On Millennials

I fall into that age group, and my observation is only that I seem to be the statistical outlier in many of the trends they're noting. I always have been a niche market sort of person, though..

 

I mostly agree with this. I felt I did really well in school only to be offered rank and file jobs even though managements are usually filled with lazy, unintelligent old folks. Unfortunately, they "paid their dues" so I just bid my time until I could no longer tolerate it. Eventually I made a dumb decision to go to grad school but at least I can gain some knowledge and not have to work for the time being. I'm hoping things can improve once I graduate, hopefully...

 

I'm that 1 in 3 kid. Take a chance on me!

 

I fired one of the 2 outta 3 last week. All she did was b**** about she wanted credit for doing hard work....but her quality of work blew, and she left work earlier than everyone else. I really wanted her to succeed....but she basically ignored all mentoring she got from her peers. Drama. Drama. Drama.

 

I am currently at UT studying finance and Plan II right now, and I plan on interning my last two years (about to be a sophomore) to get some business experience. What kind of recommendations would you have for current college students?

 

Intern if you can. Specifically for a company/industry where you see yourself working. Be as helpful as possible when there. Come early. Stay late. Be extroverted and always try to learn/help when there or when you have downtime. Most likely you get a job there when you graduate.

 

Become an intermediate to expert user in Excel. You'd be amazed how much of the current workforce (especially those senior and management-level boomers) can only do the most rudimentary of spreadsheets in Excel, and are completely unable to create any kind of tables or more complex formulas. I got my current position in no small part because of my ability to crunch data within Excel, which provided an immediate and noticeable value to my department. I'm no math whiz, so if I can do this, anyone can.

On a broader level, find out what other software applications are being used in the jobs you wish to enter, and find a way to learn them. While I'm of the opinion that most people can (and should be allowed to) learn an application on the job, there are many hiring managers who think differently. Obviously, you can't learn everything and it may be that the jobs you ultimately apply for use different software. However, if you can demonstrate an ability (and history) of learning to use different software, that can be very attractive to a hiring manager.

Network with recruiting agencies - start sending your resume to various headhunters and establish a connection with them. They may hear about openings before they're announced, and if they have your resume and think you're a fit, they will definitely be willing to put your name forward.

 

I think UT career services can handle this just fine. Headhunters aren't typically interested in new graduates. Not unless they're Deloitte bound.

 

This is great advice.

 

Thanks for the advice! I agree that one major advantage young people have over older people is our ability to adapt to technological advances.

 

What's my excuse?

 

Not to be rude, but that's a dumb thing to say. UT career services are dealing with thousands of kids and their resumes. Most of them will be lost in the shuffle simply because of those numbers.

You're right that the average headhunter isn't going to make a new graduate a priority. But many recruiting firms have established relationships with companies, and as a result, they'll know about entry level positions before the "help wanted" sign is posted. Given that they get a referral fee if they place someone in that position, they're not going to turn away free money if they happen to know someone who's a fit.

So it's absolutely a good idea to give your resume to recruiting agencies - you never know when they might come across the right position for you.

 

As a millennial, I see the one out of three bit as well. There are some entitled people and I admit I sometimes don't self start myself and expect an organization to be great rather than pitching in and help make it great.

I once thought of out thinking the career game and not having to start at the bottom. Some people get away with it, but I didn't and I did start at the bottom despite feeling smarter or better than my position. I gained a lot of experience sticking to it and pushing through my anger and frustration while focusing it upon improving myself rather than whining and crying about it. I don't think I'd be where I am if I didn't, so I see things differently when people complain about how things root against them like government, racism, cliques at jobs, or luck. These institutional pressures can be real, but how you view yourself determines how powerful that realness is to you.

I think some of the complaints to the article sounds like a b**** list for "a new generation of mentally imbalanced crybaby weaklings" which makes sense for an author who doesn't really connect to any of them and have to rely on studies to fill an appropriate amount of ink.

-We like cool workspaces because we've seen through our parents how loyalty in the workplace is dead and the ever shrinking benefits and long term benefits a company has to offer.

-We're also seeing a deepening dependence of us by generations older and far more wasteful and negligent than we are. They're pilfering government entitlements that we'll likely never see. All the wealth and power today belongs to these groups and decisions made on their behalf, whether through politicians, pension funds, or private equity, and they are draining our future dry of the promise that was kept for them and not for us...steady income and career path, affordable housing, low taxes, and a social security net for retirement at 65.

That last bit should piss any spoiled drug addled neurotic off.

-We have deep optimism of the future despite this because being neurotic generally holds the trait of being able to think the situation through. Don't need a car or house in the burbs. 1) because we can't afford it (no job after graduation) 2) we will have to eat its ecological impact in our lifetimes 3) we've lived there growing up and it's ****ing boring 4) city life doesn't have to be that bad provided there's work and people

-politics...neither party stands for us nor gets us. The rottenness is repelling us, but if the economic situation weakens, radicalization might be in play as the customer's always right.

 

Mike & The Mechanics --"The Living Years" Lyrics


Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I'm a prisoner
To all my Father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

 

Basically what the others said below is perfect advice. An internship with a company in a field you like will do more than almost anything else can do for you. Be engaged, work hard, and be enthusiastic during your internship. Don't be afraid to ask questions (obviously don't interrupt them to ask questions when they are working on important things). People are too often afraid to ask questions. Before my internship a family friend who worked in a different department for the company I interned with told me that they had an intern and when it came to his exit review they had no idea if he even knew how to do his job since he never asked any questions. You have to creat an open report with your co-workers and your supervisor/manager.

And as the other person said having Excel skills is almost a must in the workplace now. I wish I knew more about it since now I have to learn on the fly at work now. I am by no means inexperienced with it, I just need help with setting up formulas from time to time. Take a course at school if offered that can teach you the basic computer programs in office and other things and pay extra attention to Excel.

I just graduated in December with a degree in Accounting so it is a very similar field to what you are wanting to do so I hope my advice will be relevant to you. I got my job by working hard during my internship and showing up to work with the right attitude every day.

 

We have some recruiters here on Clutchfans that can probably chime in and give more insight that I can, but in my experience recruiters do not give two ****s about entry level candidates or recent graduates, with the exception of a few headhunters that specialize in sales recruitment.

How do I know this? For one, I've seen others try and go this route with no luck. Nobody gives recent graduates the time of day. Experience is the single most important trait recruiting firms look for and the larger companies that do hire recent graduates often have internal recruiting departments.

On top of that, business-wise, it's not the brightest idea to pay a headhunter to find recent grads, you're paying them a cut, and for what exactly? Finding someone with no experience? Recruiting firms are usually tapped to find temp workers or seasoned professionals, not entry level candidates looking for careers (which are a dime a dozen).

Also, I used to work on the corporate level for an IT Consulting/Staffing firm. It was part of my job to keep up with the staffing and employment industry. I saw how things worked from the inside and I interacted with recruiters from all niches. They're too busy managing relationships with other companies and catering to the big fish, they literally don't have the time to worry about/take a chance on a kid with no experience. "Ain't nobody got time for that."

You're not being rude, you're being ignorant. Staffing firms, the good ones, deal with way more than "thousands of kids and their resumes". Most are inundated with resumes, we're talking a backlog of hundreds of thousands. Over 90% of the resumes will be lost in the shuffle simply because of the volume of resumes they have to deal with.

Historically UT Career Services is consistently ranked among the top 3 career placement departments in the US. They're trained specifically to find future graduates jobs. That's all they do and they're among the best at it. They help polish your resume, they use keywords to get your resume past filters are large companies, they setup interviews, train you how to interview and fill you in on the career fairs (this is how companies hire new graduates, not headhunters).

If you're a new graduate, walk into a staffing firm, pick one, take your resume, show them your 3.8gpa -- you wont be getting a call back. You might even feel a little stupid that you walked in there. This isn't 1994.

You're right, it couldn't hurt to send your resume to a headhunter, but it's a waste of their time and the person sending it to them. Might as well play the lottery.