Part 3 of 3: Focus on A Successful Transition
CAU’s Career Development
Center:
Ensuring Students Succeed
in Today’s Job Marketplace
The
Career Development Center (formerly CAU’s Career Planning and Placement Center)
exists to provide
undergraduate and graduate students with leadership and professional
development training and career preparedness assistance. The center offers
curricular-and co-curricular seminar and workshop experiences. Services such as
resume writing, mock interviews, career fairs and networking opportunities are
also offered to students.
Ernita
Hemmitt, interim dean of students for Clark Atlanta University, has worked
extensively with students who seek services and advice from the Career
Development Center. Pathways recently talked with Hemmitt about how students
can prepare themselves for a successful job search.
Pathways:
College students often don’t have a resume for any variety of reasons including
what they see as a lack of job experience relevant that is to their degree.
However, why is it important for students to always have a resume -- even if
the jobs they have held are not internships or related to their major?
Ernita
Hemmitt: It is important
for students to have an updated copy of their resumes because it is about being
prepared for all opportunities because you never know when opportunities will
present themselves. Students should not
worry that they may not have experience pertinent to their academic discipline because
recruiters understand that a freshman, sophomore or maybe a junior may not have
relative experience.
Many employers are looking for talented students who may
have work experience that demonstrates they have acquired strong
leadership/teamwork abilities, effective work ethics such as time management,
strong organizational abilities, demonstrated initiative, multi-tasking skills,
analytical abilities, outgoing customer service and oral/written communication
skills.
All of these attributes can
be acquired from part-time positions within any industry. Recruiters are more interested in candidates
that are trainable and willing to perform to the best of their ability for the
betterment of the organization in which they would work. The student’s ability to communicate his or
her contributions in previous jobs is just as impressive as the student having
had a job in their major.
Pathways:
What would you say to students regarding the importance of developing and
cultivating a network before they graduate?
Hemmitt: The Career Development Center offers a
wealth of opportunities to students to develop their abilities and hone
networking skills through annual career fairs, recruiter-sponsored career seminars,
recruiter information sessions and classroom presentations, etc. We do this for students because we deem it a
necessity for them to develop a strong network base throughout their matriculation
at Clark Atlanta University and during their career.
We
advise students to build a network that consists of peers, institutional
administrators, faculty, staff, past and current employers, corporate
recruiters, graduate school recruiters, personal acquaintances, etc. Each of these individuals has contacts that
they may be able to make referrals or directly recommend a job seeker to a
contact. It is important that students
always establish and maintain a positive rapport with that contact because a networking
database can assist in paving the pathways to success. Remember that every opportunity is a
networking opportunity.
As students
collect business cards and contacts, it is important for them to keep all of
this information in what is called a “Career Journal,” for quick reference.
We
tell students to place that collected business card in a journal and beside it,
write down who, when and from where they received the contact. They should jot
down any specific details that will help them to remember that person. Students may also want to send a quick well
written email to follow up on the conversation that they had in order to
re-establish their interest in the conversation. Networking is essential in a student’s job
market strategy.
Pathways:
What are three of the most common mistakes students make before they begin to
search for their first job after college?
Hemmitt: Searching for that first job after
college actually begins in students’ freshman year and remains a work-in-progress
throughout their matriculation and career.
The
first common mistake students make is not planning for their career by conducting
a self inventory of their skills and abilities to ensure that the discipline
they have chosen is a fit for their personal and academic skill sets.
The
second most common mistake that students make is not developing a strategy to implement
their plan. We strongly advise students to develop a plan that includes
interviewing and securing practical hands-on experiences such as internships,
community service or service learning opportunities starting as early as their
freshmen year.
The
third most common mistake that we observe students making is waiting until
their last semester or even worst, waiting until the last month of their senior
year to start the job search process.
We
find that when students start the job search process early, they have the
opportunity to conduct thorough research of companies, develop the necessary
skills needed to successfully manage the interviewing process and be articulate
during the interview.
Pathways: What do you see
as the most important steps students should take to have better success in
searching for the first job after college in the current job market?
Hemmitt: Students should take the time to
conduct a self evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses regarding their
chosen academic discipline/career path. They should be able to articulate those
qualities, write out their plan and work the plan through acquiring non-paid/paid
internships, study abroad opportunities and networking.
We
find that students have much better success when they join discipline-related
professional organizations, invest in a professional wardrobe, attend
Toastmaster’s meetings to develop communication
skills and research the market in which they are pursuing a career path. These
steps, we find, give students a real competitive edge when they meet
prospective employers.
# # #
Navigating
the Workplace for a Successful Transition from the Classroom to a Career
When college graduates
take that all-important leap from the classroom to a promising career, most
have been prepared by their professors and degree programs to be successful in
their chosen profession. However, it’s what many students don’t learn in the classroom that can wreak havoc on their chances
for success in a new job.
Whether it is not knowing that one expected is to stay
past the time office day official ends, improper dress or inappropriate chatter
and gossip, be assured that not following the rules (written and unwritten) can
impact an employee’s reputation and deem that employee as “not a good match for
the company” or even as a “bad hire.” Of course, once an employee gets any one
of these labels, how long he or she can hang on to the job is questionable.
Erika Myrthil, a recruiter with Accenture, advises
students to bone up on getting to know an organization’s culture and what
management expects of employees before the first day of work as a way of
increases one’s chances of a successful transition into the work environment. Accenture, a global
management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, offers
programs that introduce college sophomores and juniors to the organization
before they are hired as a way of socializing students into the culture.
Myrthil said internships and programs such are ways that students can increase
their success once hired, and decrease the chances of committing faux pas once
they are part of the company.
“Our company offers professional mentors and job
shadowing to interns,” said Myrthil during a recent job fair at Clark Atlanta
University. “This exposure helps them not only to learn Accenture’s culture,
but the proper way to enter a professional work environment. I would encourage
all college students to get out there and learn to be a new employee that makes
the right moves once they are inside the company.”
Tips for Managing the Corporate Culture:
Learn the culture. One of the best
moves a newcomer can make is to observe the organizational culture – values,
communication practices, written and unwritten norms, policies, procedures –
and adapt his or her behaviors to the work environment.
Listen and learn. Listening to what others say more than
talking can make a huge difference in what one learns and how to react in those
early days and weeks. There will be time to impress people with suggestions and
recommendations for changes but in the first few weeks, priority should be
placed on listening and learning.
Be an
observer first and a change agent second when one is newcomer. Just as a newcomer should spend the first few
weeks listening and learning, it is also important to be a keen observer and
ask intelligent questions.
Choose
your associates wisely. Whether it is fair or not, people are judged by the
company that they keep. Newcomers should take the time to observe others and
make good choices about friends and associates on the job. The people to whom
one is connected can influence decision makers.
Be kind. No one likes a
person who is unkind, rude, impolite or disagreeable. Not only is being
unpopular at work unwise but alienating subordinates, co-workers and superiors
can lead to not being deemed as "promotable" or even job loss. Being kind and
professional should also extend to people who are part of other departments,
suppliers, clients and subordinates.
Avoid office gossip. Refrain
from office gossip because it is one of the quickest and surest ways to get
into the kind of trouble that can cost one his or her friends, reputation,
trust of others and even one’s job. Heads up! There is a distinct difference
between helpful information that one hears through the company grapevine and
gossip that does not add any value to work life and in some cases, can hurt
others.
Honor commitments and adhere to deadlines. Establishing
a reputation for keeping commitments is an excellent way to be deemed a
valuable colleague and employee. When deadlines are not adhered to, others are
impacted and delivering on an agreed upon deadline will build trust among
co-workers.
Good manners are a must for success. The same good
manners that one learned in kindergarten apply in the business world!
Mentors are important. As Myrthil stated, her company places such a premium on
the mentor-mentee relationship that it offers a special mentoring program for
college sophomores and juniors so that they their chances for success increase
once they enter the work environment. If students cannot intern with companies
that offer such opportunities, they should identify a professor, family friend
or another individual who can provide them professional advice, guidance and
help them navigate their career path.
Following these guidelines can help new professionals navigate the
workplace and achieve greater success once they transition from the campus to a
career.
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