by Angela Copeland | Sep 12, 2016 | Advice, College, Newsletter
I wanted to take a moment this week and talk about something that’s a bit outside my normal range of topics: college students. If you have a college aged child, this newsletter is for you.
In the past few weeks, I’ve received a surprising number of calls and emails from concerned parents. Since this is clearly an important issue, I wanted to share a few thoughts that I hope may help.
I don’t have college aged children myself and I have a great deal of respect for those who do. My thoughts come from my own personal experience, my experience talking to others who are living these issues today, and the trends that are playing out in the job market.
Concern: My child isn’t sure what to major in.
Response: First and foremost, the most important thing to come away with from college is a degree. Most important. It is often more important to finish in four or five years than to go to school for six or seven years trying to find the perfect degree. At the end of the day, your child may or may not work in the field that their degree is in. But they will need a degree to stick out from other job interview candidates. With that said, degrees are expensive. Your child will want to pick the best one they can. Look at degrees that offer flexibility in future job prospects. For example, a computer and systems engineering degree led me to jobs and interviews in engineering, computer programming, IT management, sales engineering, manufacturing management, and project management. It’s the sort of degree that qualifies graduates to do many different types of jobs. And, if one career option goes away because the industry dies, or jobs are outsourced or automated, there are other options. With that said, it’s better to finish college than to switch majors many, many times.
Concern: My child isn’t sure what to minor in.
Response: It depends on the particular situation, but in most cases, a minor is (relatively) irrelevant. Many people even drop it off their resume after a few years. So, don’t sweat it. They should pick something they’d like to learn more about — or something that will add a level of diversity to their major. My minor is in studio art. I learned to draw and paint and sculpt. It helped to balance out my science and math classes a bit. It gave me diversity on my resume. It showed that I was multidimensional. It gave me something relatable to talk about in interviews besides engineering.
Concern: What if my child chooses a major they end up not wanting to do as a career?
Response: This is pretty normal. Don’t believe me? Ask you own coworkers what they studied in college. Chances are, you’ll be surprised. And remember, today’s college students will have many careers over the course of their lifetime. The average worker today switches jobs about every four years. It’s rare that every job will be perfectly aligned to their college education. Consider my case. I really disliked computer programming, but learning about technology gave me a leg up in other related fields.
Concern: What type of job should my child get while in college?
Response: Okay, this is where you may want to disagree. IMHO, the main purpose of college is to learn. School is a huge financial investment. It’s a big investment of time too. Their first priority should be school — going to class, studying, and learning. Period. But, a job can also be a super helpful extension of coursework — if chosen carefully. Internships can be great in college. I did four internships in college. Yes, four. Some were paid, but not all. But you know, I learned so much more at internships about what I wanted to be than I ever did in class. Try to put a little less emphasis on how much the internship pays and more on what the intern learns. We pay so much to go to school to learn what’s in books. Why do we really care if we are paid a real salary to learn at a job while in college? And, having internships on their resume will greatly increase their chances of getting a great job that pays real money upon graduation.
Concern: How can my child start to pinpoint which jobs they might like?
Response: Professors, mentors, the college career department, and internships can all be a great help in this area. Just remember, this takes time to figure out and your child may have multiple different careers over their life. It’s normal that there’s more than one answer to the question. But, if they’re struggling to get started, try asking them to take the Myers Briggs personality assessment. It often gives insightful suggestions on careers to consider. (If you don’t have access to the paid version of the test, there are a few free versions online that may help with ideas.)
Concern: How can my child learn more about a particular job or career?
Response: Informational interviews!! These are the best, and they’re free. As a college student, many professionals will want to help your child. They’ll be open to meeting and sharing more about their own careers. If your child isn’t sure where to start with this, check out episode 101 of the Copeland Coaching Podcast. I interview Zachary Croteau, who landed multiple jobs in college using this simple technique.
Concern: My child is choosing a career field that won’t pay enough to keep the lights on. Help!
Response: This is tough. Work isn’t always fun and when we pursue a degree that’s a hobby, we might be surprised at the end how little jobs pay. If I were advising someone on this, I’d recommend first that the student create a sample after college budget. One that contains rent, utilities, college loan payments, everything. This would help to setup a target desired salary range. Then, I’d check out sites like Salary.com and Glassdoor.com. They contain tons of great salary information. Some jobs pay $20K after college while others pay $60K. These sites can help to identify which jobs are which.
Concern: Should my child go straight to grad school?
Response: It depends. With a field like engineering, the answer can be yes. With a field such as business, the answer is often no. Delaying grad school is a good idea when the child wants to get more experience under their belt — or they aren’t sure if it’s the right field for them. Just don’t delay too long. Shoot to finish graduate work by age 30 if possible. It’s a better long investment financially, and it makes it easier to focus on the increased commitment levels that come with age.
Concern: My child had to take on student loans to pay tuition. Help!
Response: Sadly, this is part of the world today for most people. With the high price of tuition, there are rarely options to get through school without loans unless you’re lucky enough to have scholarships. Most schools are considerably more expensive today than thirty years ago. Look at the loans as an investment in their future career (as long as they aren’t abusing them). Below is an image Bloomberg.com released demonstrating the rise intuition since 1978. This shocking data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Concern: How can I help my child?
Response: One way to help is to share resources and ideas like this email. But remember, a lot of the growth and learning your child will get comes through struggle. You probably had the same difficult experience in your twenties. Struggle isn’t all bad. It can help a young person to figure out who they are and what they want. Don’t discount its value. It short changes the learning process.
These are my thoughts. Like I said, this has been such a common question lately that I wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts. I hope these are helpful, and may provide a foundation for additional thoughts and discussion.
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.
Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on
Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in
Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Sep 7, 2016 | Advice, Career Corner Column, Confidence, Media
When I meet with job seekers, there’s one quality that quickly separates those who are successful in their search from those who flounder. It’s not the college they went to, whether or not they have a MBA, or how smart they are. It’s not if they have a particular certification, or a certain number of years of experience.
Surprisingly, the thing that can make all the difference is confidence in our own abilities. I’m not talking about being completely unrealistic and assuming we can become an accountant with no background in math (for example). What I’m talking about is when you see a requirement on a job description that you know you can do, despite not having done it before at work. Even with no professional experience, it’s in your wheelhouse.
For many people, putting themselves in the running for a job when they don’t meet every single qualification seems like a terrible idea. We assume it’s a waste of time, and we’re certain we’ll be embarrassed when we’re turned down. But, in reality, by not submitting ourselves for a job, we’re saying we’re not good enough – and then company never even saw our resume. They don’t even know our name.
This is an area where youth can beat experience. It’s much more common for a young person to feel comfortable applying for a job they aren’t a perfect fit for. And, it makes sense. They’re just starting out. What do they have to lose?
But, think of this problem from another perspective. When a job is created, a job description must be written. In many cases, the hiring manager enjoys writing a job description as little as you enjoy updating your own resume. The hiring manager may pull it together from old descriptions or random jobs they find on the internet. Ultimately, their list of required skills may or may not really reflect what they have to have. It’s a wish list.
And, consider this – If you were a hiring manager, would you prefer to hire someone who met one hundred percent of your qualifications, but had a bad attitude? Or, would you prefer to hire someone who met eighty percent of your qualifications, and had a great attitude? There are many times that fit outweighs specific qualifications.
Frankly, it’s rare you’ll meet every requirement within a job description. If you do, it’s possible you’re not shooting high enough and the move may be lateral. Perhaps this job won’t be challenging enough for you.
At the end of the day, don’t let a few requirements on a job description slow you down, or make you feel bad about yourself. Focus on the strengths you do bring to the table and go from there. Submit your resume and give the company the opportunity to decide whether or not they would like to work with you. If you don’t, another candidate (who may be much less qualified than you) will.
As J.J. Rowling once said, “Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”
Angela Copeland is CEO and founder of Copeland Coaching and can be reached at CopelandCoaching.com or on Twitter at @CopelandCoach.
by Angela Copeland | Sep 5, 2016 | Advice, Newsletter
I hope you’re having a wonderful Labor Day holiday. A celebration of the American labor movement dedicated to the social and economic achievements of workers, Labor Day is a tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the United States.
As workers, we take advantage of Labor Day by attending pool parties, grilling out, going to the beach, and spending time with our loved ones. It caps off two months of what is a time of holiday for many people.
Speaking of holidays, did you know that hiring slows during July and August? It does! As people go on vacation, companies naturally slow their hiring down. If you’ve tried to apply for a job in the past month or so, you probably know what I’m talking about. You may have received a few out of office messages, or not received feedback in a timely manner.
Great news though – September is the time when hiring picks back up again!
So, what do you need to do now to be sure you get back into the game as quickly as possible? If you’ve been waiting for hiring to pick back up, you’re probably hating your job, or may even be unemployed. The faster you can get back into the game, the sooner things will begin to look up.
Here are a few tips for making it count in September:
- Get business cards. I’ve said it before and I will say it again – you need business cards. You never know when you’ll meet your next hiring manager. Print business cards and take them with you – everywhere. At a minimum, they should include your name, phone number, and e-mail address. Keep them simple, and avoid images.
- Keep your resume up to date. You may need an updated resume tomorrow. Why not update it today? The longer you wait, the harder it is to recall the little details, like how much extra revenue you generated last year, or by just how much you exceeded your goal last month. Keeping your resume up to date keeps you in the game.
- Stay up to date on what jobs are available. I have seen a huge influx of jobs in the past two weeks – even for those that are normally hard to find. Have you? If you haven’t, you probably haven’t been looking. Read my blog daily for some of the top jobs I’ve found, and keep your eyes on sites like Indeed for the full listing of what’s available.
- Keep networking. Networking is not something just to do at the moment you need a job. It’s something to keep up with year round – whether you’re looking or not. Staying connected helps your network to know what you’ve been up to. It also keeps you in their minds when future opportunities pop up.
- Apply online and follow up offline. Don’t just apply online. Sending your resume into the internet black hole is unlikely to land you your next job. Do the due diligence to apply online and then search for ways to follow up offline. It will increase your odds of winning that next offer.
- Practice your pitch. One of the fist questions interviewers love to ask is, “tell me about yourself.” If you’ve practiced your elevator pitch, you’ll be a pro at explaining who you are, what you’re looking for, and why you’d be a perfect for their company. Stay sharp.
- Get help. If you find yourself struggling, reach out. Whether you need help with your resume, your elevator pitch, or networking skills, there are coaches who can help you to ensure you’re bringing your A-game.
- Don’t give up. The number one rule to job searching is: don’t give up. Your persistence will pay off. It just takes time.
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.
Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on
Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in
Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Sep 4, 2016 | Job Posting
American Airlines is seeking a Senior Project Manager in Phoenix, AZ.
Responsibilities:
- Manages all aspects of assigned projects (including definition of project scope/objectives, development of project plan and schedule, budget and resource plan, status reporting, project development, and implementation)
- Manages project teams, including allocation of work assignments among team members
- Negotiates for resources (as required) within the context of the project objectives, requirements, and priorities
- Interfaces with business owners/customers and all other areas/individuals affected by the project
- Ensures proper project documentation of requirements and deliverables are clearly defined and delivered
- Manages project meetings; completes project tracking/analysis reports; reports to management and business owners regarding project progress, issues, and risks
- Manages vendors, as required; tracks/reviews vendor deliverables, approves vendor invoices/timesheets
- Provides technical and analytical guidance to project team
- Manages project budget; reports budget status and acts as liaison with Controller(s), as appropriate
To learn more, or to apply online, visit the American Airlines website.
by Angela Copeland | Sep 3, 2016 | Job Posting
Oracle is seeking a Public Cloud Evangelist in Seattle, WA.
A great evangelist is a flexible and effective communicator, whether they are presenting to a CIO, whiteboarding with an architect, writing a whitepaper or providing feedback to our engineering teams. Their conversations are grounded in the technical authenticity that comes from hands-on experience working with IaaS solutions, from Oracle and others.
Every member of our team has the opportunity for tremendous growth, impact and fun. You would join a young and growing team, and could strongly influence its approach and culture. Our purview is broad, which will let you focus on the problems that interest and challenge you. We have support from Oracle’s leadership going all the way up to the top, and steady access to them.
As a representative of Oracle you will have immediate access and relevance to the world’s largest enterprises. Join us and learn what we can do for them.
To learn more, or to apply online, visit the Oracle website.
by Angela Copeland | Sep 2, 2016 | Job Posting
Microsoft is seeking a Tech Evangelist in Cambridge, MA.
The Technical Evangelist is a highly technical role within the US Developer Experience and Evangelism (DX) team. The overall mission of the organization is to drive adoption while supporting a vibrant, healthy, and sustainable developer ecosystem locally for Microsoft’s key platforms. We do this by working closely with developers, startups, and students to drive interest and preference for our platforms. This particular position is for a Technical Evangelist in New York City or Boston area.
A Technical Evangelist on the US Audience Evangelism Team uses software development knowledge, technical writing and persuasive presentation skills to inspire students, startups and developers to build innovative applications using Microsoft’s leading edge technology.
As a member of this elite team you will participate in developer events and engage the community through startup events, meetup user groups and Hackathons. You will develop relationships with community leaders and influencers and reach hundreds of thousands of developers through your branded online media and in person talks and workshops.
This is a highly technical role with the mission of engaging and inspiring the broad community of developers and fostering adoption of Microsoft development tools and technologies.
To learn more, or to apply online, visit the Microsoft website.
by Angela Copeland | Sep 2, 2016 | Job Posting
The GRAMMY Awards (The Recording Academy) is seeking a Senior Product Manager in Santa Monica, CA.
The Recording Academy is seeking an experienced Senior Product Manager to help drive the strategy, product definition and overall delivery of the company’s digital initiatives based on business goals and market conditions. The candidate must be technically savvy, passionate and self-driven with excellent communication skills and ability to interface with all groups within the organization.
The Senior Product Manager works with design, strategy and development to create and oversee products that fit our customer needs throughout the product lifecycle, from strategic definition to end-of-life planning. They facilitate the product requirements gathering across the team, and manage the process gates and deadlines to ensure successful delivery. The Senior Product Manager is the driver of a multidisciplinary team.
The Senior Product Manager must possess a broad base of skills and knowledge spanning digital technology, strategy and business planning, user experience design, engineering and agile/lean software development practices. They must possess an entrepreneurial drive to develop new products, while managing business needs and timeframes to broker complex relationships that evolve into real solutions.
To learn more, or to apply online, visit The GRAMMY Awards website.
by Angela Copeland | Sep 1, 2016 | Job Posting
Ancestry.com is seeking a Senior Manager, Adobe Analytics Implementation in San Francisco, CA.
The Analytics practice at Ancestry is a team of over 30 innovative web analytics professionals offering leading edge interactive product strategies, insightful analyses, and reporting services. We’re searching for a new team member to share in our passion for data and continuous measurable improvement across multiple product offerings.
Our team supports the Product organization and is focused on understanding their strategic business objectives, relating those objectives to measurable indicators, and delivering learnings that promote continuous performance improvements. Working closely with members of the Product and Engineering teams, you will explore opportunities for conversion and optimization opportunities across Ancestry websites and mobile apps.
We are looking for an experienced technical leader to work with internal clients to understand their business objectives and translate them into analytics integration requirements, then execute accordingly. This is a single, hands-on role expected to install, configure, customize and deploy the Adobe web analytics platform- meaning writing the code necessary to produce reporting. This role will own the tagging capability across the organization for the global analytics team and includes coordinating upgrades and new functionality with appropriate internal team members.
Working closely with an Adobe Evangelist who oversees the adoption of the product, the Senior Adobe Analytics Implementation Tag Manager will develop the next generation of online user behavior reporting capability. You will own the execution of best-in-class strategy of use of s.props, eVars, events, classification rules, IP excludes… across multiple sites and Report Suites, as well as maintain the solution doc describing those decisions. After an initial evaluation and implementation stage, daily activities include meeting with stakeholders to gather tracking requirements then creating customized reporting ability. This is an exciting to join Ancestry and own an important capability, from ground up, that will define our success.
To learn more, or to apply online, visit the Ancestry website.
by Angela Copeland | Sep 1, 2016 | Job Posting
GoDaddy is seeking a Head of Experimentation in Sunnyvale, CA.
Responsibilities:
- Lead our A/B testing program
- Establish a culture of rapid experimentation by being a ‘go to expert’ on A/B testing and MVT
- Ensure robust hypotheses are tested and help ensure sound experimental designs
- Ensure business owners interpret test results correctly and make informed decisions
- Set up a platform which enables multiple simultaneous experiments; increase velocity of and robustness of experiments
- Hire and lead a small team of statistical/testing analysts; build a
- Testing Center of Excellence
- Ensure consistent tools, methodology, and best practices are employed
- Ensure visibility of experiments; create a central repository of experiments with description & results
- Educate the business on all things Testing related (eg: Bayesian vs. Frequentist)
- Be a ‘Testing ambassador” and an evangelist – to establish a culture of Test & Learn
To learn more, or to apply online, visit the GoDaddy website.
by Angela Copeland | Aug 31, 2016 | Career Corner Column, Media, Personal Brand
Recent events have brought this very basic idea back to the surface. Honesty should be a critical part of each of our professional and personal brands. Building and maintaining trusting relationships is such an important piece of a successful career.
News coverage from the Olympics was dominated by the actions of a few swimmers. And, those actions have nothing to do with the years they’ve each spent training in the swimming pool. Many of the news reports are conflicting. What really happened or how bad things were is unclear. But, what is clear is that the swimmers were not completely honest when they spoke to officials, their families, and the media. Regardless of how bad their actions were, their characters are now being scrutinized in detail. Their lives will be forever changed, both personally and financially, by something that may have seemed inconsequential in the moment.
In a similar regard, we can often be on autopilot at work. We’re trying to make it through the day. We have more on our plates than we can possibly manage and we’re working to check everything off the list. At times, honesty, ethics, and doing the right thing can take a back seat to getting things done quickly.
In fact, a 2002 University of Massachusetts study performed by Robert Feldman found that sixty percent of people lie at least once during a ten minute conversation. It said that “most people lie in everyday conversation when they are trying to appear likable and competent.”
Although the number seems high, this reasoning makes sense. Someone may initially tell a small lie to make themselves look better. But, if caught, a lie can truly impact how we see that person going forward. We may question everything that person has told us before, and whether or not they will tell the truth in the future.
In an interview, telling a lie can cost you the job. If there’s something inaccurate on your resume or in other information you’ve shared along the way and it’s discovered, you won’t receive a job offer. If you’re fortunate enough to make it through the hiring process and then the lie is discovered, it could be grounds for termination.
With this said, accidents do happen. There are times when we’re trying our best to be honest and something we’ve communicated is inaccurate. When this happens, the best answer is to be straightforward with the truth. Dancing around the issue only sets you up to look like you were being dishonest all along. Apologize to anyone who may have been hurt, take corrective steps, and try to move on quickly.
It’s better to build a reputation as someone who’s a little too honest than someone who isn’t quite honest enough. Honesty will allow you to grow professional relationships that will last for years to come.
Warren Buffet said it best. “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
Angela Copeland is CEO and founder of Copeland Coaching and can be reached at CopelandCoaching.com or on Twitter at @CopelandCoach.
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