Diversions and the GPS: Deciding What is Relevant

The best thing about college is the opportunity to try new things.  This plethora of opportunities serves as a double-edged sword that gives you new insights about yourself and also distracts you from your goals.  Some of you may ask: “how could having so many opportunities be a bad thing?” I’ll use an analogy to explain.  Imagine going to college is like walking into a chocolate store.  You see a large amount of goodies and want to try them all.  Sampling everything in the store most likely will lead to a stomach ache leaving you less happy than when you first walked in.  On the other hand, taking advantage of only some of the offerings will prove most favorable.  College is similar in the respect that if you try everything while there you’ll start to feel burnt out from over-commitment and if you try a few things you will leave more enriched than when you first walked in.  Trust me on this; I had to learn this lesson the hard way.

So the real question is which opportunities are benefits and which ones are merely diversions.   One method of deciding is looking at your end goal for guidance, e.g. choosing activities or position in organizations that are most aligned with your career path. For example if you want to be an accountant becoming the treasurer of your student organization is logical.  If you have not decided on a particular career path, choosing activities that will enhance transferable skills such as interpersonal communication and business acumen is a good idea.  You could also start by assessing your weaknesses and selecting opportunities that would improve them.  I find choosing an equal amount of activities that enhance my strengths and minimize my weaknesses works well.

If you make choices that do not align with your future goals just remember the following advice from my mentor Marybe and her friends: 

Life is like a GPS system. You know where you want to go but sometimes you've got to stop recalculate the directions.

 

 

Have tips or comments on how to decide what opportunities are relevant? Leave a comment below.

Labels R Us

 First let me premise this post by apologizing for my absence last week.  Fall semester has started and I was wrapped up in getting prepared for my classes.  Now that we have addressed that issue, we can move on to today’s topic: Labels.

Class is in session: Career Planning 101

For many of you the first day of classes is fast approaching.  With the start of the new school year comes a new opportunity for self-improvement. Maybe you’ll go to the gym more frequently or make better grades.  Whatever you decide to focus on this semester, make career planning a priority as well. It’s never too early to start.

Head to Toe Series: Sparkle and Shine

In the previous articles of the Head to Toe Series you learned the basics of professional attire.   In this final installment, you learn how to add a bit of sparkle and shine to your career wear.  Adding interest to is easy to do through the use of accessories and colors.  Bear in mind that what is acceptable in a profession depends on how conservative it is, i.e. lawyers: very conservative, graphic designers: liberal.

Head to Toe Series: Call Me Business Casual

During my first year of college I had a huge presentation for my Business Communication class. The syllabus stated to dress in business attire for the presentation so I wore loose trousers and a button-down shirt.  My presentation went smoothly and class feedback followed.  I received mostly positive comments until my professor said “In the syllabus it said to dress professionally.” Confusion set in as I thought “I did follow the instructions.”  What I failed to realize at that time was there are two categories of business attire: business formal (for interviews and fancy dinner meetings) and business casual (for most work days and Casual Fridays).

Head to Toe Series: Interview Ready

As a woman, dressing professionally isn't always an easy task.  Because you have many more options for career attire than men you also have many more chances to stand out, both positively and negatively.  It's said that employers believe a prospective employee will dress her best for her job interview or a huge presentation.  Therefore, looking less than impeccable is unacceptable on these occasions. Follow these style guidelines to ensure you are dressed for success:

The Reason Your Appearance Matters 100%

How many times has someone told you to “Look the part” or “Dress for the job you want?” Chances are your answer is countless times.  These common sayings reveal our cultural obsession with appearances.  Regardless of whether or not you agree with the importance given to appearances in U.S. culture, the working world judges you based on how you look.  These assessments also can have a financial impact. However, YOU control what tyour look says.

The Power of a Mentor

When we are born we know nothing and depend on others to teach us the ways of survival.  Just as we needed someone there years ago offering advice how to brush our teeth, comb our hair, and dare I say, use the potty we still need someone to show us the ways of the world. We still need people willing to mentor us.

Dating = Job searching?

One of my favorite career resources is Vault.com. It offers industry research guides, company rankings, and multiple newsletters based on industries.  Today, I received a newsletter with the following article "7 Ways The Job Search Is Like Dating. "

Beside having witty comments, the article puts the job-hunting process into a perspective everyone can understand. Most of us understand the process of dating and hoping to find the "One," so the writer takes adavantage this and applies the same logic to job hunting.  This is a must read article for everyone, regardless of job status.


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Overcoming the "guidance" gap

One of the struggles I've faced as a first generation college student*  is feeling "behind" the majority of my classmates. I am not behind because they are more intelligent; I am behind because they have had more guidance than I did.  Many are the offspring of  professionals who have been advising them since high school about the ins and outs of white collar careers.  Moreover, these classmates had ready-to-use contacts through their parents.  This reality can be disheartening as it lowers self-confidence and self-esteem.
In this environment it is easy to assume the identity of a victim of circumstances but doing so is worse than the situation itself.  In college, there are many resources and people available to offer guidance and become mentors. Unlike our classmates whose mentors, i.e. parents, are a part of a packaged deal, first generation college students have to actively seek out advisors.  Great places to look include official mentoring programs and college classroom; professors like to help.

Being unguided should not impede success, especially when it is easily corrected. In comparison to attending college, finding a mentor is a pint-sized hurdle. So jump over it  and move on to the next one.

* "Undergraduates whose parents never enrolled in post-secondary education."
United States. Department of Education. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports. N.p.: n.p., 1998. National Center for Education Statistics. Web. 26 July 2011. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98082.pdf

When I grow up I want to be _________?

In my first blog post I said that the best way to begin career planning is getting to know yourself.  Though this is a great strategy what happens months or maybe even years later when you still feel lost about what you want to do in your life. 

While Others Play...

It's summertime and as the beautiful sunshine beckons, many students indulge in some well deserved rest and relaxation. As tempting as it may be to play all summer, don't spend all or your free time doing so. Summer is the perfect time to get a jump-start

Being a "softy" really packs a punch

Even if you are unsure of your future career path, there are a set of skills you can work on to increase the chances of a good start to that career. These are known as soft skills and they relate to interpersonal communication. The name "soft skills" is quite deceiving as these skills carry a lot of weight. Within the competitive internship/ job market that many will face in the upcoming months, these soft skills could be the

Focusing Your Career Exploration

This past semester I took Principles of Marketing and the key takeaways for me were the concepts of market segmentation and targeting. Segmentation refers to observing a population of people then breaking it into smaller groups based on differing characteristics. Once the marketers have divided the group into segments, their next step is to choose a segment to serve based on a company’s resources and strengths, i.e. targeting.  We could all learn a great lesson from the marketers.  The aforementioned concepts provide a great strategy for approaching career explorations: assess the options then choose the one that is most aligned with your skill set and personality.

Mistake and Disappointment are your friends

Possibly one of the hardest but most beneficial lessons I’ve learned through my career search/ self-discovery is the importance of a mistake.  Some of you fear making a mistake because as students you are ingrained that to get a good job you have to be the best.  This idea causes you to place an excessive amount of pressure on yourself and to develop an aversion to risk. The problem with that mindset is it makes you

Awards and Choices

Today, I attended my school’s annual Honors Convocation ceremony.  I watched as many people took the stage to accept awards or receive recognition.  As I sat watching the professors accept awards for service, scholarship and teaching, one of my favorite quotes came to mind:

“Choice, not circumstances, determines your success”

~ Anonymous

The people that received an award today chose to do certain actions that led them to that success.  They actively shaped their futures instead of letting external forces dictate their success.  Seeing this inspires me, as I believe we can all do the same thing.  Our recognition may not come in the form of a formal event but in knowing we took control and got results.

My advice to you is take control and be accountable for your future.  Don’t allow yourself to be a victim of circumstances.

Success...Characters welcomed

We often say that people are a product of their environments and the characters that surround them.  This statement seems broad to me, so I will break it down according to the effects that each character types has on personal success.  The types, or “-ers” as I like to call them, are listed from least important to most important.

Me, Me, Me... Why it's important

Since we were little kids, our elders have always asked what we wanted to be when we grew up.  Back then, our answers were firefighter, police officer, doctor, nurse or astronaut.  Now that we are older, everyone expects a more serious answer.  Many of us simply do not know, some of us have an idea, and very few are certain of what they want.  I believe that no matter where we place ourselves on the spectrum of certainty about career goals we all need to stop and assess ourselves to figure out where to go next.