A new study finds that college students are not aggressively preparing for their careers while in college, and that their lack of career efforts may be seriously hurting their future job prospects, according to The Student Career Development Study.

The study also found that the majority of college students (95%) have a Facebook account, while only 34% of students have a LinkedIn account. College students see the value of having an internship — with over half of students having over three internships in college —  while 93 percent do not have an understanding of personal branding.

Is it the fault of the student that they are not actively pursuing their career while juggling deadlines for their history exam, their English paper, and their internship? Is it the fault of the university that the English teacher doesn’t make a connection between critical reading skills and the real world, the adviser doesn’t advise beyond the pinnacle goal of graduation day, or the business professor teaches theories without obvious ties to how they will help the student move from graduate to employed professional? Or, with the majority of students getting mentored on a profession by their parents (37 %), maybe it’s the parent’s fault?

Most likely, it’s no one person’s fault. The career game has changed, while the players have been slow to change with it. Look at the numbers in this study. We need to find a way to tap into the power of social media to boost employment, to use the tools in the university to prepare students for a career, and utilize the influence of parents to mentor students through the different phases in their lives.

We also need to look beyond the measurements of success in this study and, rather than asking how students can improve their branding, ask how we can optimize the college experience so students see the big picture, find their passion, and get inspired.

With high unemployment and college costs at an all-time high, we need to be as practical as we can with today’s students about how and what they learn and about how that learning is connected to their future course work, graduation, and their career and professional outcomes.  Academic coaching is the tool that can do just that. On February 27, Maureen Breeze and Mary Haynes will be presenting an Introduction to Academic Coaching at the preconference for the National Association for Developmental Education (NADE) conference in Denver. For more information on attending the NADE event, call Brittany at 303-327-5688.

Find more interesting stats and the full study here: Are College Students Setting Themselves Up for Future Job Failure?

Internships were originally intended for students in the medical field. Doctors knew medical students needed hands-on experience working with patients before they were qualified to work on their own patients. Today, internships have spread beyond the medical field and become an important part of many jobseekers’ resumes in education, technology, writing, marketing, and more.

A recent graduate of a reputable medical school spent her last few years of school in multiple clinicals — a program similar to an internship that pairs students with mentors in the field — which gave her the opportunity to experience working with different age groups of patients, leadership styles, and company size. Entering the medical program she had a strong idea that she wanted to work with children; a decision that was solidified after working with a wide span of patients, from premature babies to geriatrics. Listening to her share her stories of obstacles and successes in the field is enough proof to know she learned more from her time in the field than she ever could from sitting in a classroom. This new grad has already landed a handful of promising interviews and has amazing references from faculty and mentors who can speak to her abilities.

Today, we see many new graduates entering the the job force without experience or direction. What if we expanded internships across the education system like we did across the fields? What if career experience became part of the K12 curriculum? Imagine if this career-based model were used more commonly with younger students and encouraged through their education. Middle school and high school students could work side-by-side with mentors in fields that interest them. Through gaining real-world experience, they could assess their strengths and weaknesses —  a great first step for teenagers to prepare for a career. Their mentors could become references for college applications and college-level internships. Having an internship during school would become the norm for students and the value of the experience would soon show itself as it opened more doors for them.

The career path cannot start after college graduation. The bricks need to start being laid in grade school with programs like mentorships, internships, volunteering, and service learning. Young students don’t need to decide on a career to start preparing for the world of work. Any work experiences, good or bad, are critical for students searching for their place. What is the price of not preparing students with a career mindset? What is the price of sending underprepared college students into the working world without working knowledge?

College students notoriously have overwhelming schedules. Many balance going to school full time, having part-or full-time employment, living on their own, and maintaining relationships. In the whirlwind of the college lifestyle, students can lose sight of how college should support and propel their career, and instead become only focused on grades and graduation day.

Many college students are lining up internships for the summer months or the coming semester. Some college graduates are also getting internships to further their professional experience after college and possibly get their foot in the door in careers and fields they have recently narrowed to match their interests and abilities.

An estimated fifty-percent of college grads in 2008 held an internship,¹Â and the number has only grown since the beginning of the recession.  Unpaid internships have received bad press in the last few years because some companies have taken advantage of interns, asking them to work late at night or run errands to get coffee for staff members.  These isolated situations don’t take into account the many companies who provide valuable experience for interns, often helping them to gain enough experience to land their first job. The payment issue with interns is a mixed bag. Many companies aren’t willing to take a risk to pay someone they consider unskilled and yet many students can’t get a job and improve their skills unless they have “experience”.

Internships provide students, graduates, and professionals with experience they can only get through being on the job. This experience can solidify their passion for the field or company. It can also do the opposite, and show them they might be ill-suited for the “idea” of their perfect job or that they have skills that are better fit for another field altogether.  Whether the experience is a good fit or a bad fit for their career, most internships teach students something about the team dynamics, leadership, and levels of responsibility they require to be effective in any career.

At LifeBound, we have interns who are referred to us from local universities who are managed and monitored by their university’s internship coordinators. These students receive grades and school credit for their professional experience. Many interns have found a part or full time position after graduation at our company. We’ve also had interns who came to us thinking they wanted an editorial career, for example, who in a few different instances found their real passions in marketing or film. The “wrong” internship turned out to be just as valuable, if not more, for these students as they were given the chance to explore their interests in a professional environment for the first time.

Many employees enter an entry level job with the intention of leaving the minute something better comes along and with an unrealistic idea of how long it will take for them to advance in their field. In the book “This is Your Brain on Music,” Daniel Levitin writes:

… ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is the equivalent to roughly three hours per day, or twenty hours per week, of practice over ten years. Of course, this doesn’t address why some people don’t seem to get anywhere when they practice, and why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others. But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.

Entry-level employees and interns should be encouraged to develop mastery of their job before expecting to advance to something that holds more responsibility, commitment, and skill. An employee working 40 hour work days could master their job in 5 years, according to Levitin’s calculations. In these five years, as the employee learns the ropes they might be promoted or change companies, but they will be on a learning continuum that allows them to master every step before moving on.

Too many interns enter their internships with an unrealistic timeframe of how long it will take them to be in their dream position. Employees who set out to master their skill instead of set out to make money as fast as they can, not only have a more realistic perception of how the world works, but arguably gain more from their life experiences.

If you have looked  for work without luck or if you are stuck in a job and need a career change, an internship can provide you with a preview into a whole new field and give you an idea of whether your skills and abilities match that career, even if you’ve already graduated from college or have yet to go to college. Whether you took the opportunity to have an internship in school or not, getting an internship at this point in your life can get you in the door of your dream job, build work experience and skills to add to your resume, and give you something fulfilling to do that can break the monotony of a job search.

For career people who want to land an internship, follow these steps:

1. Find an internship. If you have a specific company in mind that you would like to work for, see if you can intern there. If you can’t get an internship at a company you love, get an internship at a company that will help you develop the skills and experience you need to land your dream job. A reference letter from your internship and real-world experience could be just the ticket to landing the job.  You need somewhere to start to build skills and  a track record you can share later.

2. Determine the amount of time you can intern. As a working adult, you might not see the worth in working for someone for free and think the sacrifice is too great. At LifeBound our interns work anywhere from 10-30 hours a week, depending on the experience they want to have and how much time they have to dedicate to the company on top of their school, work, and life schedules. It can be depressing being on the job hunt day after day. Break the cycle by doing something that’s rewarding and new, while also advancing your career, interests and skills.

3. Make yourself stand out. Your internship is a job. Show off your professional skills by showing up to work on time, wearing appropriate attire, and exhibiting strong communication skills. It might sound elementary, but working in a professional setting isn’t easy for everyone. Go above and beyond by finding creative ways you can show the company you care and that you have the ability to grow with them. Are you displaying the attitude of someone who they would want on their team? Some interns lose energy for their tasks because they aren’t earning much or any money.  If you think of an internship like a college class—and your internship is often as valuable if not more valuable than a college class—then you’ll see that time invested in an internship will pay dividends later in a better job with a promotion track.

If you are spending day in and day out looking for a job, consider breaking up your week with an internship.  You’ll gain valuable skills, you’ll meet people who can help you make connections and you’ll be able to build up a series of deliverables—outcomes which show the value of what you have to offer in specific, concrete and measurable terms.  This additional perspective can often open more doors for you and help you to be more confident in interviews for other positions outside of your internship.

Resources:

“Get hired after an internship — even with a tattoo” http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/18/news/economy/hiring_interns_tattoos.fortune/index.htm

The Lumina Foundation, which plays a key role in education nationally, is concerned about “initiative fatigue,” and will concentrate its efforts on getting more students to graduate from college. As someone who has spent the last sixteen years writing books for college students and working with professors to be more effective with freshmen, here is my advice:

1) Start students early on self-awareness. Many colleges wait until the first semester of freshmen year to help students with student success courses or remediation for math and English. These classes need to be taken the summer before freshmen year so that students can have the time to shore up their weaknesses, reflect on their goals, and hit the ground running by the time school starts in the fall.

2) Require that each college partner with feeder K-12 districts. There is not enough preparation academically, emotionally, and socially before students enter college. If colleges play a leadership role with their feeder K-12 districts, they can have a direct impact on what enters their gates instead of passively waiting to inherit woefully under-prepared students that tax the resources and people at the university level.

3) Require students to have at least two internships and make this clear freshmen year. Students without skills can’t get jobs in this economy or even in better economic times. Internships are arguably more important than any class they might take in college. Let’s
not keep this a secret.

4) Have grade level mentors for each student. Students need individual attention from older students who are role models for them. Colleges need to set up peer mentoring so that students can learn how to connect, ask questions and observe someone who has and is currently making good choices. They can aspire to being a leader and a role model themselves as they progress through college.

If the Lumina Foundation works intently with colleges to make these kinds of changes, the graduation rates will improve greatly. Visit www.lifebound.com or email contact@lifebound.com to learn more about LifeBound’s goals, books and programs.

Article:

Lumina Foundation Will Shift Away From New Projects, State Leaders Are Told

BY: ERIC KELDERMAN

Published: July 14, 2010

The Lumina Foundation for Education has become one of the best-known higher-education philanthropies in the country, spending nearly $50-million annually on projects to improve college completion, but now the foundation is worried about “initiative fatigue,” said Jamie P. Merisotis, the group’s president, in remarks here on Wednesday.

To read the full article:www.chronicle.com