Santa Clara University

Message from the Director

Fall 2009

As the impact of the current economy on students and alumni continues to change, I receive calls from newspaper editors, news commentators, and parents asking what students need to do to prepare for this still uncertain world.  My answer is both simple and complex.  As articulated in the Career Center’s Mission Statement, we strongly promote that students (and, really, everyone) learn more about themselves, reflect on their lives, engage with the world, and pursue vocations that respond to the needs of society.  We believe that when a person understands his/her own strengths and discovers a passion for something, that individual can shape, to a large extent, the direction of his or her life.  But, as career development counselors, we also need to provide some specific ways for students and alumni to approach the changing landscape of the world of work.  Here are five guidelines to help ground the career development efforts of our students and alumni.

Guideline 1: Manage your expectations.  The first job you obtain will likely not be the dream job, no matter how much we tell students to find their passion!  Creating your future is a process, with various endings and beginnings throughout your life.  

Guideline 2: Develop connections with lots of people, both those who might assist you with finding a job and those who can help you with discovering how who you are can contribute to the world.  We call this networking, but it’s really about building relationships and using technology as well as personal encounters to increase the number and quality of your connections.  

Guideline 3: Focus on how you can help an organization, not how they can help you.  Most first-time job seekers focus on what they want from the job, which is important as a first step in knowing yourself, but they forget that the organization hires a person to do something for it.  Your resume, elevator pitch, interview, and thank-you note should all respond to how you provide a solution to the organization’s needs.  This approach must include learning about the company and its competitors.

Guideline 4: Remain adaptable and flexible.  What if you don’t get the job in San Francisco?  Are you willing to move?  Can you forego that higher salary you dreamed of getting for an excellent learning opportunity?  You didn’t get the offer from your first-choice company, but you are highly desired by your second-tier organization.  Will you be able to reconsider your options?

Guideline 5: Demonstrate that you’re a winner, not a whiner.  Your positive approach and response to all your contacts with the company will matter more than having all the correct answers to interview questions.  As I tell students, I never heard a hiring manager say, “I hired so-and-so, but I couldn’t stand the person!”  It is possible to be true to yourself and be gracious and engaged with others who might view the world differently.  Getting hired is about fit with the organization and having the hiring manager be able to give a positive answer to the unspoken question, “Do I like you?”

Guideline 6: Don’t be discouraged…at least not for long.  Remember that even when the economy is in flux and lots of people are looking for work, you have to focus on one person getting a job:  You.  If you continue to make contacts, follow up with resumes, stay active in your professional associations and networks, remain positive, and have faith in your efforts, you will land or create the job and career you want.  Don’t wait for the economy to change and don’t procrastinate in your efforts.  And, when you wonder if there is light at the end of the tunnel, reach inside to your spiritual core, reach out to your friends, and reach up to those who have been there before and can help you now.

Simple guidelines?  Yes.  Simple actions?  No.  The likelihood of a successful outcome if you follow these guidelines?  100%!

Kathy Potter
Director