Archive for Category: Career Advice
5 Predictions about the Future of Work
Posted in Career Advice Future of Careers on March 9, 2010 at 8:35 am
I always loved the Jetsons. What’s not to love about flying cars, robot maids and cool futuristic outfits like Judy’s?
I admit when I watched the Jetsons I wasn’t paying much attention to where the characters worked or what happened when they got there. But today, I am totally fascinated by predictions about the future of work and careers.
Will we all work from home and go to virtual meetings with our colleagues in Second Life?
Will I be able to give speeches virtually, with a holographic image of me (a la CNN’s Wolf Blitzer during the 2008 presidential election) standing behind a holograph of a podium?
Will people have robot assistants?
To help my thinking and yours on this topic, I’ve been doing a lot of research. Here are some of the most compelling career and workplace predictions I’ve come across. It’s never too early to start thinking about how these trends will impact your own career:
1. You probably won’t work at an office from 9 to 5. More than 100 million people are expected to telecommute to work by the year 2015. This sounds accurate to me. With an increase in contract workers, freelancers, working parents and caretakers of elderly relatives, it makes sense that we’ll increasingly work from everywhere except an office. Source: OfficeTeam’s “Office of the Future: 2020″ study
2. You won’t travel for business. Thanks to better and better teleconferencing technology, faster broadband connections for Skype and 3D virtual reality meetings, you’ll rarely need to get on a plane for a meeting or presentation. (This one can’t happen soon enough for my taste!) Source: BNET Insight
3. Work will be good for your health. Instead of going to the gym at lunchtime, you might spend some of your day at a “walking workstation” and grab an apple from a healthy vending machine. Your office will be more environmentally friendly, too, with recycled office products, live plants and LEED-certified building materials.Source: Generation X, Y & Z Blog
Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…
Tags: Career Advice, future of work
On MyPath.com: What is a Personal Brand and Why Do You Need One?
Posted in Career Advice Generation Y Personal Branding Recommended Resources on February 24, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Come listen in on my conversation with Pete Kistler, the founder of Brand-Yourself.com, who was named one of Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 5 College Entrepreneur of 2009. He joins me to talk about personal branding as it relates to college students and young professionals.
In this podcast, we define personal branding, talk about Pete’s own personal branding process and explain why students and young professionals need to think about your personal brand — especially the image you’re projecting online.
For more on this topic, here are two great new resources that can help you create and enhance all aspects of your personal brand:
PricewaterhouseCoopers Personal Brand Week – a terrific collection of downloadable worksheets to help you create an elevator pitch, express your passion, build a network, promote yourself online and more. PwC is also collecting free personal branding advice on Twitter with the hashtag #pwcpbw.
Student Branding Blog – a new resource expressly designed to help college students with personal branding. This site was created by Dan Schawbel, who also launched the Personal Branding Blog.
Click here to listen to this week’s podcast.
How have you approached personal branding as a student or young professional? As always, I welcome your comments below!
Tags: Career Advice, Personal Branding
4 Ways to Be a More Confident Job Seeker
Posted in Career Advice Job Hunting on February 15, 2010 at 8:35 am
I’ll never forget what my driving instructor said to my mom while we were waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles the morning of my driver’s license test.
“She has the ability to pass. It’s going to come down to whether she thinks she can pass.”
I failed.
My driving instructor was exactly right. I had practiced enough and had the skills and knowledge to get my license. What I was missing was the confidence to actually do it.
I see this same situation all the time with college students and recent grads in the job market. They have the talent, skills and ability to get a job, but they lack the self-confidence it takes to land a position, especially in the ultra-competitive market we’re experiencing right now.
If you’re struggling with self-confidence, here are some tips:
1. Ask for feedback. Recruit a trusted relative, career services staff member, professor or friend to assess you honestly. Often we don’t even realize our strongest assets because they come naturally to us. Ask the person to list your best qualities and most impressive accomplishments. On the flip side, ask for constructive feedback on your weaknesses. Find out if the things you’re most concerned about — lack of experience, a less-than-desirable GPA, shyness, etc. — are legitimate concerns or if you’re obsessing over nothing. If your fears are unfounded, let them go once and for all!
2. Take action on any gaps. If you do determine some important weaknesses, develop a game plan for improving the key skills, knowledge or qualities you’ll need to land the job you want. Take action! Sign up for a coaching session at your career services office, register for an e-course, read a few instructional books or hire a career coach or tutor. Besides gaining the skills you need, you’ll have a great answer to the interview question, “What is your biggest weakness?” You’ll be able to say, “I identified a key weakness and here are the steps I took to overcome it.”
Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…
Tags: Career Advice, Job Hunting, jobs
On MyPath.com: An Interview with Two College Career Services Professionals
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College International Careers Recommended Resources on February 4, 2010 at 6:00 am
What are the major hiring trends on campus this year? What are the best strategies for finding an entry-level job? What are the biggest mistakes students make in the job search process?
To answer these questions and more, I spoke with with Trudy Steinfeld, Executive Director of the Wasserman Center for Career Development at New York University, and Manny Contomanolis, Associate Vice President and Director of Co-op and Career Services at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Don’t miss the opportunity to hear top tips from two of the best career services professionals in the country!
Listen to the podcast interview now.
Tags: Career Advice, career services, jobs
On MyPath.com: Job Opportunities with Women-Owned Businesses
Posted in Career Advice Job Hunting Recommended Resources Women on January 28, 2010 at 9:09 am
I recently came across a study by the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute predicting that about one-third of new jobs created over the next eight years will be at small businesses owned by women.
As a woman small business owner myself, I was really intrigued by this news. It also reminded me that many students and young professionals miss out on great opportunities because they overlook the potential to get a job at a (man- or woman-owned) small business.
In this week’s podcast, I share my thoughts on the opportunities available in small businesses, how to find these opportunities and the pros and cons of working for a smaller organization.
As always, I look forward to your feedback and comments!
Tags: career, job search, MyPath
On MyPath.com: 5 High-Impact Career Habits
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College on January 25, 2010 at 8:00 am
Exercise for 30 minutes a day. Sleep eight hours a night. Floss. Good habits are the building blocks of a healthy life.
The same goes for your career: small daily habits add up to big success. The earlier in your working life you develop smart daily practices, the easier they will be to maintain and the more overall impact they’ll have.
Here are 5 important career habits to cultivate:
1. Keep up with the news. We live in the Information Age, so there’s no excuse for not being informed. Whether you read a news site every morning, watch the headlines on TV or subscribe to a major news outlet’s e-newsletter, you have to know what’s happening in the world. Pay particular attention to any articles relating to your profession. This will give you topics to discuss at networking events, articles to discuss on Twitter and LinkedIn and a base of knowledge to apply to your current and future career decisions. I landed my first job at WorkingWoman.com because I learned about the site from an article in a news magazine!
2. Share. You know those little “Share” icons that appear next to almost every video and blog post these days? Imagine that “Share” button everywhere you look. One of the best ways to maintain a strong professional network is to share articles, job leads, book recommendations, etc. with the people you know. For instance, if you read an article about grad school scholarships, forward it to your friend who is applying to PhD programs. If you come across a video of an interview with Bobby Flay, send the link to your former internship colleague who loves to barbecue. A small, kind, helpful gesture is a great way to keep in touch with people in an authentic, professional way.
Read the rest of this blog post on MyPath.com…
Image: eHow.com
On MyPath.com: 3 Ways to Make 2010 Your Best Career Year
Posted in Career Advice Job Hunting Life Advice Recommended Resources on December 21, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I’ve always loved new beginnings — the first day of a new month, the turning of a new season, even the sunrise of a new day (on the rare occasion I’m up early enough to see it). Of course there is no bigger new beginning than the turning of the calendar to January 1.
This year in particular, the New Year feels like a crucial fresh start. 2009 will go down in the books as one of the hardest years ever for job seekers, especially those looking for entry-level work. If you’ve had a tough time in 2009, or even if it’s been a great year for you, here are some tips for starting 2010 on a successful note.
Out With the Old. To make room for new things in your life (a great job, fresh ideas, more money, a strong network, etc.) you need to get rid of any clutter that is weighing you down. This might include critical people, a job that drains your energy, college junk piled in your closet or self-defeating thoughts like “I’ll never get a job in this economy.” For inspiration, check out two of my favorite resources on the topic of simplifying and decluttering: the Zen Habits Blog and Julie Morgenstern’s book, Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life.
Set Quality (not Quantity) Goals. We all know that New Year’s resolutions are generally forgotten by February. So, instead of making a long list of “rules” for my year, I prefer to declare three to five big goals or priorities. I keep them in a little note file on my computer and on a little card pasted on the inside cover of the notebook I use every day. I peek at my list constantly to remind myself what my priorities are, how I want to spend my time and what opportunities I should not pursue. If you need help clarifying your goals, check out Your Best Year Yet! Ten Questions for Making the Next Twelve Months Your Most Successful Ever.
Read the rest of this blog post on my “College to Career” blog on MyPath.com…
On Green Careers: An Interview with Shari Aaron, co-author of Climb the Green Ladder
Posted in Career Advice Future of Careers Recommended Resources on December 10, 2009 at 12:36 am
As green careers continue to grow in popularity, I’m pleased to share an interview I conducted with Shari Aaron, co-author of Climb the Green Ladder: Make Your Company and Career More Sustainable.
Lindsey: For those who don’t know, what is social entrepreneurship and the “triple bottom line”?
Shari: Sustainability, corporate social responsibility, green, and triple bottom line are all terms that refer to doing business in a way that is more sustainable. These terms refer to taking into account the social, environmental and economic impacts of the way we do business — hence, not just a financial bottom line but a triple bottom line.
There has been a cultural shift in society’s expectations that businesses should work to protect the environment and its people. In fact, 95 percent of CEOs report that businesses must address the social and environmental pressures of society (McKinsey & Co., July 2007) and mounting evidence shows that employees will drive companies’ efforts to address sustainability (MIT Sloan Management Review, Sept 2009).
Social entrepreneurs work both inside of companies and in their own firms to help advance a triple bottom line approach to business and society. If you utilize entrepreneurial talents inside of a company, you can be referred to as a social intrapreneur. The success of social intrapreneurs lies not only in their passion for sustainability, but also in their ability to translate that passion into a great pitch, a solid business plan, and positive, measurable results.
Lindsey: Can you share some examples of sustainable businesses? (more…)
Winter is the New Summer…for Finding Internships
Posted in Career Advice Generation Y Internships Job Hunting Recommended Resources on December 3, 2009 at 6:00 am
This is a guest post from Lauren Porat, co-founder of UrbanInterns.com
As I was perusing the job listings on UrbanInterns.com today, I couldn’t help but note the following excerpts:
- “understand the inner workings of a start-up…”
- “24-hour turn around work during business days…”
- “As the business grows, I will be hiring [full-time]…”
Don’t all of the above sound like summer internships? Wrong. They’re all winter internships with small businesses.
Sure, it’s officially the holiday season, as verified by the number of 30% discounts that are sitting in my gmail account. But that’s the point — businesses are gearing up to finish the year strong, and they need extra sets of hands to help them do that.
So…what types of winter internships are out there? Social media, PR/marketing, blogging, and business development are the top areas we see people hiring for this winter. And this all makes perfect sense. An eMarketer report just came out indicating that small businesses are using social media to market their businesses even more than their big firm counterparts. (more…)
Audio Download: Lindsey interviewed by William Arruda of Reach Personal Branding
Posted in Career Advice Generation Y Recommended Resources on November 20, 2009 at 11:00 am
Many thanks to William Arruda, founder of Reach Personal Branding and author of Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, for interviewing me recently. Our topic was “Getting from College to Career in Tough Times” and here is an overview of the topics we covered:
- Why careers for Gen Y are fundamentally different than previous generations’ careers
- How college students and recent grads can avoid the biggest mistake in job hunting
- What parents can do to help
- What universities can do to help
- Why social media is changing job hunting/career development forever
