Category: Career Decisions

How to keep up with ALL the trends

Dr. Joseph Barber

We all want to know what is trendy and cool, whether we are thinking about sunglasses or backyard chicken farming, but this type of information can be very helpful in your career exploration too. What types of skills are in demand, and what types of industries are hiring and for what job position? How have the availability of job openings been affected by the series of economic downs and (slightly more or less) downs over the last few years? Well, there are lots of places you can find this information. The best sources are from the mouths of people who work in the jobs or industries you are interested. This is why networking is so important to your job search. They will have first-hand, up-to-date information on hiring trends and the types of skills that are most valued.So, you should network…, right away. While you are pondering your next networking outreach, you can also get some very interesting information about job trends online. Indeed.com is one source of this type of information. They have a whole section on job trends: www.indeed.com/jobtrends. You can find lots of advertized jobs on Indeed.com, and all they have done is searched through their current  archived job postings to see what percentage of jobs include the keywords you are interested in. Let’s take the keyword “Twitter” as an example. Perhaps you are interested in social media, and want to see how valued this skill is in the job market across a broad range of industries and career fields. Here is what the trend looks like:
twitter Job Trends graph

twitter Job Trends Twitter jobs
Not surprisingly, employers weren’t really interested in this attribute in 2006 (in the “Pre-Twitter” universe), but there has been a growing number of positions that mention Twitter.
What about faculty positions within academia…, what is the trend in terms of job postings that mention the keyword “Assistant Professor”. Let’s take a look at the data:
"assistant professor" Job Trends graph

“assistant professor” Job Trends “assistant Professor” jobs
Good gracious! What is going on here? Well, it actually makes a lot of sense when you consider the cyclical nature of the academic job market. For full time faculty positions, most will be advertized between September and March. These peaks reflect this time period. Also, there seems to be a slight trend towards there being more faculty positions being posted over time – which is a good sign.
Choose any job title, employer name, technological skill (e.g., ArcGIS), or broader skill (e.g., problem-solving, communication) as a keyword, plug it into the job trend search box, and you’ll be officially up to date on all that is cool and trendy in the world of jobs and careers.You can also come and make an appointment to chat with a career advisor here at Career Services to explore what this might mean for your own professional development or job search, so that you are preparing yourself with the right skills for the right kind of jobs at the right time.

The path less obvious is sometimes the most optimal.

By Claire Klieger

There is a lot of stress associated with the first job after graduation. For many, there is a feeling that this job will determine the career trajectory for your entire professional life. As such, there is increasing pressure, sometimes real, sometimes perceived, to decide earlier and plan accordingly to secure the best possible position for “success” (definition varies). With this mindset, you may hear parents or friends tell you there are only certain choices or options that will set you up for that perfect first job.

However, the world is full of examples of successful individuals who took much less conventional paths to arrive in their dream jobs—Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerburg, and countless others. One of my former colleagues used to like to ponder the look on the faces of Jim Henson’s parents when he came home from college and said something like, “I think I’m going to go into puppets.” These are all people who if they had followed a more traditional path would never have made it to where they are.

It may not be easy being green, but it can be a lot more rewarding!
It may not be easy being green, but it can be a lot more rewarding!

Now, that’s not to say that you need to be purposely unconventional to succeed. Rather, you should listen to your inner voice about what’s interesting and appealing to you and worry less about what you think others will define as successful or how it fits into long range plans. The coolest part about the world we live in today is that it changing so fast that some of the world’s future big industries and jobs don’t even exist yet. Who six years ago could have predicted there would be countless jobs related to “social media” or “twitter”? There is even a website I recently discovered that’s devoted to unusual career paths called  The Accidental Career. Check it out for interesting and quirky job posts, updated daily. Recent listings have included “Socialite,” “Clowns” (for Cirque Du Soleil), and “Gift Planning Specialist.” They also have a great section profiling people who ended up in jobs that they love but that were not necessarily part of the plan.

So I am here to tell you that it is okay to think of a first job as just that. You don’t need to worry about planning the rest of your life, just planning for the next year or two.  Look for something that will be interesting, let you explore professionally and teach you new skills. Everything else you can figure out later, one step at a time, because each career path is different, some windy, some forked, and often marked with detours. And the best bits are often found in those detours, or as Dr. Who would say, “I love not knowing what comes next—keeps me on my toes!”

A Timely Reminder: Reneging is NOT Okay

This post, one of the most popular on our blog, was originally written in 2010.  However, it remains timely today as students heading into jobs and internships have to understand that reneging on a commitment can have consequences well into their future. – Editor

Why Reneging on an Offer is Bad for Your Career Mojo

By Claire Klieger

This is the time of year when people start to feel desperate about jobs or internships and may be tempted to accept something, anything, just because it’s a job and a job right before graduation equals peace of mind. So you’re thrilled to get any offer and you say yes so your parents and friends will stop hounding you about what you’re doing after the semester is over and you breathe a big sigh of relief. I mean, ok, so it’s not your dream job but the places you were really excited about never called you back. Except…sometimes they do.

Bad KarmaOccasionally, you’ll later hear from an employer that you’re a lot more excited about that you’re invited for an interview or even that you have been offered the position. And here’s where things get difficult. You may hear from family members and friends things like, “Awesome!  Just back out of that other job offer. What does it matter now that you have what you want? Plus, if you’ve just said yes on the phone and haven’t actually signed anything, it’s not like it’s legally binding anyway.” However tempting, this is seriously bad counsel.

Despite what you may hear, employers consider a verbal acceptance as good as signing a contract. While you’re not legally obligated, you’ve made a verbal commitment and there are definite consequences to reneging on an offer:

1)       First and foremost, you can be pretty sure that you are ruining your chances of chances of ever working for that organization. Employers’ memories are long and you will forever have that figurative little black mark on your file.

2)      In addition, you may be affecting your chances of working at similar organizations. Keep in mind that most industries are relatively small and that the people you angered by saying no may tell (warn) others in the industry about you. As you can imagine, this is particularly damaging in instances where the offer came through on-campus recruiting where recruiters from competing organizations all know each other, making it much less likely that such an individual would have interviewing options with any of those organizations in the future.  In fact, we’ve even seen cases where the thwarted recruiter has called the employer with which the student is defecting to explain the situation and the new employer has pulled their offer (leaving the student with no offers).

3)      Reneging on an offer damages the Penn reputation, and as such, future recruiting opportunities for Penn students. When you renege on an offer the employer doesn’t just think negatively about you, they also think negatively about Penn. In fact, we’ve often had to do serious “damage control” with employers who had one or multiple reneges from Penn students. It may only take one instance for them to conclude that “this is just the way Penn students are” and be less inclined to consider applicants from Penn in the future.

The way to avoid being in that situation is to not accept an offer without carefully thinking it through. You should never tell an employer yes if your plan is to continue to look until you find something better. It’s not fair to them and it’s untrue to you. There are always jobs out there and it is far better to wait for the right thing to come along than to damage your own career reputation by going back on your word.

Alumni Perspective: Travel Can Help, Not Hurt, Your Job Prospects

Worried about how “time off” to travel may affect your career?

Perrin Bailey Photoby Perrin Bailey

“When will you be back?”

My boss’s wide eyes and raised brow fixed on me from across his broad desk.

“I’m not sure,” I confessed. “A year?”

In 2010, I quit my steady job planning media for Disney at a small agency, sold my furniture and packed an ungainly Kermit-green backpack.  In this my 25th year, I ultimately made my way to 25 countries across four continents.  This adventure became one of the most constructive and fulfilling things I’ve done.

My sister Sarah quit her hot marketing gig at HBO to join me on the road, and she thinks the trip was the best thing she’s ever done, too.

But what happened when we got back home to New York, you ask?

My former client referred me for an internal position at Disney Interactive, and HBO welcomed Sarah back.  HBO even awarded Sarah the promotion she had passed up to travel.

Sounds lucky, huh?  Perhaps.  But we did follow a strategy not only to make the most of our time abroad, but also to ensure a successful landing at the end of our flight. Here are the four steps that worked for us and I offer to you:

  1. Seek Relevant Experience.  I work in digital media and love journalism, so I auditioned for an online travel documentary to be produced by Jet Set Zero.  With JSZ I learned about production and contributed to social media promotions, rounding out my skill set to become a “digital expert.” This while traveling Italy with most expenses paid. How did we find this gig?  Networking.

    Talk to everyone you know in your industry and attend as many local events as you   can, in addition to researching opportunities directly.  You never know what may come up!

  2. Pinpoint Your Passion.  Did you discover new interests or develop existing ones while traveling? Great!  Apply to jobs that relate.  I’d become consumed with creating and consuming travel videos, so I applied to program YouTube’s new travel channel.  It was the one time Google invited me to interview.  (I wound up continuing my relationship with Disney, but both were stellar opportunities!)
  3. Present What You Learned.  Reflect on the skills you developed on the road (e.g. negotiating, financial planning, resilience) and be able to articulate them in interviews.  For a sampling of job-related skills you can gain on the road, please visit our blog, www.thesistersbailey.com.  (Hint: One way to present your experience is to start a blog.)
  4. Do Memorable Work Before You Leave.  If you tackle the tasks at hand, find ways to expand on your job description, and build strong relationships, clients and colleagues will remember you.  If your former job does not have an opening upon your return, these skills and relationships will help you make a connection elsewhere.

Yes, quitting a good job to travel is a big risk.  But it can be a big opportunity.  So if you think you want to do it, think about how you can get the most from it . . . and go for it!

Perrin currently develops integrated marketing campaigns at Disney Interactive in New York City.  For more travel and work tips from Perrin and her sister Sarah, please visit their blog www.TheSistersBailey.com.

Timely Advice on Job Offers

Right about now, some of you may be actively interviewing for jobs and internships, or in the process of receiving and deciding on job offers.  A big mystery is knowing “what you are worth” and evaluating the offers to make sure you are getting fair compensation, and the work conditions that will make you happy to accept the offer.  You can read tips on our website, “Deciding on Job Offers,” or gather data from Career Plans Surveys (including salary information for recent graduates) or learn about negotiation strategies.  Below is a short collection of blog entries written by career services advisors that provide great advice to anyone at this stage of the job search: