STILL DON’T HAVE A JOB?

Networking

Last year I interviewed Aimee Cohen of Cohen Career Consulting and she was telling me how often she hears “I don’t know why I don’t have a job”.  She then followed up wit some great advice.  Here is what she said:

Aimee Cohen:

I cannot tell you how many times clients come to me and they say, “well I don’t know why I don’t have a job? I’m on that computer 12 to 14 hours a day”. And whereas the computer and the internet a fantastic resource to research companies, find job openings, getting on Linkedin and connect with other people, it’s still only has a 4 to 6 percent success rate as far as actually securing an actual position.

Inger Johnson:

Say that again, because that’s important.

Aimee Cohen:

Okay, so the internet with all the major job boards [like] Monster, Ladders all of those fantastic resources [listing]  job openings. But when you do apply, it is like sending your resume often to a black hole in cyber space. And it only has a 4 to 6 percent success rate versus the number one job search strategy, which is networking. Networking is 75 to 80 percent successful, 90 percent if you’re an executive.

So that old saying, “It’s not what you know but who you know” proves to be true according to Aimee’s experiences.

Click on Prepping For The Career Move to hear Aimee on this subject.  Have you been unemployed a long time before landing a job?  What method did you use to turn things around that proved helpful to you in finally landing that new position?

Consequence Of Changing Major In College

Recently, a good friend and I were chatting and she was telling me about her brother who was a “career student”.  It reminded me of an interview with had with Jeff Morand, founder of JP Morand & Company back in May 2010.

Our discussion was “everything college” which led to the topic of students changing majors mid way through college.  USA Today covered this topic as there is a growing trend of incoming freshman graduating after five to six years instead of four.

According to Jeff, a member of the National Institute Certification College planners, students can spend as much as $15,000 or more on top of their full tuition as a result of changing their majors mid way through their college years.

Here is what Jeff had to say:

“Often students, young people don’t know what they want to do when they grow up.  They don’t know what they ultimately want to become.  Changing majors is certainly okay but yet if we go back to that last piece of the College Planning Wheel, how they pay for it if we know we’re falling into that 5^th year or worse, you have that 6^th year, how expensive that is.

So continuing for a Masters like you have or continuing for other advanced degrees is common but yet, what we’re referring to with these statistics and what USA Today is referring to with these statistics is the plain, old simple not completing that 120 four years worth of study within that four year allotted time.  They change majors, change schools in certain cases and then all of a sudden, you’ve added that extra year or two onto the equation.”

Jeff then shared this advice:

“The best way to plan for college is to start early certainly.  When I say early, ninth-grade, tenth-grade is a great time to start.  But start even earlier from the standpoint of getting a flavor or an idea of who your child is.

Getting an idea of what their likes, dislikes, finding out certainly in the high school grades, whether they’re people persons or things persons, whether they like things or people, and that’s a distinctive difference.”

Click JMorand2010 to hear the interview.  Have you changed your major while in college?  How did you plan for the extra expense? What other ideas might you have to prevent from being that “career student” and spending more on college than already anticipated?   I’d love to hear your story.

What are people really looking for when they are interviewing people?

Most recent graduates really have no idea how to go about finding a job.  I really don’t know any school that teaches careers search 101.  And I think you should – of all the pre-requisites, of all the courses that you have to take by the time you graduate, I think that would be a really important and practical course to take; especially in today’s economy where the job market is more competitive than ever. (more…)