Early Recruiting Expectations

The following was reported on Wednesday, August 15 in the National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE) online newsletter Spotlight. This is excellent information for 2008 college graduates.

2007 Salary Survey Participant Survey: An Early Preview of Recruiting Expectations for the Class of 2008

A brief look back at the 2006-07 college recruiting season shows that college graduates encountered a very positive job market this past year. NACE's recently completed survey of college career centers that participated in the NACE 2006-07 Salary Survey confirms what previous NACE surveys—2006-07 Job Outlook, 2006-07 Salary Survey, and 2007 Graduating Student Survey—found:

• Employers were more active on college campuses than in the previous year (56 percent of respondents indicated higher levels of activity compared with only 12 percent that found activity lower);


• Students had more opportunities to choose from than in the previous year (78 percent indicated more opportunities, while only eight percent thought there were fewer opportunities for graduates);


• and Students reported a very positive perspective on the job market they were encountering to their college career centers (66 percent of respondents described student perspectives on the job market as positive compared with only four percent who found them negative).

Although the job market for college graduates was relatively positive for students across the board, there were three industries that stood out to our college career center respondents as particularly strong. They were accounting, engineering, and information technology.
As for the coming year, the feeling among college career centers is that 2007-08 will likely be as good, if not better, than last year for their graduates. Fifty-three percent of respondents expect recruiting to be heavier in the Fall of 2007 than it was in the Fall of 2006, and only two percent are anticipating a decline.

The positive perspective is fairly uniform across the country, but appears to be particularly positive in the Northeast (70 percent see a heavier recruiting season) and the West (56 percent anticipate an increase) with the South and Midwest being somewhat less enthusiastic about expectations for the fall.

In addition to the overall positive job market, respondents identified several factors that suggest that the fall may find a fairly intense recruiting season, such as:

• Last year, students tended to receive multiple job offers. NACE's 2007 Graduating Student Survey found that graduates active in the job market received an average of 2.4 job offers; Students received these offers earlier in the academic year last year than they had in previous years;


• an There was considerable pressure from employers on the students to accept an offer earlier in the year last year when compared to previous years. As a result, nearly 53 percent of graduates who had applied for a job had one waiting for them months before they graduated, according to NACE's 2007 Graduating Student Survey.

For more information on NACE and additional career and professional development information see their website at www.naceweb.org .

Let us know what you think!

kwells@howard.edu

Kim R. Wells

You Can't Schedule Opportunity

Today I heard a local DC radio announcer share an old saying in his family, "you can't schedule opportunity." I really liked that saying and how it speaks volumes to today's young professionals.


Many of you are in rich environments that may be loaded with opportunity such as vibrant college and university communities, premier corporate and government professional environments and others, but unfortunately many of you may not be taking full advantage of the opportunities within these environments. Take my advice as a 20 year professional in human resources and career management, Don't sleep walk your way through your early and most formative stages of your career! Opportunities that you may be taking for granted today may never come your way again, it's a tough fact to swallow early in your career but is often the cold hard reality.


In a time when many young people are doing "a whole lot of nothing" playing on blackberrys, text messaging friends, downloading volumes of music, spending hours on MySpace, etc, I suggest that you position yourself to gain a professional edge by more aggressively managing your time and resources. Yes, you need to have your fun, but don't let your fun have you! Don't be fooled either, everyone talking on their cell phones and sending out text messages are not waisting their time, some are seriously "on their game" in networking and busy positioning themselves for opportunities that will come their way.


Positioning Yourself for Opportunity 101:

• Stay current and well read in your field. Make sure your reading list includes premier industry literature such as best selling books, Blogs, newspapers, professional magazines, journals, specialty news programs, online columns, specialty websites and more.

• Don't let previous failures, dictate your future successes. So what it didn't work out before, consider it as lessons learned...today is a new day, move forward boldly into today's opportunity.

• Have your "elevator" presentation polished and ready to present at all times. This would be a 2 minute presentation of your interest, goals, and added value to professional groups of interest.

• Always check your attitude in public. Although its not always true, Black people get a bad rap for having a bad attitude. Don't play into the stereotype.



• Watch your mouth, I know Russel Simmons says it's "poetic expression," but in reality most people still consider foul language as vulgar and unacceptable in public. Foul language is certainly not a way to attract positive and productive professional people.



• Don't criticize others, particularly to people you don't really know that well. And just because they are Black, don't think they won't tell your business to someone. Use some discipline, keep your conversations particularly with new contacts and strangers above board, you never know who may have who's ear.



• Make sure you always have your business card available, young professionals and students should always have at least one in your wallet/purse. Make sure you have current contact information.



• Have a current resume and bio prepared at all times (even loaded on your PDA or Blackberry) to send electronically to new contacts. This could also be business plans for you young entrepreneurs.




• Always have your dress "in check" when going to open and public venues, particularly while at savvy young professional spots in your community or in the city like popular shopping areas, popular restaurants, outdoor concerts, the new "town center," even when going to the movies. This may not sound PC to some of you, and I know some of you are busy "keeping it real," but remember while trying to move forward in your career, you are always "on" in public places.



• Avoid drinking too much (if at all) at community events and activities. "Mr. or Ms. Opportunity" may be watching and seeing a side of you that is "less than desirable."



• Remember the greatest leaders are the greatest servants, and random acts of kindness and decency could get the eyes of others with like values and could set the stage for a great conversation with a potential professional contact. It's also the right thing to do.
  

Let us know your thoughts.

kwells@howard.edu

Kim R. Wells

Do You Have Game?

I had an excellent day today on campus. I had the pleasure to speak to our incoming MBA Class of 2009...this group is definitely poised to rule the world! Not only did they look good, but their intensity, intelligent questioning, articulated competence, prior corporate experience, and projected confidence, would be any corporate recruiter's dream.

But after leaving this class of future business leaders, I thought about the fact that some really seemed to stand out in the crowd, even amongst this group of excellent students, ...this group seemed to be the Tigers, MJs, Bob Johnsons of the group-- this group had demonstrated real game! The group with game asked the second level questions after the session about actual information resources and networks that they could follow-up on that were in alignment with their well-thought out and articulated plans. This group, presented me with polished resumes they had prepared in anticipation of meeting me in our scheduled session. This group was quick to whip out their PDAs to schedule coaching sessions to have me listen to and review their professional development strategies, and to schedule times to review currently available corporate opportunities and graduate positions available in my office. This group had people that emailed me before I even returned to my office after the presentation with attachments of their resumes, thank you notes and schedule options for follow-up meetings. One student even convinced me that she definitely was one of the students my office needed to sponsor to the upcoming Black MBA Conference...now that's game!

Game recognizes game, I certainly could see the difference between those that were ambitious, and those that were already poised and positioned to move and deliver instantly. They seemed to understand that in a competitive world talk is never to be confused with action, or substantive research, and certainly not to be confused with moving quickly to secure your opportunity. People with game realize that a lot of people like to talk about the game, are fans of the game, or maybe are even "ball hogs" at the start of the game. But those with real game are prepared and poised to ask for the ball when the game is on the line and it is time to win!

Business leaders invest their time and resources on people with game, not on the people comfortable on the bench, not on uncoachable people who have loose and irresponsible mouths, and certainly not those sitting in the crowd (they charge you to be in the game). Today's corporate and global business leaders and even investors are looking for young professionals that have already demonstrated their ability to deliver when given the opportunity, are prepared through practice and preparation, those that are ready to deliver without "extensive personal support and coaching." Another words they are looking for people with game.

Do you have game, or are you just another talker?? This fall millions of college students will enter college and unfortunately many will wash out, not because they don't have the talent and potential to succeed, but because they won't take the time to "work on their game," "receive coaching," or stay a little late after practice to work on their fundamentals or areas they need to improve on. Those with game will succeed because they will recognize others with game, take notes of their moves (and even imitate successful gamers). Some will watch from the sidelines only to dream of the day thy will get their "lucky shot" but never realizing that it takes practicing "their shot" daily to actually get it right, get in the game, and impress the "pro scouts." Hey everybody isn't going to be MJ, or Tiger, but if you work on your game this fall, you will have an opportunity to be the next Bob Johnson, Earl Graves, Chris Gardner, or Kathy Hughes. But remember that these executives are willing to work hard, deliver under tough conditions, don't have entitlement issues, and when the time comes they want the ball...they have game! Do you?

Let us know what you think

kwells@howard.edu

Kim R. Wells

Creating Success Teams to Realize Your Goals

Many of you have heard of strategies that include creating a personal "advisory board" made up of mentors close faculty advisors, successful family members and others whose values and opinions you trust and would like to emulate in your career and life. The logic in formulating such teams is that by doing so you will have a very personal team of advisors committed to encouraging and teaching you the ropes of success, and pushing you to your limits to achieve your full potential. These people should be accessible (not inaccessible in this case) people that will pour themselves into your development and guide you in a path of similar results or outcomes as their own. This is one example of an excellent success team to develop.

Another excellent success team to develop includes one of peers with similar academic and professional goals, similar standards of excellence, a similar "burning desire to succeed" as your own. This peer team (not a large group but a small group of 4-5 people) can establish "accountability agreements" on intense studying habits and schedules, can drive all members to excellence in working through difficult classes, push each other to attend critical networking and related professional development events. This group can also share information on internships, scholarships, and of course pulling each others coat tails if someone is slipping in their performance or not upholding the agreed standards of the group.

Many of you may belong to such a group, but I recommend that you formalize it, up the standards and establish a private pack to reach the highest levels of success possible. Remember, everyone "ain't" ready for the level of intensity I am talking about, and weak links or talkers won't do; you should only include those with the same level of intensity, discipline and character as you.

Success teams are an excellent way to achieve some of your greatest goals as a young black professional and gain a professional edge whether your goals are to attend elite graduate and professional schools, maintaining high GPAs, or transitioning into competitive career opportunities. A great side benefit is the lifelong friends you will make along the way!

Let us know what you think. Kwells@howard.edu

Kim R. Wells

Preparing Our Youth for the Job Market-Comments from Zenja Glass, VP of Glass Technical Search, Inc.

Zenja,

Thank you for your insight and comments. I would love to read your books. It sometimes takes a little controversy to get us engaged on the issues.

Yes many of our youth are not being prepared for the job market, the barriers are consistent throughout the educational system, our society, and unfortunately within our own community. Those that are prepared still face challenges with equal opportunity and advancement, trust me I hear the accounts all the time from highly educated and competent professionals around the nation. Yet many are making it. It is the goal of this Blogsite, the Black Collegian, and many Black professionals and leaders to share the stories, strategies, and tactics of those that are succeeding. I will continue to write on the challenges in upcoming entries.


Hi Kim,

I love your articles! I normally don’t do this, but I had to send you a quick email. I am an African American woman in the business world as an HR executive and owner of a diversity staffing firm in Illinois; however, we staff nationwide.


Question:
Can someone please write a story about this (or call me for comments)? I have to continue to get the word out to all states. My greatest frustration is that our youth (young college graduates/minority professionals) are not being fully prepared for what’s ahead as they start to search for jobs and/or promotions in the workplace. Jobless rates are high and discriminatory hiring practices are on the rise. Why? Because hiring authorities can be more selective. I talk with CEO’s and hiring executives daily, and I know this from my 16+ years of experience. There are things they must be aware of to avoid unfair hiring practices.


I just wrote two very controversial career books that are getting a lot of radio and news press here in Illinois, Wisconsin, and surrounding states.
The titles are:

25 Reasons Why I Won't Hire You!
What You Did Wrong Before, During and After the Interview

and

25 Reasons Why THEY Won't Hire You!
How to Overcome Unfair Hiring Practices AND Get Hired
found at www.25ReasonsWhy.com and on Amazon.

When reporters ask me why I wrote these books, my response has been: "I did not have a choice. Too many families are hurting financially and it breaks my heart to tell people they didn't get a job because someone with greater experience received the position, when the truth is, they were discriminated against because they have an easily identifiable “ethnic name”, are overweight, over the age of 50, physically disabled, have a criminal background, and so on." I am a mother of four (ages 3,5,7 and 9) and I really did not have the time (or energy) to write these books, but I am glad I did. Thus far, hundreds (if not thousands) of people are benefiting from my advice and landing jobs faster than ever.

If I have the INSIDE connection to what HR Managers, CEO's, and various hiring authorities say behind closed doors, why not expose this information to our young minority professionals (and others) so that they can learn from it?

Yes... the economy is still pretty bad, but there are many jobs out there for the taking.

I hope you read a copy of my books and comment on the subject matter on your site. Feel free to list the books on your site if you would like to. The feedback from not only business editors, but also from college campus staff and students has been very good. This is not about free publicity for me. I am a hard working mother just trying to help a lot of job seekers benefit from my knowledge. This is about helping job seekers to understand the REAL REASONS behind how and why they don't get jobs, and what they should do about it to overcome those obstacles and get hired.

Take care,
Zenja Glass
Vice President
GlassUSA Technical Search, Inc.

Defining Your Brand of Success

If you don't know what your brand of success is, others certainly won't! Worst yet if you don't develop a brand for yourself, others certainly will try.

Why is defining your brand of success important as an African American young professional? One writer once wrote, "If you are not appearing you are probably disappearing!" If you build a strong brand for yourself, you will begin to appear on the radar to those that count most to you. People that don't have a strong brand in a millennial marketplace of aggressive marketing, information overload, fast decisions and even faster people, will struggle to gain significance, credibility, and personal success.

In a recent executive conference I attended a prominent Black corporate VP said that his successful climb up the corporate ladder wasn't only about his qualifications, experience and education, but how he packaged it, and projected it with confidence to those he worked with.

I share always with students, alumni, and employers, the power and significance of effective branding. The failure of poor branding can lead to a lack of credibility, perceived incompetence, or social and professional irrelevance to some people and groups.

A few basic questions to consider when designing your personal brand:

• What am I really about?


• What do I want to be about?


• What empowers me and excites me?


• What can I do, that is unique, natural and distinct?


• How well do I flow in the circles I want to connect with?


• Am I technically prepared and competent for the world I want to connect with?


• Who are my four closest friends and colleagues? (This could be an indicator of your values, where you are personally and professionally...and where you may be heading)


• How do I define success?


• How would what I define as success define me?


• Do I dress appropriately for the "world" I aspire to belong to?


• What personal and national figures reflect elements of my desired brand?


• Is my word my bond?


• How do I define failure?


• How will I know when I have succeeded or failed?


• Who and what do I need in my life to get stronger?


• How do I define a job as finished, excellent, and delivered?

Be real with yourself in answering these questions, this will start the groundwork in building your personal brand. Turn off the voices of other people, find your own voice, define your own unique and God given brand of success. Then start the process of building your brand so that others can hear your voice! And this world does need to hear you.

Let us know what you think

kwells@howard.edu

Kim R. Wells

NACE Survey Shows Early Bird Gets the Worm...Well Most of the Time!

Results from a national survey conducted by The National Association for College's and Employers (NACE) reported today in their Spotlight Online Magazine that students who started their job search early are rewarded...well most of the time!

The article shows that students who began their job search early this year were usually rewarded for their early efforts. At the time of NACE's survey of graduating students (March 1 through April 30, 2007) 71 percent of responding students either planned to or already had begun to look for a full-time job after graduation. Among those reporting that they had actively begun searching for a job, 79 percent already had submitted an application. And, of those students who submitted a job application, 51.2 percent had already accepted an offer for the job they would begin after graduation.

While males were slightly more likely to have submitted an application than females, there is no statistically significant difference based on ethnicity. The respondents' majors, however, was a significant factor. For instance, engineering and business majors were more likely to have applied for a job, while liberal arts majors were more likely to have not submitted an application.
When looking at students who had accepted job offers, differences in gender and ethnicity begin to surface. African-American and Hispanic students were far less likely to have a job in hand than their white and Asian-American counterparts, even though they had actively pursued employment.

Food for thought! Let us know what you think

kwells@howard.edu