The Job Search Solution
How to Use LinkedIn in Networking Part II
Don Philabaum Interview with Don Philabaum: Don and Tony continue discussing making contacts through LinkedIn for students to help get interviews.
Welcome. This podcast is sponsored by the jobsearchsolution.com. America is only 60 hour program of everything you could possibly imagine about how to find a job. The jobsearchsolution.com has successfully helped more than 100,000 people find a job as fast as possible. The jobsearchsolution.com. You're back with Don Fiddle. I'm here on the jobsearchsolution talking about networking and unique ways of doing it. So Don, before we get back to the subject of the hand, tell us how people can reach you, your new products, and just how we can get old again. Hey, Tony, we're at the tail end of the class of 2024 graduation season. As you had mentioned at the beginning of the first segment, approximately 2 million students are dumped into the jobsearch employment market at the same time starting to look for a job. And that could be why it takes about 8 months for the average grad to land a job. So we've put together, as you know, a grad career festival that features top career offers and experts, including Tony Bushara. And we would encourage anybody listening if they know anyone who's graduated in the class of 2024, send them over to thegradcareerfestival.com. It's an excellent program. We are always recommending that to people getting right out of school because, unfortunately, the universities do not prepare the students very well for what they're going to be faced with. So that is a good program. So what else regarding networking would students do well to do? Oh, so a good segue into more networking and using LinkedIn to another degree is using the group functionality. But I don't think people use it as much as they could, whereas if I'm interested in marketing, let's say that's my major, there are many different groups and organizations that are identified as marketing that I could become a member of. And it's within those groups that I could find individuals who are posting information. And then I can use it as a way to continue to add to my LinkedIn network. And two people that are specifically in that marketing world. A few people are using that. So I would encourage anyone who is graduating to check that out in LinkedIn. Yeah. They do most colleges in their offices that do it. Do they teach LinkedIn? Do they give the students a real good idea of how to use LinkedIn? No. Only about 6% of colleges require students to take a course that would be focused on how to look for a job, how to explore career opportunities, how to manage your career. And the rest are essentially telling students, "Hey, we're here if you need us, we're the Career Center." And as you know, Career Centers have moved from the basement of a boiler room of some building. They've gotten more attention, a little bit more money, but still students as one professor told me don't do optional. And so students don't invest in time in going to the Career Center and learning these things. Now, is it available? Some of them may have some courses that they would offer it. But walk into a Career Center on any college campus and it will look like it's one of the loneliest places to be on campus. It's been that way for the 20 years you've been doing that. Absolutely. Nothing's changed. Think about it. The Career Center professionals are not marketers. They're career counselors, they're empathetic people, they're academic and they really don't know how to market their product and services. And they don't have the ability to market to students. Even if they had a budget, they're limited as to how often they could email students because there are 30 different departments on campus that want to reach the same students. And so they can only email periodically. But they could use social media techniques to be able to get messaging out. But again, they're not marketing people and they don't have the money to do that. Yeah, that's a shame. So the kids are left on their own and then they're not getting any, they're not getting much help from anybody. If their parents know what's going on, they're getting help from their parents. But a lot of parents don't know what's going on. Or if they're in business, they might. But geez, they just are the career centers, if the students take advantage of the career centers, say the beginning of their freshman year, are the career centers pretty well informed about how to get the kids going? They're a freshman year? Well, great question. Actually, there's research to your point that shows the earlier I get involved in career preparation, exploration, learning, career activities. The greater chance is I will get an internship job by the time I graduate, a job relevant to my degree, and at a higher salary as much as $10,000 higher. So yeah, absolutely. But do colleges tell parents this? No. And it's not the type A student. It may not have been your student. It's definitely not going to be a STEM-oriented student, science technology, engineering. It's going to be the student who probably doesn't have the social content contacts that really should be going to the career center. But that message is not getting to that person. And so they're going to end up in among the 52% recent study grads that end up in jobs that do not require a college degree. Wow. Hasn't changed much, has it? Thank goodness. That's a shame. Don, you always make us think and we really appreciate it. Thank you all for listening, Chris Hiena. I love you. Let's help pray for real peace, pray for the unborn. Forgive and ask, forgiveness, stay humble. Take a moment today to be grateful. Pray for those that are needing you work. Pray for our society. Join us again for the job search solution. This podcast was sponsored by the job search solution.com. It's the world's most successful online job search program. My expert in the trenches advice has been used by more than 100,000 people to successfully find a new job. So go to the job search solution.com and start today toward a better job.