Today I visited Columbia's Career Development Center for a scheduled thirty-minute meeting with one of the undergraduate counselors. I stopped in last week for a "walk-in" meeting and was advised to schedule a longer meeting with Devon Pryor, a handsome, friendly guy not much older than I with a likable little lisp. I sent him an email the day before telling him a little bit about myself, what kinds of jobs I thought might be of interest to me, what I hope to accomplish in the upcoming year, etc. What I realized while walking back to his little office in the labyrinth of what is the career center, though, was that I wasn't really sure what I wanted to accomplish during this meeting. I knew I couldn't expect him to find me a job right then and there, or look into my soul and determine my true calling, so I decided to start with realistic, modest goals; to come up with some sort of game plan. With this, Devon could certainly help me. I was surprised, however, by what this first step entailed.
Basically, he said to call on my connections. He said this could mean professors at Columbia or former bosses, but I don't know of the connections my professors have outside of the academic realm, and I can't imagine my former employers, like my boss at the boutique financial management firm I interned for last summer, being willing to vauge for me in a field that was not financial. The rest of my jobs have been fairly ordinary, babysitting, horse groom, library employee, landscaping... none of which hold a whole lot of promise for a young professional. So, what I automatically thought and what I'm pretty sure he was implying, was connections as in family connections. The sad truth of it is that I'm just not connected with a whole lot of heavy hitters. So, my mind jumped to people who at least know some... my parents.
Isn't it funny that after four years of independent thinking, living, struggling, studying... basically, with the exception of total financial independence (which is no doubt significant), being an independent adult, it boils down to relying on our parents all over again? Should I really have to think about who they know? If I'm just going to rely on their connections anyway, why did I even bother with college? I'm already pretty sure that my Core Curriculum courses and my Russian Major will be of minimal help to me in the professional world, and since it seems that a degree from Columbia, internship experience, a great GPA and a personable character make me unqualified for just about everything, why even bother? Of course, these are just playful musings. College has changed my life for all of the obvious reasons. It's amazingly important, and Devon was not implying that it wasn't in the slightest. What he meant, I think, was that in today's market, looking online and applying online for jobs isn't enough. Whether you're using Lionshare, or Idealist.org, or Monster.com, the companies that receive your cover letter and resume see you as little more than an unexperienced college grad. That's pretty much it. If that's what they're looking for, great, but with all of the people with actual experience looking for jobs out there, most of these companies can fill slots they once filled with inexperienced college students with adults who have 5+ years of experience in that industry. We just can't compete with that, at least not on a black and white sheet of paper.
Relying on connections allows us to bypass this unfortunate step, where our resume is placed in the "inexperienced" pile and barely given a second look. It also allows people who know us to vouch for our work ethic and character, maybe even set up a coffee date with someone in our desired field for us. "Making connections"is an endeavor that sounds an awful lot like what is to some of us a dirty and frightening word; networking. When we think of Networking, we imagine a greasy-haired business-man who would sell his child for a meeting with Goldman's CEO. Don't worry, I don't think this is that kind of networking. It doesn't involve going to career fairs or company events, schmoozing and trying to make a good impression, it just means thinking of people whom you actually know and like who are successful and work in a field that might be of interest to you. Maybe your dad's best friend is an attorney, or maybe your high school soccer coach's daughter works for Nike. Perhaps your mom is a kindergarten art teacher, and you've always wanted to work with kids. Whatever. There's bound to be someone you know who would be glad to hook you up with someone who can help you. As sad as this may sound to those of us who avoid handouts like the plague and pride ourselves on the fact that we've succeeded based upon our own merit, I'm afraid this is the way the cookie crumbles these days.
So I left the meeting, mission accomplished. I had a first step. Tomorrow, I'm calling Mommy and Daddy.
-MS
Basically, he said to call on my connections. He said this could mean professors at Columbia or former bosses, but I don't know of the connections my professors have outside of the academic realm, and I can't imagine my former employers, like my boss at the boutique financial management firm I interned for last summer, being willing to vauge for me in a field that was not financial. The rest of my jobs have been fairly ordinary, babysitting, horse groom, library employee, landscaping... none of which hold a whole lot of promise for a young professional. So, what I automatically thought and what I'm pretty sure he was implying, was connections as in family connections. The sad truth of it is that I'm just not connected with a whole lot of heavy hitters. So, my mind jumped to people who at least know some... my parents.
Isn't it funny that after four years of independent thinking, living, struggling, studying... basically, with the exception of total financial independence (which is no doubt significant), being an independent adult, it boils down to relying on our parents all over again? Should I really have to think about who they know? If I'm just going to rely on their connections anyway, why did I even bother with college? I'm already pretty sure that my Core Curriculum courses and my Russian Major will be of minimal help to me in the professional world, and since it seems that a degree from Columbia, internship experience, a great GPA and a personable character make me unqualified for just about everything, why even bother? Of course, these are just playful musings. College has changed my life for all of the obvious reasons. It's amazingly important, and Devon was not implying that it wasn't in the slightest. What he meant, I think, was that in today's market, looking online and applying online for jobs isn't enough. Whether you're using Lionshare, or Idealist.org, or Monster.com, the companies that receive your cover letter and resume see you as little more than an unexperienced college grad. That's pretty much it. If that's what they're looking for, great, but with all of the people with actual experience looking for jobs out there, most of these companies can fill slots they once filled with inexperienced college students with adults who have 5+ years of experience in that industry. We just can't compete with that, at least not on a black and white sheet of paper.
Relying on connections allows us to bypass this unfortunate step, where our resume is placed in the "inexperienced" pile and barely given a second look. It also allows people who know us to vouch for our work ethic and character, maybe even set up a coffee date with someone in our desired field for us. "Making connections"is an endeavor that sounds an awful lot like what is to some of us a dirty and frightening word; networking. When we think of Networking, we imagine a greasy-haired business-man who would sell his child for a meeting with Goldman's CEO. Don't worry, I don't think this is that kind of networking. It doesn't involve going to career fairs or company events, schmoozing and trying to make a good impression, it just means thinking of people whom you actually know and like who are successful and work in a field that might be of interest to you. Maybe your dad's best friend is an attorney, or maybe your high school soccer coach's daughter works for Nike. Perhaps your mom is a kindergarten art teacher, and you've always wanted to work with kids. Whatever. There's bound to be someone you know who would be glad to hook you up with someone who can help you. As sad as this may sound to those of us who avoid handouts like the plague and pride ourselves on the fact that we've succeeded based upon our own merit, I'm afraid this is the way the cookie crumbles these days.
So I left the meeting, mission accomplished. I had a first step. Tomorrow, I'm calling Mommy and Daddy.
-MS
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