Introducing LaunchReady - 3 Questions for a Successful Career Launch
Here are the three questions I ask the college students and recent grads I am advising:
Did college prepare you to find a job that inspires and excites you?
Do you feel confident you know how to tell your story to a prospective employer?
Do you have an actionable plan to get a job?
In my experience, a resounding yes to all three questions is a basic must-have for a successful career launch. But too often, clients – and prospective clients – tell me that their college career offices were not offering personalized, one-on-one services to help them discover their professional path or develop a winning game plan to market their skills.
With those two specific goals in mind, we have refined our process for you, and created LaunchReady – based on a strong launch, a focused middle, and successful end.
1. Where are you going?
Many young adults feel they should already know where they are headed, their one “big goal”! The reality is that this is impossible until you know your departure point: where you are now. It’s true of physical journeys (think Google maps or Waze) and it’s true for professional journeys.
The stats show that only 1 in 5 people have what would be considered a true calling - or innate passion - and that’s okay. More often 'professional passion' actually follows experience: discovering what about a role plays to your strengths and skills and then developing mastery. Self-discovery and self-knowledge are key, given that most people have multiple motivators that drive their preferences and decisions.
With a few exceptions, most colleges don’t offer courses in self-discovery, so with LaunchReady we use assessments like Strong and Clifton Strengths, to help fast track the process. Underpinned by rigorous science and research and regularly updated to reflect changes in today’s world of work, they are tools that can help identify innate talents, interests, and work personalities, which are the key to being motivated, effective, successful, and happy in our professional lives.
2. What’s your story?
The better we understand ourselves, the better we can explain how our strengths, skills and attributes can be useful in addressing a future employer’s needs, what problems we can help them solve, and how someone with our skills would be a good fit for their organization. Mastering a PVP (professional value proposition) will help you manage all professional conversations with confidence and clarity, especially the ubiquitous interview & networking prompt “tell me about yourself”.
Interviewers are not asking for your chronological history, but they do want more than your name, rank, and serial number. It is an opportunity to give your two-minute advertisement about your background, your accomplishments, and the importance of what you do.
LaunchReady will help you turn that question into the beginning of a deeper conversation and a deeper relationship by keeping you focused on these key response goals - engaging your audience, establishing credibility, and telling them why they should care - as well as tailoring your replies to the person who is asking, finding ways to connect your experience and expertise to their interests.
3. What’s your plan?
Two amazing quotes to live by:
“An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.”
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
A job search can often be a marathon, not a sprint. You need a framework, structure, and focus that works for you. It is key to maximize every point of contact and play the short and long game by focusing on the pipeline of applications as well as networking towards longer term career goals.
It is also tremendously important to be prepared for deployment: everything from how to ask for informational interviews & networking meetings, prepared follow up, to even fundamentals like working digital communication and managing video format interviews. All this preparation will help you stay focused, be present in the interpersonal moment, and build the traction you need to land a job.
All things LaunchReady was created to help you master.
There is a direct correlation between the amount of work you put in, the quality of the work, and how long - or not - it takes to land a job.
Sadly, many of my clients - inaccurately! - believe they have uniquely been left out or behind: “Fran, everyone I know has landed their dream job or is interviewing for it right now (sob!)!” I assure you – no matter how it looks on Instagram or Snapchat, you are not alone! I created LaunchReady to help you jumpstart your own process with the support and motivation that dynamic group workshops can offer job seekers at every level of experience!
Want to jumpstart your own search or career? Find out how we can help by clicking here.
p.s. Learn more about my thoughts on improving college career services here.