The 11 Top-Paying Jobs Straight out of College

Thanks for this Lauren Hughes: http://www.careercast.com/career-news/11-top-paying-jobs-straight-out-college.

Two of the top 10 are in digital marketing/development.

UX/UI and more

This post is great. http://www.fastcodesign.com/3032719/ui-ux-who-does-what-a-designers-guide-to-the-tech-industry?partner=rss&utm_content=buffer4be1b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

If you can do this stuff, you will be employed. It's hard to tell though what the real skill set is for most of these jobs. Can someone with limited graphic design ability do this?

Catching Up

I haven't written in some time. I have lots to say (or read things that I'd like to pass along) so I'm back...

Just saw this article today and thought it would be great for new and junior people in the work force. And maybe even refresher info for the seasoned executive.

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140705055830-52594-the-five-deadliest-job-interview-mistakes?goback=.mpd2_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_20140705055830*552594*5the*5five*5deadliest*5job*5interview*5mistakes&trk=prof-post.

The article has very basic info on how to be remembered and coveted for a job--how to break through the pack of other applicants.

What I find very interesting about this article is the assumption by the writer (a seasoned ex-HR person) is that so many people would make it to interview stage. There has to be a screening out process somewhere (starting with the resume and then phone screens) so that only the top people are being shown to the hiring manager. If there isn't someone internal (or an external recruiter like me) doing this, then the hiring manager is wasting an enormous amount of time and resources just getting to the "meat". If at all possible, I like to present a maximum of 5 qualified people to a hiring manager. Best if each of them have slightly different skill sets and/or personality so the hiring manager can "nail" down what they are really looking for.

Good internal and external recruiters can help in this process.

College Student: Want a job? Get skills companies need…

This past Sunday’s NY Times job article talked about how most college grads do not have the hard skills to be able to join the work force immediately in any useful manner. Fewer companies can afford or are willing to pay to train these young kids. A generalized liberal arts curriculum is no longer a prized calling card.

Great if you’re a freshman, but what do you do if you are in your senior year and will graduate with a liberal arts degree?  The answer depends on what you and your family can afford to do. My first choice would be to send you off to grad school for something very specific—finance MBA, computer science, advanced analytics. Second choice would be an internship if you can find one, paid or not. But you’d have to be strategic in your choice of internships if you aren’t getting paid. Running around as a fashion intern might be fun, but will it afford you a job when you graduate?  Your unpaid internship has to give you skills or it’s not worth it. I’ve talked about skills that are needed in my field before: web analytics, SEO, paid search, technical content management, data mining, etc. Many companies need skills where the demand outweighs the supply. Finance, technology, engineering, marketing/advertising to name a few. 

If you’re thinking I don’t really want to sit behind a desk and crunch numbers, take it one step beyond that. Where can the number job take you? In marketing, many managers start off as analysts. They know that they’ll have to put in the grunt year of running numbers but what’s on the other side is the place they want to go. And employers love that you started in the analytic area—they know that you have a solid basis for understanding the metrics behind a business. I have to imagine it works the same in areas of finance.

So if you are in college now and deciding on a major—think smartly and strategically. Look up profiles of people whose jobs you’d like and see where they started. If you are graduating or recently graduated, find the best ways to get skills. (and if you’ve made it into a management training program with your liberal arts degree—congrats to you—but congrats won’t be for everyone).

Psychology of the recent college grad job search

I thought this blog and article by Dr. Cummins was really enlightening. She discuss research about why recent college grads are having a tough time finding jobs: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/good-thinking/201311/why-recent-college-graduates-can-t-find-jobs.

 You can read her blog for specifics but the two things highlighted are things that I've been saying for a long time:

"1. Almost half of the students surveyed believe a degree from a prestigious school is very or extremely important to employers. But only 28% of hiring managers indicated that this mattered in their hiring decisions."

I believe that the top echelon ivy league schools are in league of their own. Companies send campus recruiters to find the brightest. But just about everyone else falls into another bucket and what is really important is not the school, but what you did at the school to show mastery or cleverness. The kid who set up his own successful business plan and managed to pay most of their own college bill will get a bigger look at than the kid who did nothing but travel every summer on their parent's dime. Great internships mean a lot as well.  I think the eager grads that shows they have good communication skills (can write a coherent email), social skills (follow up appropriately), good solid references from internships--they are the ones who will get the job. Which leads us to the next part of the findings:


2. About three-quarters (77%) of surveyed college students believed professional or personal connections were important for securing a job. But only 52% of hiring managers thought so.

I don't think that personal or professional connections are important to securing a job, but I think they are important to help you break out of the crowd and be seen. If you're not good, you won't get hired. But you can't get hired unless you are interviewed. If you can use those personal and professional connections to get you in front of someone, and you're good, then you have a much better chance than the star in the pile who comes across as one of many. I think this is true to getting an internship. Those with the connections are the ones that will get the internship. And the connection could be a professor who is known in their field that recommends you or a family friends who things highly and sends your resume on to the HR group with a personal recommendation. I genuinely think most adults want to help young people start their career--but only if they are sure they are good. 

Is Discrimination of the 50(+) age group a benefit for the 30(-)

1/14: I am happy to add an update to this: a good business contact of mine, now in their upper 50's just secured a job as a senior account person at a NY agency. Talent and smarts won out over age!

What is it about the end of one's career and the beginning that makes it so difficult to find jobs? People in the work force for 30-40 years who can't find a job that matches their experience and the newbies with no experience who can't get anyone to give them a break.

Statistics for those over 50 are daunting--those over 60, horrendous. But the good new for the newest to our work force is this, older worker discrimination should be a benefit to the young. New to the workforce (NTTWF) are generally paid less and don't have expectations of full benefits. They are happy to have a job--any job.

Since this blog is about college grads finding jobs (and those not over 50) I'll focus on that. But before I do, I want to say that most of the over 50's I know who are doing okay are those who have lowered their expectations and those who have developed a consulting practice. They may not be making the same money or have deep benefits, but most are happy having the flexibility.

So you're thinking, if older workers misery is to my benefit, why don't I have a job? I suspect it is either this: 1. your expectations are too high 2. your looking for the wrong jobs.

Where you need to be flexible:
1. Money--one job leads to another but you need that first one. Choose one that will give you the best work experience possible. If the salary sucks, live at home.
2. Industry--don't focus on sexy industry for your first job. You might be able to get the best experience somewhere you might think is not exciting.
3. Location--if you able to move, you might be ahead of the pack.
4. Find an area of what you do that is in demand. You're a writer? Can you write blogs, community pages, website copy? You're a numbers person? Can you learn some hard to find web skills that are in high demand (think web and media analytics). You have great people skills? What about a sales and marketing trainee job?
5. Take an unpaid internship if you need to--see if you can agree upfront that you can put the job down on your resume as a job so you can get "credit" for it.

Remember that most companies want some work experience. Get that experience any way that you can.

Questions you can ask at a Job Interview

I think this post is really straightforward and good though I think I'd ask the questions a little less formally:

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130815094409-32175171-the-3-questions-people-always-forget-to-ask-in-an-interview?trk=mp-details-rc.