Graduates Archives - The Voice of Job Seekers

Graduates, the Skills Gap is Real

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We have been hearing about the skills gap for a long time and studies in the past address the lack of what employers want. Payscale released a skill gap study detailing the disconnect between managers and recent graduates regarding their preparedness for employment after entering the workforce, and which skills managers are most likely to consider absent or deficient. Please go to Payscale’s website to view and download their report!

I discussed this two months ago with Rich Thompson, Adecco North America Chief Human Resource Officer. He also said one of the biggest challenges employers have is the skills gap. It is evident according to the study and organizations; graduates are not ready to present themselves as proficient in business oral and written communication. Lydia Frank from Payscale is with me to discuss their skills gap study specifically as it relates to college grads.

Have you been turned down for a position because you lacked skills? Talk to us. Here’s how you can participate in the discussion:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your thoughts to the same number
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Lydia Frank was in episode 68 last year, and most recently on episode 111. I bought her back to discuss the latest study conducted byPayscale.com. Lydia is the Senior Director of Marketing for Payscale and salary negotiation columnist for Money.com. Her media contributions include TechCrunch, Havard Business Review, The Huffington Post, and CBS News.

The study focuses on the value of skills gap and identifies skills that affect pay in a positive way
Industry specific expertise will differ especially in the technical fields
The study focused even more of graduates
Writing proficiency and public skills are lacking–perhaps due to technology
Personal communication does not carry over to business communication
More proof and assessments. More frequently, the first two interactions with a company would be a telephone interview and a skills assessment
Great work by blogging is valid social proof and differentiate from the competition
We talk about how critical thinking affects the need to assess. Questions around critical thinking often evaluate how a job candidate thinks about solving a problem
Employers want to see the work and his or her process
Lydia discusses how a diversity of thinking and the background of the team is important–does he or she complement the team? Not just diversity of people
The study looks at the skills gap by U.S. region

Need help with your career goals, directions, or efforts? Do you need coaching or instruction? I am here for it!

Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers," career consultant, job seeker advocate, career writer, and founder of this award-winning blog. I help the employed, unemployed, underemployed, and under-appreciated find jobs using job search strategies to navigate the new job market. I aim to give a safe place online to those with different needs, cultures, and ethnicities to find their voice in the job market. Thousands have read my career advice throughout the web as I write about everything from job search strategies to the mobile job search. I have published more than 400 articles on this blog and some of the largest career sites such as Recruiter.com, YouTern, and Come Recommended. I've been quoted in major online publications such as Monster, TIME/Money, Fortune, Business Insider and MSN. FlexJobs, JobMonkey, Aerotek, Career Pivot, and CareerSherpa listed my podcast as one of the top podcasts to help your job search. Love for you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I share the latest articles I've written, new podcast episodes, and answer any questions you may have. The new job search is scary and if you need help, I am here for it!

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Personal Branding for College Graduates

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For college students, building, managing, and marketing his or her personal branding efforts can be quite complex. It’s possible that grads will change jobs up to an average of 20 times during their career. But you know what, that is OK to experiment and try different things. My guest and fellow podcaster Ryan Rhoten as done it himself. Through the advice he shares, he tells his story of graduating from college with the intention of building and flying planes.

Are you clear and intention about your personal branding efforts? I would love to hear from you in one of three ways:

1) Leave a voice mail or text message at 708-365-9822. Let me know if I can share it on future shows
2) Email me: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com
3) Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com and press the “Send Voicemail” button to leave a message online

Let me tell you a little more about Ryan. He is a personal branding and online reputation strategist, founder of the podcast “Brand New You,” all found at RyanRhoten online. By the time this aired, Ryan had already reached out to me to be a guest on his podcast. Little did he know he was already on my guest wish list. He has been featured on Forbes, The Muse, and Mashable as well as speaking at various conferences such as FinCon.

Here are some highlights from our discussion:

As a college grad experiment and look at different careers. School is still the foundation in the real world
Many more options are available, nothing wrong with trying and moving on
Your brand evolves and changes…monitor and manage it
Ryan defines personal brand is who you are at the core. Personal branding is telling the world who you are, the value you offer mostly online
Putting the real you online is as important so your personal brand and personal branding are congruent
High school and college students aren’t helping themselves in the way they come across online. College administrators are looking at your online activities
Clean up your social media profiles, delete updates considered “questionable”
All of your social media accounts should have the same professional pictures
Check all of the images on Google and work to get rid of the unflattering pictures. You may need to contact the website hosting the originals to ask him or her to take them down. Remove the ones you host on your profiles. Google ranks pictures by amount of times it is clicked on
Put more good content out there to minimize bad images or unfavorable content
Everyone should start their own blog – not necessarily your website. Medium, branded.me, and LinkedIn helps push content out
Think about the job you want, what you’re learning in school, and write about it. It’s hard but it is a way to stand out above the competition
Google loves videos and in-depth articles. Written, audio, and video are all popular and rank well. A WordPress blog is one of the top platforms to blog
Have a strategy when using any platform

Need help with your career goals, directions, or efforts? Do you need coaching or instruction? I am here for it!Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.

For the first time in 1 1/2 years, I am opening to career professionals to write guest articles. If you’re interested, you can go here for further topics and directions to submit.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson 1 Comment

How Can Underemployed Job Seekers Adapt to the New Workplace

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The underemployed face major obstacles in this job market. It’s hard to count under-employed job seekers and many statistically blends with the unemployed. Under-employment is a major obstacle and epidemic in our country. More than ever, unemployed job seekers are entering a new workplace with stresses such as lower salaries and taking positions lower than their education or previous experience. This episode will help you with some strategies and mindset to help underemployed job seekers adapt.

If you are currently underemployed, or unemployed, and expect to take pay cuts or a position that is lower than your last this is an episode for you. You may have graduated from college, and the position you accept only requires a high school diploma, this episode should be helpful. Let me know in the comments if you are challenged in any of the above scenarios.

I’d love your feedback in these three ways:

Blog: TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com (Use the send voicemail feature)

Email: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Voicemail: 708.365.9822

Chaz Pitts-Kyser (@careeranista) is the founder and managing editor of Careernista.com, a diverse career site, with many contributors. She is also the author of Careeranista: The Woman’s Guide to Success After College. Chaz is quoted in many publications including Careerbuilder and Monster.

These are highlights from our discussion:

Chaz cited the numbers from the Employment Policy Institute 1 of 6 Americans are either unemployed or underemployed
People are regularly taking huge pay cuts going into their next position, and then add a side gig
One of the toughest adjustments is mental—coming off a long unemployment is hard to cope with the salary cuts, and downsizing their lifestyle
Unrealistic expectations, and a lack of research bring about problems outside of the workplace. Most Americans are spending more as they get more in salary, and do not consider spending less
We discuss ways the new employee (who has management experience) to work with managers that never managed someone with similar experience. How to not create a problematic situation in making suggestions respectfully
Chaz recommends expanding your vision to join committees that increase your exposure to show your experience and skills to more people throughout the company
We also discuss a few strategies that graduates and she help them by saying, “….your degree is not a magic wand.”
Chaz agrees that women adjust better to under-employment, but they do not negotiate. Even entry-level jobs are negotiable even if she recently graduated. Chaz’s book has a detailed chapter in her book about salary negotiation.

You want to check out the Facebook page for the new t-shirts that I will have an available in a couple of weeks. Let me know which ones you like the best. I have not announced a price yet, but I’d like to know your thoughts. I will announce pre-orders soon so stay tuned!

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About Mark Anthony Dyson

About Mark Anthony Dyson

About Mark Anthony Dyson