Mark Anthony Dyson, Author at The Voice of Job Seekers

The State of the Internships and College Career Fairs

A new report by InternMatch found 59.3% of students complete two or more internships. With so many students competing for the same internship opportunities, “The State of the Internship” reveals what intern candidates should expect from employers, including:

Large companies poaching talent early. 37.7% of companies with 251+ employees start recruiting their interns more than a year in advance. Meanwhile, just 7.6% of companies with less than 250 employees do so.
Unpaid or low-paying internships. 36.9% of companies said they offer unpaid internships or internships that pay less than minimum wage.
Employers accepting personal social media use. A whopping 74.5% of employers allow students to use their own personal social media in the office.
Low internship program diversity. Only 10% of companies see their intern program as being highly diverse.
Underutilization of international interns. 56% of companies don’t hire any international interns.
Limited flexible work arrangements. 62% of companies do not allow interns to ever work from home or a coffee shop.

Nathan Parcells is co-founder and CMO of InternMatch, a leading site for helping companies hire amazing interns and students find amazing internships. InternMatch was started as a social venture with the goal of helping students of all backgrounds be able to find great internships regardless of connections. InternMatch’s Diversity and Internship Hangout is the first ever event to have top speakers from different industries share insights about their diversity initiatives. InternMatch now has over 5 million annual student visitors, and Nathan’s writings have been featured in Forbes, VentureBeat, the WSJ, Washington Post and more.

Here’s an outline of our conversation:

Nathan mentioned what led their company to look at the trends of how students are responding to being reached out
He talked about the apathy of colleges have towards career fairs ( only 3.8 of students found them helpful)
Nathan stated that employers are not investing in career fairs
I asked, “Has it come time for university and colleges to change how potential opportunities are delivered?”
We discussed why 37.7 of companies with 251 or more employees started recruited a year in advance, Is it a good or bad thing?
Exceptional talent is prioritized and Nathan defines what is considered exceptional and how it separates them from the average college graduate

My first question for Nathan was for him to share with us his company’s motivation for conducting the study.

Please, enjoy our conversation!

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About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

5 Ways to Add Career Value Today (The AWE Yeah Factor)

What are you learning that would add to your career value TODAY? Other than scouring the earth for open positions and contact, adding VALUE is a priority, especially if you’ve been unemployed and unappreciated for some time.

Most of us really cannot waste a day not learning, yet move forward to advance our careers. We need to add value to our careers daily. We require rest, relaxation, revitalization, and recreation. Most of us need to pursue new opportunities. Not only to pay bills, but also to find a career that showcases our talents and gifts. We need to add that “awe” yeah to our skill set and our likability factor.

My mistakes as an employee and manager in the retail and corporate world are not making efforts to leverage my strengths often. My value was lost in tasks rather than optimizing my production by using my talents. Honestly, I didn’t feature it and shine a light on it. There’s a difference between helping others and pleasing others. The first focuses on others; the second focuses on self. I encourage you not to make the same mistakes.

The job hunt is still fiercely competitive, and unemployment is preying like a lion ready to eat. It is critical that job seekers add ammo to his or her career arsenal daily. Accept this challenge: Remain focused and show value in your career.

I would like to offer these five ways to incorporate it in your job search:

1) Increase Your Skill Set Quality Through Freelancing
If you learned new skills in the last few years, and the boss has no use for what you learned freelancing is a great way to cut your teeth and polish unused skills. Go over to freelance.com to show off your entrepreneurial skills and abilities.

2) Go Beyond the Job Description
If the “great recession” has taught us one lesson…create your own opportunities. Looking for projects is not just about filling time. It’s an investment to creating career value. Find your potential team members even if is not a company you would work for but roles that you would partner with in the job you want. This will give you additional insight that would help you sell yourself to an employer.

3)Test skills through competition
Competition expose strengths and weaknesses in skill sets, but demonstrates how you handle pressure. Expectations are higher, and the anxiousness is intense, but you discover whom you are. It is also an opportunity to learn from competitors and new trends in your industry. You never know the quality of your work until the quality is tested.

4) Find Your Future From Failure
Failure is a framework for new learning in your life. In 2011, Denzel Washington’s speech to University of Pennsylvania students, he advised them to “fail forward.” We miss learning opportunities failures appear in the loss column rather than deploying new sustainable strategies that appear in the win column.

5) Long and Short Term Educational Goals
Employers are not impressed by job seekers who allow their career aspirations and resume become sedentary. Whether an unemployed, underemployed, or under-appreciated job seeker must achieve certificates, degrees, or and prove competency through skill testing.

6) Be well versed in the quantified results of your career

The “awe” yeah factor shines through is when you can expertly speak to the measures that define your performance. Not only numbers stand aesthetically, but also stand out when speaking about it to others. It shows you are aware of your intention to thrive in any environment.

Regardless of your employment situation, just finding any job is only a short term solution. The mindset does not help you compete nor does it indicate to employers that you are a long term solution. You can remain employed as long as the job remains or your demonstrated value outlasts your last position. If you want the value you offer to have sustainable power, it has to be an “AWE” YEAH factor that shines through the clouds, darkness, and smoke.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Job Search Tips for the Unemployed

Editor’s note: The guest writer today is Katie Niekrash of The Execu|Search Group (@ExecuSearch). Her bio is at the end of the article.

Lengthy unemployment can feel like you’re drifting in purgatory during a job search. You send out your resume, follow leads, but ultimately, hear nothing back. It leaves you feeling disconnected, alienated, irrelevant, and depressed.

When pulling yourself out of an unemployment slump remember the feelings of bleakness are normal. Your job is a huge part of your life; acknowledge your loss and give yourself time to grieve.

No one gets hired by moping. It’s absolutely essential that you build up your shattered confidence during your job search. We’ve compiled some tips specifically for job seekers who’ve been out of the workforce for six months or longer. While these tips apply to anyone looking for a job, they are absolutely essential if you haven’t been employed recently.

1. Stay positive—and avoid surrounding yourself with people who aren’t. Unemployment can ravage your self-confidence. However, the most sincere kind of confidence comes from within—not from validation by others. This breed of self-empowerment is perceptible to others and can work wonders for you in a job interview. Instead of thinking about what you could have done differently to keep your old job, set your sights on the future and what you can do now to make your next job a reality. If you feel like someone around you is sapping your energy, tune out their negativity—remember, where praise is positive, criticism is reductive, always leaving you with less than what you started with.

2. Know what you can offer. Sit down and make a list of your talents, skills, accomplishments, and achievements you’re proud of. Then read them over, think back to the specific details, and consider the reach of each item. What do they reveal about who you are as a person and as an employee? Spending some time this list will boost your confidence and provide you with ready responses during a job interview.

3. Network—and not just over the internet. Instead of sitting at home and applying for jobs, make “warm contacts.” Instead of sending your resume off into the oblivion of the internet, attend industry events and join groups relevant to your career path. Start talking. Make connections. Once you’ve developed a rapport with someone, it’s easier for them to understand your current situation and look past unemployment when referring you for a job.

4. Don’t oversell yourself. When networking or interviewing, don’t overcompensate for your employment status by acting arrogant. It will irritate the person you’re speaking to, and it’s transparent. Be cool and collected, not cocky. Instead of talking about all the things that you can achieve on your own if given the opportunity, take a more team-oriented approach—how do your skills mesh with those of current employees? What interests you about the position and the company beyond salary? What goals can you imagine achieving together?

5. Consider temporary or contractual employment. Today’s amount of employers hiring temporary, part-time, or temporary-to-full time employees has reached a 6 year high. Take advantage of this hiring rate by perusing the temporary/consulting opportunities available in your industry. Temporary roles can keep you busy, help you learn new skills in a relatively short amount of time, lead to on-the-job networking, give you the opportunity to build long-term connections with like-minded professionals, and could potentially lead to full-time or permanent employment.

6. Write and rehearse your elevator pitch. Lots of interviewers begin by asking, “What can you tell me about yourself?” An elevator pitch provides a streamlined answer that highlights your skills, what you can offer, and what kind of problems you can resolve—all in less than a minute. The best thing about an elevator pitch is you can use it in a myriad of situations. Having a prepared pitch on hand allows you to make a stellar impression in any set of circumstances.

7. Maintain balance in your life. Don’t spend all of your free time looking for a job during your job search—it will drive you crazy and you’ll burn out quickly. Make time to exercise, relax, and spend time with family, just like you would if you were working. Spend a fixed amount of hours each day looking for work. And don’t close up—it’s OK to rely on your friends and family to support you emotionally (and perhaps financially) through this difficult time.

While lengthy unemployment can be disheartening to say the least, a good attitude and a great work ethic can make the difference between a few months without work and indefinite unemployment. A little bit of confidence goes a long way; couple that with a lot of motivation, and it will take you even farther. For anyone who is out of work, there isn’t a moment to lose—stop thinking negatively, and start developing positive alternatives to unemployment and conduct a comprehensive job search.

As a Senior Managing Director within The Execu|Search Group‘s Healthcare division, Katie Niekrash has worked tirelessly since joining the firm in 2007. She is accredited with developing new markets for the firm and has been an active member in building the division into one of the largest of its kind in the Tri-State area.