In addition to being managers and executives, many of my corporate clients also happen to be parents. If they are not only parents but parents of college-aged kids or recent college graduates, what with the number of unemployed college graduates hitting historical highs these days, they can also, on occasion, be… kinda stressed out.
Which is bad: stressed out parents can mean stressed out kids, and stressed out kids (read: job searchers) don’t get hired when it’s a “buyer’s market.”
I can’t change the economy, but I can do something to help parents support their college graduates more effectively, so I have. I’ve put together this video series for parents to help them understand how best to help their kids with the job search. My hope is to help you alleviate some of the stress that job search process is probably bringing to you and your kids by providing some concrete tips. Let me know if it helps!
What’s Wrong with My Kid?! The Neighbor’s Is Working and He’s Not Half As Bright/Special/Talented As Mine!
Nothing’s wrong with your college grad. Getting a job is a process and we all master it in our own sweet time. The only difference with this particular process is that because there’s a paycheck associated with its successful completion (as opposed to a grade, driver’s license, or spot on sports team, say), there’s a lot more pressure to get through it FAST. So let’s go:
10 Steps to Getting Your College Grad a Job
1. Help them understand their value to employers.
The #1 mistake new grads make? They don’t know how to sell themselves to an employer. Here’s what they need to know from you:
2. Help them understand what it means to work for someone else.
It’s not about selling your soul to work for “The Man,” it’s about understanding that the world is a crowded place where independence is a state of mind, not a state of being. Even if you don’t have a “boss,” you still answer to customers, financiers, employees, etc.!
3. Open doors for them, but help them learn to network, too.
Possibly the #1 mistake parents make? Throwing a phone at their kids and expecting them to know how to use it. There’s more to networking than having a phone number! Help your graduate build quality relationships by walking him/her through a networking conversation:
4. Help your grad chillax.
Your offspring’s first job probably won’t be a perfect one… so what? Repeat after me: “No big deal!” There is a broad spectrum of opportunity between “holding out for the perfect job” and “grabbing the first thing that comes my way out of sheer desperation.” Help your graduate get close, and then help him or her understand how to actively make that job as great as possible.
5. Be supportive—as defined by your college graduate.
There’s a world of difference between “well-intended” and “truly helpful”… during stressful times, when we tend to get lost in our own heads, it’s good to be reminded of how to tell those two things apart. (Never saw/read Misery? IMDb is your friend!) Here y’are:
6. Get additional resources to help your graduate hone those job skills.
It’s been a long time since you’ve been entry level… so if there are aspects of the job you can no longer relate to, consider signing your graduate up for Found Your Career, a 21-day course designed to help entry level job seekers learn and practice things like researching, networking, and interviewing. This product was a collaboration between myself and Willy Franzen of One Day, One Job… check it out!
7. Help your graduate set realistic job search goals.
Goal setting is where attitude and action meet. Getting started and avoiding the 3 false gods of goal setting can be tricky… Here’s a good place to start:
8. Attitude
Success starts with your attitude. It sounds trite, but it’s true… you probably know from your years of experience that while the right attitude doesn’t guarantee success, a bad attitude all but guarantees failure. Still, your kid—who’s in a hurry to act now! now! now!—may not have the patience to cultivate a winner’s attitude. With empathy and a smile, you can help set a better tone:
9. Research.
Look for a job the right way, and the search itself creates the job opportunity. Have your college grad check out One Day, One Job for great insights on companies and about how to approach the job search:
10. Interviewing.
The best way to practice for that big interview? Always be interviewing! The added bonus of this approach is that, when you find yourself talking with someone who can help you, you won’t suddenly be remorseful about your decision a moment earlier to pick your nose.
What More You Can Do to Help Your College Grad
The world right now needs as many success stories as we can create… I hope this post helps you turn your home into one more!
Photo Credit: Got Jobs – Flickr user AdobeMac
Photo Credit: Overprotective Parents – Flickr user Carl Smith
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I watched these vinettes and I was impressed. Get these in front of the mass media, I would love to see these on TV.
To be honest the thought of working for an employer really seems to push my buttons, What I mean is I can’t stand taking orders from some-one like a line manager or supervisor. Plus I don’t like the thought of being pigeon-holed into a role. It’s like i’m a peg trying to fit a square-round hole. Actually I’m a serial job-hopper as soon as one job bores me i’m off, the thought of being a corporate slave doesn’t really interest me and that’s what finding a job means to me, could be why i’m still unemployed.
Hey Mom,
I came across this website today and thought of you! I can’t watch the videos on my computer because the sound doesn’t work but maybe if you have a free moment, you could watch one or two of them and tell me what you think!
I am not a parent or anything. I’m the kid. I wish my mom can watch this and stop stressing me out. But seriously, “cheap and hardworking” defines me. Good stuff~ I’m not sure if the actual course is a good one but out of desperation I might actually enroll and u are probably going to earn a customer~
As a Monday morning quarterback, I would say that parents might want to whisper in their kid’s ears while they are still in college. Bring up networking, resume-building, getting experience before graduation so that they might have some prospects before they even throw their caps in the air. http://www.collegejobbank.com/articles/can-2009-college-graduates-find-jobs-4119-article.html
If you don’t find yourself or your offspring in that position though, I agree with Jason’s advice. Always be networking, always be interviewing, always be job-seeking. Consider the job-search your current full-time job…..don’t look at it as a trudge off to the coal mines, see it as your full-time job where you are your own boss, in charge of your own destiny. If you want to be successful you’ll get up, get out there, research, discuss, and take your daily experiences to make yourself better. The more you search for a job, the better you get at it. The end result = the job.
Phenomenal! My daughter just graduated from an Ivy league and does not have a job. She sent this to me! Making sure she reads it.
I am an executive recruiter and these are all of the things I have been telling her. RESEARCH and then use that info to NETWORK and make calls. The kids don’t realize that applying on line is like you said-standing in a crowd of thousands. A resume, how they present it (info in cover letter about company, specifics about company, etc) and how they follow up-make them STAND OUT and be seen.
I am going to look into your group and see what else you offer and definitely pass on to other people.
This is by far one of the most useful collection of advice for a recent graduate (re: me). Very engaging and motivational. Thank you!
i like food
What parents of recent college grads don’t realize is how greatly the economic landscape has changed since they were young. A college degree no longer guarantees any type of employment. College is, and always has been, a vehicle for sustaining the lifestyle of the middle class in America. But because of big time corporate greed and corruption behind the scenes, a large percentage of the middle class is steadily slipping into poverty because millionaires wanted to become billionaires.
The job market for recent college grads is so bad right now. The job market is even worse for my demographic as a 25-28 year old fresh-out-of-college minority male. I actually envy guys locked up behind bars. At least prison inmates are guaranteed three hot meals and a cot everyday. My whole family is broke that we might be starving out in the streets in a few months. Prison inmates also live work free lives and don’t have to worry about making tons of money to attract beautiful but evil trophy women who really want them anyway.
@NWO—You’re losing hope. You’ve begun to externalize the source of your problems… that’s bad. It makes you incapable of solving them and creates a dead-end path for yourself. Consider this:
1. College has not always been a way of sustaining the middle class. It was for awhile, and then, only recently. It’s evolution is not over.
2. Yes, big time corporate greed and corruption exist, but don’t you dare suggest that wealthy people and corrupt people are all the same people. They’re not. There are plenty of poor swindlers, and plenty of generous millionaires. And one day, when you’ve worked through this mess and are sitting on a pile of cash yourself—which you can do—I think you’ll feel good about having earned your money, and won’t take kindly to strangers judging you poorly by your bank account.
3. The job market for your demo is harsh… no question. You really think incarceration is an enviable alternative? You’re kidding, right? You are not seriously thinking that jail is a good alternative, are you? Please say NO.
4. I know some wealthy men. I also know men of meager means. What I’ve learned: marital problems transcend both looks and wealth.
NWO, my suggestion to you: less time hating, more time planning your own future. There is a way forward, and you will find it… but only if you keep your attention focused and don’t allow it to drift to a place where you start imagining the world as a great big ball of enemies.
Keep your head, NWO. Please.
Hi Jason, as a coach I couldn’t agree more with your last comment. I see many clients who have lots of reasons why their life is the way it is and as you say it’s external to them. A good coach will help people see that their limiting beliefs about the world are just that – limiting beliefs that are not based on true facts and evidence but on our own skewed perceptions of the world around us (we are all guilty of this). By believing things are against us we waste our time, effort and resources on giving up our control and freedom. Where is the freedom and happiness in prison?
If you believe the world is corrupt then you will look for it until you find it and make it true; missing all the good stuff that’s out there to be enjoyed! I figure that choosing our beliefs is something that we have complete control over so you might as well pick some beliefs that make you feel good and help you get what you want in your life. Why would you want to do anything else? But if you’re having trouble you can always change them in 2min! http://www.virtuallyperfect.org/Virtually_Perfect_Limited/NLP_Videos.html
A great series for the New Year and very pertinent to the current climate – keep them coming!
The secret to getting the job of a lifetime? Simple; match your unique selling point to the employer’s unique buying point! Most people start the other way around by trying to sell their skills and experience. What you need to do is research what THEY want rather than what you have to offer. Understand what their need is and then package your transferable skills to match it. The better you match and present/communicate this to your potential employer, the more likely you will get the job.