Millenial Angst Cured!
You are young, worried and depressed.
You finished college and have your degree. You worked your butt off for it and now have no idea what to do next.
Or you didn’t go to college and you have no idea how to get your adult life really up and rolling.
The job market keeps changing.
It seems like there is a secret success club with secret languages and handshakes and you have not been initiated.
But you NEED to be initiated to make your way in this world.
Worse, you have not told anyone that you are lost. They assume you know what to do and where to begin.
But you don’t. And you are all alone.
Is this normal?
Recently I have talked to many kids who are worried to death because they have no clue how to go about getting a job that will support them, despite having an education.
To add to this worry, many of these kids have not yet decided exactly what job they want or can get. They have no idea what is out there and available for someone with their skills and experience.
According to a recent article, 36% of post college kids are living with their parents.
So you are not alone.
There has been much discussion about why this is so. While listening to the radio today, I heard a talk show host go on about how “Today’s Youth” are lazy, spoiled and entitled. This, he asserted, was the reason.
That is a lazy, uneducated and frankly, idiotic statement for two reasons:
First off, It is a generality.
Exactly what kid or kids are “Today’s Youth?” I have met many young individuals and none of them answered to the name “Today’s Youth”.
The individuals I have met were anxious to start their lives in whatever capacity but simply did not know how.
Secondly, I heard individuals in my parents’ generation saying that exact same thing.
“Today’s Youth” is the nameless, faceless and ghostly figment of someone’s imagination that haunts young adults at almost every point in history.
This sweeping generality was incorrect then and it is incorrect now.
The real truth is that the world has changed so fast that new jobs rise up and disappear in a matter of months.
Gone are the days when you learned a skill and your schooling would last you until your retirement. Heck! most people don’t even get any retirement any more.
In our parents’ generation they didn’t have computers. Computers were just starting out and they were too big and expensive for consumers to use.
Pocket calculators, when they finally came out, cost several hundred dollars each so kids had to drill the heck out of their arithmetic time tables so they could make every day calculations that we now make on our Iphones.
The rate of change moved at a snail’s pace compared to where we are now. Most of our parents learned a skill and it carried them through their entire career then they retired comfortably.
This is no longer true. In order to survive in today’s environment, you have to be able to learn quickly and think on your feet.
You have to be able and willing to find stuff out.
Happily, we have the internet which gives us all the information we need at the touch of a fingertip.
Most colleges, from what I personally have seen, are way behind, especially in the technical fields. Unless you get a real go getter instructor, you start out woefully unprepared for real life employment.
The instructors who teach at the schools got their degrees years ago and, except for some fields, their skills are not the same skills that are needed today.
Many kids were told that once they got their degree, getting a job would be easy. Today they are having difficulty. But there are jobs available. What is the real reason they cannot find work?
The real reason is that they simply do not know what is expected, needed and wanted from a prospective employer.
First let’s look at what a college degree tells your perspective employer.
It is a piece of paper that shows that you made it through however many years of college and completed study in a particular area.
It does not tell him that you have people skills, that you can think on your feet or that you can really handle responsibility.
It does not tell him that you are a go getter, that you arrive on time and do whatever you need to do to get the job done. It does not tell him that you can be trusted with keys to the office and access to finances.
He does not know whether he can confidently put his business, which he many times built from the ground up, in your hands.
Many degree requirements do not adequately prepare a young person to handle themselves in the job market.
If you cannot handle yourself there, you will never get the opportunity to show and use your other skills.
So what do we do with this situation?
1. Start your search by finding out what jobs exist in your areas of expertise and interest.
The jobs you may have wanted when you started college may not exist now.
Many companies have job boards posted on their websites. Take a look. If you don’t know what a job title means, Google it and find out.
You may be surprised to find that the skills you learned in school may be applicable to a job you have never heard of.
If you cannot find a job that requires your skill set, pick the job you think you might like to do.
Go online and find out exactly what skills are required and set about getting those skills. You probably don’t need to go back to college.
You can find so much great information for free online. There are online courses that give you exactly what you need without a lot of extra stuff thrown in.
Take a few weeks and upgrade your skills so that you have the exact skills needed for the job you want.
2. Complete your resume
There are many online services to help you. Make sure you buy quality paper to print it out on.
You want the resume to represent you and quality paper shows you have respect for yourself and pay attention to important details.
Then call or email and set up an interview.
3. The Interview
Dress for Success!
I know it is trite but it bears repeating because many times people new to the job market are not aware how much a first impression counts.
Schools used to have dress codes but from what I have seen, as long as you show up with your personal parts covered, anything goes.
This is NOT true in the work place.
4. How do I know what to wear?
My advice is keep it simple. For women, a white blouse and black pants, and a black or neutral jacket is great.
Wear nice shoes (no sneakers) make your hair look neat and pin it back if it is completely wild. Do not wear revealing clothes. Put on some light make up and you will rock the office.
For men, slacks with a collared shirt and a tie are great. If you have a jacket, wear that too. Again choose nice shoes and make sure they match your pants and belt.
Make sure you are clean and smell nice but avoid overpowering perfume or cologne.
Once you land the job, look at what the executives are wearing and dress like them. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. There are discount stores that sell professional clothes. Invest a little time and money to shop wisely.
5. How do I prepare?
Business owners look for employees who take the initiative to find out what they need to learn and then learn it thoroughly on their own time.
This may sound unreasonable to some but if you show up to an interview having done your homework, you will impress the person interviewing you.
Before your interview, find out everything you can about that company, what the job itself requires and get started learning it.
Impress your future boss with your willingness to learn and show what an asset you will be.
Additionally, if you come into an interview with knowledge, you will be way more confident.
Knowledge is power. Get it and use it!
Have a parent or friend, preferably a business owner do a mock interview with you and practice being interviewed. This is a huge leg up you will have on your competition.
And show up ON TIME or a bit early!
6. How is my communication?
When you sit down in front of a future employer, do you fidget? Do you fail to listen to exactly what he or she is saying to you and respond appropriately? Do you interrupt the person when they are talking or talk over them? Do you look everywhere but at them?
These are all interview-killers. “People skills” are really communication skills and there are a few rules to follow:
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Give the person speaking your attention.
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Listen to what the person is saying and really understand it.
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Respond with an acknowledgement that is appropriate.
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Originate communication of your own but keep it on topic.
Allow the other person their opinion. Don’t talk politics or religion. If the interviewer brings up an uncomfortable topic, become adept at steering the communication away. (How about those Giants? Wow! What a season!)
If the other person has poor communication skills, don’t point that out to them but take note. If you have a boss that you cannot communicate with, that could be a problem in the future.
Communication is a skill. It is THE most important skill you have. If you have bad or no communication skills, practice the above steps. If you still have trouble, go online and find the answer.
Bad communication is the hidden life killer. If you don’t use every one of the steps above like an expert, you will piss people off and neither of you will know exactly why.
7. How do I follow up?
The day after your interview, send a nice note to your prospective boss letting him or her know that you appreciate the time they took to interview you, how impressed you are with the company and how much you would enjoy working with that person.
Understand too that if you have a goofy or unprofessional voice mail greeting on your phone, you may put your prospective employer off.
If your future employer calls you and has to leave a message, make sure your greeting is cheerful and professional. Record it as many times as you need to to get this right. I can’t stress enough how important this is.
Then return the call quickly to show that you are responsive.
If you don’t hear, wait a few days and call to check in or send an email if the person has given you their email address.
Don’t be pushy or demanding. If you are turned down for that job, be gracious.
The world of business overlaps and you don’t want to burn any bridges. Word gets around.
Now go set up a bunch of interviews. Do these steps on all of them and you will land a job.
It is a numbers game. Every application or request you send increases your chance of getting what you want.
While on the job, remember that technology changes and you need to stay on top of it. Ask your employer about any training they offer.
If there is none, do your own research and find out everything there is to know about your field.
This will make you a very valuable asset to the company and secure your future.
Keep your eyes and ears open and hit the ground running!
Good Luck!!!