Posted in First Job Out of College Generation Y Job Hunting Recommended Resources Volunteering on June 16, 2009 at 11:33 am
Today I’m pleased to share a guest post from Chris Perry, a Gen Y Brand and Marketing Generator, a Career Search and Personal Branding Expert and the Founder of Career Rocketeer, the Career Search and Personal Branding Blog.
Whether you know it or not, we Gen Yers have a competitive edge over older job seekers in the career search. We are less expensive to hire, we are more impressionable (not having already settled into one company culture or way of doing things), and we have grown up with ever-changing technology, having become fast learners as a result.
However, the major obstacle that we encounter in our career search keeping us from getting the job is our lack of previous “real-world” work experience. Especially considering the current economic situation, this is not the issue you want to run into when you graduate and suddenly realize that it’s too late to go back in time and fill in your resume.
Whether or not you know what you want to do in your full-time career, I can’t begin to impress upon you the importance of gaining as much experience as possible during your high school, college and grad school careers. Experience is experience, even if it is not directly related to the job you are applying for.
Start now and “body-build” your resume while you have the time and the opportunity to set yourself up for the career of your dreams. I also recommend that you sign up with LinkedIn so you can show off your “heavyweight” resume online!
“How can I body-build my resume?” you might ask. Here are six ways all Gen Yers can gain more valuable leadership and professional experiences and skills:
1. Summer Internships: Summer employment is essential to most Gen Yers. We need the money, and it gives us a little structure to our vacation. However, an internship may be much more valuable to you and your career than a traditional hourly gig. Summer internships often have full-time hours, last multiple weeks and/or months and provide you real accomplishments, professional contacts, references and opportunities for full-time employment. If your financial situation allows it, do consider unpaid internship opportunities, for there may be more of them in this job market than usual. No one will ever ask you if your internship was paid or unpaid, and unpaid internships can offer just as valuable experience and can also lead to full-time paid opportunities.
To find internships of interest to you in this tough economy, I recommend using job aggregators, like Indeed, SimplyHired and LinkUp. Indeed and SimplyHired collect listings from across hundreds of job boards online, including Monster and CareerBuilder, and LinkUp uniquely collects listings directly from company websites, often revealing opportunities that weren’t externally advertised. Craigslist is also a great place to search local opportunities, so check out the internship listings under each city or area of interest or proximity to where you live or go to school. Lastly, never forget the power of the almighty Google. Try Googling specific companies or types of internships. You might be surprised by how much you find.
2. School-Year Internships: Companies and organizations are always in need of interns even after the end of the summer, so if your academic schedule allows some flexibility, consider using the search tips listed above and also checking with your career center for opportunities. This again gives you some valuable experience, references and contacts — and potentially can count for academic credit if unpaid. Also, an unpaid internship may be more acceptable during the school year for students who wouldn’t have enough time to hold a traditional part-time job otherwise.
3. Volunteer Work & Mission Trips: Community service of all types, including domestic and international service trips through church and school groups, offers you a way to give back. It also provides you leadership opportunities and looks really good to employers, especially as more companies develop their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and efforts. You find these opportunities by asking friends how they get involved, calling up and volunteering for a local animal shelter, serving as a tutor for local students, or joining service fraternities, charitable organizations and churches in your area. You can also search online. Idealist is the global directory of volunteer opportunities and other resources and is a great place to start.
4. Extracurricular Clubs & Activities: Whether you’re in college, grad school or just launching your career, get involved with as many extracurricular groups, organizations and activities of personal interest or relevance to your career as is manageable for your lifestyle. These are often more fun than work, but also help you build up your resume and provide you valuable leadership experience. Invest yourself in your clubs and activities, and pursue more responsibility and leadership positions when opportunities arise.
5. Entrepreneurial Ventures: If you are creative, entrepreneurially-minded and have launched or will launch a business of any size, don’t forget to play up your efforts and accomplishments on your resume. Employers really value entrepreneurs as employees, for they not only find new innovative ways to grow their businesses, but also tend to have strong general business skills.
6. Social Media & Blogging: As more companies and organizations get more involved in social media channels, employers are increasingly seeking social-media-inclined employees. Become an expert on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and any other social media networks in which you are interested, especially from the business perspective. If you have the interest or the ability to blog on career-relevant topics, this is also a great way to really establish your personal brand and expertise and use it to sell yourself in your career search. Google’s Blogger and WordPress are two great platforms to help you get started and launch your own blog.
My advice to Gen Yers in this job market is to “flex your career muscles,” get more experience and body-build your resume!
Chris Perry is a Gen Y Brand and Marketing Generator, a Career Search and Personal Branding Expert and the Founder of Career Rocketeer, the Career Search and Personal Branding Blog.
Image: FHRBusiness.com
Tags: Career Rocketeer, Chris Perry
Hi Chris – I think this advice is great. Gen Y-ers do have a hard time fulfilling the traditional definition of “job experience.” However, job seekers should make the most of all their experience, even if it’s a part-time job or extra-curricular activity. For instance, a waitressing job teaches you how to multi-task, prioritize, problem solve, and be a public representative of your company. And Gen Y has one advantage over the older workforce – by virtue of being younger, they are more tech savvy and can benefit a company by helping their co-workers adapt to rapid changes in technology.
I think tip #6 about social media and blogging is increasingly important in today’s society. I definitely agree that it’s a good idea to post your resumes and search for job listings on social networks such as LinkedIn, Monster, Facebook, etc. Even if it doesn’t seem helpful at first, just having an online presence will be to your advantage because many hiring managers and recruiters use social networks to research potential employees. Just to add, another resource that can be put to use is a new network called OneCubicle.com. It bridges the gap between LinkedIn and Facebook, using more discretion in their job postings. I have found it to be extremely helpful in looking for internships.
I’d just like to say that there’s a big difference between taking steriods to bodybuild your CV (lying, fabriacting, whatever you want to call it) and setting out to specifically gather experiences. Most importantly, having gained various experiences, the winners will distil the skills that they applied and gained from their experiences and add these to their CV.
Chris,
I recently graduated but have been job researching for the last few months. The amount of information online is overwhelming! There’s so much helpful advice out there. And I know so many people say to get on LinkedIn, but it’s a little intimidating to see so many career professionals on there. Last semester through our career fair, I found out about a new website called OneCubicle.com that I found to be pretty helpful. Its jobs are geared to new grads and they have tons of internships at some pretty cool companies. Just wanted to share!
Dear Juan:
This is a wonderful time to start tapping your network for job opportunities. Attend all of your organizations’ seminars, luncheons. As a National Economists Club member, my group offers students special rates. Furthermore, you could meet the very people who work for companies that interest you. Moreover, meet with your career counselor and see if you can secure a cooperative education assignment. Since you attend San Jose State, please inquire about the WorkAbilityIV program. This closely resembles cooperative education. In addition, expand your accounting and marketing networks by joining the American Marketing Association and the the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting. SJSU has a student chapter. Finally, consider both public and private sector work. Studentjobs.gov is the federal government’s student gateway. You will make for a great job candidate!
This is a great article! As a current undergrad, I agree most of us do not have a lot of real-world work experience, and all these suggestions make for a perfect approach to looking for more “muscle” to add for our resumes… however, in my own particular case, I am one of those students that, approaching graduation this coming December, have had a lot of internships & extracurriculars under my belt already, and sometimes I tend to notice recruiters are somewhat hesitant to go after individuals like myself who might have a lot of job work in their background already… what might you recommend to individuals like me in that kind of situation? Would appreciate any feedback.