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Career advice for high school kids

On August 31, 2020

A reader asks for help giving career advice to a high school kid who is about to enter the real world, in the September 1, 2020 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter.

Question

I know Ask The Headhunter is for adults, but can you help me help a good kid? My nephew will graduate from high school next year and I’m trying to give him some career advice and vocational guidance. (I’m the only adult family he’s got.) He’s not good with academics, but he loves computers, and I think he might do well with a two-year junior college Computer Science program.

I would like to be thorough in exploring possibilities with him, including those outside technology. I looked at the Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook forecasting “tomorrow’s jobs,” and I found a web site that purports to help determine aptitude and occupational interests. There appear to be a number of such services online, but I’m sure they vary in quality.

Are there better ways to do this? Thanks very much for your suggestions.

Nick’s Reply

Good for you for trying to help. Your influence and interest alone will make a huge difference in this young man’s life. But the thing that will affect your nephew’s success more than anything is his motivation. Help him with that first.

Career advice for kids

Do not get too stuck on how he has performed in school to this point or on whether he should pursue a vocational education or a four-year academic program. Lots of kids just can’t handle the traditional classroom, but they can do well in a more applied setting where they are motivated to learn things that have a clear connection to their own goals.

Maybe he should be a computer technician, a computer scientist or a database administrator. Maybe he should be an engineer or an auto mechanic. The objective will guide the choice of education. His motivation is key. You can help him find that motivation by pointing him toward the right resources and being there to discuss his interests, questions and concerns. Direction is the best career help you can give him.

Basic career tools

Some basic aptitude and interest surveys are a good idea, and you can get these career tools very inexpensively at a local community college. (Contact the career services department.) You don’t need a commercial company for this. Just be aware that these surveys are limited in their ability to guide anyone. These tools can stimulate new ideas, but don’t let them limit your nephew one way or the other. Let him explore and choose what he wants to pursue.

Don’t worry. If he makes a mistake, he can change his mind later. Motivation, however, is necessary now or you’ll lose him.

Mentors

You are this young man’s most important mentor. Know what will motivate him more? More mentors!

Here’s the smartest thing you can do. If your nephew has some specific interests, try to find local companies that match up to them. Then start asking around. Do you know someone who knows someone who could introduce him to a person who does the work he’s interested in? Maybe he could shadow this person for a day at work, or get advice on what it takes to get that kind of job.

I would start with contacts you already have — people who know all kinds of workers from trades people to professionals. I’m talking about your priest, rabbi or other cleric. Your banker, doctor, lawyer or accountant. These are mentors who can introduce your nephew to more specific mentors. All these people know the local work landscape and can make suitable personal introductions.

The one-on-one exposure to folks who do the work your nephew wants to do is key. This is a great reality check and it will help him decide, “This is not for me,” or it will motivate him to work all the harder. When a kid can experience “the real thing” and get advice from an insider about what it takes to be successful, well, get out of the way. His motivation will go into high gear.

Career advice to excel

If your nephew has no clue what he’s interested in, try The Library Vacation, but go with him — at least the first day — to help get him on track.

As for the DOL Handbook, it’s a wealth of job information. But don’t get wrapped up in “what’s hot.” The hottest jobs cool off pretty quickly. What gets people through the down cycles in their careers is their motivation and their expertise. Even in the most depressed fields there are true experts still commanding good salaries. That’s the goal. Not to survive, but to become one of the best.

Plumber. Programmer. Landscaper. Doctor. Electrician. Carpenter. Engineer. Mechanic. Whatever the work is, there must be motivation to excel behind it. Help this kid feed his excitement about whatever it is he thinks he wants to go toward. Guide him and help him. But don’t try to stop him from making a mistake or two. Be there to help him get back on track. But above all, feed his motivation. The direction he ultimately takes will depend a lot on your guidance.

Again, I compliment you for helping him out. Even kids whose parents have college degrees and professional jobs don’t always get this kind of adult help. Best wishes to you both.

Where can kids get good education and career advice today? Where did you find guidance when you were young? What can this uncle do to help his nephew?

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How do I sell my extensive academic credentials to an employer?

On September 17, 2012

In the September 18, 2012 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, a job hunter asks how to parlay his considerable academic credentials into a good job:

Here’s hoping you can knock some sense into me. The job search process has me bewildered. I have a degree in computer science and I had begun a doctoral program, but must now re-enter the job market. I am considered overqualified for much of what passes for entry-level positions, and realistically I would be under-challenged in them. Yet I have little in the way of a “track record” that would be of interest to employers looking for someone with a more specialized background. I have tried to sell my skills, but have only gotten form-letter acknowledgements. Any suggestions on getting to first base? Thanks.

My Advice

No offense, but nobody’s buying what you’re selling.

You say you have little in the way of experience to offer an employer in your field. That’s patently untrue, but it’s a common error in judgment that lots of new grads make.

Much of the experience and many of the skills you’ve acquired in school can transfer to the work world, but you need to do the mapping. (An employer won’t figure it out for you.)

What you’re selling isn’t what you’ve done. It’s what you can do.

Make a list of all the “hands-on” work you have done related to the kind of work done in your field — the kind of work you want to do. The work you’ve done might include academic projects, if it’s relevant to the jobs you want. People tend to dismiss their academic work because it’s academic. It can still be hands-on, it’s still experience, and it can be very valuable to an employer if you can show how.

Then put that list aside, because it’s totally useless without what we’re going to do next. (That’s why it doesn’t sell!)

Focus on the work the employer needs done. You must research and understand it before you can do any “mapping” of your skills. (Your skills are useless unless someone needs them!) That means learning about each target company and talking to people who work there. Try to describe the work you discover in terms of tasks — things you would have to do. Be as detailed as possible.

Then review each item, and describe how you could shape and apply each of your skills and experiences to help get the work done in a way that positively impacts the employer’s bottom line.

That is, how would hiring you be a benefit? (You can work through this process best if you focus on one company at a time.)

Remember that some of your skills are very fundamental, and these are the ones that can be best generalized to a specific job. For example, organizational skills, analytical skills, writing skills, and so on. The challenge is to find ways to apply them to the one job you’re pursuing. That is what an employer wants to see — not your resume. That’s what employers pay for.

This is what you’re selling.

I’ll say it again: As you do this mapping, be very specific. Sometimes, the inability to get specific stems from not really knowing what a company really needs. This is where your general research skills come in: Research the heck out of a company and its business. If you don’t, then you can’t demonstrate what you can offer, and you don’t deserve the job. (I discuss these techniques in more detail in The Library Vacation and Put a Free Sample in Your Resume, two key sections of the PDF book, How Can I Change Careers?)

Don’t worry that a job is beneath you. You will probably have to take an entry-level position to start. Don’t carry a negative attitude about this; it’s a necessary part of starting a career. It’s how employers decide you’re worth trusting with more sophisticated work. The point is to find a job in a company where you’re working with people who will offer you more and better work soon.

Give this an honest shot by looking at yourself through an employer’s eyes. You see, employers want one thing: to have a problem solved. Most won’t take the time to tell an outsider what that is. Offering value and solutions before you’re asked is the best way to find work.

I wish you success.

How did you get your first job out of school? What could this reader do to make you want to hire him? I think schools absolutely suck at teaching students how to find jobs. Why???