Preparing for Your First Year at College in Pursuit of Your Future Career Path

Now that it’s the end of April and most college-bound high school seniors know where they’re going next year, it’s a good time to start planning for what you’re going to do once you reach the campus.

Of course you’re going to register for and attend classes, check out the parties, find the best places for off-campus food, maybe even meet with your college course advisor. Yet what are you going to do about working on your path through life?

Now don’t groan. I know you’ve just finished the hassle of applying to colleges and you deserve some downtime. Yet if you do a little pre-planning before you arrive on campus, your next four years and beyond in the job market could be easier.

First, have you updated by email everyone who helped you in your college application process, especially people outside your school who wrote recommendation letters for you? These people would probably like to know where you’ll be going next year. And in the case where it’s to a school to which they wrote a recommendation letter, be sure to thank them for their part in your acceptance. This is both a polite thing to do and a good strategic move in case you want another recommendation letter from them in the future.

Second, check online to find out the location of your college’s career center. Read online what’s listed as available for freshmen. (I’m not talking about deciding your major or your career path now, I’m talking about knowing what resources are available.) And then plan to stop by the career center during freshman orientation or the first weeks of school to pick up pamphlets and other information about possible opportunities.

Third, consider in your summer plans whether you have time to explore a possible new passion or interest – something that you might want to pursue while at college and beyond. For example, your passion up to now has been music, and you’ve done a great deal in the music field. Yet you’re also interested in the subject of biology. Why not try for a short summer internship or work experience in the vast field of biology? This way, when you visit your college’s career center in the fall, you’ll have two possible areas of interest to explore.

As with many things in life, the better prepared you are the more you can expect to achieve.

Even a Simple Email Offers the Opportunity for a Positive Impression

If your most frequent communication is IMing your friends or text messaging them on your cell phone, the concept of email etiquette when sending a “professional” email might seem something you don’t have to consider. Yet, if you’re applying for an internship, a job or to college, any emails you send must be professional ones.

In fact, even the briefest of emails can tell the person on the other end a great deal about you. And you want that “great deal” to be a positive impression.

First, use spellcheck before sending any emails. And after you’ve used spellcheck, personally check for the most frequent errors that spellcheck doesn’t catch, such as their and there. Go to the Flipping Burgers website at http://www.flippingburgersandbeyond.com/cheatsheet.html for a list of some of these frequent errors.

Second, use correct grammar and punctuation. And, yes, the word “I” must be capitalized. (The above list also has some tips for this area of concern.)

Third, it’s probably a good idea to leave off those cute emoticons that you use with your friends.

Fourth, if your email address is not your full name, make sure you’ve included your full name at the end of the email. Do not expect an employer, for example, to remember your full name from an email you sent three weeks ago.

Fifth, be prompt in responding to a professional email. If someone offers you an interview, do not wait two days to say yes. Check your email several times a day and, as soon as you read a professional email sent to you, hit reply and write a professional response.

Sixth, say thank you. It’s always a good idea to show appreciation for getting a response, for example, to an email you sent requesting an interview.

I’m stopping here for today. There are many other points to be considered when writing a professional email. Yet, if you work on doing the six things above, you’ll be off to a good start when we next discuss this all-important topic.

Strive for a Growth Mindset When Considering New Things

A lawyer I know mentioned to me a first-year law school student that we both know. I asked how he was doing, and the lawyer replied that he didn’t take advice well.

It was obvious my friend meant that he hadn’t listened to her. So I asked why the young man hadn’t listened. Her reply was that young people think older people (she’s not that old FYI) don’t know anything.

I’ve been puzzling over this conversation for several days. It seems to me that this doesn’t make sense. Why would a first-year law school student in his search for a summer law job not take the advice of someone older who has been there/done that?

I truly believe that this is an example of a fixed mindset, which is the focus of Carol Dweck’s book MINDSET: THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS. Dweck is a professor of psychology at Stanford, and her students encouraged her to write this book based on her years of research. The book is well-written in language easily understood by those of us not in her field of expertise.

According to Dweck, a person with a growth mindset – the opposite of a fixed mindset – eagerly tackles new experiences even if that person knows he/she may not at first be successful. A growth-mindset person understands that what’s important is the learning that takes place in trying new experiences. It’s not a question of how smart or how stupid someone is. It’s a matter of willingness to learn new things even at the risk of failing.

It is quite possible that the lawyer suggested something to the young law student that he felt uncertain about whether he could be successful. Rather than admit this concern and then add he was willing to try new things, he shrugged off the advice. It is easier for many people not to try something new because of the fear of failure. But if you have this kind of fixed mindset, you will be closing off many opportunities for learning and for success.

The next time someone offers you advice: listen carefully, make sure you understand fully, then if your immediate reaction is to ignore the advice, first carefully consider whether trying to follow this advice may seem somewhat scary. If so, consider switching from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset and be willing to try out new things. The person you help will be yourself.

Wounded Warrior Project Offers Opportunities for Volunteering

If you’re looking for a project for which to volunteer, consider the Wounded Warrior Project, whose purpose is:

• To raise aware and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women
• To help severely injured service members aid and assist each other
• To provide unique, direct programs and service to meet their needs

Right now the organization’s three-day Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride “White House to Lighthouse Challenge” is taking place.

The ride began with an address from President Bush at the White House, and the website for the Wounded Warrior Project gives this schedule for the three days:

• On Thursday, April 24th, Soldier Ride will start at the White House, stop at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and continue to Baltimore. This day of riding is by invitation only.
• On Friday, the ride will begin with a "support the troops" rally at Baltimore Maryland's Inner Harbor Harborplace Ampitheater at 10 am and proceed to Jonas Green Park in Annapolis. The kickoff event will honor the wounded veterans and the recently redeployed 58th Infantry Brigade of the Maryland Army National Guard.
• On Saturday, the ride begins and ends at Jonas Green Park in Annapolis. The riders will ride through historic Annapolis, the US Naval Academy, and along the Chesapeake Bay.

On the website under “Get Involved” are many different kinds of ways to help, and volunteering can address the organization’s slogan “the greatest casualty is being forgotten.”

Wounded Warrior Project is one organization that lets severely wounded soldiers know that the general public cares about them. This project deserves to be supported – learn more at http://woundedwarriorproject.org.

Before Interviewing for an Internship or Job -- Do Research on the Web

Before Interviewing for an Internship or Job -- Do Research on the Web

If you’ve answered an ad for an internship or job and then been offered an interview, you need to do research BEFORE the meeting.

Of course you probably won’t be able to research exactly what you might be doing if you got the internships or job. That kind of information will hopefully be provided at the interview.

What you can research is information about what the company does and, more importantly, if there are any possible connections to you.

By possible connections I mean the kinds of things that create rapport in an interview, because employers like to hire and work with people they like. And if there are 10 equally qualified applicants, and one applicant has a special connection to the hiring person, that applicant will probably get the position.

Let’s talk about what kinds of connections I mean. You first check out the company’s website. Yet for some reason, even though there’s cool flash animation on the site, there’s no name or information about the people running the company.

You do a Google search using the company’s name, and you find links to articles about the company. You read the articles and find out the CEO’s name.

You do another Google search of the CEO’s name. And at the same time you check out MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and any other social or professional online networks to which you belong. You may find out something very interesting, such as the CEO graduated from the same college as your parents.

This little piece of information that seems so unimportant can establish a connection between you and the hiring manager – “My parents went to the same college as the CEO” (which shows you’re interested enough in the position to do some research) – or between you and the CEO who shakes your hand after the hiring manager introduces you – “My parents went to the same college as you did” (again demonstrating an interest in the company).

Especially for young people who are very comfortable surfing the web, use all the resources at your fingertips to prepare for an interview. The better prepared you are, the better chance you have of getting the position.

Learning How to Say No Instead of Flaking

I’m experiencing what I know is a fairly typical behavior pattern for teen unpaid or paid interns. The disappearing act.

I’ve seen this pattern before. A teen applies for and gets an internship and is gung ho. Then homework piles up, or hanging out with friends becomes more important, or parents want some chores done at home.

Instead of being professional and emailing or calling the workplace and admitting the teen can’t fulfill the internship, the teen takes a powder. Doesn’t answer emails or phone calls – and just doesn’t show up. Or worse – the teen comes up with such a lame excuse that everyone knows it’s a lie.

What is it about human nature that makes people more likely to choose being a weasel or a liar rather than telling the simple truth?

If you’re a teen in a similar situation, tell the truth. Thank the person for the opportunity and explain that you can’t give the position your all at this time. Most people would rather not have an intern than have an intern who is distracted and not really “into” the position.

If you bow out gracefully, you’ve probably left with your reputation intact. If you just disappear into thin air, you risk leaving a lasting negative impression. And especially in the age of the internet, a negative impression can be broadcast far and wide.

Practice speaking up rather than keeping quiet. The reputation you save will be your own.

Be Careful What You Post on Your Blog

I often talk to young people about the importance of being sure that whatever they post on their pages on MySpace or Facebook or any other public social networking site can be seen by a prospective employer or current employer without running the risk of being passed over for a job or being fired from a job due to inappropriate internet material.

Yet, until I started reading “Blogging for Dummies” by Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley, I hadn’t thought about the risks associated with thoughtless blogging.

As I blog myself, I can see that there’s kind of a tempting feeling of security that you’re really just “writing for yourself.” The fact that anyone in the world, literally, can read what a blogger has just written for himself or herself seems to fade into the background as we’re typing away on our keyboard.

Especially for young people starting out on their path through life, it is very important to realize that anything can be taken the wrong way. I’m not saying you can’t have controversial opinions. I’m saying that it’s important to really “hear” what you’re putting out there.

And it’s even more important not to talk about other people or your workplace without permission. One of the warnings in “Blogging for Dummies” is this:

“Don’t reveal trade secrets. This includes confidential information about how your employer does business that will impact revenue or reputation. If you aren’t sure whether something is bloggable, ask whether you can blog about it or run it by your boss first.”

You obviously need to be blogging when you’re not at work (unless you’re getting paid to blog). But even when blogging on your own time, you still need to be very careful of the rules regarding revealing information of any company for which you’re working.

When considering what topics are safe to blog about, the best advice is that which is good for many situations – when in doubt, don’t.

If you plan to rant and rave on your blog about having to make the coffee AGAIN at an internship, make sure that you haven’t identified the company in this post or any previous post (or future post). And, in fact, maybe forget about complaining to the world about having to make coffee – that’s a typical intern or assistant task. Better to share your thoughts about world peace – or some equally universal topic.