Interning With Your Best Foot Forward – Julie Kantor

Jun 272016
 

Last week I spent some time meeting several Sidwell Friends students (my alma mater) in Washington, D.C. as they embark on their summer internships. My hats off to the students for electing in high school to seize an opportunity and work full time while their friends are in Costa Rica, Bethany Beach, Camp and many at family houses at the Jersey Shore.

I came back to the Twomentor offices and asked two of our awesome interns, Delia and Matt, to join in and share our top 15 pieces of advice to start interning with your best foot forward. Here are my top recommendations followed by Delia’s and Matt’s great insights:

JULIE’S TAKE:

1] Finding Yourself Professionally. An internship will teach you what you like and what you don’t like professionally. This is invaluable experience as it might give you insight to help inform your college major and the direction you might want to go in life. Having confidence in yourself professionally before you go to college (ideally) is equivalent to having keys for a new car. You will need it and an internship will give you merit-based self-esteem.

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Tips For Getting A Job At Facebook, Google, Snapchat, And More – Lydia Dishman

Jun 132016
 
Tips for GettingWorld-changing companies are looking for very specific individuals as they grow their ranks. Here’s the scoop. 

We’ve reported that it’s a great time to be looking for a job. Unemployment is low, many companies anticipate adding more staff this year, and over 100 occupations have more openings than actual hires month-over-month.

For those looking to switch jobs, it’s hard to deny the lure of a big name company. This is especially true in the tech sector, where company names can be synonymous with big innovation: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, and the like. But it’s also the case at other businesses where the focus on developing world-changing products and services can be just as laser-like.

With that in mind, we scoured Fast Company‘s current list of 2016‘s Most Innovative Companies to bring you the inside scoop on what it takes to snag a job at five of the top employers.

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These 3 Career Skills Will Make You Invaluable to Your Employer – Hannah Morgan

Jun 062016
 
Companies want workers with collaborating, decision-making and mentoring skills, according to one study.

3 Career Skills

Employers have raised the bar on what they expect from new employees. It may be due to the increasing number of college graduates. Or it may have something to do with the overqualified candidates who filled lower-level jobs after the recession. As long as companies can find candidates with the mix of hybrid skills they are looking for, you’ll continue to see these demanding job requirements.

The hybrid skills companies are requesting were once isolated to a specific department or role, such as social media skills as part of the responsibilities of human resources and marketing. But in fact, 71 percent of in-demand skills are required across two or more job categories, according to analysis by Bentley University and labor market analytics firm Burning Glass, which identified skills with the highest demand. This reinforces the cross-functional need and that employees “must demonstrate deeper and broader competencies to be marketable” said Susan Brennan, associate vice president of university career services at Bentley University, in an interview with Fast Company.

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How To Get Your Application Noticed Every Time – Raghav Haran

May 162016
 

I love reading relationship advice on Reddit. Users on there ask some pretty interesting questions, and are very honest in their answers. They’re also mostly delusional. Check out this really interesting post I came across a little while ago:

Noticed 1

Tons of guys say things like “I’m smart, nice, I make good money, etc. but I still can’t get dates!!” Notice the subtext here.

In other words, they’re saying that all the FACTS are on their side! On paper, these guys are awesome. They did everything they were “supposed” to do. They’ve got everything going for them. How could anyone turn them down?

When we apply for jobs, most of us obsess over our resume, cover letter or online portfolio. We think that if we just use the right words, if we just emphasize the right skills in the right way, then we’ll get noticed.

We focus on the facts. We try to highlight our skills and positive qualities about ourselves. This is why so many of us end up not knowing where we went wrong if we get rejected. We thought we did everything we were “supposed” to do. We had all the skills.

We knew we could do a good job. Maybe we even hired a “resume writer” to format the whole thing perfectly. We had all the facts on our side.

But if that’s the game you’re playing, you’ve already lost.

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4 Misconceptions About Getting a Job After College – Arnie Fertig

Apr 182016
 
4 Mis-ConsCollege students shouldn’t wait until senior year to meet with a career counselor.

Make sure that your LinkedIn profile is complete, including full descriptions of what you’ve done, skills, volunteer activities and languages you speak.

Dialogues with college seniors in the midst of trying to figure out “what comes next” often reveal a disconnect between student life and launching a successful career. It’s easy to empathize with the cry, “I can get an A in my senior seminar but I don’t have a clue about how to get a job.”

Ideally, colleges and universities would fund career services departments with a full complement of savvy professionals. However, more often than not, budgets are cramped and the staff doesn’t have time to do as much as one would hope and expect from them.

To get the most out of this practical college offering, students shouldn’t wait until senior year to build a relationship with a counselor. Even when they’re freshmen or sophomores, students can take aptitude and other diagnostic tests to identify important traits and preferences to keep in mind when figuring out what career path to pursue. Still, sometimes professors and career services aren’t up with the latest in the realm of workforce development and staffing best practices.

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Don’t Use This Word In Your Resume – Diane Stafford

Feb 222016
 
MultitaskingBaylor University research says “multitasking” isn’t an asset
You can’t do multiple things well all at once
We’re not as capable at multitasking as we think. Bigstock

 

Have you talked on your cellphone as you drove to work and later realized you had no clear memory of the traffic, of stoplights — which, of course, you stopped at — or other features of the drive?

Of course you have. We’ve all been in situations where autopilot takes over when we’re absorbed in something else.

There’s been a lot of research about how we’re not as capable at multitasking as we think. Sure, we might do two or more things at once, but the real thinking is applied to only one of the tasks.

That’s why a Baylor University professor deserves attention for new advice about how this applies to your professional resumes. Anne Grinols, an assistant dean in Baylor’s master of business administration program, says prospective employers may not look kindly on your claims of multitasking.

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The Skills Employers Are Looking For – Stacy Rapacon

Feb 152016
 

Looking forIf you’ve heard talk about a “skills gap” in the labor force lately, it was likely in reference to the short supply of potential employees with the right technical skills. But another kind of skill is in even greater demand.

Employers are increasingly seeking employees with so-called soft skills, or baseline skills, such as writing, communication and organization.

A recent study from job market research firm Burning Glass Technologies analyzed 25 million online job postings from more than 40,000 sources over the past year and identified the most sought-after skills.

“We tend to focus on technical skill requirements, but the reality is employers are very vocal about the need for people to have foundational or baseline skills,” said Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass. “Even in jobs that are really denominated in technical terms, it’s still very important to employers that people have the right soft skills.”

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Eight Career Skills You Need To Be Competitive in 2016 – Stephanie Vozza

Jan 252016
 
The mix of hard and soft skills it takes to get hired change as quickly as business does. Here’s what it will take this year.

Good help is hard to find. At least that’s what one-third of hiring managers say, and the talent shortage isn’t just in technical fields. Good sales reps, managers, executives, and financial professionals are among the most difficult to find, according to a 2015 survey by Manpower Group.

Sought-after people have a good mix of hard and soft skills, and those skills are always changing because today’s business climate is in constant flux. If you’re looking to get hired, hire someone new, or grow your company, here are eight skills that will help you do it in 2016:

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