There are about 250,000 different “species” of jobs out there, and most of us only know about 200-300. In this segment, I speak with Matt Mahoney, founder of Daily Endeavor, about how college students and recent grads can explore the 99% of careers we never talk about. Here are some tips for finding the right career for you…even if it’s one your mom hasn’t heard of.

1) Start with your interests. Search by interests and what you like to do.
Don’t just focus on the field you think you want to explore. Don’t just focus on your major. Think about what you really, truly love to do.

Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…

How do you feel about the fact that only a small percentage of careers are well-known? What has helped you in your career selection process?

All employers in all industries are seeking one major resume item: leadership.

Why is leadership so important?
Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…

Some of Lauren’s tips for landing jobs/internships via Urban Interns:

* Don’t be turned off by the terms “internship” or “part-time”. Many people have developed incredible careers by serving multiple part-time clients. Also, starting out this way may allow you to get your foot in the door with some very cool, interesting startup companies.
* Think of the things you are good at, both personally and professionally. If you have years of experience with Facebook, even if you have only used it for your own relationships, you may qualify as a social media intern.

Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…

How do you feel about the future of jobs, and do you have additional pointers that have helped you? Please share your comments below!

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.

5. Entrepreneurship. Did you start a business, activity or club? Have you participated in a family business? Whether it’s been a success or struggle in today’s economy, the lessons you’ve learned from taking initiative and building your own group or company are worthy of mention. Be able to speak of your motivation to become an entrepreneur and the ups and downs you faced throughout the process.

6. Volunteer experience. Did you tutor peers at your school, help manage a food drive or give your time to an elderly community? Whether you’ve spent one week, one month or one year volunteering, you have gained skills, built relationships and experienced struggles and triumphs that are valuable to an employer. Include these experiences on your resume and discuss them in your professional conversations.

7. Part-time work. Have you worked in retail, at a restaurant or behind the snack bar at your neighborhood pool? Even telemarketing, babysitting, mowing the lawn and dog walking can demonstrate hard work, dedication, organization and persistence — qualities that all employers want and need. When you discuss these work experiences, however, it’s up to you to point out how they are relevant to jobs you are seeking now. Give serious thought to what your part-time work has taught you and how it’s contributed to your skill set.

8. Campaigning and activism. Were you active in the 2008 presidential election? Have you written letters, made phone calls or found other ways to speak out about the causes you support? If you’ve shown dedication to a cause or movement, it can be smart to share this in a job interview. Keep in mind that politics and certain issues are a source of controversy, though, so focus more on explaining your involvement and the specific abilities you developed rather than trying to convert a recruiter to your cause or point of view.

Remember to check back on Monday for Part III!

I’m very glad this topic is still on the radar screens of major media reporters. I just wish the articles would include some helpful suggestions for young people who find themselves in the tough position of facing the longest recession period since the 1930s. The Comments section of the Times article certainly included a lot of — ahem — suggestions, but I’m not a big fan of snark. So, I thought I’d share my three cents on how college students and recent grads can still improve their resumes without a traditionally “good” summer job or internship.

Volunteer. In fairness, in addition to the snarky remarks, the Comments section of the Times piece was filled with the suggestion to volunteer, and that advice is spot-on. I’ve written many times about the value of volunteering and it’s even more important this summer.

Although future employers will understand why you might not have a superstar internship on your resume for the infamous summer of 2009, they won’t understand why you don’t have any volunteer experience during that time period. Volunteer for Meals on Wheels, a political candidate, a soup kitchen, a Little League team, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, an animal shelter, anything. Search for thousands of opportunities at Idealist.org.

Take on a Project. I just finished reading the memoir Julie and Julia, which has been made into an upcoming movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. The book is about a young woman with a boring temp job and dreams of becoming an actress who decides on a whim to spend a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and writing a blog about it. A little weird? Check. A challenging, unique project that takes commitment, determination, creativity and confidence? Also check. If I were a recruiter for a cookbook publisher, restaurant chain or the Food Network, I’d call Julie in for an interview.

Can you spend the summer taking on a project related to your area of career interest? A business major could read through every book on the summer’s Wall Street Journal business best seller list and review each book on Amazon.com. An aspiring film industry worker could watch every film on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 best films of all time. An aspiring curator could tour every museum in a 200 mile radius. If you choose a worthwhile, valuable project, it could lead to a job (or a book deal).

Start a Small Business. My friends over at Gradspot.com just featured a great post outlining four businesses that are easy to start and manage, including dog walking, tutoring, computer programming and babysitting/nannying. These are all resume-worthy summer pursuits and can lead to great opportunities for networking, skill building and, of course, moneymaking. I’d add to this list jewelry making, graphic design, lawn mowing, gardening, house painting, social media consulting (you would not believe the number of people who ask me if I know of a college student who would teach them how to use Facebook or Twitter) and bartending (if you’re of legal age). Employers are often impressed by the hard work and leadership it takes to launch and run a business on your own, especially in hard times.

Do you have more suggestions for making the most of an jobless summer? Please share in the comments!

Click here to watch the segment (don’t blink or you might miss me!)

My post, “What Millennials Really Want to Know,” shares the top three questions I receive from entry-level job seekers. Here is an excerpt:

Millennials (a.k.a. Generation Y) have earned a less-than-stellar reputation in the recruiting community. You’re not alone if you’ve found young candidates to act “entitled” to jobs or not know basic rules of professional etiquette. As someone who spends a lot of time with college students and young professionals, I admit that I observe these traits fairly often.

Fortunately, I can also report that many career-minded college students are eager to work hard, impress recruiters and become savvy professionals. This is most evident during the lengthy Q&A sessions following my college workshops, when students ask thoughtful, detailed and serious-minded questions about how to get jobs.

In the spirit of helping us all understand each other a little better, here the three most common questions I receive from Millennial job seekers. I believe the companies that answer these questions — and communicate their answers to entry-level candidates — will go a long way toward winning the hearts, minds and productivity of today’s best and brightest young workers…

Read the rest of the post on Cheezhead…

During my freshman and sophomore years at Yale, I’d sit with friends for hours in the dining hall, loving the debates about politics and literature and history. It was exactly what I’d hoped college would be like. Sometimes I’d look around the table and feel as if I were peering into the future: I could easily see my smart, hardworking, well-rounded classmates becoming history professors, investigative journalists, human rights activists, entrepreneurs, museum curators and diplomats.

And then senior year rolled around and a strange thing happened. Instead of talking about Milton and Kant and Jefferson and Elizabeth I, everyone started talking about Goldman and Lehman and McKinsey and Harvard Law. The best and brightest people I knew suddenly considered no other career paths than investment banking, management consulting and corporate law.

I see this happening just as often today. As I travel around to college campuses, I meet smart, articulate, worldly and personable students. And, inevitably, the best and the brightest always ask me how to get jobs in investment banking, consulting and law (“not necessarily to be a lawyer,” they often say, “but using a law degree to do something else.”).

For the students who are fascinated by finance, business strategy and legal study, then these paths are excellent choices. But, in my observation, intellectual interest is rarely the reason that students select these post-college career paths.

Many students admit that the money is too good to pass up. (According to a recent New York Times article, Goldman Sachs employees earned an average of $600,000 last year — an average that considers secretaries as well as executives.)

And the perks are undoubtedly glamorous. (While my parents moved me out of my dorm in their suburban SUV, the kids who landed jobs at the top consulting firms had professional movers come to pack up their books and souvenir beer mugs.)

There’s also the perceived prestige. (Prestige that companies pay a lot to cultivate: investment banks and consulting firms spend more money than any other employers to market themselves to students at the top colleges and universities — what Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust has called the “all but irresistible recruiting juggernaut.”)

And, perhaps most appealing to top-tier students, there’s the fact that these careers feel like a continuation of college — working hard late into the night, surrounded by really smart people. (Although the work involves spreadsheets, not Shakespeare.)

I really do get the appeal of these careers — I even considered law school myself — but I can’t help but wonder if there’s something awry when a large percentage of our best and brightest flock to Wall Street, consulting and corporate law. And, while I have sympathy for entry- and mid-level employees of Lehman Brothers, AIG, Heller Ehrman and other firms that are caught up in the financial crisis, a secret hope is growing in me:

I hope that the Wall Street debacle and the resulting economic downtown affects the way college students (all college students, not just in the Ivy League) think about their desired careers. I hope that students who genuinely love finance, strategic business consulting and law continue to pursue those careers because those careers will really make them happy.

And I hope that everyone else — the young grads who pursued careers in the most lucrative and prestigious industries because they were the most lucrative and prestigious (and “safe,” so we thought) — will start to think more broadly. I hope that they pursue careers in government, education, publishing, research, general management, psychology, urban planning, technology, social services and any other fields that engage them and use the best of their skills.

Why do I have such strong feelings about this? Now that I’m 12 years out of college, I have some data. Almost all of my brilliant friends who took their first jobs in investment banking, consulting and corporate law are now doing something else. They all gained great experience, sure, but what did they lose?

Here’s what these friends have told me: Money loses its shine when you’re unhappy going to work every day. Perks lose their luster when you’re stressed out. Law school grads end up in jobs as — surprise! — lawyers. And prestige doesn’t stand a chance against something infinitely more appealing: personal fulfillment.

Note: For career advice related to this topic, see “Seeking a Detour Around Wall Street.”

A: It sounds like you are very eager to determine your career path before you start your master’s work. I completely understand that desire, and I also know from experience that choosing a career is not something that can be rushed. You may not decide what you want to do until you actually meet someone who does it (that’s what happened to me). So, let’s talk about some ways to maximize the number and variety of careers you are exposed to over the next two months and into the future:

My first suggestion, as always, is to talk to people you know–as many as you can–and ask about their jobs and career paths. Since you’re a recent college grad, most people will be more than willing to share some advice and suggestions.

You might also enjoy reading some books that explain various careers and feature interviews with people who have pursued them. Two of my favorites in this category feature young professionals talking about their jobs. Check out Alexandra Levit’s How’d You Score That Gig and Katy McColl’s Should I Do What I Love?

Finally, if you’d like to take a more formal assessment test to determine some fields you might enjoy, check out the free career assessment test offered on my book’s website, GettingfromCollegetoCareer.com.

There really are no shortcuts when it comes to finding your career. A lot of the decision comes down to trial and error and trusting your gut. Just promise me you won’t quit before you find a career you love!

Here is an excerpt from MSN Careers:

Finding your first job is easy. You send in your résumé for a position to which no one else is applying. You get a call back right away, have a successful interview (during which you are promptly offered the job) and of course you’re offered the salary to last a lifetime. Nothin’ to it.

Dream on…

Read the rest of “12 Things to Ponder Before Taking Your First Job.”