Leadership Matters

Beginning the Career Search?

On the Internship Hunt?

Deciding on your Future College?

Looking for Summer Work Experience?

Strengthening your Resume?

LEADERSHIP MATTERS

Whether you are deciding on a college, applying for an internship, or interviewing for one of your first professional jobs just out of college, you have heard this over and over again…. Leadership matters!

Leaders get things done. Leaders make things happen. Leaders take charge. Leaders have vision. And leaders have the skills to articulate this vision in a way that motivates others to take action.

When are you at your best? Where does your brightest light shine? What are your natural talents and strengths?

This is an important part of the self-reflective process that quality college & internship experiences, summer jobs, and strong resumes require. If we zero in at when and where we are at our best this can give us clear clues as to the kinds of young adult experiences where our strengths can shine, and we can find our sense of place, connection, and a great fit for own unique skill set.

So here is the task ... Take your own experiences and re-write them with leadership in mind. List all of the activities, classes, jobs, travel, volunteer work, and clubs in which you have been a part of, and then ask yourself some of these questions as you uncover the unique leadership qualities that are naturally your own:

Can you think quickly on your feet?

Are you a self-starter? Do you initiate new projects?

Are you skilled at bringing diverse groups of people together?

Is follow-through a strength for you?

Can people depend on you from beginning to end?

Is public speaking a natural talent?

Are you the motivator or cheerleader in the group?

Is attention to detail where you excel?

Do you remain calm and reasonable under pressure?

Are your interpersonal skills something others often comment about?

Are you a top competitor?

Do you have the latest, cutting-edge expertise in your class or field?

Think about developing your student and career life story in a way that highlights some of your leadership qualities.

Remember... Leaders get things done. Leaders are the change agents the world is seeking. Leaders are tomorrow's future.

BOXED IN? BUST OUT of the Conventional Job Search

In today's job search you need to shed the stiff expectations, the obvious search methods, and the conventional choices that lead to frustration, rather than reward. Work to discover and access your own unique skill set, your passion, and differentiate yourself from the millions of other recent college graduates on the job market hunt.

You need a change up!

Quit chasing titles, status, the big money-- as too often the external world and outward marketing ploys tend to focus our thinking and options on the material gain -- Quit chasing the text book job! Bust Out of the Boxed In cubicle chaos.

Something inside of us let's us know when we are not at our best.

Pay Attention!
Listen!

Or
You will lose your way!
You will lose your principles!
You will lose your genuine drive and passion!

Take some time to...
Be quiet
Reflect
Dream

Get Creative
Scheme
Get Busy
Take Action

What can you begin today that is a ....
A smart idea?
Innovative?
A new development?
A new solution to an old problem?
A quality investment of time, creativity, and your own resources?

Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind advocates that right brainers are now primed to rule this next business and career decade .... as we move from the Information-Technology Age, to what he has termed the Conceptual Age...  Pink feels that the keys to success in this next decade will rely on two broad skill sets:  Design and Empathy.  Adding aesthetic, creativity, color, and immagination to the automated, sterile, big box products coming out of the Tech era is going to be a skill set that is valued and lucrative in the next career market.  As well, possessing the emotional EQ to demonstrate empathy, tolerance, understanding and acceptance are going to be essential, required "people skills" as we work to build a more interactive global community.

Pink gives credence to the value that six sensibilities will bring to the future workplace: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning.  He believes these traits will be necessary to keep people passionate, motivated, innovative, and productive in this next generation. 

(For a faster read, try Pink's adult comic book:  The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You Will Ever Need.  He highlights the "6 Career Secrets No One Ever Told You."

With these ideas in mind, how can you radically change the direction in your job search today?

Remember you choose where you go from here. You can change direction, change your strategy, change your own location, change your focus any time you want.  And you can do this as many times as you want!

What is meaningful to you right now? 

What can make a positive difference in this world?

Are you a business guy? Start a company.  Become an entrepreneur.

An educator? Find a job or internship in a high-need neighborhood.  Volunteer at your public library, Boys or Girls Club, local elementary school.

Do you think like an engineer? Jump into the Green Revolution.  Design, retrofit, invent, train environmentally-sound operations and people.

Trained in health care or nursing? Care for our aging population.  Tap their energy, their wisdom, their creative reservoirs-- make their final life chapter one worth celebrating. Outward Bound for Seniors!

Do small things. 

Do big things. 

Find somebody or something to be successful for.... 

Ahh! Now that's the way to put personal passion and your unique skill set to work in the world!

You are Incredible; and the Earth is Hiring

Stop with the job search whining already.... Jobs DO exist for anyone with ambition, an entrepreneurial spirit, a creative eye, a sensibility toward "green commerce," and the guts to put themselves out there.

The GREEN revolution is happening-- so why not make your own place in its evolution?  Get creative!  Get bold! Get moving!  The questions that "green entrepreneurs" are asking themselves include: "What 's urgent? What's futuristic? What will the world need in the next 5-10 years?" These questions are your own wide open invitation on the road to becoming a successful, bold, green entrepreneur.

Here is how to find HOT, GREEN jobs in a COOL, BLUE economy:

1.  TURN THAT SHIRT INSIDE OUT - Don't be afraid to try your skills on in a new arena.

2.  BOXED IN? BUST OUT? - Carry an open mind with you everywhere you go.  Enjoy the idea of an unexpected job change, a new career path, open up to new possibilities, and think about how you might repackage your skills.

3.  NETWORK LIKE A CRAZY MAN - Let all kinds of people know you are looking. Everyone becomes a new opportunity or resource eager to be tapped.

Start by researching these potential environmental job clusters:  

• Renewable Energy (wind, solar, alternative fuels) 
• Building green, Building efficiently 
• The science and engineering behind biofuels, bio-genetics and green farming
• Transportation and alternative fuels
• Environmental law, compliance, and regulations
• Green function and design (clothing, food, shelter, everywhere)

This economy and environmental job market needs environmental engineers, chemical engineers, computer and electrical engineers.  We need construction management teams, architects, and builders to retrofit, design, and build resource-efficient buildings. We need creative  designers to add the aesthetic to the function of eco-building. We need farmers and scientists to genetically maintain the growth and integrity of whole, healthful foods. We need innovative and strategic land use city planners to help us think through ways to conserve and limit our use of space and resources.  Artists and creative spirits are needed to breathe life, passion, and color into this new way of being and thinking in the world. They are needed to soften the sharper edges of science and function necessary for this evolution to take hold and stick. Educators, trainers, and researchers who can reach and teach others about green innovation are in high demand in every career cluster.

So whether you specialize in practical skills, hards skills, soft skills--All skills are in great need as this green revolution takes the earth by storm. So... Get creative!  Get bold! Get moving! NOW!

So no more whining -- "YOU are incredible, and the EARTH  is hiring!"

Wipe Your FACE(BOOK) Clean & Create a Professional Online Presence

Head hunters, HR recruiters, and your future employers are "googling" you to gage whether you're the next hire for their company. So if you are serious about trying to market yourself, serious about trying to create a professional brand, eager to show off your strengths and your unique value proposition-- best be dumping Bambi's birthday bash party album on Facebook, best be deleting the four-letter sentiments on Twitter, and ditching your Hottie Horoscope news group. More and more employers and head hunters are using online media sources as an initial sorting tool for competing candidates, and as means to gather off-the-record data about the quality and professionalism of their next new hire.

So time to clean up your social media presence and re-brand your online persona as a professional who is mature, and ready to be serious in the real working world.

Here's how:

1. Join Linked In. -- "It's Facebook with suit"-- This is a professional networking site which holds credibility in the business world.

2. Complete your profile with as much detail and accuracy as possible. -- Use this space to "publish" your resume online. Take advantage of this free exposure.

3. Update your site regularly. Keep information current. Add articles, blogs, professional books, sites that you follow or recommend-- It shows you are current and educated. It shows that "You get it!"

4. Join other online professional groups related to your business niche.

5. Get yourself noticed. -- Set yourself apart from the pack. Comment and follow professional or unique blogs. Add YouTube videos to your site.

6. Start your own blog.-- Create a positive & professional business brand for yourself through your commentary on your own blog.

7. Clean up Facebook and Twitter.

"The majority of students coming out of college are essentially generic." Time magazine / April 2009

Time to create your own dynamic, unique professional BRAND-- and use the FREE, worldwide exposure that social media tools provide to set you apart and get you noticed!