Posts Tagged: 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
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 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
On The Huffington Post: Slacked This Summer? Time to Turn Up the Heat!
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College Generation Y on August 27, 2009 at 9:53 am
My next blog post is up on The Huffington Post. Hope you will check it out and re-tweet if you like it! Here is an excerpt:
While many recent grads have spent the summer hustling for jobs, completing internships and taking summer classes, I have a hunch that others have acquired deep tans, toned abs and a slew of ticket stubs from summer concerts.
While I celebrate your right to slack off during your summer (and I’m a bit jealous of this liberty), you may find a summer of pool parties and margaritas is a disadvantage when you start hunting for a job or internship this fall.
If you haven’t had the most professionally proactive summer, here are some tips for what to do about it:
1. Give yourself some credit. Lots of things count as experience that you might not realize. For instance, retail jobs, babysitting or working for your parents’ business can be described in ways that demonstrate your drive, leadership and professional skills. Did you manage your time and money? Were your sales in the top percentage of all employees? Did you learn how to work with different types of people? All of these are invaluable workplace skills that can be mentioned on a resume or in a cover letter.
2. Acknowledge if you needed rest. If you had a rough year leading up to the summer months, it’s okay to characterize your summer as a time of restoration. Whether you got back in shape, learned to cook or perfected the latest yoga pose, these methods of self-renewal are good uses of your time. I do worry that your generation is under a lot of pressure and the stress that follows can be unhealthy in the long term. Just be sure to use your newfound energy to propel yourself this fall.
On CareerTV: Twitter, LinkedIn and Living in Your Parents’ Basement
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College Job Hunting Recommended Resources Social Media on August 24, 2009 at 11:47 am
This week I’m launching 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 our first five-minute segment, we’re answering viewer questions about finding jobs on Twitter, connecting professionally on LinkedIn and surviving when you move back home with mom and dad (hint: lay off the frozen yogurt).
Watch the video here.
Have questions you’d like us to address in future CareerTV segments? Please share in the comments section below!
Join Lindsey on Martha Stewart Living Radio this Wednesday
Posted in Career Advice First Job Out of College Generation Y Job Hunting Recommended Events on April 21, 2009 at 1:46 pm
This Wednesday, April 22nd, at 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific, I’ll be a live guest on “Making a Living with Maggie” on Martha Stewart Living Radio on SIRIUS 112 and XM 103. The topic will be creative job hunting and career tips for college students graduating this spring.
“Making a Living with Maggie,” hosted by career and life purpose coach Maggie Mistal, inspires, educates and entertains listeners so that they feel empowered to make a great living doing work they are passionate about that fits into the lifestyle they desire. Listen every Wednesday!
Don’t have satellite radio? Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for a free 3-day trial.
Photo: Maggie and Lindsey in the Martha Stewart Living Radio studio
How to get a job in the recession: New videos, Q&As and downloadable worksheets
Posted in Career Advice Economic Crisis First Job Out of College Generation Y Job Hunting Networking Recommended Resources Uncategorized on March 8, 2009 at 8:30 pm
The February jobs report came out on Friday and it was bad — even worse than expected. If you’re graduating this spring, or have recently graduated, you’re probably pretty frightened.
I absolutely understand we are in deep economic trouble, but I also know that there are opportunities available for young professionals who are smart, hardworking and willing to go the extra mile. PricewaterhouseCoopers has the same attitude. I’m currently working with PwC on a national project to help students and recent grads to “recession-proof your job search.” A few weeks ago I provided ten tips and a video on PwC’s website, and now we’re expanding the resources available to make sure you can find all the help you need to get a job.
Visit PwC.tv for:
Job search Q&As
Career advice vidoes
Downloadable worksheets on such topics as getting started, networking and personal branding
A blog to post your own questions for response by me and PwC’s career experts
Don’t miss out on all of these free resources — visit PwC.tv today and learn how to forget your fear and recession-proof your job search.
