Given the fact that it’s become so hard to land that initial job in an economy where lower-level positions at large companies have all but disappeared, what’s a young worker supposed to do?
This problem is magnified by the fact that artificial intelligence, cloud computing, outsourcing and software-driven automation are basically eliminating entry-level jobs. However, the upside of all this is that it’s now easier to assemble the tools you must have to create those footholds that will allow you to begin climbing up the job ladder. Of course, you can’t expect that every place you stick your foot in will yield a job offer.
Make a plan
First, you need to pinpoint the big forces driving our economy and figure out a way to harness them. In other words, you need to understand that we are moving faster and faster towards innovations such as mobile technology, Internet searching and cloud computing that will remake almost every part of our economy. You will have to plan a career or an enterprise that will not be affected by these forces or that is taking advantage of them and that is not on the verge of being vaporized by them.
Focus
The problem is not that we have too little information, it’s that we have too much. In fact it can be overwhelming. You need to focus your efforts on a set of promising opportunities. Today, you can spend an hour online and understand everything about a given company or type of industry that would dwarf how much you could have learned in interviews just 20 years ago. Your need to think about your aptitudes, geographic preferences, passions, the amount of money you would ultimately like to make and then focus on those types of companies and jobs.
Immerse yourself
Suppose, for the sake of an example, that you majored in American History and have never worked a minute in the hotel business. However, you’ve decided that you would like a career as a hotel manager or an executive in a chain of hotels. The good news of the power of search and social media is that you could harness to become amazingly informed about all things happening in that business in a very short amount of time. You could move from knowing nothing to being a highly-informed person in a very small amount of time. You could analyze the trends, the players and who’s in charge of the various companies. You could even check out the stories of young people who have succeeded in the business. You could check who which executive is from your city. Who went to school with your cousin Bob? Does that person have a twitter account so you could direct message him or her.
Market yourself
Next, think about what you have to offer that’s special. Work out how you will communicate your strengths and how to can show potential employers exactly what you could do for them.
Companies are required to market themselves to grab customers so they probably would like to hire people who will make the same effort to market themselves. You’re probably not ranked number one in your class at Harvard, so think about those things that make you attractive, different and interesting. Sharpen your message. Structure how you describe who you are. Then get out in the world and test your pitch. Meet, interview and… fail. Yes, you will likely fail the first few times. But don’t stop trying. You could use Facebook comments, unannounced drop-bys, a fun series of emails, and YouTube videos to underline your interest. These could go a long way towards convincing a potential employer that you’re the one person in 100 job seekers that he or she should hire.