Between a Rock and a Hard Place… The Two Biggest Challenges to Turning Education into Employment

Chris Czarnik-Manager Employment Connections Fox Valley Technical College  Trained in a national career search firm- Named outstanding advisor in that firm in 2004  Creator of “The Human Search Engine” proactive job search process  Author of “Human Search Engine for Career Search: A Serious Jobseekers Guide”-required text at UW Madison  Traveling speaker on job search topics to the WTCS and UW system  Graduate of FVTC in 1983  Have made every mistake someone can make in a career…

Trying to look into the mind of a 22 year old…or 52 year old new graduate  Both of them are excited and scared at the same time-hope and dread define their outlook  Even though they have a new skill set they have almost no work experience  “You can’t get experience without a job and you can’t get a job without experience” trap  We keep telling them there are lots of jobs out there but they have no idea how to look  Employers are desperate to find them but have no idea how

Problem #1-Teaching them that they will get hired not for what they just learned…but who they are  Students have education but no experience…and want to set themselves apart from the other candidates…even the ones they just were in class with  To impress someone with your technical skills when you are brand new to the field is ridiculous…but it is what they have been taught  Leading with technical skills was only designed to get them through a resume screening process  People hire for who you are…once you are qualified

Answer #1- Teach students to lead with stories about these desired traits  Communication  Initiative  Creativity  Problem solving  Teamwork/Leadership  The Entitlement Creed video

Problem #2- Graduates have no idea how evaluate or get found by employers  Two overwhelming problems for job seeking graduates  1. Nobody knows they exist  2. They are unaware of at least 85% of companies out there  Both of them have a solution

1. Nobody knows you exist…I can’t hire you until I can find you  Employers are struggling to find talented people but have no more idea how to find them than job seekers have on how to find employment opportunities  Networking opportunities for students are as close as their favorite instructor or alumni of the program  Teaching networking to students is as easy as assigning them a research project in their field  Advice, guidance and feedback are the key

#2-Graduates are unaware of at least 85% of all of the organizations out there that could hire them-You can’t go to work for an organization you don’t know exists  At least 75% of jobs filled in America are never advertised  Resources like Reference USA, Hoovers and Wisconsin Manufacturer’s/Service Guide are amazing resources to open up graduates eyes to possibilities  Within 30 miles of Appleton there are more than 32,000 organizations- the vast majority people have never heard of  The use of SIC codes in these searches can help find industry or program specific organizations for them to investigate  Creating a research project creates a learning opportunity for the student and puts the responsibility for their job search

We need to teach students that job search is not passive and that employers are waiting to find them  Leading with who they are allows them to lead with what they know best…THEM!  Teaching them that sending out resumes is only a partial job search will be a surprise to them  Creating a research project for the student takes the fear of judgement away from them…just doing research  It gives them something to do while they are waiting for responses from the resumes they sent out  They can uncover the 75% of jobs that are never advertised