This time of year, there's always lots of talk about commencement speakers. For all the hoopla around who speaks at your graduation, I daresay you will remember very little of the speaker's advice or insight years later.
In 2005, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple, gave the commencement speech at Standford University that is worth remembering and replaying time and again. I've watched this speech and read the transcript on many occasions. His main theme: You cannot plan or predict your career path as you begin your working life after college; you can only look back many years later to see the path you took.
He encourages the graduates to seek out jobs and careers that interest them and avoid doing the things you "should" do. He tells the audience that as you move through life doing interesting jobs, you build a career that is unique to your own personality and natural talents. Steve Jobs is an incredibly talented and successful entrepreneur who obviously has been doing things he loves for many years. His personal impact can be felt in three of the biggest industries: computers, music and movies.
If you you've never watched the speech, you should. It's quite inspirational. If you have heard this speech before, listen to it again and re-charge your career search batteries.
The video is posted on YouTube: Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Follow the Clues
Most college career centers offer some sort of assessment testing to help their students figure out their interests, skills and personality type. This is a good first step in helping students pick career paths that fit them
Unfortunately, many career center directors have reported that students don't take advantage of these assessment services as much as they should. When students begin thinking about their post-college life, they get very focused on finding a job and usually that job is directly related to their major course of study. Accounting majors become accountants. Computer science majors become programmers. Electrical engineering majors become engineers.
The job search gets very tactical and students gravitate towards career center services focused on resume creation, interviewing skills and networking 101. These are all great skills to learn but they don't help you with the strategic part of the job search: What career path should I follow after graduation?
College students should take advantage of the assessment testing and career counseling available to them while they are in school. These kinds of programs can help focus your search on the career areas where you will use your natural talents. Your natural talents are those basic elements of your core personality that are hard-wired into you. Natural talents are the things you can do well and enjoy doing the most. Uncovering these natural talents is the real first step in the career search process. College career centers can help but there are also things you can do on your own to help shed some light on the natural talents in you:
1) Think back on the last few years. What extracurricular activities have you enjoyed the most? Have you been actively involved in certain clubs, sports, academic pursuits that have energized you? What roles have you played in these clubs or organizations (leader, planner, ambassador, creative thinker, etc) Are there activities or courses that you look forward to and which seem almost effortless? What electives do you like to take? All of these are important clues to help you discover your natural talents.
2) Ask you friends what they think your natural talents might be. Your close friends probably have a good idea of what you are naturally gifted at doing. They can tell you if you are the leader of the group, or the spokesperson, or the planner, or the creative one. Listen to what they say and see if it resonates with your own gut feelings.
3) Get some outside help. There are career coaches and external sources to help you do a more thorough self-assessment. I recommend you start with a good guidebook. There are dozens of career books out there but there are very, very few that are aimed at helping young people find their natural talents and dream careers. One of the best guidebooks is Now What? The Young Person's Guide to Choosing a Career. This book was written by career coaching experts, Nick Lore and Anthony Spadafore. It takes you through a step-by-step process to uncover your who you are, what motivates you and what sort of work environment best suites you.
There are many more ways to figure out your natural talents. We'll take a look at them in the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, think about the things you have loved doing and pay attention to them.
Keep this in mind: The clues to your future career satisfaction can be found in the source of your past happiness.
Happy hunting!
Unfortunately, many career center directors have reported that students don't take advantage of these assessment services as much as they should. When students begin thinking about their post-college life, they get very focused on finding a job and usually that job is directly related to their major course of study. Accounting majors become accountants. Computer science majors become programmers. Electrical engineering majors become engineers.
The job search gets very tactical and students gravitate towards career center services focused on resume creation, interviewing skills and networking 101. These are all great skills to learn but they don't help you with the strategic part of the job search: What career path should I follow after graduation?
College students should take advantage of the assessment testing and career counseling available to them while they are in school. These kinds of programs can help focus your search on the career areas where you will use your natural talents. Your natural talents are those basic elements of your core personality that are hard-wired into you. Natural talents are the things you can do well and enjoy doing the most. Uncovering these natural talents is the real first step in the career search process. College career centers can help but there are also things you can do on your own to help shed some light on the natural talents in you:
1) Think back on the last few years. What extracurricular activities have you enjoyed the most? Have you been actively involved in certain clubs, sports, academic pursuits that have energized you? What roles have you played in these clubs or organizations (leader, planner, ambassador, creative thinker, etc) Are there activities or courses that you look forward to and which seem almost effortless? What electives do you like to take? All of these are important clues to help you discover your natural talents.
2) Ask you friends what they think your natural talents might be. Your close friends probably have a good idea of what you are naturally gifted at doing. They can tell you if you are the leader of the group, or the spokesperson, or the planner, or the creative one. Listen to what they say and see if it resonates with your own gut feelings.
3) Get some outside help. There are career coaches and external sources to help you do a more thorough self-assessment. I recommend you start with a good guidebook. There are dozens of career books out there but there are very, very few that are aimed at helping young people find their natural talents and dream careers. One of the best guidebooks is Now What? The Young Person's Guide to Choosing a Career. This book was written by career coaching experts, Nick Lore and Anthony Spadafore. It takes you through a step-by-step process to uncover your who you are, what motivates you and what sort of work environment best suites you.
There are many more ways to figure out your natural talents. We'll take a look at them in the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, think about the things you have loved doing and pay attention to them.
Keep this in mind: The clues to your future career satisfaction can be found in the source of your past happiness.
Happy hunting!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Parent Trap
Even after four or more years of college, most students will admit that their parents have great influence over their post-graduation lives. It's not surprising. After all, parents have provided the bulk of emotional and financial support for you for over 18 years. They certainly feel they deserve a little - or a lot - of input into your career decisions.
The high cost of higher education certainly bears a heavy burden on the college graduate. Only a very small percentage of students have the financial backing from their parents to sail through college without taking on the student loans. For the vast majority, graduating from college means beginning life in the red. Your parents understand this and they will probably tell you that it wasn't this bad on them when they graduated. College tuition seemed to have outpaced the growth of all other costs of life. Your parents may have graduated with a few student loans but they probably didn't experience as much anxiety over them as you will.
Your parents are faced with dual emotions as you graduate: they are proud and they are worried. Proud of your academic accomplishments and worried about your financial viability.
Parents around the world will almost always advise their children to find a "good job" after graduation. Take a job that pays well (and helps you pay off those huge loans). Take a job that offers good benefits (so you can move out of our basement). And, take a job with a company that will give you stability and options for future career growth (so you don't have to move back into our basement later in life). You can always figure out your perfect career while you work at your "good job."
Parents mean well but they don't often put themselves in your shoes. Come to think of it, they don't often put themselves in their own shoes. With an estimated 70% dissatisfaction rate amongst the workforce, chances are your parents are unhappy about their current careers. However, they were once young and idealistic. They had dreams and they had a plan in mind for their careers. They probably looked for a good job with salary and benefits with options for the future. They probably figured they could find a dream career in parallel to paying off their loans. Somehow, that plan doesn't usually work out too well.
You probably need your parents support to find your "dream career" after graduation. Your perfect career may not by what your parents, or you, envisioned when you entered college a few years ago. You owe it to yourself to find a career that fits you naturally but you also need your parents to be on board for this career search process.
Here's what I suggest you do to gain your parents support for a little dream career searching. Ask your parents these questions:
1) Do you like your job? Is it a good fit for you?
2) Is this where you wanted to be working this many years after graduation?
3) What would you rather be doing for a living?
4) If you could go back and visit your college-aged self, what career advice would you give yourself?
I predict that most of you will find your parents would go back in time and advise themselves to go down a very different career path than the one they are on today. Remember, they faced the pressures of their parents and their peers when making career decisions way back then. Their shoes were your shoes way back then but they probably didn't think too much about finding real, natural satisfaction in their work lives.
Ask your parents those questions - or ask anyone else who has been in the workforce for 10, 15, or 20 years - and you will find that they will warm up to the idea of allowing you a little freedom to find a dream career. They truly want you to be happy - and to pay your bills. You can do both if you step back and think about what you really want in life. Your parents should understand that when they think back on their own work history.
Let me know how your conversations go...
The high cost of higher education certainly bears a heavy burden on the college graduate. Only a very small percentage of students have the financial backing from their parents to sail through college without taking on the student loans. For the vast majority, graduating from college means beginning life in the red. Your parents understand this and they will probably tell you that it wasn't this bad on them when they graduated. College tuition seemed to have outpaced the growth of all other costs of life. Your parents may have graduated with a few student loans but they probably didn't experience as much anxiety over them as you will.
Your parents are faced with dual emotions as you graduate: they are proud and they are worried. Proud of your academic accomplishments and worried about your financial viability.
Parents around the world will almost always advise their children to find a "good job" after graduation. Take a job that pays well (and helps you pay off those huge loans). Take a job that offers good benefits (so you can move out of our basement). And, take a job with a company that will give you stability and options for future career growth (so you don't have to move back into our basement later in life). You can always figure out your perfect career while you work at your "good job."
Parents mean well but they don't often put themselves in your shoes. Come to think of it, they don't often put themselves in their own shoes. With an estimated 70% dissatisfaction rate amongst the workforce, chances are your parents are unhappy about their current careers. However, they were once young and idealistic. They had dreams and they had a plan in mind for their careers. They probably looked for a good job with salary and benefits with options for the future. They probably figured they could find a dream career in parallel to paying off their loans. Somehow, that plan doesn't usually work out too well.
You probably need your parents support to find your "dream career" after graduation. Your perfect career may not by what your parents, or you, envisioned when you entered college a few years ago. You owe it to yourself to find a career that fits you naturally but you also need your parents to be on board for this career search process.
Here's what I suggest you do to gain your parents support for a little dream career searching. Ask your parents these questions:
1) Do you like your job? Is it a good fit for you?
2) Is this where you wanted to be working this many years after graduation?
3) What would you rather be doing for a living?
4) If you could go back and visit your college-aged self, what career advice would you give yourself?
I predict that most of you will find your parents would go back in time and advise themselves to go down a very different career path than the one they are on today. Remember, they faced the pressures of their parents and their peers when making career decisions way back then. Their shoes were your shoes way back then but they probably didn't think too much about finding real, natural satisfaction in their work lives.
Ask your parents those questions - or ask anyone else who has been in the workforce for 10, 15, or 20 years - and you will find that they will warm up to the idea of allowing you a little freedom to find a dream career. They truly want you to be happy - and to pay your bills. You can do both if you step back and think about what you really want in life. Your parents should understand that when they think back on their own work history.
Let me know how your conversations go...
Friday, May 8, 2009
Watermelon seeds
The month of May is graduation time and graduation makes me think of watermelon seeds. watermelon seeds? Let me explain...
Students graduating from high school or college are under lots of pressure these days. The pressure comes from all around: parents, friends, teachers and society at large. There are lots of external expectations that graduates must face. Are you planning on attending the “best school”? Are you getting a “good job”? Are you living the life we all expected you to live?
After the big day, most graduates get launched into a direction in their lives that they may or may not have thought about very much. It's like a watermelon seed being squeezed between your finger and thumb. The pressure builds and then suddenly, the watermelon seed flies out into some random direction. Usually, the seed lands somewhere where it won't receive enough water, sun or cultivation. The seed eventually dries up and never produces the watermelon that everyone had hoped for.
Every watermelon seed holds the promise of a juicy, tasty watermelon. However, watermelons will only grow if they are planted properly, watered often and given plenty of sun. In other words, watermelon seeds need to do what is natural to them in an environment where they can thrive.
So do people.
High school and college graduates are full of energy and bursting with ideas and dreams of the future. However, high school students often choose their college because of everyone else’s expectations. Their parents want them to attend the “best school” possible. There is competition amongst friends to see who gets accepted into the best known school. College graduates feel compelled to get a job – any job - that pays well and gives them “options.” “Pays well” usually means being able to pay off the enormous loan they needed to get through the “best school.” And, jobs that give you options usually mean a salary and benefits to help them move out of their
parents homes and join the workforce.
Young adults need to step back and find their passions – and then go out and find a college or a career that will allow them to do what is natural to them in an environment that will cultivate and support them. Why do you think the attrition rate is so high during the first year of college? Why do you think the majority of people are unhappy with the career they have chosen?
They are watermelon seeds that have launched into a direction not of their choosing.
High school students: Before you pick that college, step back and really think about what you want to learn and want you want to do after college. I know it’s hard because of the pressure you face from your parents to get into the “best school” and the pressure from your friends to get into a “brand name” college or university.
College students: You’ve made your choice for higher education but your major and your degree should not define who you will be. Think deeply about your interests, skills, and passions and then find a way to live a life where you will grow happy, satisfied and fully engaged in your worklife.
Does any of this ring true with you? Tell me about the pressures you’ve faced. How have you dealt with the expectations and the pressure to live out everyone else’s dreams for you?
Students graduating from high school or college are under lots of pressure these days. The pressure comes from all around: parents, friends, teachers and society at large. There are lots of external expectations that graduates must face. Are you planning on attending the “best school”? Are you getting a “good job”? Are you living the life we all expected you to live?
After the big day, most graduates get launched into a direction in their lives that they may or may not have thought about very much. It's like a watermelon seed being squeezed between your finger and thumb. The pressure builds and then suddenly, the watermelon seed flies out into some random direction. Usually, the seed lands somewhere where it won't receive enough water, sun or cultivation. The seed eventually dries up and never produces the watermelon that everyone had hoped for.
Every watermelon seed holds the promise of a juicy, tasty watermelon. However, watermelons will only grow if they are planted properly, watered often and given plenty of sun. In other words, watermelon seeds need to do what is natural to them in an environment where they can thrive.
So do people.
High school and college graduates are full of energy and bursting with ideas and dreams of the future. However, high school students often choose their college because of everyone else’s expectations. Their parents want them to attend the “best school” possible. There is competition amongst friends to see who gets accepted into the best known school. College graduates feel compelled to get a job – any job - that pays well and gives them “options.” “Pays well” usually means being able to pay off the enormous loan they needed to get through the “best school.” And, jobs that give you options usually mean a salary and benefits to help them move out of their
parents homes and join the workforce.
Young adults need to step back and find their passions – and then go out and find a college or a career that will allow them to do what is natural to them in an environment that will cultivate and support them. Why do you think the attrition rate is so high during the first year of college? Why do you think the majority of people are unhappy with the career they have chosen?
They are watermelon seeds that have launched into a direction not of their choosing.
High school students: Before you pick that college, step back and really think about what you want to learn and want you want to do after college. I know it’s hard because of the pressure you face from your parents to get into the “best school” and the pressure from your friends to get into a “brand name” college or university.
College students: You’ve made your choice for higher education but your major and your degree should not define who you will be. Think deeply about your interests, skills, and passions and then find a way to live a life where you will grow happy, satisfied and fully engaged in your worklife.
Does any of this ring true with you? Tell me about the pressures you’ve faced. How have you dealt with the expectations and the pressure to live out everyone else’s dreams for you?
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