Career Tips

March 2009 When Marissa Anshutz moved from New York to England without knowing anyone, she found a new life and a new job.

NEW YORK (by Jessica Dickler, featured on CNNMoney.com) -- These days, finding a job is all about who you know. But what if you're in a new city and you don't know anybody?

Marissa Anshutz, 27, had a blossoming career in public relations in New York City, but the L.A.-native yearned to go even further east. Marissa followed her heart to London and a job offer followed. "New York is great but I have to see what else is out there," she said.

Despite having no network, no contacts and no leads in the worst job market in years, Anshutz packed her bags and moved to London, hoping to land a job at a U.K.-based firm.

Once she got there, Anshutz went to work researching PR companies in London, setting up meetings and introducing herself to potential employers. "I met with probably everyone under the sun, every owner of every PR firm," she said.

But without a hefty rolodex of U.K.-based contacts, Anshutz was at a disadvantage to her competitors. "I knew I needed to leverage my U.S. experience."

So Anshutz did what she does best and packaged herself to an international company with international clients hoping to find a stronghold in the U.S. That way, she was able to leverage all of her connections back in New York and use them to her advantage.

Soon she was hired as a freelancer for Camron, a boutique luxury public relations firm, which focuses on art and design and, in January, she became a full-time associate director there. For Camron, Anshutz was an asset because of her ability to offer their clients a more general international understanding of press, not to mention global style and trends.

And as for finding a job in the midst of the recession? Anshutz admits she didn't realize what a big risk she took. "In retrospect, I'm just delighted I got a job," she said.

Standing out in a crowd:
While the move was risky, the fact that she conducted her job search on the ground was significant, according to Barbara Safani, President of Career Solvers in New York.

"If she had been trying to conduct that same search from New York she wouldn't have had any face time," Safani said. Making the move before starting the job search was necessary, she said, because employers are more likely to hire someone that they've established a relationship with.

"The idea is the more you put yourself out there the more likely you will get something back in return," she said. "A lot of people go online but that's the least effective method of searching."

Online job postings are on the decline. In the month of February, there were only two advertised vacancies for every 100 people in the labor force, according to the Conference Board. With that kind of competition, it's tough to make your résumé stand out.

"Those that spend their time responding to ads on job boards are not having a lot of success," added Dan King, principal of Career Planning and Management Inc. in Boston. "It didn't work well when the economy was good, so how do you think it's working now?"

King also recommends finding a professional association such as the Public Relations Society of America, which may have been able to identify members who are based in London. "Professional associations can be a wonderful way of making connections," he said.

But what really worked to her advantage was that Anshutz honed in on the skills she had that were of value in that community, Safani said. She targeted her search on companies that had a need for her contacts and experience. "It's always about leveraging your network," she said.

June 2008 The Real World: What Entry-level Workers Wish They’d Known When They Graduated
by Katharine Hansen

For many college students, taking the headlong plunge outside the safe, secure world of college results in a rude awakening to some of the cold, cruel realities of the real-world rat race. We talked to some recent graduates of Stetson University, DeLand, FL, to see what they wish they had known about the real world when they graduated and what advice they would impart to those about to leave the college womb.

Do an internship. It’s important to perform an internship to "give you a taste of what work is like and to let you experiment with different fields before it counts," one grad observes.

Start looking for a job as soon as possible. "Don’t wait until you graduate," advises Jennifer Grillo, a 1998 Stetson general business graduate, who works as a family services counselor for the Florida Department of Children and Families, Inverness, FL. "If you want to take a break and not work right out of school, continue to send applications in - even if you don’t think you’re qualified. You could get lucky."

Be prepared! The real world is very different from college! "I am realizing that college life is a breeze compared to working adult life," observes Jerra Fortner. "There is just a different set of responsibilities entirely!" says Fortner, a 1999 finance graduate working in Leveraged Finance at First Union Securities, Inc., Charlotte, NC. Those serious responsibilities can be daunting, Grillo notes: "You make a mistake in college, it’s depressing, but you can take the course again. You make a mistake at your job, you may never get another job in that area." Another student points to how exhausting it can be to carry all that responsibility. "When you go home from work after working an 8-10 hour day, you’re tired, and you just have to wonder where you got all your energy in college to stay up late and do last-minute studying," says the 1999 Stetson finance graduate, who is now a business analyst for Hewitt Associates, Orlando, FL.

Among other differences the grads observed between college and the real world:

• Everything is politics!
• Gender discrimination is real, especially in male-dominated fields like banking and finance.
• The most stressful part of the job is dealing with negative individuals who want to do everything "like we did it before."
• Having a company’s financial health depend on you is very stressful. "If I make any mistakes, it is very serious," notes one grad. "I have to be extremely cautious with my daily work."

Learn to project a professional image in every respect, including business etiquette. Know how to dress, dine, and converse in a formal business setting. "Be professional . . . from your dress to your diction," Fortner advises. She observes that "in today’s workplace, that counts more than anything. An employer wants to be proud of the way you conduct yourself. You can have all the brains in the world, but if you cannot interact well with other professionals, you will only go so far."

Look at the big picture when negotiating your salary offer. For example, don’t forget about taxes. One recent grad notes: "I am paying about $12,000 of my salary out in taxes, and that changes things quite a bit."

Take time to think about job offers. "Companies understand that you are looking for a position, and most of them are willing to let you think over their and other offers for a while," says one recent grad.

Realize that you may have to take the initiative to learn on your own in your first job. "I think a lot of people get overwhelmed when they first get a new job," observes Grillo. "You’re not going to be trained in every single thing you do. You’ll have to learn as you go," says Grillo, noting that many of her organization's new hires look lost.

Use what you gained from the entire college experience. "Relating all my classroom and extracurricular experiences to the job and being professional in my conduct" is what Fortner asserts was the most important factor in landing her first job. Fortner says it’s important "not to seem like you are fresh out of school as far as manners and common sense are concerned."

Develop good communications skills, both written and oral techniques. Most employers place a high premium on how well employees express themselves, so use what you learned in school. "While [in] business school, I had many chances to build up confidence by making presentations in front of groups," says Jennifer Split, a 1997 Stetson management graduate, who now works as an employee development specialist for the U.S. Secret Service. "I gained valuable experience that directly relates to my current position," Split continues. "As an employee development specialist, my duties include designing courses and instructing classes. One of my current projects requires that I conduct research into new technology that can be used for training purposes and produce reports related to this area. As a management major, I had to do research for many papers and group assignments. I was also given the opportunity to strengthen my writing and presentation skills."

Make the most of the teamwork skills you learned through group projects and participating in sports because significant numbers of jobs in the real world are team-based. "All the groups that we were required to work in [in college] were very helpful," notes another grad. "Teamwork skills were stressed from the very beginning with my job at Hewitt Associates," she says. "Even in the interviews, they were always asking, ‘Give me an example in a group when . . .’ Everything we do at Hewitt is in a team environment, and if you don’t learn to speak up, you could mess everyone up. You have to be able to rely on each other. Here at Hewitt; a team member either does his/her share or the whole team suffers. Communication is everything!" Adds Grillo: "Teamwork is essential no matter what area you’re in. I just spoke to a supervisor who didn’t hire an extremely qualified man due to his ‘not being a team player.'"

Facebook and MySpace have experienced a recent surge of publicity around the use (and misuse) of the sites and general privacy concerns.  This media coverage has now spilled over to the few circumstances where they have been used (adversely) by potential employers.  However, there is more hype than reality around employers using sites such as Facebook and MySpace to research potential hires.  First of all, most employers do not have access to Facebook, since they are typically not a student at a supported school and therefore would not have direct access to the student data.  And few employers are using MySpace (or other sites) to directly research potential employees.

That said, there is an increase in the number of employers who are Googling (i.e. Internet keyword searching, typically through Google) candidates to research for additional information.  The rule of thumb for any job seeker is simple: If you don't want information known about you (by an employer or anyone else), don't post it online.  In addition to keyword searching, one of the favorite tricks of employers is to take the resume page of a candidate (such as www.freesite.com/janeqpublic/resume.html - not a real site, BTW) and backtracking it to the person's primary page (www.freesite.com/janeqpublic/ in this case). Even if the resume page is "clean," the primary page may be filled with all sorts of other tidbits about the person that they may be quite embarrassed about if their future employer was reviewing.

My recommendation to any new job seeker is that they start by cleaning up any personal Web sites they control (such as Facebook and MySpace), then Googling their own information which may be located on other sites. If information (and--yikes!--photos) about that all night party are posted on someone else's site, usually a polite request for removal will suffice. If not, a more strongly worded request regarding unauthorized use may be needed.

So although it is rare for employers to search information on potential employees, the future trend is definitely in that direction. Job seekers should do what they can to make sure their entire background (not just what they put on the resume or present in the interview) is spotless. If you don't want your future employer (or parents) to see it, don't post it. (Written by: Brian Krueger, President, CollegeGrad.com, Inc., http://www.CollegeGrad.com)