College: Name Brand or Generic?
When you go to fill your prescriptions one of the first decisions you have to make is whether to go for the name brand or generic drug. While most may say that their is a huge difference, if you ask a doctor if their is, they will tell you their really isn’t. Just like with medicine, everyday brings new choices, and among those choices is whether to choose the name brand, or the run of the mill generics.
Currently, we are recruiting talent college students to be part of our Entrepreneurship Internship Program. For our internship program we listed at the top 50 schools across the nation. After interviewing many students who are interested in the program, I began to think how big of a role a college’s name has to do with getting a job. On a resume, one of the first things that you list is where you went to school. For my own personal opinion, if someone wrote down on their resume that they went to the best school in the nation, I would be impressed. But the question I asked myself was why? While I didn’t want to create a bias against other applicants, it is hard to not to have some expectations of the applicant. Still, the interview proved to me that a college’s name can only get you so far.
The applicant that I interviewed was anything but stellar and made me realize that ‘brand names’ are just a name. The applicant was incoherent during the interview and was obviously unprepared. No matter what your resume says, your resume cannot speak words nor can it tell others why you should get the position. After having more interviews that resulted in the same way I began to think if we were targeting the right colleges. As a startup company you face many big decisions, one of which is finding the right personnel to join your company. If you think of your company as a boat, then your employees are the propeller that moves you.
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Who Says You Can’t Find A Job?
One of the most common complaints that people have is that they just can’t find a job. Largely, if not entirely due to the economy, unemployment is at an all-time high and more and more individuals are finding themselves at home. Many of my friends have told me that they have applied to several jobs only to never hear back from them. So what is the problem here? When people say that they can’t get a job, the first thing I ask them is “where have you looked for a job?”
Saying that you can’t find a job should mean that you have tried every possible job opening available and still can’t get an offer. What most people mean when they say is that they can’t get a job is that they can’t get a job they feel they are best qualified for. Take for example the recent college graduate. After 4 years of hard work, they would expect to be rewarded with a full time job that somehow justifies their hours of studying and hard work. In reality, because of the economy many recent college graduates are finding themselves unemployed and back at home.
Graduating college, you come away with some expectation of what life post-college would be like. You expect to have a job that you have prepared for all during college and expect to have some sort of ‘plan.’ With the economy the way is though, you should expect nothing and should be ready to change your ‘plans’ at any moment. The point I am trying to make is that Yes, you should apply to all those jobs that you feel you should get but that you should also be flexible in the jobs you apply for. Just because you were an accounting student in college doesn’t mean you can’t apply for jobs you are overqualified for or out of your focus.
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From Start to Finish: Watching Your Project Grow
Many adults say that one of the greatest gifts in life is having the opportunity to watch their kids grow from infants all the way to adulthood. While some may say otherwise, there is nothing more rewarding than watching something that you have invested a great amount of time in and watching it flourish. As an entrepreneur, you are the parent and your projects are your children. Whether you are a startup tech company looking to create the next best thing, or just trying to start your own restaurant, whatever it is you put those extra hours in becomes your ‘kid’.
Speaking with many entrepreneur’s one of big reasons that they chose to leave the corporate world and enter the startup life is because they wanted the satisfaction of being able to create their own project and help guide it in the right direction. So what the big question then becomes is what drives an individual to continue to put in the time to make a project grow. To best understand this it is helpful to use the analogy of being a parent and watching your child grow.
I myself don’t have any kids, but from what others who have kids have told me, you lose a lot of hair along the way, but in the end, it’s worth it. Just like when a child is in its baby stage and they need your attention 24/7. So is the same with a startup project. When you have a great idea you can’t wait to get started with it. You love it so much that you are willing to work late into the night and live off only powerbars and energy drinks. Sleep is hard to come by, but you tell yourself that it is all worth it. Why? Because the project is yours.
As a child grows from infant to adolescent, this is where they learn by exploring and they begin to ask questions. As a parent they are proud to bring their child to school and are eager to meet other parents to setup play dates and to share tips on the best way to pack a lunch. Similar to that, as your project begins to take form and you are eager to share it with your close friends to get their opinion as well to show it off like a prized possession. For an entrepreneur, hearing positive feedback from others is equivalent to your child bringing home a good report card. Still, it is a growing process. During this time, you still need to put in those long hours for your project, but you are beginning to have an idea of what exactly your finished project may look like.
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Building Your Network During College
If you think you don’t know how to network, just take out your cellphone and go to your contacts. You are already networking. Believe it or not, but some students have no idea what networking is or why it is important. In a business sense, networking is like your yellow pages or directory. Whether you need someone who can design you a website or help you get that foot in the door at a job opening, networking is a powerful tool.
I remember reading that power can be judged by the influence of one’s network. If that is the case, then it is imperative that individuals begin working on building up their network as early as possible. One of the first places that you can start building solid relationships is during college. Everyday you meet new people and have plenty of opportunities to find groups and meetings that you can network at. For myself, I made it a point to try and meet new people from different majors who I could keep in touch with after college. The advantage of this is that if I ever needed some assistance with something out of my scope, I could always just dial up a friend and ask them. Even better, I could refer my own clients to others that I trust and have built a good relationship with.
While networking can be thought of as a business tool, it can also be a social tool as well. For example, if you see a girl you are interested in, it is always easier to have your friend who knows her, introduce you to her. As a college student, networking is mainly a social aspect. If you want to look at it in a business sense, college students network with each other so that they can exchange homework or to study for tests. Networking can be broken down into two parts: the social part and the business part. The two main questions that you can categorize your contacts are “how do you know them” and “what do they do.” The first, “how do you know them,” can be thought of as the social aspect of networking. Are they friends from school or a club? Where did you meet them? The social aspect of networking is all about getting to know them. The business part or what I call the “what do they do” aspect is all about knowing how you can help each other out. Several of my friends work in the financial market and I frequently ask them about how the market is doing and what they forecast. In return I help them with some social marketing ideas and also have advised them on how they can use the social media platforms like a blog to brand themselves.
If you are still in college or just about to graduate here are some tips and ways you can start building your network:
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Being A Leader As An Entrepreneur
Look in the mirror and what do you see? Do you see a leader or do you see a follower? This is the question that I have been asking college students across the country from some of the best schools in the nation for our internship program. With polished resumes and sometimes rehearsed responses, many interviewees were actually taken a back when I asked them this question. While some may expect the normal response to be a simple ‘Follower’ or ‘Leader,’ I want to know why.
Part of what we are looking for in candidates for our Campus Entrepreneur Internship Program are individuals who have not only an entrepreneurial edge to them, but also have a leadership quality to them. From the candidates point of view, they may want to ask me why it is important to be leader when it is only an internship. The easiest for way for me to explain it is because part of being an entrepreneur and starting your own business is being able to lead others.
So what separates the leader from the follower? From my own experiences, I have noticed that all great leaders have great confidence in themselves and also their team. An example I often use to explain the difference between a leader and a follower is to look at sports. Who are the superstars, and who are the role-players. It is easy to replace a role-player, but it is difficult to replace a superstar. Superstars excel above the rest, and lead by example. As an entrepreneur, you take on many different roles. From accounting to marketing, entrepreneurs must be confident in their capabilities and be able to pick up any task and be ready to lead others who are unsure how to approach a situation. As a entrepreneur, you must not wait for people to teach you how to do something but rather you must want to learn it yourself.
Speaking with one of the interviewees about whether they were a follower or a leader, they responded that they see themselves as a more of a follower because they like to sit back and learn from people who have more experience. While there is nothing wrong with the response, I feel that to be a great entrepreuneur, you must want to be more than just someone who takes orders from others. You must have the desire and passion to one day be able to make important decisions and to have people come to you when they need advice. Part of what this internship program is about, is taking someone who see’s themselves as being the leader ‘type’ and giving them the tools to be one.
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How I Made A Long Distance Relationship During College Work
As I looked in the mirror I asked myself if this is what I wanted. It had been less than a year since I started dating her and now had to make the decision if I wanted to continue dating her when I went off to college. I like so many others, had to decide whether a long distance relationship was something I wanted to get into. Before that moment I had never even thought of the hard work that a long distance relationship took, but rather only thought about the key word of that sentence: Long Distance.
When my girlfriend first told me that she would be going to a college close to 500 miles away from me, it felt like my world had stopped for a second in time. Now I realize that this statement may be an exaggeration, but understand that at that moment in my life, basketball, being able to drive wherever I wanted, and hanging out with my friends and girlfriend my life. Perhaps it was the hormones or the sense of panic, but I told her that I would make it work. We would get through it.
That was a little more than 4 and a half years ago. Odds against me, I am proud to say that I am still with her. After I tell people how long I have been going out with her and that we did the whole long distance thing, the first thing they ask me is how I did it. To respond to this, I wish I could say something short and simple like: “Patience is key,” but if it were that simple then why do so few long distance relationships last?
As I write this, seniors in high school are probably beginning to get college acceptance letters that will shape their future as well as their current relationship. While one’s future can’t be compared to a high school relationship, for some, that relationship means the world to them. So the big question becomes what do you do? You are about to go to a college that is a fair distance away and are put in the position of deciding the future of your relationship. For some, the decision to end it then and there is the best solution. For others, a long distance relationship is one they are willing to attempt.
Understand The Situation
The first thing that needs to be understood is that this is not some church retreat that the other person is going to and will be back in a week from. This is the real deal. 10 minute drives to see them will now become 3+ hour drives, and talking on the phone for minutes, will turn into hours. When my girlfriend and I first went off to college I remember the first week we must have talked on the phone for at least 10+ hours that week and argued for at least half of them.
Before we both went our separate ways we never really sat down and talked about the changes that we would encounter. When you go off to college you enter a whole different atmosphere where you can re-invent yourself, and be and do what you want. Just because the other person doesn’t call you every minute you are free, doesn’t mean that they don’t care for you. Take time to sit down and talk about what you expect from the long distance relationship and express your concerns. Guys, I know it’s hard to be ‘express’ yourselves sometimes, but would you rather try and ‘express’ yourself when the girl is already on the plane and 4 hours away?
Learn To Talk
When you are in a long distance relationship your cellphone becomes your best friend. For this reason, I suggest that you switch over to some plan that will allow you to talk late into the night with your respective other. When talking with your girlfriend/boyfriend it is important that you make the time you talk as meaningful as possible. If that person only has 10 minutes to talk that whole day (it happens), make sure you ask them how their day is going and be interested in the new experiences they are being part of in college. The biggest advice I can give to guys is: Don’t play cop. When you ask your girlfriend how their day is, don’t ask for every detail like you are their parent. While it hypocritical of me to say this, I am saying it because I feel that if my girlfriend wasn’t the understanding person she was, any normal girl would’ve dumped me. It is hard enough as it is to be 4 hours away, they don’t need us to make things harder.
Think Before You Say
The biggest reason people start fighting over the phone is that they over-think what the other person is saying or someone says something without thinking. When someone is in a long-distance relationship, it is important that you think before you say. I am telling you this from personal experience. I have on more than one occasion said something ’stupid’ before thinking about it. It may feel like what you are about to say is important, but in reality when you are stressed and mad at the other person, what you are about to say is fueled by emotion and irrational reasoning. I have found that the best strategy is to stop and think about what you want to say then re-word it in a way that won’t offend them.
Guys Don’t Want To Share
Plain and simple. When it comes to their girlfriend, guy’s don’t want to share time with them with others. While I can’t say this is true for 100% of guys, it is my general feeling that most guys hate to share. Most specifically, share with other guys. If a guy hears that their girlfriend is going to hang out with Jill, they will not care. But once Jill becomes Bill, then the red flags go up. Perhaps it is built into our DNA, but guys are naturally predatorial. Just like with a lion and his pride, another male in the picture threatens him. With that said, guys we’re not lions. Learning to bite your tongue is the best thing you can do. Make it clear that you are uncomfortable, but you don’t need to tell them over and over. Here is the on point I am trying to make: If you want a long distance relationship last, don’t try to control it, let it run its course. All you can do is do your best to work as a ‘team’ to work things out and understand each other.
I know it is a lot to digest and that their is more I can write, but if I did that this post may turn into a book. If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I’d be more than happy to offer you some helpful advice. For anyone that is still thinking about whether a long distance relationship is for them here are some words to think about:
Contrary to what the cynics say, distance is not for the fearful, it is for the bold. It’s for those who are willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for a little time with the one they love. It’s for those knowing a good thing when they see it, even if they don’t see it nearly enough. Distance is just a test to see how far love can travel.
Why You Should Do An Internship
Recently, a friend of mine who is a senior in college told me of the situation they are in. With just a couple months remaining before they graduate, they are scrambling to find a job. After spending months sending out resumes and going to career fairs, they have gotten very few interviews and no job offers. My friend, like so many others who are soon to graduate are worried that after 4 years of sleepless nights studying and hours thinking if they were in the right major, that it may all have been for nothing. While it is an exaggeration to say that it has been for nothing, to some that is what it feels like. The best way to describe this could be through an analogy. Imagine you are training to be a pilot. After four years of training and hard work, imagine now that airplanes have become obsolete. Would it not feel like you had spent all that time for nothing? This is the same kind of feeling that some of my friends have expressed.
For those of you that are in the situation where you are graduating soon and are unable to find a job, the question that you must think about now is “What will I do next?” My advice is to find an internship. Speaking to a friend of mine who works at a career center, they told me that one of the common reasons that students don’t apply for internships is that they assume that internship’s are a waste of time and that it is just ‘grunt’ work with no pay. While this may be true in some situations, it is not entirely correct.
The main difference between internship positions and full-time/part-time job positions is that internship programs generally don’t pay their participants. Instead, interns are usually offered school credit. In some situations, interns actually get paid for their work. Now that I said that, I must recommend that to anyone who is looking for a job just to pay the bills and to strictly make money, not to take an internship.
Internship programs are offered as a learning experience for individuals who are interested in learning more about a career path they are interested in. This is one of the best parts of an internship. Unlike jobs where you are expected to have a somewhat firm understanding of the work, internship programs teach you the in’s and outs of the job. If you are a college student, internships are a great opportunity because of the flexibility that many companies offer. Companies know that most interns are balancing work and school, so they always want to make sure that school comes first. When you have a job, they worry only about your performance in the work place, not how you did on your chemistry test.
For college students, one of the biggest issues when applying for a job is the lack of experience that they have. There are two ways to address this. The first is to identify this early on while you are in college. As a freshman all the way through your junior year of college you should be attacking every internship opportunity that comes your way so that you develop the skills and experience for when you are going for that full time job offer. If you are already a senior in college and realize that you don’t have the experience then the best strategy that you can do is to jump into an internship right now. With the economy not helping the job hunt, college graduates with no experience are facing an uphill battle. With companies looking to save money, many are more than willing to give students a chance to earn some experience in exchange for course credit. In some situations, some companies don’t even require students to get course credit for their internship.
The biggest advantage I think that students can get from doing an internship is getting their foot in the door with an organization they are interested in getting a full time job offer with. For interns that are dedicated and work hard, they are sometimes rewarded with a full time job offer at the end of the program. I myself was able to get a full time offer from Future Delivery upon completion of their internship program and am currently working with them to promote and build fun and creative tools for students and young professionals.
For any student or young professional that is looking to get into an internship program here are some tips and advice that I learned during my internship program:
- Email Etiquette
- One of the key things that students forget when writing to recruiters and employers is that they are not your friend. Using instant messaging lingo like “lol” and “thx” are not acceptable. Remember that everything from how you address others to how you structure your emails reflects what kind of applicant you are.
- Cater Your Resume
- A common mistake that most students make when applying to an internship is that they send the same resume that they would send to a full-time job position. While this is okay, it is helpful to cater a resume to the learning aspect of an internship and also to list relevant experience or coursework that relates to the internship.
- Time Management
- As mentioned earlier, internship programs are very flexible and understand that you are still in school. Still, this doesn’t mean that you don’t have to go to meetings because you would rather go to a party. Internship programs want to choose candidates that want to learn and be there, not students that want just want to get credit for it. Remember that just like a full-time job, companies will cut you from their internship program at anytime.
- How To Find An Internship Position
- Many schools have their own job listing database that employers will list their internship programs on. I highly suggest that you start your job search here. This is the main hub that companies will list their programs on because students are their main target for internship programs. Another tip I would suggest is that even though a company doesn’t have an internship position posted online, it never hurts to call their human resources and ask them if they have an opportunities for students. It is hard to turn down a students desire to learn.
Using an analogy one more time, an internship program can be thought of as training wheels for your career. Given the option of jumping on a bicycle with no prior training or the option of jumping on a bicycle with training wheels, which would you choose? I’d take training wheels any day.
