Posts tagged ‘organization’

The Job of Your Dreams

Think about all of your college experience, including classes and extracurricular activities. What did you do in your class that helps to qualify you for the job of your dreams?

Consider first your classes. Many lucky students undertake activities in classes that are every bit as valid for providing experience as paid jobs. Such activities include:

  • Class projects
  • Research papers and projects
  • Group projects
  • Hands-on assignments and “real-world” experiences
  • Laboratory experience
  • Presentations
  • Study-abroad programs
  • Simulations

Look, for example, at your school’s special programs and relevant, hands-on projects you’ve done in classes. Stetson University, where we teach, has an unusual program in the finance department in which students invest actual money in a stock portfolio. Such a program provides an excellent way to make the most of your college experience in your cover letter, as in this example:

Currently, I am involved in a unique program at Stetson that sets me apart from other recent graduates who apply to your firm. For the past year, I have been part of the Roland George Investment Program, the only undergraduate program in the Southeastern United States that allows students to invest real money in the stock and bond markets. The Roland George Program has allowed me to gain practical experience in portfolio management and has enhanced my communication and teamwork skills. I have also fine-tuned my research techniques to make the best stock and bond selections.

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Posted in Talent and Career

Job-Search Advice for College Senior

College Senior Job-Search Advice

1. Max Out Your Experience.
While you’re still in school, find time to fill any experience voids in your resume so that by the time you begin your job-search, you’ll be an unbeatable prospect to employers. If you have not yet worked in your field, now is the time to secure an internship — whether during one of the terms or during your holiday break (or even during your spring break). Internships are your strongest experience, but certainly not your only experience.

If you’re like most college students, you probably belong to a few student organizations. As a senior, you’re typically expected to help lead — and employers want to see that leadership ability, so grab a leadership position in at least one organization.

Of course, many other types of experiences can benefit you — some of which few students ever list on their resumes, such as work-study, part-time jobs, volunteer work, team sports, and class projects.

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Posted in Talent and Career

How to Get a Promotion

The last thing many workers have been thinking about in this dismal job market is how to ask for a promotion or a raise. The popular mind-set: “You’re lucky you still have a job.”

But now it’s time to shake off those recessionary shackles and start thinking seriously about getting what you deserve at work, especially if your employer  is seeing an uptick in business and looking to hire new workers.

“Companies are starting to worry about defections when the economy gets better,” said Laurence Stybel, executive in residence at Sawyer Business School, Suffolk University in Boston. “Once the drumbeat of hiring starts, that’s when you can go to the boss and say, ‘I haven’t had a raise or promotion in two years.’”

Patrick Sweeney, the president and CEO of ODIN Technologies in Ashburn, Va., said his firm hired no new employees last year and had a few layoffs. But this year he plans to add up to 15 new positions.

He also just promoted two employees.

“Both guys were often the last ones at the office at night and among the first here in the morning,” Sweeney said. “More than a great work ethic, they jumped in wherever it was needed, from figuring out complex engineering problems to sweeping up our lab to calling clients on the weekend when they needed help.”

Getting a promotion in this economy is not a lot different than getting one during an economic boom. You still have to show managers you’re willing to work hard and can produce results.

“If you really want to turn yourself into a loser, think about a salary increase as a reward for past good services,” advised Stybel. “You’re trying to extract money from a cheap company, and companies don’t care about the past – they’re obsessed about the future.”

Saving a company big bucks
That focus on producing results is what got Hubert Rivera two promotions in 2009, one of the toughest economic years in recent U.S. history.

Rivera became a vice president for InCharge, a Orlando, Fla.-based nonprofit credit counseling organization, in October after 10 years with the company. That came after a previous promotion in April.

Despite having to cut costs because of the economy, the goal was to maintain service to the firm’s clients. So he took initiative.

“I spoke to my boss back in May of 2009 about ways we could improve our efforts and help the company grow,” Rivera said. “We have been hit hard by the economy and saw reductions in calls and business.”

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Posted in Talent and Career

The job-search advice

It seems pretty unfair when you think about it. You’ve worked hard in school for some 15 or more years, including 4 or more years in college, all with the plan that once you made it through all that schooling, you would have a good-paying job waiting for you. But now, with the U.S. and global economies mired in the slowdown of a generation and saddled with college debt, you face an uncertain future.

There may be no good-paying job waiting for you. Those who have already graduated and are still searching for a job in your career field know that. And for you seniors graduating in 2009, many fewer good-paying jobs waiting for you. That said, the more prepared you are — and the more you maximize your job-search efforts — the more likely you will be one of the lucky ones who does land a great job.

It’s certainly not the best time to be a recent college graduate or a college senior, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on finding a good job and retreat back home to your family’s basement (since your mom has already made your bedroom into her workout room). Nor should it mean you give up on a job-search altogether and forge on to grad school, hoping by the time you finish your graduate degree the job market will be better.

No. Instead, if you follow the advice in this article, you can increase the odds that you will indeed be one of the lucky few who find a good-paying job. And yes, by the way, these strategies will work in all economic situations — but they will especially help in times of uncertainty.

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Posted in Talent and Career