My good friend and fellow career expert and spokeswoman, Alexandra Levit, has released a revised edition to her book, They Don’t Teach Corporate in College, which is a mandatory book for any college student who has fears of graduating and stepping into a real “business” world environment. Most students that enter the workforce are unprepared and always complain, saying “I wish I knew this back in college.” This book, along with my new book, Me 2.0, both have the tools and advice college students need in order to obtain their dream job upon graduation and survive in the workplace. Today we’re giving away free copies of Alexandra’s new book!
Book description
They Don’t Teach Corporate in College has resonated with tens of thousands of readers and is currently used as a text in corporations and universities across the country. The new and updated edition reflects the unique needs and challenges of current twenty-somethings, who are ambitious and empowered and want to get ahead yesterday, but lack the know-how and finesse to make it happen. It incorporates fresh tips for effectively managing your online presence, practicing the art of “intrapreneurship,” and planning your next move inside or outside Corporate America.
Book givaway rules
Alexandra and her publisher are giving away 3 copies of the book to the Personal Branding Blog readers who come up with the best comments for what they wish they’d known when they graduated from college.
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The number one thing that I wish my first college taught me was that sometimes you have to distance yourself from the world you grew up in. Otherwise, you may never understand what’s going on in the world out there. Second, is that creativity counts. Where I grew up, there were the kids that were good at math and science that got ushered along. They were going to fix roads, take care of the old people, and wire houses. None of that, made much sense to me. Then, (due to how drastically small the town was) there was me. It took me quite some time to realize how beautiful living on the right side of brain can be. Luckily, I’ve been able to put my talents to work in the blogosphere. And that, is the number one thing that I’m thankful my college did teach me.
Simply put, I wish I knew how to network when I graduated from college.
You could be one of the most talented workers ever to enter a given field, but you might never get the opportunity without the right contacts. I’ve found that most of the departments at my alma mater focus 99% of their attention on teaching students the skills they will need to use in their future workplace. While the attention to detail is nice and results in high rankings for the university, there are some CRITICAL concepts the school ignores entirely. Schools should emphasize the importance of networking properly in the age of social media. Whereas many disciplines require studying a foreign language, EVERY discipline would benefit from a requirement to study key networking concepts. Proper networking is the gateway to internships, followed by better internships, and ultimately, jobs. As unemployment rates continue to climb, recent college grads need to realize the fight ahead of them for employment. With enough personal branding and networking know-how, a well-informed grad will walk right off the stage at graduation, and into the arms of a welcome employer.
I wish I would have learnt these things:
- How to manage my emotions (emotional inteligence)
- How to manage my energy
- How to manage my spirituality
- What are my talents to give value to my life and the life of others
- What is my life purpose.
I wish that I had learned how to be “grey”. My first employer after college told me that I was a black and white person in a grey world and that could bring trouble for me That advice has stuck with me over the years because while I believe it’s important to remain true to your core values, it’s also critical to be able to understand that there will be others who don’t share your worldview and that’s okay. True engagement in a professional role comes with being able to listen to another’s worldview and consider the reasons why it varies with yours. That doesn’t mean you have to change your views, but to expand it to include variations.
I wish I knew that you will not know how to do 90% of your job:
1. Be prepared to work hard and learn new things
2. Make friends with colleagues and ask for help when you need it
3. Google something when you don’t know how to do it!
Internships are not just for Grey’s Anatomy; if your school does not have an internship assistance program leave now; protest to a prominent biz alumni before you do. If you graduate without working at least two internships in industries that interestes you; you are doomed to unemployment and job dis-satisfaction. Take a survey “who has just graduated and happy with their job” People who worked internships will say yes 85% more often than industry newbies. Even if you are the Chai Wallabe at the Slum Dog Millioniare’s call center; get in, see how it works, if your gut says no then no harm done.
What a great idea; thank you for the opportunity to share my opinions!
My Computer Science Engineering degree at the University of Arkansas provided me with exceptional technical knowledge and skills that helped my accelerate my career growth, but I definitely wish I had also been taught more soft skills while still in school. Additionally, I have observed that many people that have worked for me have come up short in soft skills as well.
Here is my list of things that they did not teach me in college:
1) Planning, goal setting, and performance management – I have observed that many people take a reactive approach to performance management. I wish I had learned the following in school versus later.
– Ask my boss specifically what goals I am expected to accomplish and how I will be measured
– Establish and document progress toward goals or plan by month, quarter or year
– Engage with my boss and Human Resources in the performance management process before my boss puts something negative on my review avoiding the anger that made me less effective working the process.
2) Personal Financial Management – Too many people that I have worked with and for me have been in terrible shape financially. Despite making a great income, they still carry tremendous consumer debt and live hand-to-mouth. I believe this makes a person less effective in their job because they are beholden to a paycheck and are not capable of taking stands to do the right things when required. I know too many MBAs in the situation!
3) Business Financial Savvy – I have since learned that mastering ROI accelerated my career tremendously, but there are many people that I have worked with and for that don’t understand what it takes financially to get their product or service in the hands of customers. These people can turn into whiners and victims because they feel the company owes them a job for life even if it does not make sense financially.
4) How to Build and Maintain High Performing Teams – Unless a person wants to be an individual contributor throughout their career, their value will be measured by the effectiveness of their teams. I wish I learned the following about building teams in college:
– One bad apple does spoil the whole bunch. You have to rid the team environment of victims and whiners because the sap productivity. This should be done first by educating the victim about what is important. If that doesn’t work, the victim must be shown the door.
– Creating an maintaining an efficient internal “operating system” is essential. These are the internal processes and procedures by which the team completes the work and defines hand-offs from person to person in detail. He/she who creates or improves dramatically the operating system gets to be boss!
– Fostering team spirit is easy, inexpensive and very valuable.
5) Mastering Storytelling and Empathy – Early in my career people would regularly hear me say something like, “that is the dumbest thing I have ever seen”. I learned by observation that ist was much more effective to “tell a story” to make your point and it was far less insulting. I have thought about creating and teaching a course like this on the web because I feel it is far more important than many “electives” that people are forced to take in college.
Thank you again for the opportunity to share my opinions on this topic about which I am so fond. I have just finished writing my book on this topic with a slightly different spin “Act As If It Were Impossible to Fail: The Employee Handbook That Your Employer Has Not Given You” and I can’t wait to read the new edition!
Joe Lavelle
Follow Me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ActAsIfSite
I’m about to graduate in a month and gosh, if I can just know how to DEFINE MY PASSION, so much of this blind dart game of trail and error would be happily eliminated.
I’ve been to career counseling seminars that preaches upon using your passion to make yourself successful. FOLLOW YOUR PASSION, they’d say, it is THE ingredient that drives personal success. However, I have a multi-faceted personality with varying degrees of passions that I can honestly say could be leveraged upon and will make me happy if I pursued a career in that field. I know career advise isn’t a magic-8 ball, but wouldn’t that be nice?
Well, I’m still IN college (just started actually)
But maybe my entry can still count?
My current major is probably not the ‘best’, I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be hard to find a job unless I stay at the top of my class, especially with the economy. But I really enjoy the subject and want to continue!
But I do know that college does not guarantee you a job, which worries me sometimes.
So, I am all up for advise.
Perhaps this book can save my future? Haha
I started college last year at the age of 44 after I lost my job. I’m amazed at some of the classes I have to take that have nothing to do with my degree in business. I would love to win this book. That way I would know what employers are looking for. Thank you.