What motivates students today?
“Crisis”, from the Greek krisis: the judgment. As the economic crisis hits countries around the world, new generations of potential executives of both Europe and the United States, in the twilight of their studies and at the dawn of their careers, face an additional attack. An identity crisis, a judgment whose verdict is hopeless, “whatever my education or my degree, I must be aware of the economic realities and adapt to the demands of the workplace.”
Prepared for the future, qualifications in-hand, and technical skills proven, young graduates must stand out in a global labor market. Their distinguishing factor above all… is their personality. From a company’s perspective, what differentiates two young MIT graduates both able to use Python programming language, if not the behaviors they will adopt in a job? Will they be team players? What is their motivation: variety of tasks or money?
Si vis pacem, para bellum “If you want peace, prepare for war.” More than ever, the university is a place for character development, the passageway to the adult world. It supports young people in defining their lifetime ambitions. We strive to provide tangible evidence in order to understand and support a university’s future talent. Know yourself to successfully sell yourself to an employer; know your motivations to choose your future career. Career guidance is the key! That’s why counseling professionals work hard to help students find their way and discover their talent…today!
Simple as 1, 2, 3–3 Steps to get started in your career search
The moment has come. In just a few months you will graduate and be ready to enter the workforce and be what they call a ‘responsible self-sufficient’ working adult. The future is in your hands. But where to start. You have your degree and for the last few years you have been focused on learning about things that interest you, training to achieve certain skills, meeting deadlines, getting good marks, and preparing yourself for graduation amongst other things.
The world of work can be quite a culture shock. And according to a study done by Talentobe over 59% of students don’t even know what they want to do. Career advisors know that graduating students that clearly understand not only their skills, but their personality and more importantly their motivation for work will be much more apt to find a job. A job that not only is a good fit but leads to better productivity and long term success within the company.
And employers recognize this. Recent research done by Forbes shows that 88% of employers are actually looking for cultural fit over skills and degree when hiring. So prospective employers want to know not only who you are and your general personality type but also what motivates and excites you about working for the company.
Getting started with some simple steps will not only help to steer you in the right direction but it will allow others to help guide you to the right career. So get started by:
1. Know thyself
Know who you are, clearly identify your skills, your personality type and what motivates you. Understand your strengths and weaknesses and the gaps that exist. Learn what types of jobs would be a good match for you based on your skills, personality and motivation. By taking the Talentobe simple online assessment you will be able to have a roadmap for your career search and to share with guidance counselors and advisors. This online career guidance assessment is free, it takes 11 minutes and will identify your assets, strengths and motivations getting you on the right path to a more fulfilling and successful career. Over 72% of students that took the assessment found it informative and useful in their career search.
2. Brand yourself
Build your online digital brand. All prospective employers will Google you before they interview you so make sure you are in control of what comes up. By building a comprehensive LinkedIn profile you will be able to showcase you, your degree, the role you are looking for and all your relevant professional history. And go deep on building your profile — include volunteer work, projects and any and all part time work to showcase who you are and what you have achieved. And not only does this help you find jobs but it helps the jobs find you. Companies are using social media to source and recruit talent like never before.
3. Network, network, network
According to a report from ABC News, 80% of today’s jobs are landed through networking. And in fact through the course of my career — I rarely have hired someone that didn’t come as a referral from someone somewhere. Leverage your family, your friends, your professors, your guidance counselors, and your local associations to learn from them and get introductions to people. Always remember to pay it forward and share in helping others network too.
So get started today — its as easy as 1, 2, 3 — take the Talentobe assessment, set up your LinkedIn profile and schedule your first networking coffee. And let me know how it goes.
