had the opportunity to meet real Israelis! A totally unexpected outcome of taking two bulky sweaters in our suitcases.

If a teacher, mentor or boss asks you to help out with a project that at first sounds boring, do not automatically say no. First, get more information about the project. Second, take a few minutes to think about how you might learn something new or meet some interesting people if you do this project. And then, with an open mind, if at all possible say yes.

Being open to new experiences is a wonderful character trait that can lead you to all kinds of interesting things. Of course, we’re talking about LEGAL projects. While you might learn from an illegal activity, this is not something you want to say yes to.

Use good judgment about saying yes to new things – and do say yes when it is appropriate to do so.

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Basic Work Etiquette:What Do Millennials Know?

The October 21st Wall Street Journal had an excerpt from Ron Alsop’s book “The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace.” (Alsop defines the millennial generation as born between 1980 and 2001.)

I’m not a huge fan of grouping an entire generation into one catch-all description, and the excerpt in the Journal didn’t do much to change my mind on this score. Yet this one part of the excerpt did catch my attention:

It may seem obvious that employees should show up on time, limit lunchtime to an hour and turn off cellphones during meetings. But those basics aren’t necessarily apparent to many millennials.

Why do I find this hard to believe? Because most millennials did have to show up on time for school or college classes or a babysitting job or a shift at Starbucks. And in high school there was a specified length of time for lunch and at Starbucks there was a specified break time. And believe it or not, high schools and places where teens get part-time employment do have rules about cellphones.

This is why I am always leery of anecdotal evidence. You can find anecdotes to prove whatever point you’re trying to make.

But in case I’m wrong, and you are a millennial who truly doesn’t know to show up for work on time, take only an hour for lunchtime and turn off your cellphones at work (and especially during meetings), please learn these work etiquette rules right now. And then go out and prove to the world that millennials do know these things.

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Internships: What to Do With Conflicting Opportunities

A friend just told me about her college-age son and his dilemma with internships this past summer.

It seems that he was promised an internship for which he stayed in D.C. for. But the weeks dragged on with no word, and he got a call for a really good internship in New York. He wanted to accept this second internship, but he was worried that he had promised the first internship.

His parents explained to him that it was perfectly acceptable to take the bird in the hand rather than waiting for the bird in the bush.

He went to New York and had a great unpaid internship. Only, near the end of that internship, he got a call to work (paid this time) for the Obama campaign, although he would have to leave his New York internship early.

Again he was conflicted. Until his parents pointed out that this was a paid internship (as opposed to the NY unpaid internship) and was also a unique opportunity to work for a Presidential campaign. He took this unique opportunity.

Why have I recounted this one college student’s internship experience? Because I think there’s an important lesson here.

Yes, you want to be true to your word. But when someone keeps you hanging for weeks without making a decision, you have the perfect right to accept an internship that is ready right now. And when a paid internship for the whole fall semester presents itself, you have the right to leave your unpaid summer internship a week or two early. After all, it isn’t as if you’re leaving early to spend two weeks lying in the sun at a beach. You’re leaving two weeks early for a paid fall semester internship.

The moral of this story? While I think that your integrity is very important, you do have to do what is right for you. If someone keeps you dangling for weeks, you have the right to take an internship that is being offered right now. And if someone offers to pay you for the entire fall semester, you have the right to leave an unpaid internship a couple of weeks early.

Bottom line? Your integrity has to be combined with what makes good sense for you as you find your own path through high school, college and life.

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Volunteering: Using Your Passion to Find Unique Opportunities

Volunteering is one of those things that college admission officers are supposedly keen on seeing on applications. Yet I suspect these admission officers are rather good at spotting the less-than-wholehearted volunteering that many high school students do.

What do I mean by this? I mean the routine volunteering that obviously was done as part of a group (no initiative on the student’s part) or volunteering that is the same-old as everyone else, such as collecting food items for a food pantry. Yes, a food drive is a good thing to do, but it probably doesn’t count as much of a volunteer activity in the eyes of college admission officers.

What should you do to show wholehearted volunteering? Take your passion and see if you can use this interest as a basis for volunteering.

Here are some ideas:

You love playing the piano, but you take piano lessons like thousands of other high school students. To distinguish yourself from the pack, you volunteer every Saturday morning to perform show tunes at the retirement home near where you live. The retirement home residents are thrilled by the entertainment, and you’re thrilled to do a volunteer activity of something you love

Or you love knitting scarves and hats for your friends. You find out that a women’s group has a project of knitting scarves and hats for a local homeless shelter. You volunteer to attend the weekly “knitting meetings” where you knit these items and learn from the women in the group.

Or you spend all your free time with a basketball and a net. But your mother says you better find some volunteer activity. You go to the local youth center and volunteer to coach young children on basketball skills.

What ideas do you have for combining your passion and volunteering into a project that you initiate and that differentiates you from the pack in the eyes of college admission officers?

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Elevator Speech: Have a 30-Second Speech for Whoever You Are or Whatever You’re Looking For

The expression “elevator speech” doesn’t mean a speech in favor of taking an elevator rather than the stairs or vice versa. It refers to a “speech” you could make in a 30-second elevator ride to tell someone who you are or what you’re looking for.

And whether you’re in high school, college or beyond, you should have at least one of these speeches down cold (and maybe more if you have different interests). And by down cold I mean: you know the speech so well you can say it as if it’s spontaneous rather than memorized.

Maybe you’ve noticed an adult asking a teen what she is doing and the teen says “applying to college.” What’s an example of what the answer should be when asked this question by an adult? “I’m applying to top Eastern colleges and I’m particularly hoping to be accepted by the University of Pennsylvania.” Now the adult has enough information to say, for example: “My sister is an alum. Would you like to be introduced to her?”

See the difference? The teen hasn’t asked for help, but she’s provided enough information for someone to offer to help. And if she were in an elevator and had only said “applying to college,” there wouldn’t be enough time for the adult to ask questions to elicit the same information and offer the same help.

At whatever point you are in your life, be prepared with this 30-second speech.

Someone on Facebook just wrote me that her 19-old-son is publishing a book and looking for information on book marketing. But she should have said: “My 19-year-old son is publishing a book on ………...” Although I did respond with advice for book marketing, I might have been more helpful if she’d mention fiction or non-fiction, the title of the book, and when it is coming out.

And if you’ve got different interests, have an elevator speech for each interest so that you’re prepared for any opportunity that comes your way.

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Tutoring Help for a Student: When Is It Time?

I answered a publicity query concerning when is it time to get a tutor for a student. After I responded to all the questions in the publicity query, I decided to share my responses here:

Several different ways a parent can know whether it's time for a tutor:

1. If the student asks for one.
2. If the student struggles with the material and doesn't seem to "get" it.
3. If the teacher tells the parent the student doesn't seem to "get" the material.

The age has no bearing on this. I've known students who needed a tutor in first grade to learn how to read because the student's learning style was different than the teaching method.

Teachers are usually NOT the best person to decide because a parent can see up close and personal when a student is struggling. On the other hand, when a teacher tells a parent that a child needs a tutor, the parent should listen and not shrug off the suggestion.

The best time of year is as soon as a student needs help (see above).

It would be better if the child is on board (and this can often be achieved in the way the tutor is presented to the student), but not necessary. Students should not be allowed to fail because they are afraid to admit they need help.

Definitely not wait until a student gets a F. (Sometimes short-term tutoring does the trick if the problem is caught soon enough.)

If regular tutoring doesn't seem to help and there are some underlying hints of learning disabilities, testing should be carried out as soon as possible and extensively as possible with a trained educational consultant.

Parents should also read the book MINDSET by Carol Dweck to help ensure that the student is not refusing to try because of a closed mindset. (I feature this book on my Flipping Burgers blog.)

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Resumes Revisited: Do You Put Your Twitter Username on Your Resume?

Resumes usually take a rather standard form when it comes to including your name, address, phone number, email, and maybe cell number and fax number.

Here's an interesting question to consider: Should you include your Twitter username, your Facebook profile page URL, your LinkedIn public profile URL or any other social media information on your resume?

Okay, obviously the answer is yes if you're applying for a job in social media. And obviously the answer is no if you've posted inappropriate information about yourself on MySpace or Facebook.

It's the middle ground that leads me to ask the question: Do you want to indicate by, for example, including your Twitter username that you are knowledgeable in one of the popular microblogging platforms? Or are you worried that a prospective employer might think you'll spend too much time on Twitter if the employer knows you're on that social media platform?

I'm not sure there's an easy answer for everyone. Anyone want to weigh in with an opinion?

Related Posts:

Resume 2.0? The question is, when do you think document that we know now will replaced as the "king of resumes"? I don't think they'll ever completely go away, but there is a time in the not so distant future where we will be asking candidates for ...

Six steps to Resume 2.0 Can you think of other ways to start tweaking your resume for Web 2.0? Employers, human resources pros and recruiters - would any of this be helpful for you? Are you using social networks for recruitment purposes? ...

The Social Media Resume: Making Your Mark in a Web 2.0 World The idea of this kind of resume may not be as widespread as its traditional counterpart, but it’s something that web workers might want to consider if they want to take advantage of what Web 2.0 has to offer. ...

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U.S. Economic Situation: Good Time for Internships?

Internships may actually be more available during this economic time. That’s because companies are being forced to lay off employees and this may cause those companies to be short-handed. If you offer yourself as an unpaid intern, you may be snapped up to fill in the gap.

And when a company is short-handed, there’s usually more of a chance for an intern to get to do real work tasks rather than just making coffee and delivering the in-house company mail.

What does this mean for you? If you’ve been wanting an internship to try out a specific career field or get credentials on your resume for a future job, now is the time to do this.

Brainstorm with friends or family about the companies in your area that may need the kind of intern you want to be. Read your local newspaper to see who is laying off large numbers of employees. Then contact those companies if they appear to be the kind of company at which you’d like to intern.

The company’s HR person may not be the best person to contact. He or she is dealing with layoffs and might not take kindly to an intern request when that intern might do the job of a previously paid employee. But a department manager, desperate for more helping hands, might be very open to meeting with you.

Therefore, chose carefully who you will approach. If you want a marketing internship, choose someone in the marketing department. If you want an accounting internship, choose someone in the accounting department.

If you’re good at pitching yourself in writing, then do so for the first approach. If you’re better pitching yourself in a phone call, do that for the first approach.

Remember that with all the issues on the minds of managers today, your request may get buried even though you could really be useful to the company. If you don’t get a response within a few days, do approach the person again. Just be sure to make your approaches in good taste and do not appear to be a nudge.

Be prepared to explain how you can help the manager/company. Then, if you get the internship, do a terrific job of helping out. This could even be your opportunity for a paying job at this company when the economy picks up, or at the very least the opportunity to get a terrific recommendation.

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On the Job: Share Praise With Those Who Help You

In keeping with my post today on my blog PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge (see http://snipurl.com/forgiveme, I wanted to talk about the important skill of giving and sharing praise.

Frequently in a work situation your boss might praise you for a project you did. Unless you literally did every single part by yourself with absolutely no help from anyone else, you should remind the boss who helped you. For example, “I couldn’t have gotten this done in such a short amount of time if Mary hadn’t crunched the numbers for me and John hadn’t made the charts.”

In most cases, sharing the praise actually earns you higher esteem than if you hadn’t acknowledged Mary and John’s roles. By including your co-workers in the praise, you’ve shown you’re a team player and someone who doesn’t hog all the credit. People like to work with such generous-minded people.

And, of course, you yourself should praise people when they do a good job or go the extra mile, for example, on a project for which you were responsible. For example, “Nancy, I really appreciate that you turned in your numbers a day before the deadline and that the numbers were very accurate. I’m glad you’re on my team.”

Start practicing this skill when you are young and it should be automatic by the time you’re starting out on your career path.

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Taking Responsibility for Your Actions

In spite of all our modern conveniences or maybe because of all our modern conveniences, we still make mistakes such as missing a dentist appointment because we thought it was the next day or turning up late for a birthday party because we thought it started later than it did.

One sign of maturity – whether in a high school student, college student, or young adult – is the ability to say: “I made a mistake and I’m sorry.” In other words, not try to weasel out of responsibility by saying such things as: “Your receptionist must have told me the wrong day” or “I couldn’t understand the voice message you left.”

If you messed up, admit it, apologize and move on. And, of course, try not to repeat the same mistake a second time. But don’t get a reputation as someone who always tries to blame others for what he/she did.

For those of you who will be in synagogue for the Kol Nidre service of Yom Kippur, you will publicly be taking responsibility for your actions of the past year. And you can use this opportunity to consider how you will do things differently in the coming year.

And for those of you who won’t be participating in this public act of taking responsibility, you can still think about taking responsibility for your actions instead of trying to push off the “blame” onto someone else.

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Meeting Etiquette: Don’t Allow a Time Hog to Steal the Show

I listened to a teleseminar that was billed as a panel about authors using social media to promote their books. Instead, one caller hogged the time asking question after question about how to get on Twitter, how to follow someone on Twitter, how to reply to someone on Twitter, etc.

The host of the teleseminar did not stop this caller from hogging the time nor did the panelists stop him. Indeed, they all continued to answer his questions.

What should have happened? The host or a panelist should have said: “We’ll have to continue this conversation offline as this isn’t the focus of the teleseminar.”

A half hour into the hour-long teleseminar I finally hung up. Why should I continue to listen to someone getting personal instructions on how to use Twitter?

If you’re in high school, college or on your first real job, what’s the moral of this story for you?

If you are a moderator or a panelist in a similar time hog situation, you should be prepared to politely end the time hog’s monopolizing and to return to the stated subject of the meeting or presentation.

And if you are the time hog, don’t be. In other words, learn to be considerate of the other people participating in a meeting or presentation. If you require detailed instructions on a subject that is off the spine of the meeting or presentation, do so outside of that meeting or presentation.

If you are worried that you might not have another chance to ask your questions, then you can politely ask for a suggestion as to where to get the additional info that you need.

Whatever you do, don’t get the reputation of a time hog or of someone who lets a time hog take over the show. Be considerate of the other participants and stick to the spine of the meeting or presentation.

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College Tutoring Services: Only One of Several Avenues for Getting Help

My September 22nd post was about how college tutoring is not a stigma and should be embraced as soon as a student feels he or she is falling behind. (See http://snipurl.com/collegetutoring.)

The October 2nd Wall Street Journal Quick Fix column article “Keeping Up at College” by Beth Decarbo has some excellent advice for dealing with the problem of struggling with course material soon after the semester starts.

The solution, of course, includes utilizing college tutoring services. And there are additional avenues for getting help:

Harold Woodard, dean for student academic counseling at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says that students should visit their professors during office hours for extra help and to demonstrate that the students are trying to learn the material.

And, yes, this does seem obvious, but for some reason it isn’t. Students often think that a professor’s office hours are for some much more important reason than a student having trouble with the material. Wrong! A professor’s office hours are precisely to help students having trouble with the material.

Woodard also mentions forming study groups early in the semester, and that there are websites that offer tutoring services, although there are fees for these services.

Woodard also talks about getting online study guides (some for free), but he believes that students should not rely on guides. According to the Journal, Woodard prefers “that students improve their critical-reading, critical-thinking skills with the texts they’ve been assigned for a term.”

This is excellent advice for your long-term success goals. Critical-reading and critical-thinking skills can help you throughout your life. If you learn these skills in college (where there’s a safety net to help you learn), you’ll be in a much stronger position for whatever career path you follow after college.

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Social Media: Your Photo Needs to Look Like You Do

Here I am again with another "warning" about your photo on social media. First, let's be clear what your photo is there for on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. It's there to make you a real person, someone with whom people can relate, someone whom people can get to know, like and trust (the mantra of doing business on the web).

We've already discussed that this isn't possible if there's no photo. Only this morning I got three Twitter messages of people following me who had no photo with their bios. I did NOT follow these people. If they aren't willing to identify themselves by photo (or real name), why should I trust their advice?

And we've talked about photos with baseball caps that hide your eyes or photos of you on Facebook with two friends and which one is you. And never using a silly photo of you sticking out your tongue or wearing a clown wig.

But yesterday I came across another social media photo mistake -- a photo of a young man with a beard who I had just met clean-shaven in person. The photo looked nothing like the young man. If one purpose of social media is to make an online connection so that when you meet in person you recognize each other, using an old photo with a beard is not going to do this.

Moral of this post? When you dramatically change your appearance (grow a beard, shave off a mustache, change the color of your hair, drastically chop off long locks, get glasses), change your photo. If you want people to know, like and trust you on the web, then don't show a photo that "disguises" the current you.

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Wall Street Crisis: A Good Time to Help Others

Most of the time on this blog we talk about getting help for yourself. Yet now is a good time to practice helping others. Because of all the jobs being cut due to the Wall Street crisis, there will be large numbers of people looking for new jobs.

Maybe you have a friend who you think may be one of those people losing his/her job. Why not contact your friend and ask if there's anything you can do to help? This can range from offering to work on a resume if you're really good at this skill to practicing interview questions or brainstorming possible job leads with your friend.

And if you happen to hear of an open position, consider who you know that might be interested in that position and contact that person. If the tables were turned, you'd want your friends to do this for you.

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