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In this challenging climate for career services professionals and job seekers alike, I offer ideas to handle some common and not-so-common hurdles. The strategies I recommend stem from the lessons I learned while recruiting undergraduates and MBAs in industry, in my former role as director of Stanford’s MBA Career Management Center, and from research for the career management book I recently coauthored with Karen O. Dowd, The Ultimate Guide to Getting the Career You Want . . . And What to Do Once You Have It (McGraw-Hill, 2003).
Here are the top 10 most common challenges and some thoughts on how to tackle them.
1. Student anxiety about not being able to find a job
We are in one of the toughest job markets in memory for new graduates. As a colleague of mine once said, “Let’s all hope for the best and prepare for the worst.” Letting students know that you understand how they feel and that their anxiety is normal are important to gaining their trust. Encourage students to turn their anxiety into positive energy by preparing thoughtfully and acting purposefully in their job searches and career management.
Allay students’ fears by letting them know what you have planned for the year on their behalf. Regularly give students positive news and reports of “key wins,” so they can see progress. For example, you might tell students that your outreach efforts have resulted in an increase in job postings on campus, brought coveted new recruiters to campus, or yielded new workshops or networking events. Continually reiterate the services you offer and remind students of how you can help, focusing them on how to take full advantage of all you have to offer. Try to give students the benefit of your experience and wisdom. Build perspective and context by sending the message that careers evolve over a lifetime. What students do or don’t do after graduation is just one stop along a path they’ll create for themselves; they shouldn’t feel pressure to reach the pinnacle of success right away.
Some of the specific initiatives we tried at Stanford were enlisting student “buddies,” second-year students who mentored first-year students in their job searches. We also facilitated weekly career action groups for those who wanted to drop in for support and to share news of job leads and successes. For those who were feeling discouraged, Friday afternoon milk-and-cookie breaks lifted spirits.
2. Some students’ unrealistic expectations that you should do most of the work and place them in jobs
Convey early on that you are not a placement service and consistently reinforce this message through your words and actions. Communicate that you offer career management services, expertise, and support and are there to help students but that, ultimately, students own their careers and are responsible for managing them.
Make your services known, empowering, and accessible so that students can put in the work their job searches and career management require. For example, you might offer job postings online and send a link to students via email for easy access. The students have to follow up on the leads, but you have made this easier for them.
One way to engage students in their job searches is to agree to fund and oversee a career fair targeted to a specific sector the students are interested in, on the condition that the students organize and run the fair. After the fair, you can let other students know what students at the fair did and which of your services they utilized to land interviews and get job offers.
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