You’re not the Only One Who Can’t Figure Out What to Major in in College

You know you’re going to college, but can’t fathom how those four years will translate into preparing you to get a job because you don’t even have the slightest clue of what you want to study. Or you’re in college. You’ve flitted from major to major in several times, but still are unsure about your choice. Or worse. You’re near the end of your degree, it’s too late to switch majors, and you decided that you don’t want to pursue a career in the field your degree prepares you to enter into.

Sound like you?

Take a little bit of time to watch a few short videos from JobTalk4All’s previous event, “College Bound, Now What? Figuring Out Your Career Path,” to glean insight into how to figure “it” all out.

In Part I, Gardening Teacher Suzanne Cunningham shares her story of how she entered Smith College headed for law school and became a gardening teacher instead.

Hear from Holly Bull, who’s the president of Princeton’s Center for Interim Programs, talk about the benefits of taking a gap year. Bull took two gap years herself, so she knows the benefits from firsthand experiences. Helping people navigate their gap year experience since 1986, Bull has holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Virginia and a master’s in education from Harvard University.

Career Coach Alex Freund finishes up the event by explaining what you, as a college student, can and should do to prepare for entering the workforce. Freund had a long career as a hiring manager in Fortune 500 companies including Honeywell and Tyco before starting his coaching business, The Landing Expert.

 

 

This Week’s Weekly Roundup: Getting Side Tracked at Work Because of Social Media

Trying to get in the networking groove? An article on JobMob.com suggests making a networking card.

Are you getting side tracked at work because you’re using social media? Check out this infographic from Mashable. Continue reading

Career Advice and News from Around the Web

The Weekly Roundup for this week from around the web. The presence of robots is proliferating in factories, unemployment numbers are up across the country, and lots of great advice for small business owners.

Worried that your poor grammar skills might cost you a job? You’ll want to read this debate in the NYT about whether or not proper grammar is essential in the workforce. Continue reading

Make Networking Fun

I keep meeting people who are looking for a job. New college grads, moms re-entering the workforce, unemployed folks, the demographics span age, ethnicity, and sex. And you know what I keep telling them? Take a guess. I bet you know.

Network.

“Argh.” you growl. You are so tired of hearing it. You prefer to hear, “Take this class, and that will give you an edge. Go to a recruiting firm, and they’ll help you.” And sure, you can take both of those actions, but even if you do, you STILL have to network. Continue reading

4 Unconventional Tips I’ve Learned from Ramit Sethi

Sound career and financial advice is hard to come by. But as we’ve touched upon here at JobTalk, seeing a measure of success in one is tied very closely to the other. So when you find advice that provides valuable guidance, the resource becomes golden. And sometimes that valuable guidance might not go the way of conventional wisdom.

Recently, I had the chance to meet blogger and New York Times-bestselling author Ramit Sethi. I’ve been following Ramit’s blog since 2007, so it was a thrill to meet him and many Continue reading

Are You Ready to Be An Entrepreneur? Rethink Diving In Headfirst

If you’ve read Tim Ferriss’s popular book The Four-Hour Workweek, you’re familiar with the concept of seeking independence in your work, being in control of your time, working remotely, and then using your free time to indulge in things you love.

Independent, footloose and fancy-free, risktaking. That may be the popular profile of a self-made entrepreneur, but it’s not the only one. In 2012, the word “entrepreneur” almost Continue reading

Happy Graduation Class of 2012

Tuesday morning, Princeton University graduated its class of 2012.

Many 2012 graduates have a job lined up. Many don’t. Even those who are graduates from the Ivy League are without jobs. I know one Princeton grad who returned to her parents’ home in Nashville without having any job leads at all.  I wished her well this morning when I bumped into her getting caffeinated at Princeton’s local coffee shop before she buckled up for the long drive back to Nashville.

She’s like many new graduates who are entering a job market that isn’t exactly waiting for them with open arms. Continue reading

Unemployed? You Need to Work Locally

Piers Duffell at working at Small World Coffee on Witherspoon Street.

If you’ve been unemployed for a few months, have sent out countless resumes, and scour the web everyday for job postings, it’s time for you to get a job at one of your local businesses. You know the jobs I’m talking about – the coffee shop jobs; the jobs that require no experience. The jobs that you feel are beneath you because of your background.

Continue reading

Kill Your Resume

Yeah, I said it. Kill your resume. If you don’t, it’ll kill you.

I’ll write this for the umpteenth time, I’m not a career expert. I haven’t called a bunch of recruiters or employers to verify that resumes don’t work. I’ve just used my experience and my good ol’ common sense to figure out that sending resumes ain’t gonna get me my next job. So if you’re relying on your resume to get you a job, I say, “Stop! Kill your resume before never hearing back from entering tons of applications kills your self-confidence, because then you’ll never find a job.  Continue reading