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Charles W. McConnell
"Career" is a difficult concept for most college seniors and recent grads to comprehend. Not because the notion is so complex- but because it is more often than not, "a paying job" that graduates are looking for, and not some esoteric, vague concept called a career. In FC Corporation`s counseling experience with recent or soon-to-be grads, we begin the process of focusing individual attention on the differences between a job and a career. And, yes, we often encounter the "glazed eye" syndrome usually reserved for arcane subjects discussed with those old enough to be one`s parents. Because this particular point is critical to what follows, we persevere and draw the distinction as follows: A job is work someone asks you do and for which you get paid. A career also is work you are asked to do, but it is work for which you are qualified, enthused about doing and which promises long term, attractive rewards that go beyond financial payment. Most days in a true career you will find yourself looking forward to going to work and anticipating feeling good about the work experience ahead. We believe a clear understanding of the differences between job and career becomes critical when graduates consider their initial decision between employment options.
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The working world creates decision points immediately upon graduation, decisions that require careful attention. For most people, the day their degree is conferred signals the watershed moment when the adult decision process replaces the consensus process of adolescent decision-making. Individuals now have a real awareness that their futures are in their own hands. Previously, life`s important direction-setting decisions were family affairs, with parents heavily involved, both financially and emotionally. When that mortarboard tassel is flipped over with great flair, the significance of the moment is undeniable. Adulthood has arrived. It`s now time to take the wheel and provide one`s own compass. It`s time to make decisions on your own, important decisions that will impact you for the rest of your life. Now you ask, "What are my options? A job, any job, to pay back my loans (which nationally average in the thousands)? Relocation? Return home to live with family while I decide (forget I suggested that)? Graduate school? Put off the tough decisions and go backpacking in the Rockies?" What`s a graduate to do? Is it any wonder tears of joy and relief combine with tears of fear and anxiety when "pomp and circumstance" echoes across the campus green?
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The magnitude of next step issues facing graduates is potentially debilitating. And the national numbers provided by the U.S. Department of Education in their annual tracking surveys of the status of graduating classes do little to allay the concerns. According to The National Center For Education Statistics, one year following graduation a total of 44 percent of today`s four year college graduates are in jobs that don`t require a degree and 26 percent, by their own admission, in jobs that have zero career potential. What a world! Equally discouraging numbers result when USDE asks graduates if they are working in an area appropriate for their major field of study. To that question, only 39 percent of all graduates respond positively. All this after four incredibly expensive years of mind-expanding preparatory work to gain an advanced education in the graduate`s field of choice-the field felt early on to offer potential for gainful work doing something of compelling, lasting interest. Well, more often than our advanced education system would like to admit, the outcome is not exactly what was planned for graduates! And, the concept of "career" may continue to be as elusive as ever.
So, what action can newly degreed people take to navigate the uncharted waters ahead of them and arrive at a real career? Well, there are nearly as many answers as there are graduates. But, there are time-tested methods that FindCareer.com teaches to avoid delays in getting a career started- and then keep it progressing. In our Program, career development preparation is segmented into five major areas under the banner "Plan for Achievement." Each of the areas requires a great deal of thoughtful self-questioning and effort from each participant:
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1. What Type Of Work Would I Be Good At...Work That Will Match My Goals?Many recent graduates have not stopped to assess what kind of work they would truly like to do. They have spent a great deal of time during their four years in college dealing with the prerequisites leading to graduation. Often, long-range planning goals are limited to the academic and ignore work-a-day-world applications. Internships were viewed as slave labor without a point, missing the reality that there are few better ways to gain experience and relationships that can help in future job searching. Many will openly admit they couldn`t quite get organized in time to take advantage of excellent facilities and counsel available in their college`s office of career services. FindCareer.com understands this problem and begins its program with a series of reality checks: personality trait indicator testing, a review of the kinds of career opportunities that may fit a client, current job hunting goals and status, and an initial plan for career achievement. Now, the stage is set for some real progress, realistically reaching for career opportunities that make sense.
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2. What Do I Have To Offer To An Employer?Many recent grads list their experience and work background in a self-deprecating manner. Just because work has been limited to life-guarding, coaching, camp counseling or mother`s helper positions doesn`t mean that one is lacking in experience of value to a prospective employer. The trick is in how that experience is presented. It has to be made clear how skills from those experiences can add value to a prospective employer`s business. FindCareer.com helps to analyze client achievements, identifying key contributions and how those seemingly modest achievements may be viewed as dynamic success factors of measurable value to an employer. The critical area for attention in a meeting with a prospective employer is your considered restatement of your background in terms of those capabilities that you know his/her business can use.
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3. How Do I Get Hired?Most graduates arrive at this stage of their job-finding quest with few ideas beyond answering ads and looking for job postings in their career services office. Techniques gained here become invaluable- working the net, maximizing interviews in your area of-three-interest with the goal of gathering useable information, scheduling meetings designed primarily to circle and close-in on an opportunity, identifying key decision-making people by name and title, tailoring one`s marketing brochure to address specifics of an opportunity rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Importantly, career hunters must understand that 70 percent of potential job openings are invisible, unadvertised and often unknown even to the organization in need. FindCareer.com helps with the spade-work and counsel needed here, uncovering opportunities and helping prepare for the important correspondence and interview presentation formats that generate interest. Once an introduction is made, the key to success is knowing how to be an active listener - looking for that opening and knowing what to lead with when the opportunity is presented. Of course, the career position offer must be reviewed and negotiated to your advantage - aggressive yet realistic, with a seasoned point of view that most grads haven`t fully developed. FindCareer.com is adept at delivering the right approach to accomplish a win-win situation for both parties.
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4. How Do I Stay Employed?FindCareer.com continues our relationship with clients following the enrollment in our Career Club. This becomes a major point of difference between our program and those available previously to college graduates. We assure that once our clients accept a career position they are prepared to grow within their career employment situation. Of course, the minimally acceptable initial outcome is to gain a strong foothold in your first career spot. But, our goal is to work with clients to achieve the greatest level of long term career success possible, gaining additional training where helpful, accepting additional responsibilities when the timing is right and being on the short list for promotion as opportunities arise.
5. How Can I Continue To Grow In My Career?From the outset, FindCareer.com becomes the trusted, long-term career development resource for our clients. We expect that you will achieve the career success goals identified in your Plan For Achievement. While our role is to provide direction for graduates to locate and secure meaningful initial career positions, we quickly are seen as an integral part of and partner in their search for long range career successes. Training received in the FindCareer.com Program becomes the foundation for future successes and career achievements - and we take pride in following our alums as they rise to positions of leadership in their chosen career fields.
From the earliest moment of our client relationship, our advisors positions themselves as career mentors, the "Dutch Uncles," asking the tough career planning questions and being the advocate for graduates searching for their first meaningful employment. Our program requires a significant amount of soul-searching and difficult introspection. But, our promise is to create a valuable sense of career planning readiness and confidence that can`t be achieved in any other way.
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