Archive for Category: Generation Y
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
On MyPath.com: An Interview with Financial Literacy Expert Manisha Thakor
Posted in Finances Generation Y Recommended Resources on January 14, 2010 at 8:30 am
Are you making smart money decisions in your 20s?
In my podcast this week for MyPath.com, I’m thrilled to present an interview with Manisha Thakor, financial literacy expert and co-author of two great books on personal finance, On My Own Two Feet and Get Financially Naked.
In this 15-minute segment, Manisha answers the questions on the minds of today’s college students and recent grads, such as:
- What are the most important financial steps to take in your 20s?
- What are the biggest mistakes to avoid in your 20s?
- How can college students make good decisions about how much student loan debt to take on?
- What are the best ways to save money and live on a budget?
- What are the important financial steps to take when starting a new job?
Don’t miss this essential information for you and your wallet! Listen to the podcast now.
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
One Way to Help the “Lost Generation”
Posted in Economic Crisis First Job Out of College Generation Y Internships Recommended Resources on November 2, 2009 at 11:00 am
A recent BusinessWeek cover story called today’s graduates “The Lost Generation,” citing statistics that young people who graduate in recession years continue to earn less over the long-term course of their careers.
This weekend, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert addressed the same issue, writing:
“These recent graduates have done everything society told them to do. They’ve worked hard, kept their noses clean and gotten a good education (in many cases from the nation’s best schools). They are ready and anxious to work. If we’re having trouble finding employment for even these kids, then we’re doing something profoundly wrong.”
Like BusinessWeek and Herbert, I am very worried about the situation for recent college graduates. Today I want to share with you what I’m doing about it:
I have and always will pay any interns who work for me. If you are a business owner, I ask that you do the same. (more…)
Tags: Internships
Video: Tips for Studying Abroad
Posted in Generation Y International Careers on October 8, 2009 at 8:14 am
Studying in Australia still ranks as one of the best experiences of my life. I’d also credit it as an early indicator that I wanted to work for myself: While I was abroad I discovered that I loved building my own schedule, meeting new people and constantly adapting to changing circumstances.
If you are considering studying abroad, check out this new video I recorded for FNC iMag on the campus of Columbia University. If you haven’t considered studying abroad, I hope it inspires some wanderlust!
Image: Falling Pixel
Tags: FNC iMag, study abroad
You Have More Experience Than You Think (Part III)
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College Generation Y Job Hunting on October 5, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Today I’m pleased to share my third and final post on all the types of experience you have that you might not be giving yourself credit for. I hope you find this valuable, and please share any additional suggestions in the Comments!
Part III: Personal Interests and Experiences
1. Investing. Have you put away money since your tenth birthday and watched your savings grow significantly? Are you active in trading and investing through your E*TRADE account? Do you currently manage your finances beyond balancing your checkbook? Since many high school and college students don’t manage their own money, your experience and knowledge could stand out.
2. Family business. If you’ve been part of your parents’ business development process or worked in a family-owned restaurant or store, your dinner table conversations may have involved hiring practices and workplace challenges. Even if you didn’t start the company, your experience is a source of knowledge and brings value to your job search.
3. Travel. Any trip that has broadened your perspective of the United States or the world adds value to your relevant work experience. Did you hike the Grand Canyon or backpack through Europe? Did you visit a country where you couldn’t even read the street signs? Be sure to tell potential employers how you overcame these challenges and broadened your life experience. (more…)
Tags: Career Advice, Generation Y, Job Hunting
You Have More Experience Than You Think (Part II)
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College Generation Y Job Hunting Volunteering on October 1, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Continuing on my last post, here are eight more examples of experience that “counts” in your job search. Stay tuned for my final list, covering personal interests and experiences, on Monday.
Part II: Work and Extracurricular Experience
1. Sports. Even if you aren’t a star athlete, your participation in an organized sport (varsity, JV, club level or just for fun) is valuable. An employee who is a “team player” and works well with others can move mountains in the workplace. Athletic experience builds your competitive nature, increases your level of confidence and gives you strong leadership skills. Remember to consider these lessons and experiences when discussing your skills and abilities in a job interview.
2. Clubs and organizations. From French club to student government, be sure to note your involvement in organized group activities. Make special note of any leadership roles that involved coordinating events, budgeting or acting as liaison among group members, faculty and staff. Also take some time to think about club projects you managed from beginning to end — employers will correlate these to workplace project management skills.
3. Greek life. Aside from the toga parties (which employers definitely don’t want to know about), Greek organizations provide some valuable experience for the working world. Many Greek organizations place significant value on networking events, fundraisers and recruitment. If you held a direct leadership role, planned events or coordinated publicity for your fraternity or sorority, you should share these achievements with potential employers. Keep in mind that there are some lingering stereotypes from Animal House and the like, so proceed with caution.
4. The arts. Whether you’re involved in art, music, dance or theater, your performance skills and the self-confidence it takes to share your talents in front of an audience are very attractive to an employer. Don’t be shy about touting your creative accomplishments, even in a serious corporate setting. (more…)
You Have More Experience Than You Think (Part I)
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College Generation Y Job Hunting on September 28, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Remember those days when your first assignment back at school in September was to write an essay about everything you did that summer? In recalling those memories, I started to think about the way people recount and catalog their experiences.
When young professionals in particular think about their accomplishments, they don’t often view their experiences and skills as relevant to their job search. But many seemingly non-professional experiences are more relevant than you might think.
I recently wrote about how even the most professionally inactive summers may have qualities applicable to your job search. To find out why summer jobs, self-improvement and summer socials are important, read my blog post, Slacked off This Summer? Time to Turn up the Heat! on The Huffington Post.
As I was writing that post, I realized that most young people are indeed more experienced than they think. We all know that jobs and internships are relevant, but it’s important to take inventory of all your talents and experiences so you don’t freeze up when writing your resume, interviewing for your dream job or filling out your LinkedIn profile. Whether you’re crafting a cover letter for a new job or negotiating a higher salary a current one, it’s important to take inventory and gain confidence in your experiences and abilities.
How far back should you go in your analysis? As a general rule, resume-relevant experience goes back four years for students and recent grads, unless you’ve done something super impressive like winning an Olympic medal or starting your own business, which you should always mention. Read more on the timeline for recalling your achievements in my blog post, Career Q&A: Is it lame to put high school achievements on my resume?
I’ve put together a laundry list of valuable experiences and skills that may not automatically come to mind when conducting your job search. Here are the first five as a teaser — stay tuned for the rest in days to come: (more…)
Tags: Career Advice, job search
New CareerTV Video: Post Grad — the Movie and the Reality
Posted in First Job Out of College Generation Y Life Advice on September 8, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Welcome to the second installment of a new regular video segment with my friends at CareerTV. I’ll be chatting via Skype each week with host Sean O’Grady about timely career issues.
In this week’s episode, we talk about the recently released film Post Grad. The movie stars former Gilmore Girl Alexis Bledel as a recent college grad who is forced to move back home with her family while she attempts to find a job and a direction for her life (a plot that probably sounds pretty familiar right now).
Watch the four-minute video here.
Have questions you’d like us to address in future CareerTV segments? Please share in the comments section below!
