Teens and the Job Application Process

My 18 year old son is applying for a job at a restaurant near his college and has a tentative appointment to meet with the hiring manager this Sunday. While he has experience as a server from a few years ago, he has spent the past two summers as a lifeguard. On the surface, lifeguarding may not count towards wait staff experience but it does carry a number of valuable transferable skills such as leadership, communication, responsibility and tenacity.

As he goes off to apply to the restaurant this week-end, I wanted to remind him of a couple of job search tips. Here they are in no particular order.

1. See if the company has an on-line presence and read up on the company. If the company has a position description or a “Working with Us” tab, read the details.
2. Dress appropriately. I told him to wear his khakis, a good shirt and shoes (no flip flops).
3. Bring the names of his previous supervisors and the dates of employment.
4. Bring the names and phone numbers of at least two references.
5. Bring his school schedule.
6. Drive himself over. If someone begs to come along, have them wait in the car.
7. Ask for the manager by name. “My name is ___. I’d like to speak with (name of hiring manager) please.”
8. Bring a pen.
9. Bring a calendar or use your phone’s scheduling feature.
10. Speak clearly and politely yet show your personality. Be prepared to answer questions about your past jobs.

If your child is ready to take on a part time position, please share these tips with them. There are a number of online sites that provide job descriptions of the various types of jobs that teens (or really anyone) may want to pursue. A good one is My Job Apps.

Clean Up Your Facebook Kids

Our son went off to college a few weeks ago. He’s a freshman and while his school isn’t too far away, he’s living on campus and loving his new life. The other day, much to my surprise, he ‘friended” me on Facebook. While I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know about his comings and goings, I was, well, honored and felt it was a huge step in his maturity. I looked at his posts and his pictures and luckily, all was above board and there wasn’t too much to worry about. I did worry about his friends though. I was surprised that I was able to look at the pictures and status of many of his friends; those still in high school as well as those in college. As a job search coach, that really bothered me (the Mom in me was really annoyed).

Most of the pictures are of underage drinking. First of all, that’s illegal. It’s wrong and as parents we need to monitor our kids and not close our eyes to what is going on right under our noses. There are plenty of resources out there for help in this area. I personally feel strongly about this subject and don’t have much empathy for parents who throw up their hands and say that there is nothing that they can do about it.

Since this is a job search blog though, I asked myself if the high school kids realize that the admissions counselor at the college they want to attend can look at those pictures. If I can easily look up a name, couldn’t a college or a potential employer? Also, how do the college kids who want to get an internship, summer job or a “real” job expect to get any employment offers if they are only depicted as partying?

First of all stop with all the partying (especially if you’re in high school). Next, correct your security options on your social media accounts. Most people age 25+ are aware of this and have corrected their settings. The younger crowd, who is supposedly much more technically savvy, are posting their pages and pictures out there for the whole world to see. Perhaps it doesn’t mean anything to them now but it should.

Facebook and Change- Part 2

As someone who has casually and non-scientifically studied human behavior for many years as a learning and development specialist, I know that most people don’t like unexplained change. I have a theory about all of the complaints surrounding the new Facebook updates.

Huge social networking groups like Facebook, Google and Twitter were founded by members of Gen X (born in the early 1960s to late 1970s) and Gen Y (born late 1970s to early 2000s). Facebook founder, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born in 1984. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter was born in 1976 and the creators of Google, Larry Page, Sergey Brin were born in the early 70’s. These generations, especially Gen Y were brought up on technology. Since they were born into a world of computers, cell phones, computer games they are much more technically savvy than any other generation.

The demographics concerning Facebook show that over the past two years there has been an increasing amount of new members who are in the 35 – 50+ age range. One of the fastest growing demographics in 2009 showed that women aged 55+ grew over 175.3%! (The Baby Boomer generation). Since many Boomers are generally less technically astute than the demographic of the Facebook management and staff, it might explain the complaints and uproar over the new layout. Perhaps for future roll-outs, the company reviews its own statistics and considers other methods of communication and introduction. Maybe Basic Marketing 101 is a good place to start.

To link this sentiment to the job search, everyone, including Baby Boomers need to be aware of and keep up with the changes and advances made in business and technology. This will help cancel the stereotype that Boomers aren’t flexible.

Facebook and Handling Change

I had to laugh this morning when I saw the new changes to Facebook. It seems as if they are changing things on a regular basis lately. I complained on my status box as well because it’s annoying trying to figure out how to do certain things all over again. It made me think about how we handle change and how people handle things differently; just like my Kittie and the Cone post from the other day. Let’s take a quick look at the Seven Dynamics of Change, from Ken Blanchard again, only this time inserting Facebook as the change agent rather than the fancy cat neck wear. When first introduced to a change people are:
1. Awkward and ill at ease
a. How the he** am I supposed to figure out this?
b. Am I the only one who is feeling frustrated over this new layout?
2. Think first of what they must give up
a. Now everyone will see my updates.
b. There goes my privacy.
c. I’ll miss the old Facebook.
3. Feel alone although others are also going through the change too
a. 750 million people use Facebook. Am I the only one who is annoyed at this?
b. Am I the only person who can’t figure out how to get rid of these side boxes?
4. Can handle only so much
a. Enough already! Quit with the changes!
5. They are at different readiness levels for change
a. I love this!
b. I hate this!
c. Who cares?
6. Are concerned about resources
a. I don’t have time to figure this out.
b. I don’t have the energy to figure this out.
7. Will revert back to their old ways when the pressure is lessened.
a. In a heartbeat. Leave a good thing alone!

We're only human and we're all in this together!

Handling Change; Lessons From My Cat

Our cat, Kittie had surgery on her paw on Friday. She was somehow wounded while walking around the neighborhood. It’s a puncture wound that had abscessed and she is now required to wear a cone around her head to prevent her from licking the incision. I’m not sure if I should call her “our” cat. She is a stray that took a fancy to our house about 13 years ago because I am a sucker for homeless animals. Here it is all of these years later and I am still searching for her real owners. Anyway, she is in for a surprise once she is healed. The cone may be removed but she is now going to be stuck inside.

Kittie is very uncomfortable with the paw, cone and being stuck inside. It’s change and even animals are uncomfortable with change. I’ve watched her as she tries to deal with her new accessory. She paces, bumps into things, walks in circles, tries to remove it, and hits her head against any object standing in her way. She cries as if she is complaining to me. In many ways, her behavior reminds me of the way people deal with change. According to Ken Blanchard, in the Seven Dynamics of Change, when people are first alerted of a change, they go through several steps. The cat is displaying some of these but she’s not human. People go through all of these steps, especially during a job loss.

1. They are awkward and ill at ease
a. I am the only one of my friends without a job
b. What will my family think?
2. They think first of what they must give up
a. It’s time to tighten the purse strings.
b. I’ll miss my peers
c. I’ll miss the work
d. I’ll definitely miss the security
3. They feel alone although others are also going through the change too
a. 14 million people have lost work since 2008. Why do I think it is only me?
b. No one understands what I am going through
4. They can handle only so much
a. With a job loss comes economic belt tightening
b. The stressors of normal life become harder to bear.
5. They are at different readiness levels for change
a. This may have come at a time when a change in careers was wanted. For others, no.
6. They are concerned about resources
a. Finances are critical and non-essentials are placed on the back burner
7. When the pressure is lessened they will revert back to their old ways.
a. Many times, comfortable job search tactics are used. These include emailing resumes to web addresses or applying on line. On the surface, these steps may provide a sense of accomplishment but in the long run they are not as effective as networking and face to face interaction.

Losing a job is difficult and while it is common to grieve and feel many of the emotions listed above, it is also a time for reflection and reconnecting.

Interviewing Preparation

As a job search coach one of the areas where I am asked to provide guidance and suggestions is interviewing. Many times my clients want to know how to prepare for the interview and other times they want to practice interviewing.
While I can’t predict all of the questions that will be asked of an applicant, we do prepare based upon the job posting and by reviewing the client’s resume, strengths, weaknesses and accomplishments. Here is what we do:

1. Review the job posting for key words and job specific phrasing. Take a piece of paper and draw two columns. In the first column, write down the job wording and job responsibilities (write them one by one). In the second column, write out your accomplishments as they relate to these words and phrases. Look at your resume for guidance (after all, there was something in your resume that interested the hiring manager or HR representative). Refer to your prior work experience and also any outside or volunteer work.

2. Look up the company website and read the sections entitled Home, About Us and Our Employees. Review any new products and services as well as the company core values. These sections will provide additional information about your understanding of the company and you can again align your past performance with their principles.

3. Google the company and do as stated above. Also look them up on LinkedIn.

4. Practice interviewing using behavioral questions. Go back to the two-column chart you created earlier and using the wording in the left-hand side, create behavioral questions. For example, if you are applying for an Environmental Engineering position and one of the job responsibilities is “soil and groundwater sampling”, two behavioral questions might be, “Take me though the steps you use in groundwater sampling. What tests do you perform, what do you do with the results?” or “What are some of the issues that you have run into while doing groundwater testing? How did you handle these and what were the results?” Practice answering these questions out loud or with a partner.

5. Have a list of questions to ask the interviewer. You don’t need to save the questions for the end of the interview; ask them or any question whenever you need clarification or more detail. Some sample questions to ask the hiring company include, “What are the pressing needs of this position?”, “What are the goals of the department, the organization?”,”I read that you just introduced Product X, how is this position related to the roll out of that product?”

There are other ways to prepare such as answering the Strengths, Weaknesses and Tell Me About Yourself questions and we can talk about these at another time. The important thing about interviewing is to prepare. While the interviewer may not ask you everything on your list, it is better to be prepared. After all, preparation leads to a better understanding of yourself and that naturally leads to confidence and assuredness.

September 11, 2011

Ten years ago I was in Monmouth Medical Center in NJ looking out of my mother’s hospital room window at the sparkling ocean to the east and the billows of smoke to the north. There was a boat not far from the shore line and I remember wondering if the driver realized that the world we knew a mere thirty minutes ago would never,ever return.

My mother was just given her own death sentence. The day before she had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in her colon and was told she had 6 to 18 months to live. We were devastated as we watched the events of 9-11 unfold from her small hospital room television. As the towers imploded she said, “What I am going through is nothing compared to what is going on across the river.” The television quickly turned to the Pentagon and we watched the flames and horror in Washington D.C. Then, like so many others, we heard about the battle in the air over Shanksville, PA.

The hospital was cleared of all non-critical patients to make room for the victims of the terror attack. We were told that they would be arriving by ferry and then by ambulance. We bundled up my Mom and drove her home, all the while listening for the ambulances that would never arrive.

May God bless all the courageous souls that were lost that day and may God continue to bless our great country. May the Freedom Tower rise up to display to the world the continued strength, tenacity and resilience of the American people.

The Swordfish

We took our son to college yesterday. After weeks of shopping and preparing and packing (all done by me by the way), he was ready. We had an earthquake and a hurricane the week before move in but the school was ready to take my child and embrace him, even though I wasn’t ready to let him go.

Unlike his sister, our son is more reserved and apprehensive about meeting people. It takes him a while to warm up but once he gets to know someone he is gregarious and charming. Before he left yesterday we took a walk to a river by our house. There was so much that I wanted to tell him that had already been said before yet I wanted a few precious moments alone with him. He hadn’t said anything but I knew that he was apprehensive about leaving home. He’d miss his friends, girl friend and lifestyle. He was not sure about his choice of majors either. I just wanted to hold him again like I did when he was a child and let him know that everything would be fine.

I did say that he was not alone in his apprehension. Meeting new people in college can be as daunting as meeting new people anywhere. It’s another kind of networking. Every kid moving into a dormitory most likely feels that same way and is nervous and looking for someone to connect with. As far as meeting new people, the rules will never change. Get out there, get involved, and open yourself to new ideas and cultures. I read an article about college networking and while the location is different from the world of job search, the elements are the same. http://www.wetfeet.com/blog/2011/september/networking-in-college.

Now, about that swordfish. We have a 7 foot swordfish that hung in a spare room at my parent's house. The previous owners didn't want it and left it there for my parent's "enjoyment'. Today, my husband and I drove the fish over to the dorm. As my son and his roommate walked it into the dorm, all eyes were on them cheering, laughing and smiling. It was an ice-breaker, a novelty and a conversation starter. It's their opening to meet new people and you know....network.

Welcome Guests

I never really looked at my blog statistics before. That comes from my i personal style (DiSC profile). I also think it is because I like to write about a job search subject or occasionally another subject just as it comes to me. Usually I get my ideas from training class guests or from an article that I have read.

Tonight, as I was looking at the backroom information that Blogger shares, I noticed that many of my readers are from around the world. We have visitors from ten different countries! Thank you all for reading and sharing The Flap! Here are the countries and number of visitors represented:

United States 8961
Russia 252
Netherlands 202
United Kingdom 193
Germany 174
Denmark 156
Canada 142
India 95
Latvia 69
Slovenia 54

Please let me know if you have a particular subject or question about the job search. What would you, the reader like to know? If I don’t have an immediate answer I will research it for you. Thanks for being here.