There’s a host of possible career options for every person, no matter what they bring to the table. The key is to look beyond the obvious and map out a variety of alternative career paths that will motivate and inspire you. You also need firm goals and a focused, tactical plan of action, plus a creative networking approach. In fact, networking is now a factor for 85% of job-seekers in finding a job.
The problem is most people struggle with doing all of this, even if they know how.
This is where I make the difference.
I can work directly with you (the young adult), or I can be retained by your parents to work with you. In the latter, I will integrate regular Parent Update sessions in the process, to answer any questions they may have without violating any confidences you may have shared with me.
Before we get started, I hold a readiness or “fit” meeting with you. The purpose of this meeting is two-fold:
Once this is done and we both know what to expect from the program, I will guide you through my proven methodology, with intensive, personalized, 1:1 hands-on direction and support over 3 months. You will learn to step out of your comfort zone and find the job that will springboard your career.
Having a college/university degree is not enough to differentiate you in today’s job market. Through exploratory discussions, we will bring to light your unique qualities, experiences and interests that you can leverage to find, and land, the "right fit" job opportunity.
We start by identifying the type of job, working conditions, and company you’d like to work in. We then explore your options: we always need a Plan A, B and C in action. For each plan, we identify many different stepping-stone directions—work, education, or a combination of both. We evaluate and prioritize them all.
Resumés are a definite “must” but, on average, prospective employers look at them for no more than 3 minutes, max! That means yours needs to be clear, concise and easy to read. Cover letters, on the other hand, typically garner more attention, so they need to be customized for each job application for maximum impact to pick you out of the crowd.
When I ask young adults about their network, many times they say: “I don’t know anybody.” Not true! Never true! Evaluating the personal touch-points in your life will always elicit a long and effective contact list for networking. You just need to be courageous, think creatively, and stretch yourself in your outreach to people.
No question, this is the most frightening part of the process. Connecting with people to get information is outside most everyone’s comfort zone. Learning how to send a properly written email, to ask questions in a networking interview, to listen, to know when and how to follow-up—these are just some of the critical skills you need to develop to capitalize on the power of networking.
This part of the process is not easy, comfortable or fun. If one approach is sluggish, we move to another and then to another. We work with multiple and often concurrent strategies. We may change our focus, our outreach strategy, deepen our network… the options are endless. Staying vigilant, keeping active in your outreach, and continuing to push on different courses of action are the keys to your success.
This is an exciting step! Interview preparation and personal presentation are critical for you to feel confident and be yourself in an interview. As you prepare for your interview, though, you need to continue to maintain the other activities in your job-search process. An interview is not a job offer, so you very much need to keep all of your balls in the air.
Celebrate! You deserve it! You found this job on your own, even if you had some guidance along the way. Once the celebration is over, you need to complete the final step of the process: keeping your network alive. On a go-forward basis after working with me, you'll have nothing to fear when you need to look for a job again (which is very likely). You will know what to do.
