{"id":815,"date":"2006-02-14T23:02:34","date_gmt":"2006-02-15T04:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/example.org\/selling_yoursel"},"modified":"2006-02-14T23:02:34","modified_gmt":"2006-02-15T04:02:34","slug":"selling_yoursel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/?p=815","title":{"rendered":"Selling yourself is a life-time job"},"content":{"rendered":"

You have a Computer Science degree. Now what?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I was doing my weekly shopping in Home Depot and I was helped by Carl, who is a recent graduate  of Radford University’s College of Information Science and Technology.<\/p>\n

He had a degree in Computer Science, but had been unable to find work in his chosen field, so he was working at Home Depot. A few minutes of conversation showed me that he was not only personable, but he knew his field well enough that he would be a useful addition to any company looking for a System Administrator or any number of entry level jobs requiring technical knowledge and a good manner with customers.<\/p>\n

Why was this fellow not employed? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He had attended a school which has the stated goal to equip students with the skills, knowledge and abilities needed to build successful careers in a 21st century global information economy.<\/p>\n

According to the Radford University website, the College of Information Science and Technology<\/a> curriculum provides the theoretical foundation necessary for a career in information technology while grounding that theory with hand-on use of current tools. From databases to routers, our students have the opportunity to link theory and application. Their mission statement covers this in greater detail.<\/p>\n

I asked Carl if he was networking and he thought I meant building computer networks. He had no concept of the value of personal networking as a source of job referrals. He had submitted his resume to several regional employment lists, but had done no personal selling effort.<\/p>\n

I gave him my 60 second elevator pitch about personal referrals accounting for 85% of all job placements and stressed that he had to tell everyone he knew about his job search.<\/p>\n

He got it immediately.<\/p>\n

I told that my book, Danger Quicksand – Have A Nice Day<\/a>, has a lot of vital job-finding tactics and was still available as a free download. That brought in a smile and he said he wanted to read my book. <\/p>\n

He asked me for the URL and immediately wrote it down. I think he will be out of Home Depot sooner than he expects.<\/p>\n

An opportunity for colleges and universities<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What intrigued me most was that this new graduate had all of the tools and skills to be a productive member of many different companies, but he did not have the tools he needs to land a job. <\/p>\n

If there are many more graduates like Carl, there is a counseling opportunity for people who actually know the ropes of handling interviews and networking for employment opportunities. I consider it to be a waste of valuable resources when new graduates are not trained as competent networkers.<\/p>\n

Without this skill, it is almost like a graduate is an unfinished product. They may have all sorts of capabilities but are not able to market themselves effectively.<\/p>\n

What do you think?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Tag: getting hired<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You have a Computer Science degree. Now what? I was doing my weekly shopping in Home Depot and I was helped by Carl, who is a recent graduate  of Radford University’s College of Information Science and Technology. He had a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1804],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3R4iK-d9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}