Have you ever interviewed a new grad or spoken to a college-age family member about business or job hunting and been surprised they were unaware of what seemed like basic information to you? The problem isn't that these young adults are lazy or foolish. Rather, what I've found is there are some really large education hurdles blocking our kids' race toward careers. Each and every one of us in business - and especially in HR - needs to help change this. In short, we need these kids in our future org charts.

As a mentor in both formal and informal formats, I find brilliant and ambitious people who are fully intimidated and uninformed about the career hunt they have ahead of them. So I would like to give you some ideas on where and what you can do to help prepare these future leaders.

First, there are many formats for mentoring out there, so take your choice based on what works best with your schedule and knowledge base. Just a few options include:
•       Mentor a college student.
•       Host an event at your office (be sure to provide food!).
•       Offer to speak at your local college or university.
•       Offer to help the career center at the local university to make sure they are up-to-date on coaching students about finding a job in the current environment.
•       If the local university does have a good career advisement department, help them figure out if they are marketing to and actually reaching students.

Second, address the issues most pertinent to students preparing for the job market. The following list includes the type of information students I have worked with needed (in many cases, in their own words).
•       How do I know a corporation is looking for employees?
•       How is the application process different for corporate jobs than when applying for a retail or grocery store position?
•       What key words are critical in a resume and why?
•       What is the role of a recruiting firm vs. a recruiting department in a company?

Third, recognize and reinforce the critical topics that may seem obvious to you, but are still new or unknown to students, such as:
•       Knowing and nurturing good interview skills.
•       What NOT to do, such as over inflating a resume.
•       Knowing that recruiter firms should never charge an applicant.
•       Finally, sharing information near and dear to your heart. For me, that would be how to choose an industry/career that you can enjoy.

Bringing it all together, Aquire sponsors a pizza dinner for students to run through these topics and answer questions (it's a great way to kickstart a new program, too.) We don't do it to find applicants, but it can obviously be a reward for giving back to the community.

My mentoring allows me to do these things regularly, but I realize not everyone can do them all. The important thing is to do what you can knowing that you are contributing to the workforce of tomorrow - paying it forward, if you will.

Please share ideas you have for helping our future workers or let me know if I can help answer your questions.

Cheers,
Lois

Lois Melbourne is CEO and Co-Founder of Aquire, Inc., a provider of visual workforce planning and management solutions based in Irving, Texas.