Career Steps to Take Before D-Day

As before, the perspective for this article is suggested by interactions with students in Penn State's Presidential Leadership Academy and Penn State's Schreyer Honors College. The article supports the career aspirations of undergrads, recent grads, and early career professionals.

When (and what) is D-Day? June 6. It commemorates the Allied Forces invasion of Europe on he beaches of Normandy. More than 90% of readers knew this. If you have visited the site or will do so, you will never forget the events of this day. The movie "Saving Private Ryan" has an intense first 15 minutes which vividly indicate the sacrifices made there.

Our professional world is way less predictable than we thought it was a few short months ago. The usual rhythm of engaging with the world outside universities involves contacting prospective employers in our field, whether for full time work or for an internship. If one already has professional experience of one or more years, sometimes there can be the rather stealthy contact with other organizations to see if our personal employment picture can be improved. All of this tacit knowledge of how to proceed is now disrupted., but should not be discarded.

INTERNS--Let's start with internships. We cannot assume an internship we accepted will go forward as planned. I learned yesterday a large New York City employer has decided to alter its internship program drastically. Pre-selected interns will not report physically to the mid-town office. This led to the "almost cancelling" of the internships for 76 interns.

The interns will not have work assignments from the employer this summer. Instead, each intern will have a mentor. The mentor will serve not just for the summer, but for the coming year. A mentor will keep in touch with the intern to build relationship during scheduled virtual exchanges while providing intern learning about the industry and the firm. All internship offers to the 76 interns selected this year will be re-extended next year.

Situations like this are why you must reach out to your internship employer. We cannot assume any other employer will follow these exact steps. As a reminder, your goal is to avoid questions to which current answers may not be possible. Your goal is to express continued interest as you remind the employer of the need for you to follow their procedures.

If you were dealing with 76 interns, would YOU assume all 76 are still interested today? A year from now? Please express your interest to the organization who selected you for an internship opportunity so they know you'll be willing to particpate at what ever level they can now offer and at what ever level you are comfortable accepting.

My first thought when I learned of this "internship now a mentor relattionship" was that each mentee can now get another summer job to generate added income. Just be sure you can interrupt your work day to have the mentor calls as needed.

JUST GRADUATING--I drove the Purdue University campus two days ago. Nearly two dozen grads, all in cap, most in gowns, were having photos taken on campus. Each had friends taking photos in important places on campus. Social distancing was being maintained.

Grads, have YOU contacted your employer? Does your future employer know your continued interest? Do you know their expectations of you? One recent grad joining the energy industry in Houston was told she will be working in the office. The office has been reconfigured to provide more social distance, floor to ceiling separation of cubicles, and other changes.

When contacting your future employer, you need to cover two departments. One is HR. They need to know your interest, intentions, contact details. Sure, you've already provided the contact details. But HR can get overwhelmed. Thus your second stop is the department in which you'll start. Try to speak with the person to whom you'll report. You need to have an identity with him/her, and it needs to be positive.

And you need to know about this person to whom you'll report. How long has she.he been with the company? Are they looking forward to your employment, or are you only an item on her/his task list? Become a person who is welcomed by engaging this organization representative. Most people will share a brief life story about where and what they studied, how they found this employer, what they like about working there (avoid the negative, if any, at this stage). You need to be genuinely interested in the other person and his/her experiences.

EARLY CAREER PROFESSIONAL--Many of you will change employers in your first decade of employment. Reasons to do so include seeking a better cultural fit, salary improvement, more convenient working conditions, better boss, and more.

You may now be thinking that making a change isn't possible, thus you may be letting COVID-19 change your career path. This pandemic already has in some ways. And not all of these changes are negative.

A large governmental agency has told its employees to continue to work from home until July 1, 2020. At that time, plans will be implemented to make working from home possible for most employees. The goal is to work from home at least half time, coming to office locations when necessary, substituting ZOOM meetings otherwise. Wasted commute time and expense will be reduced. Studies already show most employees are more productive working from home! Traditional bosses stuck in old working models are shocked.

Your pursuit of job change is still possible. The rules need emphasis. First, go TO something rather than running FROM something. FROM moves cause us to overlook or rationalize important data when deciding.

Second, don't make a move unless you can commit to at least one year with the new employer. Otherwise the message is you have no staying power.

Third, due diligence is a must. Do it AFTER you receive an offer especially. Knowing someone who already works there is an especially good source. Cultivate this relationship BEFORE receiving the offer, then ask the questions about organization culture and boss characteristics AFTER you receive the offer and BEFORE you accept the offer.

WHAT IF YOU HAVE NO INTERNSHIP, NO FULL TIME OFFER?--This is a difficult time to do job search, largely because jobs are being lost at an unprecedented rate. Yet there is hiring for entry level professional jobs going on. Pharmacy degree? You'll find an opening. Engineering degree? Infrastructure investments and re-shoring of some manufacturing will help, but this could be months away or more. Business, engineering, IT, communications degree? Consulting is hiring. You'll need top level grades here.

Looking for professional employment is, and has always been, nearly full time work. Interview for information. Google this term and read about the technique. Network your way forward by starting with friends of your parents and parents of your friends. Ask each person with whom you speak for contact details for two people with whom you may speak. If each conversation yields two contacts, eventually you'll have dozens or even hundreds of conversations. Your skills and dedication will be discovered.

Put together an accountability group. Find three others who are job searching. Meet weekly. Zoom is fine. The goal is to report activity and results from the past week, then unfold the actions for the coming week. Give each other ideas and leads. "Lone wolf" job search is an emotional burden and far less successful.

BE ADAPTIVE, BE RESILIENT--Your first goal is to get a job. We don't know how jobs will change to adapt to our new normal. We do know we'll need to adapt with the changes.

For perspective, decades ago when you went to the airport to meet someone arriving, you went to the arrival gate because there was no security screening. Then, for a variety of reasons, non-flyers were not allowed to go to the arrival gate. Contract security screening staff were replaced by TSA screening standards, which were much more strict. We all adjusted. This is the metaphor for your career steps. Adjust to the requirements going forward.

SUMMARY--Whether an undergrad, graduating senior, employed young professional, or unemployed young professional, being in effect action is your single most important imperative right now. Don't just apply on line for jobs. Don't do job search alone. Do job search as a nearly full time activity now.

Ken Graham, Former Global Head, Leader Development, Royal Dutch Shell and Penn State grad three times.