As a new parent I may not be the most educated person on this topic but I am a thinker.

My son is only 16 months old so I have not had the opportunity to be a “helicopter parent.” Actually at this age I have to be a helicopter parent. If I am not, other helicopter parents will call in family and youth services to make sure I become a helicopter parent. Anyway, those parents who are having trouble letting go of little Junior at college or after college; they are considered true helicopter parents.

The thought of moving out and letting their kids stretch their wings seems to be too much for some parents. Will I be like these parents when my son Noah is old enough to stretch his wings? Who’s to say? What is clear from real life examples’ that we all have seen is there seems to be a line that parents need to stay away from when it comes to allowing their children to step out on their own. The reason parents need to stay away from that invisible line is because at one point these young adults will need to sink or swim. Most helicopter parents, and I am generalizing here, have probably done everything possible to make their kids life more comfortable and more exciting than their childhood was. They have had the best and have been the best at everything they put their hands to. They probably have not had the opportunity to fail all that often because of their sheltered lifestyle. The concept of winners and losers has been lost in our nation’s youth. Everyone is a winner…right? With that said helicopter parents are by no means uncaring parents in fact they are just the opposite. They are almost too caring. Can someone be to caring? Jerry Seinfeld call your office. However, the extreme of anything can be bad. Moderation is much better.

Here are suggestions to helicopter parents.

1. Let your kids sink or swim in college and real life.
2. Don’t go to work with your kids, ever, ever ever, ever…. Is that enough evers?
3. Doni’t attend job fairs with your kids…ever, ever,ever, ever
4. Support them emotionally and financially if needed but step back from the decision making process. Let them sink or swim.
5. Be happy that your kids are finally moving out of your house. Enjoy the lower water bill, lower cell phone bill, lower electric bill, and cleaner house in general.
6. Finally, remember that statistics tell us that a large percentage of new graduates will at one time or another move home to get back on their feet. Enjoy your time without them while they are gone because they may come home soon and this time it might be with a significant other.

Check out this video from MSNBC on helicopter parents.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been writing about how college students can guarantee for themselves a job after college.  The best way to do this is through experiential education during their college career.

To illustrate my point with real life examples; I attended Liberty University’s graduation ceremony in Lynchburg Virginia last weekend.  My cousin Josh graduated from their school of government.  Way to go Josh!

We drove down to Lynchburg in the middle of the night and arrived in Lynchburg at 6AM.  There is nothing like driving through the Virginia country side in the middle of the night half asleep.  Those flat roads all start to look the same after a while.

Josh may have graduated with a degree in government but was offered a job in the schools IT department because of his amazing abilities in information technology, specifically Apple computers.  Josh is the sole reason I am writing this article on my nice and fairly new black MacBook.  He convinced my brother and I that Apple is far superior to Windows years ago.  Thanks again Josh!

While he was in school at Liberty taking classes in the school of government he was applying his amazing abilities in a totally different field, computer science and tech support.  Since he had a passion for computers and specifically Apple he was offered a job upon gradation in the schools IT department to handle support of all Apple products at the university.  Did he waste his time by getting a degree in government? No way!  The information he learned via his degree and the hands on skills he has in computer science field will be applicable and practical in a variety of companies.

It worked for Josh and is certainly can work for you!

Before you read this article make sure you check out the first four articles in this series.

How to Be Guranteed a Job After Graduation

Freshman Year Career Plan

Sophomore Career plan

Junior Year Career Development Plan

This is the final installment in a five part series on How To Be Guaranteed A Job After College. The entire series can be summed up in two words, Experiential Education. As a review, experiential education is nothing more than college students getting work experience while they are in school outside of the classroom. It is a great idea to do as well as you can in your college classes, you need that high GPA, but what is nearly as important is the amount of real life work experience you have once you walk across that graduation stage.

We live in a very competitive job market with a 95% employment rate. Yes I know we always hear about the unemployment rate but to switch this number around we are living in a 95% employment rate. That means only 5% of the population is without work. 95% of the population is working. Of those 5% who are not working many of those chose not to or cannot work for one reason or another.

Since we have such a high employment rate I would suggest you do everything you can to set yourself apart from your competition. One of the only ways to do that while in school is to get as much real life work experience as possible.

The first four articles for this plan have focused on 13 different ways college students can get some great real life work experience and practical knowledge about their potential career while they are still in school.

• Consulting with Career Services
• Career assessment tests
• Meeting with your academic advisor
• Local company visits (company tours)
• Job shadowing experiences
• Writing a resume
• Company Research
• Summer Internship
• School Year internship
• Job fairs
• Networking events
• Short-term project work
• Co-Ops

Here are a two more items to consider during your senior year in addition to the previous 13 opportunities.

Read career articles on the Internet and in respected publications such as Career Journal, Justin Driscoll.net, Monster.com, WetFeet.com and others. I would even recommend reading blogs from corporate recruiters. Many of the large companies are blogging. You can find out more info on this via their online career center.

Attend Career Events – I participate and plan many career information events for college students every year. I know they are happening on your campus. These are not job fairs but panel discussions and specific events for your major. Talk with you professors or career center professionals to find out more info. Last year one of the career events I planned gave a student who attended an opportunity to land an internship with a local advertising company. They work!

In closing, here is what it takes to get a job… HARD WORK. Very few people who have a job ever get that job by walking into the hiring managers office and walking out with an offer.

Once you find a position you are qualified for it is a long process to make sure you are a good fit with the company and the company a good fit with you. It is very expensive to hire the wrong person. That is why so many companies are taking such a long time to hire new candidates; they don’t want to make a mistake.

If you do your hard work up front while you are in college you will be more than educated on the type of opportunities that are available to you when you graduate. In fact you may have an offer in front of you months before you ever walk across that graduation stage. If you do multiple internships or co-ops or job shadows you have a much better shot at landing a position before you graduate. I would go as far to say that if you follow these 15 steps during your college career you will be guaranteed a Job After Graduation!

I had an opportunity to interview Eric Barker from Accenture. Eric and I chatted about

how to become a successful consultant at one of the largest and most respected consulting companies in the world.

What type of skills does Accenture look for in candidates?

What is his day-to-day life like as a consultant?

Does Accenture hire entry-level candidates for these positions?

What is the training like for new employees?

What is the promotion potential like for Accenture employees?

and finally the low down on the travel schedule of a consultant.

Click here to listen to our conversation

Right click to download the mp3 file. 

Before you read this article feel free to check out the first three articles in this series.

How to Be Guranteed a Job After Graduation

Freshman Year Career Plan

Sophomore Career plan

So far we have talked about a number of experiential educational opportunities.  Let me emphasize that I am a true believer in the classroom learning environment but real life experience cannot be found in a classroom.  I guess the exception might be if you are going to be a full time researcher or professor but if you are planning on working in corporate America you need to obtain as much real life work experience as possible to realize what you are passionate about.

Some of the items we have covered thus far include:

• Consulting with Career Services
• Career assessment tests
• Meeting with your academic advisor
• Local company visits (company tours)
• Job shadowing experiences
• Writing a resume
• Company Research
• Summer Internship
• School Year internship
• Job fairs
• Networking events

Co-Ops

For this next year of schooling I would recommend focusing on a co-op work experience that will span the school year and the summer.

A co-op is an internship with a company in your field that spans the school year and throughout the summer.  A good co-op can last a year or longer.  I cannot think of a better way to land a full time job after school without having to go through the job search process than a co-op.

Many institutions will have a co-op department or facilitator.  Make sure you find that out within your school.  Also, a co-op can be a great way to get credit toward graduation.  Some schools will even give six to 12 credits depending on how long your co-op is.

I know co-ops are very popular within more technical fields such as engineering but even in education the student teaching experience could be considered a co-op.  Even if your school does not offer an official co-op experience I would recommend trying to work with your career services or professor to set-up a co-op like experience with a company in your field.  This is nothing more than ensuring that the company will guarantee you employment during the semester and throughout the summer.  When you are interviewing with the company try and make that clear that you are interested in a long term relationship with them if everything goes as planned.

Please understand that even if the company commits to a long term experience there isn’t a legally binding contract that will prevent them from going back on their word.  The fact is businesses change rapidly and that can cause them to change their mind on keeping you on for the whole commitment.

A co-op is a great experience that all college students should consider.

Internships

By this time in your college experience you should have had one or two internship experiences, maybe during the school year but most likely during the summer.  If you haven’t done an internship yet make sure you work with your career center and network of friends and family to try and land an internship during your junior year or at minimum the summer between you junior and senior year.

Benefits of an Internship

• Short term experience with a company in your field
• Your get PAID!  Show me the money!
• College Credit
• If you don’t like the company you can leave at the end of your term and never have to think about them again
• EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE!!!
• An internship is also a great way to figure out that you don’t like what you are studying in school.  The earlier you figure this out the better.  For example, an internship may make you realize that you hate accounting even though you are studying to be an accountant.  Get out before it is too late.
• An internship can help you find your passion in life and not just a job!

Finally, please consider continuing your efforts in the 11 items mentioned above.  These items are really apart of your four year plan and should be continued the whole way through.

The final installment in this series is the Senior Year Career Development Plan!

Stay tuned!

In honor of my friend Josh Shipp I wanted to make you all aware that May is Foster Care month.

Check out their web site and check out Josh’s latest version of HeyJosh.tv.

Here is another Top 5 List for the Pro Blogger Writing Project.

A simple list of five ways to ensure that you always have a job or will get another faster if you lose your current one.  This isn’t a magical formula but more of a practical list.

Top 5 Ways to Always Have a Job

5. Hard working

4. Ethics Still Matter in Business

3. Innovative Employees will never be unemployed

2. Those that aren’t afraid to change are invaluable (flexibility / teamwork)

1. Your professional network is more valuable than you could ever measure

I recieve Gloria Herman’s email once per week about current events, trends, employment, culture etc…  I have also heard her and her late husband speak on two different occasions.  I do not agree with everything she writes or says about the present or the future but I do like the article she sent out today via her email subscribers.  I felt it was worth publishing here on my blog.  Enjoy!
Also, please become a subscriber yourself to her enewsletter, it is well worth it.
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Herman Trend Alert: Higher Education and Employment 2017  May 9, 2007

The following material is an excerpt from a 1200-word essay provided to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). We were asked to provide a scenario for higher education and graduates’ employment prospects for ten years from now. The full essay will be posted on the NACE web site after their annual conference in early June. Enjoy!

The year is 2017. Virtual worlds engage students early. Employers have established major installations in Second Life and other virtual worlds where the students can work for the employer any hour of the day or night at the organization’s office or hospital. The students love the reality of the game and the employers enjoy being able to “teach” the students their cultures—effortlessly.

Mentors play a substantial role in growth. Now, beginning in ninth grade, students are paired with full-time employees. When, after college graduation, a mentee chooses to come to work for the employer, the mentor receives a substantial financial gift; most employers are paying $5000 to $10,000, because the companies discovered long ago that these mentored young people have a better track record with their firms.

Colleges and universities have found efficiency in numbers. Ten years ago in 2007, we saw the beginning of this trend on the part of colleges and universities to work together to capitalize on advancing technologies and eliminate duplication of efforts. At this point in time, they have created consortia in a wide variety of areas, from forming buying groups to holding career fairs, and even working together on common projects like building national databases of internships and other career resources.

Alumni play a greater role. College alumni working for large organizations converge on campus to recruit the best and the brightest beginning with their freshmen years. The goal is to attract this top talent to work for their employers. Recruiting alumni will use personal music programming and pod casts, as well as other media (not yet invented in 2007) to win over the hearts and minds of tomorrow’s students.

College-employer partnerships thrive. Employers sponsor summer programs for high school students and pay for college in an effort to win over top talent. Students identified early, sometimes feel like they are riding magic carpets that allow them to explore their field(s) of interest, while receiving valuable guidance and financial support. It’s not happening yet, but some employers are even discussing working with fifth grade teachers to identify the most promising students and gain a competitive edge.

******************************

Herman Trend Alerts are written by Joyce Gioia-Herman, a strategic
business futurist, Certified Management Consultants, authors, and
professional speakers. Archived editions are posted at http://www.hermangroup.com/archive.html

This post is a part of the ProBlogger Top 5 Group writing project.

Top 5 Ways for a College Student to Get a Job after Graduation by: Justin Driscoll 

5. Job shadowing at various companies during college

4. Short term project work during your school year with various companies

3. Internships, internship, internships!

2. Co-ops (multiple year work assignments with the same company)

1. Networking, networking, networking

This is the second installment of a four part series entitle the Career Development plan for College Students.

To read the freshman year plan click here,

The second edition of the Career Development plan is the sophomore year.

For your sophomore year I recommend continuing some of the freshman year plan but then stepping it up a notch with a few new ideas.

• Continue to meet with your career services advisor. As I said in my first post they are a wealth of resources. Besides, what else are they going to do all day if they don’t meet with you? Their full time job is to meet with students and advise them on career decisions.

• Continue to visit local companies. This process should continue all four years. If you work on this all four years think how many companies you could visit. Even if you only visited two per semester over the course of four years that would be 16 companies in four years. How many of your friends could say they have visited 16 companies over the course of four years? 16 companies in four year = chick magnet, right? Wouldn’t you agree? ☺

• Continue your job shadowing experiences. Again try and do at least one per semester at different types of companies in different industries. These types of experiences can hopefully be arranged via your professors or your career services office. Again, they are waiting for you to come in and talk with them about things like this.

• Tweak your resume. Since this is your second year of school you will have more to put on it. Your first year of school should have provided some great experiences like job shadows and internships. Make sure those are now on your resume. I highly recommend you work with a professional on making your resume as sharp as possible. If you are like me editing your resume is not an easy process. I often over look the smallest of errors that professionals will not miss.

• Continue to do your company research. Find out as much as possible about local companies that could be potential employers. Once you have done a fair bit of research on a few of them continue to try and make some in-roads within these organizations to see what it would be like to work there. A company tour, a job shadow, and internship, or even an information interview could be a great way to take your research to the next step.

• That leads me to my next point. Informational interviewing is a great way to get very valuable experience. Let’s face it; most college students don’t know that much about working in the real world. A great way to learn what it would be like is to sit down with professionals and talk about their job and their day-to-day lives. If you were considering a job in broadcasting, it would be a great idea to call a local radio station to try and interview the local talk show host or popular DJ. Find some time to schedule a visit with them during their workday. Call them and ask them for 30 minutes of their time to find out more about their day-to-day tasks. Tell them you are interested in learning more about what it would be like to work in their field. Most people will not refuse you. Once you have the meeting set, work with your parents, career services professional, or professor to come up with a list of questions to ask them. Hopefully the conversation will take care of itself but it would be a good idea to have some conversations starters ready to go.

• Consider finding a school year internship. At the end of your freshman year I suggested it might be a good idea to find a summer internship. Now I am suggesting the possibility of finding an internship during your spring semester. Shortly after you return from summer break start to look for a spring internship. Try and secure it before the end of the fall semester so you can create your spring schedule around this position. I know during my senior year I worked at an internship during the fall and the spring. I was able to take mostly night classes that made it work. Not every school offers that type flexibility but maybe you could take all morning classes and then work in the afternoon. Do what you can with the resources you have.

• Attend a job fair. I should have mentioned this in the freshman year post but I forgot. I would recommend attending job fairs all four years. They are a great way to improve your networking abilities. You never know whom you are going to meet at these events. I would also recommend making business cards to take to a job fair. Check out Vistaprint.com for very inexpensive cards. You will knock’em dead if you show up to the job fair with business cards. Very few students do this.

• Attend a local professional networking event. Most local communities have a chamber of commerce or a trade association. I know here in the Pittsburgh area we are spoiled with a number of professional networking events available to us. Talk with career services or your professor about local professional events that are related to your major. Nearly every profession has a trade association or networking group that is related to your field of study. These types of events can be a great resource when it comes to finding a job after school. Remember, nearly 80% of the people working found that job through networking.

Again, this is not a complete list but it a group of suggestions. If you have other suggestions please feel free to drop me an email.

Stay tuned for tomorrow and the Junior Year Plan.