As a Career Counselor and a parent, I
believe that one of the more stressful activities in life is helping
a young adult find a job. Teaching them to drive is right up there
too, it just depends if you want your stress in a tsunami of sheer
physical terror or as a steadily rising flood.
Part of the stress related to job
seeking is the fact that parents don't know how to do it well. No
offense intended, but if your are say, 40 years old, you graduated
high school around 1990. Right at the beginning of the 'Roaring
90's” that economic time when most industries boomed. The Service
Industry grew by nearly 50%. 40-somethings, as a group, did not have
to learn how to find a job. Employers looked for them.
That leads me to my first tip-be kind.
This is also a time to work together on a project. The labor market
of today is much different than earlier. This is a chance to teach
preparation, networking, salesmanship, persistence, and patience.
So, preparation is needed. Yes, your
teen needs a resume. And a cover letter. And an 'elevator speech'.
This all relates to sales and efficiency. The resume, like
everything else in a job search, is a sales presentation. Resumes
are like the brochures they leave scattered around at car dealers.
Instead of pointing out the leather seats, great fuel economy, and
safety features, a resume is designed to answer The Most Important
Question “What can he/she do for me?” Also many online job
applications parse information from the uploaded resume, and
auto-fill name, address, phone, etc. This means the application goes
more quickly, and your teen gets a chance to sell. Here is a link to
a brief guide to a simple resume:
http://thejobsguy.blogspot.com/2012/02/simple-resume.html
The cover letter is an opportunity to
once again sell. Your teen can access jobs by finding the email
address of Human Resources types and 'cold calling' them, or by
following up a networking lead. The formula for a cover letter is
this: Kiss, sell, sell, sell, ask. It works like this-”Hello, My
name is Stefani Germanotta, and I am writing you because I want to
work at Acme, Inc. I use Acme products, and I know that they are
great. As a young adult starting out, I want to learn from the best
in the industry. I think I have something to offer as well.
Customer Service is part of what makes Acme great, and I..... The
cover goes on to list 1 or 2 more selling points, and then asking for
the next step...”I hope that Acme is as interested in me as I am in
your company. If so, please contact me so that we can talk about...”
Your teen needs to translate that idea into THEIR language. More on
cover letters:
http://thejobsguy.blogspot.com/2012/02/cover-letterscover-emails.html
The elevator speech is a fast summation
of why a given company should hire your teen. Again, this is a
selling moment, so the emphasis will be on skills and abilities in
relation to the potential employer. This is a continuation of the
same message from the resume and cover letter (and you now have
answers to practice interview questions). Elevator speeches are
important when the networking starts. More here:
http://thejobsguy.blogspot.com/2012/03/elevator-speech-in-4-easy-steps.html
Networking is the start of the real job
search, now that the 'tools' are in place. 60% of all jobs are
filled through networking, and that number is even higher for
teenagers. My 16 year old daughter has an INTERNATIONAL network of
'friend-ed' strangers. Yes, this was initially a cause of concern
for me. I have taken measures that I will not reveal here, as she
may read what I write. Concerns aside, your teen has connections.
Beyond FaceBook, there have been how many Teachers, Principals,
Aides, Cafeteria Workers, Soccer Coaches, Scout Leaders, Religious
Leaders, etc. in their life? How many people do you know? They
should all be aware that your teen is looking for a job. This is
where the Elevator Speech, Cover Letter, and Resume come into play,
at least sometimes. Much like their parents, Teens talk and gossip.
They know who got fired from the fast food restaurant yesterday. If
Billy didn't show up at the McDonald's job yesterday, they now know
to tell their friend who still works there to say something to the
Hiring Manager. And that thing will be their Elevator Speech. And
your teen will apply on-line, and upload a resume. They can cut and
paste out of their cover letter WHY the Hiring Manager should give
them a chance. Then they can go talk to them, in person-just to drop
off a resume.
Good luck and best wishes,
Chris
Links to my work, “Beyond a Career
Crisis”:
Kindle Edition
Paperback Edition
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