According to a recent Globe and Mail article, over the past year, “About 449,000 private-sector positions vanished compared with a smaller drop of 55,000 among public employees. At the same time, self-employment rose by 104,000.”   Smith cited that today 16% of Canada’s labour force is self-employed compared to 12% in 1976.  This is a gradual trend resulting from all sizes of companies outsourcing many functions of their operations to be more lean and adaptable to economic shifts.

His point to the audience of career educators and recruiters was a call to action, to prepare students for the new economic realities that they will be facing.  During the Q&A, I asked him which new skills would be required to compete in this new culture of self-employment.  This launched him into lengthy response on the imperative to be INNOVATIVE problem solvers. Those who are able to deliver creative solutions will always be in high demand.

1. You will learn about yourself:  Which role are you best suited for on a team?  What part of a job gives you the most satisfaction?  What type of people do you like working with?  Learning these qualities about yourself on the job can be tough, because often you don’t get to chose.  Figure these out as a volunteer and you’ll make better choices about the job you really want.
2. You will make connections:  I have landed 3 jobs and many more career opportunities directly linked to people I have met through volunteering.  You are more likely to receive a referral from someone who has seen you in action than from someone you met at a networking event.
3. Opportunity to demonstrate your leadership ability:  You may not be the lead on a big project right away when you start your first job.  But as a volunteer, there are fewer barriers to landing a project management role and showing what you have to offer.
4. Become passionate and engaged: Finding meaning in a cause taps you into a life force that will ripple good vibes through all areas of your life.
5. It’s fun! Work takes on a new form when you add the unique element of a team focused on doing social good. The happiness you experience will show through in how you talk about your accomplishments–and that is key to interview success!

For the grad class of 2009, many have been out of school without a job for six months now. According to NACE research, “Currently, the overall average salary offer made to all bachelor’s degree graduates is $49,353.”  (NACE’s 2009 Salary Survey)  So on average, being unemployed has carried an opportunity cost of almost $25,000.

But, was there an opportunity to begin with?  There is no question that the number of job options available to new grads has decreased over the past year–hiring is down 22% according to employers NACE surveyed in its Spring 2009 Job Outlook.  It is out of proportion though, to the increase in the percentage of grads who find themselves without work at graduation–19.8% compared to 51% in 2007 (NACE, May 2009).   The differential would suggest to me, that for the jobs that are available, students need to be more skilled at finding and landing them.

When it is easier to find work and companies are banging down the doors of universities and colleges to find fresh talent, half of students transition into the employment market right out of the gates.  But as soon as recessionary forces come to bear and finding a job requires career management skills–eight out of ten grads find themselves unemployed.

How do we decrease the elasticity of unemployment for new grads?  4 out of 5 career experts would agree (I was brainwashed by the toothpaste commercials from my youth), that career education is most effective in the fight against employment decay.  I believe that we can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the school-to-career transition in all economic climates, by engaging students in career management skills.

TAG’s program got me thinking about ROI, because it is the first program that I’ve come across that charges the student for its career mentoring service and pays the mentor.   As a student (or parent) how much would I invest to improve my ability to launch my career?  My first step would be to explore and compare the services offered by my schools career centre–from my distant recollections of math class, free always returns the best ratio.  But I wouldn’t hesitate paying $1,000 or more for expert services.  Look at the price and compare it to its probability of improving your time to land a job that is the right fit for you. For the thousands of students looking back at six months ($25,000) of lost earning potential, I’m sure that many would consider that a good return-on-investment.

*There are many great programs and resources (on and off campus) for students that are currently being offered by career experts–please mention these in the comments section (particularly if you’ve received a great ROI)*

Authors Note:  I used some economics terminology in this post that I haven’t reviewed since 2001–please don’t judge me too harshly if it was used incorrectly.  I spent more time focusing on my career than my academic study.

(A number of the NACE statistics that I sited can be found in TAG’s information rich presentation available at: http://www.slideshare.net/secret/xbldyiJSYdtOFB)

I feel fortunate that university helped give me a fresh start.  I got INVOLVED, and that changed everything!  It was the start of understanding my identity.  Where my zone was and what inspired me.

I’ve had the benefit of working with an incredible mentor since April, who has helped me clarify my goals and keeps me accountable to progressing towards them each month.  As I explore the range of mentorship programs that are available to youth to help them connect to who they are and want to be–it excites me to see that there is an opportunity for them to be more engaged than I was in my mid-teens.  But I know that these programs won’t thrive without the support of volunteers and donors to the agencies that deliver them.  So, I’m adding to my list of goals for 2010 to be an active champion of youth mentorship in Toronto.  If you have suggestions or would like to participate with me, let me know.  Let’s get INVOLVED!

After a bit of chit-chat, discussing what he’s been up to and the specs of my new role, we got to the point of the call.  The “research” was to find out if I may know of any job opportunities that may fit what he is looking for.  So, I asked what to me is the obvious, “What would your ideal job be?”  His answer was a bit challenging for me to digest:  it included a few job titles interspersed with “or”; and didn’t give me a picture of the type of organization that he’d like to work for.  I was sold on wanting to help him, but needed the parameters to know if I could.

You may be thinking, “well, I don’t want my contact to rule out options they may know about by being too picky.” I’m not suggesting to be inflexible in the range of options that you’ll accept–but at least start by targeting the bull’s eye.  This is a key element of your career seeking elevator pitch–so you have to be precise about your desired outcome.  Anyone worth receiving advice or a referral from, will be able to determine if they know of opportunities or have contacts in the ball park of what you’re looking for.

As for my contact, a series of questions helped him to uncover more specifically what his ideal role looks like.  I didn’t have the right knowledge or connections , but was able to refer him to a colleague who I know will.

From my experience, there are a few keys to successful networking as a student:

1. Have a GOAL – It is easier if you start out with some idea of who you would like to meet.  When I was in school, the person I most wanted to meet was Stephen Covey, who wrote the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, that was a life changing read for me.  It took me almost two years and a long series of connections that lead me to getting a chance opportunity to speak with him as he was being introduced to speak at an event I was volunteering at.  Achieving that goal gave me important credibility, for some meetings that I wanted to have with his company.
2. Make a PLAN – Connecting with people who can have a significant impact on your career is rarely a one-step process.  As Dave Navarro discusses in his article “7 Steps For Networking With A-Listers“, there are many ways to connect with the people you want to develop a relationship with.  Diagram out who it is that you want to connect to and who they look to for influence.
3. Get INVOLVED - There is no better time to start building the foundation of your network than while you are a student.  There are dozens or even hundreds student organizations and conferences that you can get involved in.  Take the time to explore a few that appear to focus on your career and life interests–and then get meaningfully involved in at least one that will help you meet other people with similar goals or values.   As a fourth year student, I became the President of my ACE/SIFE team at Wilfrid Laurier.  Not only have I met some of my best friends through that experience–but I can also trace all of the jobs I have had in someway back to the network I established in that role.
4. Build RELATIONSHIPS – Effective networking is not transactional, it is relational.  It would be easy to measure the volume of networking that you do by the number of cards that you hand-out/receive or connections that you have on LinkedIn.  But networking only becomes effective when someone is willing to do something for you that they wouldn’t for someone they don’t know, like and trust.  The most significant career benefits I have received from networking have typically come 2-3 years into the relationship–it’s a building process.

In upcoming posts, I will get into more of the specifics for each of these keys to networking.

It was the night before a micro economics midterm in second year university that was my “moment of clarity”.  I had been doing a lot of reading on articulating my values and goals and how those related to my career and life path.  What crystallized on that November night in 1998, was that the path I was on was in-congruent with the direction I innately knew I wanted to go in.

So I put down my textbook, grabbed a beer and began charting my new course.  (I dropped micro the next day which by default moved me from the honours to the general (“economics light”) program).

At that time, there were relatively few career and life management resources available on the Internet–and those that were there, certainly weren’t easy to find.  So I dove into books.  The extra time that I had gained from  the lightened course load I spent at Chapters (back in the days when they had lots of comfy chairs).  I devoured all of the personal development and business books that caught my eye.   Then I moved on to workshops and networking to connect with other people in discovery mode.

In my final year of university, I began to recognize that most students don’t have a good understanding of who they are and what they want (values and goals).  They are very knowledgeable about their field of study–but not themselves.  That realization helped me to see that I had an important role to play in helping others achieve their own moments of “clarity” and become more intentional about their career and life path.

That focus has helped me to navigate the course of my career thus far.  But reflecting on the true nature of my goals over the past couple of months, I recognized that I want to have an outlet that enables me to connect more directly with individuals ready to kick start the evolution process in their career and life.

I’m seeing a lot of exceptional on-line resources emerge in the field of career and life management.  Now I want to contribute to that community of knowledge and expertise.  I feel that it’s time to have an on-line voice.