How to Help Your Son or Daughter Find The Right Job

2) HELP THEM FIND AREAS OF PASSION

According to a recent Harvard research study on careers, one of the most important things people can do to have long, productive and successful careers is finding something for which they have a passion.

The study found that successful executives were four times more likely have a personal passion for their industry or business than their counterparts. 

They enjoyed their work more, were more likely to read and learn about their industry outside of the office (something that helps on-the-job productivity), and didn’t mind putting in longer hours than counterparts who were only “somewhat” or “moderately” interested in their industry.

If your son or daughter doesn’t have an overwhelming passion for a certain topic, there are two ways that you can assist them.

Themes of Passion

One way is to help them make a list of all of the things that they’ve really enjoyed over their life.  If they’ve been passionate about little league baseball, video games, Boy Scouts, math, reading or football, write all of these things down. 

It may not be immediately be apparent, but themes begin to emerge. 

You can help foster this natural desire and combine it with macro themes (above) to suggest they look at jobs that take advantage of these interests. 

You may not find “the perfect industry” on the first try, but by making lists and helping refine what to look for and what to avoid it can spark a number of good ideas and things neither of you may have thought of.

Aptitude and Personality Testing

The other way to assist them in refining and selecting an area of interest is a more formal process of aptitude and personality testing.  There are a number of fantastic tests to help determining their natural skills and strengths and suggest careers that are complementary.  These tests (mostly all online now) include:

·       Aptitude Tests
There are several different tests, which uniquely identify your aptitude ability: numerical reasoning, mechanical reasoning, abstract reasoning, spatial relations, verbal reasoning, language usage and spelling. On completion of each aptitude assessment, they will be given a detailed career guidance report and a description of careers, which are suitable to your aptitude abilities.

·       Personality Test
This assessment identifies your personality type. Find out your true nature - Are you an introvert or an extrovert, sensate or intuitive, are you the thinking or feeling type and what is your perception versus your judgment. On completion of this assessment, they will be provided with a report, which answers these questions. Careers matching your personality profile will also be described in detail.

·       Occupational Interest Inventory
The Occupational Interest Inventory identifies the type of career interests that they may have. During the assessment, the system develops a career profile by presenting them with different types of careers, which they must rank in order of preference.

·       Entrepreneurship Index
The Entrepreneurship Index evaluates someone’s level of entrepreneurial orientation. 10 different scales, developed by Dr. C Lankford, measure cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Detailed reports, draw analogies between their mindset and those of leading entrepreneurs.

One good service, AnalyzeMyCareer provides all four of these tests (and more) to help determine an individual's aptitudes, personality, occupational interests and entrepreneurial qualities and provides a free ebook on interviewing skills.

3) BUILD A GOOD RESUME

What most hiring managers look for in recent college graduates is an ability to learn and an ability to be successful in their school and extracurricular activities.

Hiring managers will typically want to see:

• Leadership roles.  Most college students aren’t going to be managers in their first job, but school leadership roles demonstrate an ability to work hard, stay-the-course through challenges and work well with others.

• Good grades. (most of the time good grades aren’t always as important by themselves, but they show he or she possess the ability to learn)

• Passion.  Student who have shown a commitment and passion to a specific topic (whether it be sports, volunteer activities, drama or something else) typically have the ability to get more passionate about the firm they work for and become more recognized employees.

• Volunteer work.  Helping others demonstrates the ability for people to think outsides themselves and work better on a team.

• Accomplishments.  One hiring manager at a large energy company told me that he looks for “A demonstrated track record of being in the top 20% of their peers.  Typically the top 20% accomplishes 80% of the work.  We looking for awards, recognitions or notoriety that suggests these students have done well throughout their life to be in the 20% of their class.”  If you’re part of the National Honor Society, an Eagle Scout or got special recognition at an athletics award banquet – list these recognitions on your resume.

• Technical and computer skills.  You may take for granted your ability to design a Web page or use advanced functions in Microsoft Office, it is important to list these skills on the resume.  

Help your son or daughter build a good resume. You can find a number of good examples at CollegeRecruiter to use as a model. 

4) GET AN INTERNSHIP

One of the best ways to help them get ready for the “real world” is by assisting them in finding an internship.

There are a number of organizations that are looking for interns – many of them are not paid - but they allow for:

• a great learning experience,
• an understanding of business that they may or may not want to work in longer term,
• a good way to enhance their resume, and
• a great way to start their business rolodex.

Common intern activities:

• Sales and marketing
• Event coordination & management
• Marketing follow up activities
• Website development
• Search engine optimization
• Inventory management
• Office support

There are a number of ways to find good internship programs.  The best way is to reach out to some of your contacts to see if they need any assistance (either for a project, “spring break week,” summers, or for ongoing activities).

If you have any comments or other helpful Houston area resources, please post them below!

Alternatively, a number of interesting internships are posted on the Internet or Craigslist.  Currently, if you Google “Houston Internships,” quite a few positions come up, including ones at the Houston Texas, Houston Chronicle, Houston Zoo and several growing technology companies.

By looking for internships in advance – more than a few weeks before the end of the school year – they’re in a much better position to find a role that is both interesting and enjoyable!

PS – HoustonProperties.com is looking for interns who can perform writing, search engine optimization and website development projects.  Candidates don’t need to know how to program html, but familiarity with sites like Facebook, digg, del.icio.us or their own blog is a big plus!  Please email pmm@houstonproperties.com if you’re interested! 

If you have any other great Houston area career resources or tips, please post them below!