Kazira

So you are just getting started on figuring out what is the best approach on getting that maiden job offer, or better yet, a few offers to choose from! Well, you're just about to graduate from a pretty good school, with some pretty decent grades, majoring in a reasonably sought-out subject. How bad could it really be?

Let me start by telling you that there is no silver bullet to job hunting - you've got to put in sweat and blood to see some decent offers come your way. More over, since you are fresh out of school with slim to none experience, you are looking at some daunting odds stacked up against you. Everybody wants new employees to "hit the ground running". We do not want to waste precious company time, money, and effort in training these young college recruits. We would rather look for folks already in the workforce rather than recruit these newbies. Guess what, you've got competition! What is a young, college gradaute to do??

Some of you are probably saying that "this guy is exagerating". All I am trying to do is to impress upon you the severity and degree-of-difficulty of the job search process and hoping that you are taking an informed and smart approach towards your job search. I am guessing that by now you've done the typical things any soon-to-graduate would/should do -

1. Prepare a kick-ass resume

2. Add the resume to the "Resume Book"

3. Post resume on Monster, Dice, etc.

4. Participate and network at the career fair

5. Reach out to the company where you did your internship(s)

6. Ask Dad/Mom/Uncles/Aunts to give you some leads/intros

In my experience, the key to effective job hunting is to follow/internalize the following 7 habits/traits  -

1. Work smart, not hard

2. Have a focussed approach

3. Think quality, not quantity

4. Prepare/present a "package deal"

5. Early bird usually gets the worm

6. Take/keep good notes

7. Have courage to accept a decline/rejection

In Part II of this series, I will give detailed insights into each one of these 7 habits/traits.

When I was in my graduate school, I always had the debate with my friends and fellow graduate school buddies about "Are leadership skills inborn or can these skills be taught or instilled over time??" Sometimes those debates were over a drink, and sometimes in more formal settings; in presence of graduate school professors, research associates, and team leads. The point is, during those days, I argued with anyone or everyone except probably with the janitor. On the subject of leadership, my arguments loomed around mammoth managers such as Lee Iacocca, great leaders such as Bill Clinton, and major entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs. The arguments against that ranged from – A person can do anything that they put their heads to? Or my favorite – Everyone is a leader in some domain or the other? Obviously, we were arguing about leading more than a bunch of "dead-beat" graduate students.

I still struggle with this question though now I am with peace with myself knowing that I personally do not have the potential to become a TRUE leader. Let me explain by stating that a TRUE leader has following qualities –

• Has a vision for the folks that he or she wishes to lead. The vision then transpires into strategies.

• Unyielding belief in their tenets (no matter how irrational they sound).

• Uncompromising passion for pursuit of their belief.

As you can see, most of these qualities could be used to describe a deranged sociopath. There are numerous examples of true leaders being teased as such. As you can see, a TRUE leader is hard to come by. Hence, I personally believe that there is no process to teach these necessary and essential skills to people to be a leader. Boy, I know I'll get a lot of push back from a lot of folks on this one – but I have an open mind and am ready to be convinced.

So, what do you think they teach you at B-schools? In essence, the business school only teaches you how to become a good manager (let me define what makes a good manager – A good manager is a good problem solver; best suited to optimize the working conditions and working processes to obtain maximum results).

Enough on this topic for now but before I go, let me tell you what else I plan on delving upon in the coming weeks/months on the necessary pre-requisites to lead (or shall I say, manage) people effectively -

1. Do I need an MBA?

2. Art of influencing

3. Power – Learn to use to wisely

4. BLINK and decision making

5. Ethics and Business

Learning, which ultimately leads to professional and personal growth, works in one of two ways –

1. The push mechanism where individuals are taught in a classroom or training setting (examples: schools, academies, corporate classes, etc.)

2. The pull mechanism where individuals take charge and seek to satisfy their quest for knowledge by reading, talking to SMEs (subject matter experts), initiating focused discussions, etc.

Though relying on the push mechanism is a reasonably effective way of learning through your school years (up until undergrad), you should start to identify ways of pulling knowledge once you choose a path of higher studies (i.e. graduate school) or take a plunge into the real world (i.e. professional career). Both the grad school and the professional workplace are environments where people who are smart, experienced, and proven surround you, and these types of settings present you with some unique learning and growth opportunities. But there is only so much that is going to come your way if you decide to sit and wait for things to happen. Further, there is only so much learning that can happen by means of osmosis (if you forget what this process is, look up high school biology). On the other hand, you could express your desire for acquiring new knowledge by inculcating a behavior that genuinely seeks to explore and learn.

Lets dive a little deeper into the two environments mentioned above. Graduate school, no matter what your field of study/research, is a place where you seek to gain a deeper knowledge of a particular subject matter. You end signing up for some core courses and some electives specific to your area of research. In parallel, you work on your research matter and thesis dissertation. Your thesis “advisor” guides you through this process and you are one amongst the 5 or more graduate students working. If you are the typical grad student, you will follow the instructions provided by your advisor, complete the program requirements, and along the way, demonstrate some curiosity and creativity. Now, if you are the “I own my growth” types, you will make the time to take those extra grad courses, seek to get on your advisor’s calendar more often, co-author that paper on a new (maybe disruptive) concept or idea, and get your first job already lined up with the agency/company funding your grad school.

Lets now take a look at the professional work environment. The average Joe (or Jane) will be excited at the thought of getting that first break in the real world because now he will start getting that much sought out paycheck. At work, he will do his typical workplace things like work on assignments, attend the meetings, participate in routine professional development seminars, complete the CBT trainings, etc. On the other hand, if are the “I own my growth” types, you will take the extra step of understanding how the assignments align/integrate with the company’s business, evaluating different ways of executing the assignment, understanding what some of the other groups do and how that impacts your group’s objectives, understanding how the company operates, signing up for optional but strategic trainings, etc. For starters, knowing how your employer runs their business, the company strategy, strengths, values, etc. are valuable pieces of knowledge. I am amazed at the number of young professionals I run into who do even know their publicly traded company’s stock ticker symbol or market capitalization!

I hope you have been able to spot the pattern by now. The typical, average person only does the tasks that are required of him/her. The last thing they want to do is to stretch themselves or their brains by giving people around them the notion that they are passionate about their growth or serious about learning. Majority of such people do lead happy and content lives but that’s all they get out of their laid-back, one-day-at-a-time, easy-come-easy-go attitude. If you really care about what you want to be and where you want to be, professionally and personally, over the years and decades to come, you will need to take charge and ownership of your own growth and make your intentions clear to everybody around you. You really have to believe that you can positively influence change in your attitude and your environment, and this type of mindset will serve you many folds in your life.