{"id":219,"date":"2009-10-16T08:48:08","date_gmt":"2009-10-16T15:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ups.edu\/cesblogs\/?p=219"},"modified":"2009-10-16T08:48:08","modified_gmt":"2009-10-16T15:48:08","slug":"the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/2009\/10\/16\/the-new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"The New \u201cNormal\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ceri.msu.edu\/staff\/p-gardner.html\">Dr. Phil Gardner <\/a>of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ceri.msu.edu\/\">Collegiate Employment Research Institute<\/a> recently visited campus and I hosted him during four days of meetings with students, faculty, alumni, staff, and career service professionals from the Seattle area. Dr. Gardner is <em>the<\/em> national expert on the job market for college graduates, and while it\u2019s hard to summarize everything he said, there are a few key points I\u2019d like to pass along to Puget Sound students:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tIf you\u2019re waiting for the recession to pass and for the job market to get back to \u201cnormal,\u201d that\u2019s not going to happen. We\u2019re forging new territory: employers are recruiting in new ways, entry-level jobs require more advanced skills, technology will play an increasing role in the workplace\u2026 And liberal arts graduates are well positioned to succeed because of the skills they develop as part of their education.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tSmall to medium-sized employers (fewer than 250 employees) will be the employers most likely to hire.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tThe majority of positions will not be advertised in traditional ways like online job boards. Networking will be absolutely imperative.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tEntry-level positions require new  and more advanced skills that involve analytical thinking, working in teams, developing creative solutions, leveraging technology, and leadership (among others). Check out this list of <a href=\"http:\/\/careernetwork.msu.edu\/pdf\/Competencies.pdf\">competencies employers seek in college grads<\/a> from Michigan State University (where Dr. Gardner works).<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tWork to build experiences outside of the classroom; it will be essential for success. Develop the skills and competencies employers seek through career-related experiences such as internships, part-time jobs, volunteer opportunities, entrepreneurial ventures, and others.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tThinking about riding out the recession by going to graduate school?  You might want to think again unless it was already in your career plans or a graduate degree is required for entry-level work in your field of interest.  Career expert Alexandra Levit <a href=\"http:\/\/alexandralevit.typepad.com\/wcw\/2009\/09\/applying-to-graduate-school-stop-and-think.html\">agrees<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\tBe resilient! Engage in optimistic realism. The reality is, this is a tough time to be searching for a job.  But, as a liberal arts graduate, you have built a strong foundation that will help you succeed. Learn to tell your story, develop and maintain your networks, and be an active job seeker. Take responsibility for your job or internship search and use the resources available to you (CES \u2013 hint, hint) to map out a plan.  It\u2019s up to you.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2009 Career and Employment Services, University of Puget Sound<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re waiting for the recession to pass and for the job market to get back to \u201cnormal,\u201d that\u2019s not going to happen. We\u2019re forging new territory: employers are recruiting in new ways, entry-level jobs require more advanced skills, technology will play an increasing role in the workplace\u2026 And liberal arts graduates are well positioned to succeed because of the skills they develop as part of their education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,32],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-advice","tag-economy","tag-job-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/cesblogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}