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Mapping a Summer Plan

Whether your summer begins May 7th , June 4th or June 25th, the landslide of summer workers/participants will hit in full force.  You need to be prepared to submit applications and do interviews before everyone else.  So work backwards.  Identify your target date for starting work and work backward with your plan.  You will need time for interviews, phone calls, application completion, Internet or local searches and networking.  That means you start now mapping a summer plan.

There are some terrific web tools for identifying summer employers as well as tips for effective interviews.  Here are just a few:

www.quintcareers.com                Great for searching College Internship Opportunities

www.getthatgig.com                     Opportunities for students 16-21 years

www.teenjobsection.com          Interactive map of opportunities across the country

www.snagajob.com                       Getting and making the most of your job

The important thing about starting now is you begin looking at the opportunities.  And opportunities do not apply only to work.  Opportunities may refer to athletic team participation, experiences or internships.  What would you like to do?  Are there jobs/opportunities you are particularly interested in doing and things you just would not consider?  What transportation barriers exist or what options are available if a good opportunity presents itself?  How many hours a day will you be available to work/play/volunteer?  Is summer class part of the equation when figuring schedules for work?  Different employers will embrace your availability as a summer worker and as a student working to get ahead.  Others may find value in your performance and embrace the opportunity that you may be available for the next few seasons.  The here and now impacts tomorrow!

By starting your search now, you have some time to explore options and activate a network.  Just like business people network to expand and strengthen their own client base, students can network to find great summer opportunities through parents, relatives and family friends.  Now is the time to get started!

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4 Considerations to Evaluate Your Needs

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ”  – Mark Twain

Whether you are a high school student or a college student, you are on a path that can provide enormous opportunity and create background experiences that set you up for success.  So, as part of the plan, begin by evaluating your needs.

As a student, there are four “needs” to consider when planning your summer.  Keep in mind, your plan may include parallel paths to meet these needs.

1. Financial Need – Do you need to make money for spending cash or are you in need of making money to be able to make expenses when you return to school?  Do you need to make money to pay for college?  If “financial need” is a primary concern for your summer, then getting started on your pursuit of summer employment is an immediate need given the competition that will be out there.

2. Experience Need – Experience presents itself in many forms.  It can be an internship, externship, or participation with an organization.  Internships may be with or without pay, but the big payoff is experience with a company that can build toward future employment with them or at least the benefit of learning what you do or don’t want to do in your future.  Participation with an organization may be in the form of an athletic team that helps you build skills and stats toward college or professional opportunities.  Either way, the experience is your primary need and may result in a great reference.

3. Volunteer Need – This one is of particular importance to high school students but should not be dismissed by the college student.  Volunteering speaks to your character.  Many high schools require community service as part of their graduation requirements.  Universities look at volunteerism as one element of consideration when admitting students.  Companies look at your community service as an outreach and a positive extension of their own business.  Assess your schedule and your need to increase volunteer capacity.

4. Education Need – Do you need to take summer courses?  Does your graduation date indicate that you are on track with completing your diploma or degree on-time?  Do you want to get ahead on your timeline?  Assessing your summer needs for education is something that needs to be done now so that you do not miss a course enrollment deadline.

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Addressing Trends of Need

Throughout the year I try to address topics that are pertinent to the trends of people with whom I work while addressing issues that I think are important in general to all who are looking at career decisions.  There are two comments and a question I want to address as we enter the week of Thanksgiving.

Comment #1 – Community Service is an important part of the “Total Student Package” that I talk about, but it is also an important part of our strength as a nation.  I want to say thank you to all of the students who are giving back to their communities through volunteer efforts at food banks, shelters, camps, food drives, community clean ups, or the multitude of other forms of community service.  Thank you as well to all who give back and address the needs of others.

Comment #2 – Thank you for the many ways in which you have supported my Blog and employed me to work with you or your student to define a college or career path.  I am honored to have the opportunity and grateful for your trust.

Question – In an effort to address your trend of needs as I plan the topics ahead in 2012, what questions do you have that you would like me to address through a blog? Click here to submit your questions.

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Careers, Trends and Timelines

I started the month by talking about the importance of students paying attention while they are in middle school and high school to the occupations that currently exist. Family discussions might initiate from careers in the news or people around you in daily life that spark an interest with the student.  I also talk frequently about the importance of career exploration, career shadow experiences and internships.

This week, I want you to take action!  Click here to follow the link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics interactive website for students and career exploration.  You’ll find information that is organized by subject areas associated with school curriculum as well as descriptions of career paths, occupational outlooks through 2018 and careers related to those you originally selected but perhaps hadn’t given consideration.  It’s a great tool and one I hope you will bookmark!

Remember, it is never too early to start exploring.  The more you do, the better equipped you will be to make decisions about your own career path and create an opportunity for increased satisfaction and success.

 

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Exploring Career Tracks

So frequently when I do presentations for schools or organizations, I get asked, “When should we start thinking about careers?”  My answer is always, “The sooner the better.”  You see, it’s not that you have to decide what you want to do “when you grow up” but rather you need to explore the possibilities and experience the things you want to learn more about or discover things you really hope you never have to do again in your life!  How can you use your natural abilities, passions, interests and skills now to set yourself up for success?

One of my messages is get out there and get those internship/externship experiences.  Click here to check out just one example of some terrific high school students getting great experiences through a wonderful program.  These guys are going to be prepared for college admissions, to declare a major and to make dreams happen!  There is an old saying, ” There are three kinds of people, those who watch what happens, those who make things happen, and those who wonder what happened.”  Which one are you?

If you are a high school student, what have you done to explore your possibilities?  Need help?      Contact me.

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Professional Development and College Students

I had lunch recently with a dear friend to catch up on life, kids and work.  As we finished and opened our fortune cookies, she read hers, smiled and handed it to me saying I could use it.   The fortune read, “Doing what you like is freedom.  Liking what you do is happiness.”  She so hit the target for this week’s message to college students and the message I try to convey to everyone I work with from middle school to retirement.  Life is way too short to not enjoy what you do as your life’s work.

Just as I said last week that professional development applies to high school students, it also applies to college students.  We as adults have just been trained to believe it only applies after you get into a profession.  However, all of the arrows for job acquisition today point to preparation and positioning.  That includes anything you can do to professionally prepare or develop yourself.  You cannot afford to wait and let someone else do it or provide it for you.  What have you done to take responsibility for your own development aside from getting admitted to college and declaring a major area of study?

What does your Internship opportunity look like?  Is it part of your degree program?   Are you required to adhere to the planned Internship or can you create your own and get it approved through your advising committee?  Remember, you don’t have to wait for the Internship as provided through a program.   You can take action!

Take action by investigating businesses or firms in your area that could offer opportunities for you to learn more about an industry of interest to you.  Contact the Human Resources department and inquire about job shadowing.  Get your foot in the door!  If you like the experience, establish a relationship with your contact and work toward developing an internship experience that is unpaid if a part time position is not available.  The point is to gain experience and learn the kinds of work and environments that you find satisfying, stimulating and enjoyable.  Life is way too short not to be happy doing what you enjoy!

Internships also have the capacity to create interest in you by the company and especially if you developed the experience!   You will appear eager, engaged and willing to put in the effort to learn and further your own development as well as that of the company.  The greatest percentage of students hired as they graduated from colleges recently were hired through Internship experiences.  Knowing that, doesn’t it make sense to be proactive and start investing in your own Professional Development?

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Career Trends and Forward Thinking

Back in January, I posted a blog, Paying Attention to the Trends.  I addressed the importance of paying attention to your career path and the occupational outlook in different sectors.  That outlook is based on how society and the culture of work has changed and will change over the next decade.  Did you follow the link within the blog to a great resource?

People like Peter Drucker were masters of understanding how organizations change, manage change and should prepare for change.  While most of the population could not have predicted or even anticipated the economic and employment changes we have seen in the last five years, we can learn from it and be smarter in our plans going forward.  That’s why we pay attention to the trends.

Ten years ago, in his book, Managing in the Next Society,Peter Drucker said, “A century ago, the overwhelming majority of people in developed countries worked with their hands: on farms, in domestic service, in small craft shops, and (at that time still a minority) in factories.  Fifty years later, the proportion of manual workers in the American labor force had dropped to around half, but factory workers had become the largest single section of the workforce, making up 35 percent of the total.  Now, another fifty years later, fewer than a quarter of American workers make their living from manual jobs…..Knowledge has become the key resource.”

If knowledge is the key resource, then being educated is vital and being educated is more than just achieving a degree in an area of study that seems to be a good idea.  I get contacted frequently by young adults who have completed a college education only to realize they either dislike their chosen field or can’t get work and see no hope in the future.  So how can you get on a better track or guard against a career mismatch and thousands of dollars invested in something you really don’t like or with limited career opportunities?

  1. Pay attention to trends across media by reading articles like, Job Market Picks Up for Graduates, in the Wall Street Journal or Hiring in US Slowed in May with 54000 Jobs Added, in the New York Times. While these papers are presenting different perspectives, there are trends that are apparent.
  2. Tag websites that report meaningful data like the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook and monitor them quarterly.
  3. Make a reasonable investment up front in a career professional to help you set a course for success and save thousands in the long run.   Contact me.  I can help you identify the right career direction for you, write a plan for success and monitor your efforts along with the trends.  (scrolling your mouse over any of the highlighted areas within this blog will take you directly to the link)

You can be “forward thinking” much the way Peter Drucker encouraged all of us to look at life and try to predict our futures 50 years out and imagine how our careers might evolve.  You can take action by following these three recommendations.  Or you can invest your time and your dollars ineffectively and like so many others, wonder what happened.

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Investing Time is Elementary

If you’ve been in an elementary classroom in the last twenty years because you are that young, you have children or are an educator, you might have heard a teacher say, ”Ask three before me.”  They are encouraging the students to ask their peers their questions before asking the teacher.  It serves multiple purposes.  Research has proven that peer instruction is highly effective.  It also provides the teacher more time for uninterrupted small group instruction.  Now you are probably asking yourself, why are we talking about elementary classroom instruction?  Because the concept of “Asking Three” is a great way to learn more about a career path.

We hear a lot about the financial investment of college or technical programs, but we don’t hear a lot about the investment of time.  Internships provide time and experience in learning about a profession, but you can improve on that process by asking questions up front and long before an internship might be available.

Try this as a rule of thumb….Ask Three.  Identify three individuals who are currently working in a field that you have interest.  Contact them and ask if you can have a 15 minute interview with them as part of your career exploration.   People in general like to talk about their work, so start with these questions and see where they lead:

  • Why did you choose this profession?
  • What do you like best about your work?
  • What do you like least?
  • What would you change?
  • What is it about you that makes you good at your work?

Investing some time up front helps to narrow the path and increase your own satisfaction in the process.   It’s elementary, but it works!  Need more help in identifying the path?  Call me or write to marla@marlabrady.com.

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Evaluate Your Needs

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.  The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one.”  –  Mark Twain

This quote rings true with me each time I hear someone ask, “Where do I start?”  My response is always, “Break it down.”  Unfortunately, that’s where a lot of people break down.  They have a fleeting idea of a goal; an immediate reaction to how to get there, and then an impulse act that they hope will bring about the end result they originally imagined.  Creating that successful summer experience requires that you have a plan though, not just an act of impulse.  Whether you are a high school student or a college student, you are on a path that can provide enormous opportunity and create background experiences that set you up for success.  So, as part of the plan, begin by evaluating your needs.

As a student, there are four “needs” to consider when planning your summer.  Keep in mind, your plan may include parallel paths to meet these needs.

1. Financial Need – Do you need to make money for spending cash or are you in need of making money to be able to make expenses when you return to school?  Do you need to make money to pay for college?  If “financial need” is a primary concern for your summer, then getting started on your pursuit of summer employment is immediate and last week’s blog included some informative and helpful websites for that search.

2. Experience Need – Experience presents itself in many forms.  It can be an internship, externship, or participation with an organization.  Internships may be with or without pay, but the big payoff is experience with a company that can build toward future employment with them or at least the benefit of learning what you do or don’t want to do in your future.  Participation with an organization may be in the form of an athletic team and building skills and stats toward college or professional opportunities.  Either way, the experience is your primary need.

3. Volunteer Need – This one is of particular importance to high school students but should not be dismissed by the college student.  Volunteering speaks to your character.  Many high schools require community service as part of their graduation requirements.  Universities look at volunteerism as one element of consideration when admitting students.  Companies look at your community involvement as commitment, community outreach and opportunities to be seen as a positive extension of their own business.  Assess your schedule and your need to increase your volunteer capacity.

4. Education Need – Do you need to take summer courses?  Does your graduation date indicate that you are on track with completing your diploma or degree on-time?  Do you want to get ahead on your timeline?  Assessing your summer needs for education requires that you know where you are today in your plan, seeing the end-date, and working backward on the calendar to ensure an on-time completion.

With these four identified needs, evaluating your potential summer activities now becomes more focused and allows you to take the steps essential to creating great opportunities.  Your path may be consumed by one of these “Needs” or you may be able to combine paths if you have multiple needs and a schedule that will accomodate.  Either way, by planning now you can design a unique opportunity setting yourself up for future success.

Remember, ” The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks…”  Need help breaking it down?  Contact me.

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Get Started on Your Summer Plan

When I talk with people about their plans for their future, I get the range of reactions from “deer in the headlights” to totally engaged and “I know where I want to go.”  But it is no surprise.  We are all wired with different “Time Frame Orientations,” as identified through the Highlands Ability Battery. Some people are naturally better at completion of tasks within a 6 month time frame while others are naturally better with longer time frames of a year to five years.  Either way, for college and high school students who are thinking about summer employment or participation with organizations, the clock is ticking and it is time for a plan.  You know I am all about “The Plan.”

Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will focus on high school and college students and the considerations, time frames and helpful hints for summer employment/opportunities.  With a job market as tight as currently exists, you need to have a plan and be ahead of the competition.  Today, we start mapping the plan.

Whether your summer begins May 1st, June 1st or June 20th given extended calendars for weather make-up days, the landslide of summer workers/participants will hit in full force.  You need to be prepared to submit applications and do interviews before everyone else.  So work backwards.  Identify your target date for starting work and work backward with your plan.  You will need time for interviews, phone calls, application completion, Internet or local searches and networking.  That means you start now!

There are some terrific web tools for identifying summer employers as well as tips for effective interviews.  Here are just a few:

www.quintcareers.com                Great for searching College Internship Opportunities

www.getthatgig.com                     Opportunities for students 16-21 years

www.teenjobsection.com          Interactive map of opportunities across the country

www.snagajob.com                       Getting and making the most of your job

The important thing about starting now is you begin looking at the opportunities.  And opportunities do not apply only to work.  Opportunities may refer to athletic team participation,  experiences or internships.  What would you like to do?  Are there jobs/opportunities you are particularly interested in doing and things you just would not consider?  What transportation barriers exist or what options are available if a good opportunity presents itself?  How many hours a day will you be available to work/play/volunteer?  Is summer class part of the equation when figuring schedules for work?  Different employers will embrace your availability as a summer worker and as a student working to get ahead.  Others may find value in your performance and embrace the opportunity that you may be available for the next few seasons.  The here and now impacts tomorrow!

By starting your search now, you have some time to explore options and activate a network.  Yes, activate your network!  Just like business people network to expand and strengthen their own client base, students can network to find great summer opportunities through parents, relatives and family friends.  Now is the time to get started!   Define the plan!