March 2010 Issue Focus: Young Adults
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Vol 3, Issue 1
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Gen M
Career E-zine
Editors: Carol Christen
and Robin Roman Wright
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| Greetings! |
Welcome! We are pleased to bring you the third volume of our
newsletter which will continue to give you "news you can use" about
transitioning from school-to-work and getting a good start in a career. This newsletter features articles and
information for teens and young adults ages 15-29. We will help you navigate from high school
through higher education and into a career that you enjoy.
This is our eighth newsletter. The focus is on college age students and
young adults. Carol Christen just finished
writing the second edition of "What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens," which
will be available May 2010. This newsletter features an article by one of the
young adults interviewed by Carol for her book.
Anya Kamenetz is a staff writer at Fast Company, and an author, blogger,
and speaker. Anya also has a new book
available in April: "DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming
Transformation of Higher Education."
In this issue she describes how to build your skills and contacts by
entering a community of practice. Robin
Roman Wright's article provides pointers for young adults with AD/HD to follow
when putting Anya's ideas into practice.
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Make Yourself a Teacher, Acquire Yourself a Friend: Social
Networks and Communities of Practice
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by Anya Kamenetz, Staff Writer at Fast Company, Author, Blogger, Speaker
The most
important meeting I had in college was a chance encounter. Susan Orlean is an
author and a staff writer at the New
Yorker, my favorite magazine, where I had always dreamed of working. When I was a junior, she visited my campus
and our student magazine invited her to dinner to talk about writing. She said something nice about one of my
articles, and I screwed up my courage to ask her if she needed a research
assistant. I ended up coming to work for her part-time both that summer, and
for another six months after I graduated. I can credit a lot of any success
that I've had as a writer and journalist to what I learned from observing her
work close-up, and contributing a tiny bit to it.
We've all heard
the career advice "it's all who you know" or "find a mentor." Recently, I
learned a different framework for thinking about this process.
In
1991, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger published a classic anthropology study
called Situated Learning, describing the kind of learning that takes
place outside schools. They studied midwives in the Yucatan,
tailors in West Africa, and even urban addicts
in recovery, and showed how each group allows people to come in, watch, find
mentors, and learn by doing. Wenger and Lave coined the term "communities of
practice" to describe these groups. Communities
of practice are defined by shared engagement in a task, and shared
understanding of both goals and means to reach them. Any career you can think
of-doctors, teachers, artists, welders--has a community of practice around it.
Becoming a member of a community of practice is a dynamic process with two
steps:
1) Present yourself to
the community as an apprentice, an assistant, or an intern. Take on simple
beginning tasks at the elbow of an expert. These should be real-world tasks,
not academic exercises, so your actions have consequences right away. This
stage is known as "legitimate peripheral participation." You're learning the vocabulary,
skills and concepts that are used by professionals in your field.
2) As you progress, continuously reinforce your learning by
teaching others as well. You are just as likely to learn from the mistakes of
peers as from wizened elders.
It's important
to look at your job search not just in terms of finding a single mentor, but in
the context of the whole community you want to enter. Much of the value in
working for Susan came from the people she introduced me to, and the power of
that personal association and reference to the people in the journalism and
publishing worlds who I went on to meet.
Thinking about
your entry into a career as a process of joining a community of practice also
tells you the importance of paying it forward. It's because I was already a
member of a community of student journalists that I got the opportunity to meet
Susan in the first place. When you are working in your first internship or job,
you can learn more quickly and gain standing in the community by volunteering to
help others and share what you know. And as you get more established, you can
help even more people. Now that I am a published journalist, I've hired former
students from my college as research assistants as well as returning to campus
for visits myself.
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How to Start Creating
a Professional Network
as a College Senior
with AD/HD
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by Robin Roman Wright, Career and AD/HD Coach
Spring is here. College students,
especially seniors, have little time for additional meetings or responsibilities before the
end of the school year. Those with AD/HD
may have their hands full just completing their class work on time, never mind
working on their careers.
If you have AD/HD, and you are trying to make a good impression
with other professionals as you launch a job search or start your new career, my
advice is: Just get started. Pick one professional association or
networking group to visit between now and the end of the school year. To help make your visit a success, here are some strategies I recommend:
- Review
the organization's web site. Read
about their mission. See if they
have a special pre-session orientation for students.
- Create
a "Professional Association" folder so you can organize all of the
information about this association in one place.
- Make
a list of 5 questions you'd like to ask.
Plan to ask at least 2 people these questions. (In many professional meetings people
sit at round tables. It is
"natural" to get an opportunity to speak to the people sitting next to
you.)
- Develop
an elevator speech-a 1-minute synopsis of who you are, why you are
attending, and what you have to offer this field . (Google "elevator speech" to find
sample videos.)
- Use
your powers of observation to learn as much as you can about the
organization, the field, and the people.
- Collect
people's business cards and set aside time to input the information into
your Microsoft Outlook contacts, or some kind of list or database. Functional is better than fancy-a
Microsoft Word table or a simple Excel spreadsheet will do.
- Write
a brief (½-page) reflection about the group.
- Nurture
your relationships in this professional networking group. A first step is to enter a reminder in
your calendar noting the group's next meeting date and topic. See if you can attend.
- If
there are 1 or 2 people who really seemed to want to help you, send them
an e-mail. Write that you enjoyed
meeting them and tell them a little more about yourself. Explain that you will be in touch with
them in the next few weeks or at the end of the semester.
- Put
reminders in your calendar for any and all promises of contact that you
made. Then contact each person on
the date indicated.
Sometimes professionals, trying to be helpful, will ask a
student to help them in a current volunteer project. But many students with AD/HD would be better
off to "sit, listen and learn" at this point in their journey. A lot of people with AD/HD have a hard time
following through on commitments.
Offering to do something, then forgetting to do it or being late in
delivering it is worse than politely bowing out.
However, if you think a possible volunteer opportunity is
your big break, here's what to do:
- Say
something like, "I greatly appreciate your asking me. I'll think about it and get back to you
in a week."
- Then
schedule a time, within the next week, to call or e-mail this person.
- Go
back to your school and review your calendar. Ask a trusted friend what he or she
thinks about whether you can adequately meet all your responsibilities and take on this volunteer
commitment.
- Remember
to call/e-mail the professional back when you said you would.
After graduation, ramp up your attendance at your chosen
group's events (if you found the meeting worthwhile) and add 1 or 2 more
professional association meetings/networking groups to your list. This will help you stay in touch with what is
happening in your preferred field. You will also be developing your supportive
professional community as Anya Kamenetz did (see her article above).
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What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens 2nd Edition
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The second edition of What Color Is Your
Parachute For Teens is on it's way to bookstores now. Teens, young
adults, their parents and those who work with them on career issues will enjoy
the new material, updated research and its message of hope: Whether college
bound or work bound, teens can get the lives they want, but they'll need a
detailed plan to transition successfully from school to work. Get a plan
to move yourself from where you are to where you want to be. The new
edition of What Color Is Your Parachute For Teens shows teens step-by-step how
to create that plan.
Keep up with Carol's research and career
issues for teens and young adults at her new blog:
http://parachute4teens.wordpress.com/. If you liked Anya Kamenetz's suggestions in this issue, check out Carol's blog as Anya will be telling her story. This will be the first part of a two-part series, "The Tale of Two Anya's."
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DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher
Education
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Author, Anya Kamenetz.
DIY U is about creating
your own personal learning path.
The majority of students already attend more than one institution during their
college career, one in five takes at least one course online, and 80 or 90
percent do at least one internship. When you think about college, don't think
in terms of applying to one institution, choosing a major, doing what your
teachers ask of you, and then going to career services to get a job. That's not
how things work anymore.
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Event Information - Robin Roman Wright Will Speak at the Following Event
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- National
Resource Center on AD/HD: A Program of CHADD (Children & Adults
with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder),
New Date - Ask the Expert online
chat
"Effectively Using Your Time During the Job Hunt"
The chat is open to all age groups - teens as well as adults. You do not need to be a CHADD member in order to attend. This chat was rescheduled from an earlier time.
Date/ Time
April 27, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
To find out more or to register visit:
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Helping teens and young adults plan for success in today's global market
Sincerely,
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Carol Christen, Career Strategist and Co-author, "What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens"
ABOUT: Robin Roman Wright: Specializes in providing AD/HD & Career
coaching via telephone and in person. She works with teens and young adults to help them identify their talents and skills. She also helps her AD/HD clients develop time management, organizational and decision-making skills. She helps her clients articulate where, within the world of work, they can find fulfillment and joy. To view a video titled, "Why A Career Coach for You?" Click here. Carol Christen:
Is the co-author of What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens. The second edition will be out in Spring, 2010.
Carol is a long time advocate for better career development programs delivered
to teens much earlier than is presently suggested by our school system. Keep up with career issues for teens and young adults at Carol's new blog: Click here. |
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