The previous blog post described the way in which my personal
career development process evolved, based on paid advice from Haldane
Associates, combined with my Strong Interest Inventory results.
There are two different ways of using the Strong Interest
Inventory results to help plan one’s career development process. One way—if you are fortunate enough to know
about it in advance—is to take the Strong Interest Inventory before
choosing an academic major, say late in high school or early in college and, in
that way, being able to use the SII results to select the “right” major, i.e.,
the major that aligns best with your future career preferences, because it
aligns with your interests and personality both of which, by the end of high
school or beginning of college, are already pretty well established.
“Luck is what
happens when preparation meets opportunity.” – Seneca
Another way—if you were not fortunate enough to know
about the Strong Interest Inventory in advance—is to learn about it, as I did, after
choosing an academic major.
In that case, there are at least three possible scenarios
that might emerge from that situation:
·
First, one could be very lucky, as I was, if the SII results affirm a career path,
based on your interests and personality, that is very compatible with the
previously-selected academic major;
·
Second, one could be slightly unlucky, if the SII results affirm a career path slightly incompatible with the
previously selected academic major, suggesting as a remedy the need for additional
academic preparation, e.g., a “second master’s;” and
·
Third, one could be totally unlucky, if the
SII results affirm a career path totally
incompatible with the previously selected academic major, suggesting no obvious
or immediate remedy. But even this third
scenario is not without hope, as shown below.
Entry-Level
Positions
Success in landing professional entry-level positions is strongly
correlated with prior academic preparation, anchored by the academic major and
related coursework. And experience
teaches that “anchor” is in fact the proper metaphor, as evidenced by the fact
that the “first cut” of resumes in most searches today eliminates all but those
with a narrow set of desired credentials.
So “cut and dried” is that exercise that it is usually carried out by
staff members far removed from those whom the successful candidate will end up being
interviewed by, hired by and working alongside.
For those with academic credentials that fall outside the
narrow “desired” category, the degree listed on their diploma—despite any other
notable attributes of intellect, character or temperament—served as the
proverbial anchor around their neck, dragging them down and out of the search.
However, for persons with relevant work experience, searches and
hiring decisions tend to become much more focused on “prior work experience”
than on “prior academic preparation.”
But despite this concession to those in the third scenario above,
another serious obstacle arises in the form of a conundrum.
A Common Career Conundrum
“You can’t get the job without the experience, and you
can’t get the experience without the job.”
The Solution
“The way to break out of this conundrum is
to volunteer.”
Bernard Haldane
Volunteering is often the best and only way to earn the experience needed
to be able to get the job and, equally importantly, to be able to do
the job successfully after you get it.
One very widespread example of Haldane’s solution may be seen in the
huge growth in student internship programs in recent years. Thousands of
students take them, and pay tuition for the privilege, because of the perceived
value to the student who has internship experience. Many employers will tell you that, in
competitive searches for entry level professional positions, “practical world
experience” is often the deciding factor between the one successful candidate
and the scores of runners’ up, typically with approximately equal academic credentials!
”In a
2012 Wall Street Journal survey of
480 college recruiters, nearly 25 percent of them said that more than half of
the recent college graduates they'd hired had previously worked as interns at
the company. About 14 percent said that more than 75 percent of their new
graduate hires had initially been interns.”
An article entitled “Do Internships Really Lead to Job
Opportunities?” by the Undercover
Recruiter blog at http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/infographic-do-internships-really-lead-to-job-opportunities/
included the following quote: “In 2011,
61.2% of employers made full-time offers to their interns, out of which 86.5%
of the interns accepted.” The Undercover Recruiter serves the UK and
Europe and covers the U.S. in today’s increasingly global job and career
market.
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