Have I Shared Too Much?

I'm loving this video for a whole bunch of reasons: the jabs at LinkedIn and the consulting industry; the reference to Bieber Fever; and how this job interview is at the same time both totally ridiculous and absolutely believable.  Check it out for yourself.

The Career Counselor's True Test

The career counselor's true test is her ability to assist a loved one (especially one they live with) navigate the job search.  Now I'm speaking from personal experience here when I say that it is not easy for a career counselor, often times known for their interest and expertise in all things "job search," to live with a job-seeker that might lack some of the same enthusiasm for the topic.  Okay, by now you probably realize I'm not speaking in the hypothetical.  My boyfriend finished graduate school without a job offer in hand.  Since we live together and spend a lot of time together, I naturally wanted to share all my resources with him.  My desire to impart to him every teeny bit of knowledge was not deterred by his evil looks, overt sighs, and avoidance of me.

Fast forward 6 months and boyfriend, now fiance, has finally secured his first, full-time permanent, job within his desired industry.  No, he did not spend 6 months sitting on his you know what.  From a maternity-leave coverage, to weekly per diem jobs, to a permanent position in a physical therapy clinic, the fiance was doing pretty well for himself.  So, needless to say, we were happily surprised, not to mention unsure of how to proceed, when a long-forgotten interviewer called him out-of-the-blue to ask him to come back in.  Turns out their former first-choice candidate "hadn't worked out."

Needless to say, his job search is an excellent example in perseverance, hard work, and luck - all of which proved to be essential in this job search story.  And, as far as this career counselor's concerned, I am more than glad that I won't be taking my work home with me anymore.  I'm pretty sure the fiance's glad about that, too.

On Waiting It Out

The recent article in the New York Times, “Generation Limbo: Waiting It Out,” makes my career counselor heart ache. Here are students who’ve invested so much time, energy and money into their degree, waiting for a chance to put it to professional use. But then my pragmatic side kicks in, and I want to kick these kids in the behind for waiting around for anything. Because, as many successful, employed people know, success doesn’t happen to you, it’s something you need to actively pursue. In other words, waiting is not an effective job search strategy!

Okay, so that was my first mini-rant. Now it’s time for part two. And it’s in response to this sentence in article, “After three years without an advertising job, she is now applying to graduate school to freshen up her résumé.”

Going to graduate school, especially when you’re unemployed, is, most often, not an effective job search strategy. If you’ve tried to get a job in marketing, yet been unsuccessful, don’t think that a graduate degree in marketing is going to fix all your problems and catapult your careers. While the job market may be better in two years, you’ll also be out tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars, you’ll be more expensive, and you probably won’t have any more full-time relevant work experience than you did before you started the whole back to school thing. Gosh, I’m really starting to feel like Penelope Trunk here, which means it’s about time to wrap this post up.

Career Strategies for Students with Aspergers (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

Before I present some of the best practices presented at the recent conference I attended on career strategies for students on the autism spectrum, let me make a few disclaimers. First, I am by no means an expert (or even experienced) in this field. Additionally, as our excellent presenters pointed out, when you meet one student with ASD, you’ve met one student with ASD. That being said, these practices may work for some students and not for others, but isn’t that true for our nuero-typical clients as well? Anyhow, here’s what I learned:

Infuse Academics with Employment

• Integrate vocational experiences into students’ academics as early as high school to allow students to experience the workplace, reflect on their experiences, and learn appropriate workplace interactions.

Provide Visual Aids

• Have handouts or written materials that cover and/or review the points you’re making during the conversation. Useful for lots of students, really.

Be Explicit

• Because students with ASD do not learn intuitively, it is very important that we as career counselors are explicit with our directions. We cannot expect these clients to pick up on our social cues or nuanced suggestions, we’ve got to be explicit when counseling these students on how to behave, act, and market themselves. Additionally, help students with ASD to dissect the jobs they are working in or applying for. What will be the tasks, the social requirements, and physical environments related to this position. Help students to prepare fully, and practice reacting to, as well as acting in these positions.

Don’t Modify Content, Modify Process

• Students with ASD can be smart. Sometimes really smart. Don’t change the content you’re delivering, rather shift the way you deliver it. See above points for more on this.

Know Your Resources

• Both at the institution you work at, and in the community. At the end of the day, there’s only so much that we as career counselors and university educators can do. We’re not mental health counselors and perhaps unqualified to provide the intensive services some students with ASD might need. Be in touch with disability services coordinator, as well as have some referrals handy from local non-profits or other relevant services providers.

Finally, our presenters made some recommendations for students with ASD on the job market. They advised us to help our clients look for positions that have all or some of the following elements:

Rules

• Students with ASD to be most successful in environments that have clear and consistent rules. This could include rules regarding acceptable dress, hours, breaks, and activities.

Do Not Require an In-Person Interview

• Students with ASD do not interview well. Of course, finagling a job without an interview will be a challenge, which is probably why our presenters suggested making the most of family and personal connections when possible. As far as working with ASD clients, our presenters suggested utilizing Skype during mock interviews, as opposed to face-to-face.

Educating Our Students with Aspergers (soon to be Autism Spectrum Disorder)

I recently attended a conference on career strategies for students on the autism spectrum. Besides the fact that the presenters were absolutely fantastic – engaging, funny, and smart – the topic itself was both intriguing and thought provoking. Among the many issues raised, the presenters pointed out that colleges may be admitting students with Autism Spectrum Disorder who, while able to do excel in their coursework, are not able to satisfactorily complete the technical requirements of the program. This, are presenters claimed, is a law-suit waiting to happen. And I agree (in principal at least, have no idea about actual legality), though this issue is in no way at all limited to students with ASD. In fact, institutions of higher education are far too often accepting students (and their tuition dollars) who won’t be able to hack it in the fields they aspire to enter. Students who may be unable to find jobs, despite excellent grades, includes those students with especially poor writing or community skills, as well as specific populations of students, such as the many international students currently studying on American soil who lack English language proficiency. There’s only so much a college or university can teach in 4 years, and, as our presenters suggested, accepting students who are unprepared or unable to master the technical necessities of their careers may be akin to lying, or even robbing them. Of course, the question remains, what is the responsibilities of an institution? What do they owe their students – an education or a job? Despite the fact that this question is highly relevant to my work and studies, it’s also a challenging and contentious one . . . which is why I’m not answering it. At least for now.

Check back next week for more take-aways from this conference, as well as best practices for working with students with ASD.

Be Napoleonic

At professional conferences, I usually steer clear of sessions designed to facilitate participants’ personal and professional growth. While this certainly isn’t a good thing, I can’t help but feel that in an industry where we’re constantly focusing on career development, I’d rather spend those valuable conference hours concentrating on larger issues like strategy, big picture questions, and tangible best practices. That being said, at an excellent conference I attended last week, I found myself in a session entitled: “Managing Your Boss” or How to Get Ahead Without Losing Your Job! There were many great take-homes from this engaging session, but for the purpose of this blog post, I’m going to concentrate on just one.

Among the success strategies presented for “managing your boss,” the one that stuck out most in my mind was this advice: Be Napoleonic. No, not short and French. Rather, follow Napoleon’s commitment to completed staff work. Apparently, one of Napoleon’s generals was suffering huge losses during the attack of something or other. And he came to Napoleon’s tent to report as much. Napoleon’s answer? What are you going to do about it! You see, Napoleon wanted his staff to bring him solutions, not problems.

Alright, by now you probably know where I’m going with this, but just to be clear . . . don’t just come to your boss with problems. Instead, show them what you can do. Say that a week before a big event, you’re still 15 participants short of the number you’d hoped for. Rather than simply letting your boss know you’re screwed, tell her what the problem is, what steps you’ve already taken, who you’ve reached out, where you’re continuing to publicize the event, and what your plan is going forward. Bien?

What Not To Wear

I'm too often shocked by the young woman who show up for career advising meetings (and who knows what else) either dressed as bums, or wearing totally risque, suggestive, and ill-fitting outfits.  I fear for these  girls, who I'm afraid may not have caught the underlying subtext in my cautionary plea to wear something "professional and modest" to the interview.  Of course, a small part of me goes out to these ladies who might just want to be comfortable and/or show off some style (if you can call it that).  When I was a small child I would throw mini-tantrums at the thought of wearing uncomfortable shoes, skirts, and tights, while my brother got away with little more than pants and a polo.  And truthfully, the injustice of it all stills gets me today.  Yet the reality for us women is, stockings, heels, and Ann Taylor pantsuits, not this type of trendy attire or sweatpants, are necessary if you want to be hired or taken seriously in most professions.

#killthecoverletter

Reports of recent attempts to circumvent the traditional resume and cover letter route may be greeted with a sigh of relief by some students and job seekers, yet I wonder if this is truly to the advantage of either the applicant or the employer.  A cover letter serves many purposes.  It allows the job seekers to fill in the gaps, mention relevant experiences that don't belong on the resume (i.e. coursework or shadowing experiences) and serves as a valuable writing sample.  Additionally, it proves your interest and qualifications for a job's specific duties in a way a tweet cannot - and it allows the employer to decipher your actual level of interest.  Fact of the matter is, a well-written cover letter takes time and consideration in a way that a tweet just does not.  I can just imagine hiring managers shaking in their boots at the prospect of receiving thousands of 140-word job applications that lack much of any substantive information.

That being said, I think their is a future in non-traditional cover letters, specifically online videos or posts that contain the same general message as a cover letter (why it's in the best interest of the employer to hire you).  But more on that in another post . . .

Tip #1: Do Not Text the Hiring Manager

Ever.  You've heard it before, but here it is again: texts are not a professional form of communication. Please, please, do not text the hiring manager or, for that matter, anyone who is assisting you in your job search process.