I have to say, I certainly am. The problem is, Knol is such a new tool, even though Google’s done an admirable job trying to define how the process works and what a good product looks like, no one really knows what to do with it yet, much less what to think of it. That’s because what will really define Knol is user involvement.

And you better believe Google knows that.

In a world where content is king, Google’s new service simply can’t survive much less become a threat to anything without thoughtful participation from a crowd of established experts. The reason for this is simple: That’s the added value Knol supposedly brings to users - expertise.

Google’s position is that they are answering some of the problems with the totally open Wikipedia format. How? By having experts write the content.

Trouble is, to get as much content as they need for Knol to become a go-to web destination, Google doesn’t have – or most likely even want – any sort of system of checks and balances in place to define or even suggest exactly what an expert is.

The good news is that the beta group of Knol writers seem to be pretty well defined as experts (interestingly, most of them are in the medical field). But Google’s now opened up the service, so anyone can sign up for a profile and begin Knolling away – on basically any topic they so desire. Think you’re an expert at baking pecan pies? By all means, no one’s written a Knol about that yet, so take your best shot. It’s a wide open world right now. An appealing place to dump some time and effort into creating your authoritative masterpiece. 

Oh, I shouldn’t forget to mention that Google has solved the anonymity problem by requiring Knol writers to verify not only that they are human but also that they are writing under their true name. Of course, this check may stop some in their tracks. The required info to identify your name includes phone number and address. So now, Google knows even more about you. And it’s verified. Will they do anything with this? The company says no, but time is all that will tell.

So for all your data and expertise, what do you get in return?

The answer to this question is a bit unclear at this point. But, the good news is, at least there’s something. It looks like Knol’s banking on the appeal of creating symbiotic relationships with content creators. You write free content for Google, and if it’s good enough content, you may become known as an expert. But just writing a Knol isn’t enough to win the expertise. The service anticipates (and I would think encourages) multiple entries on the same topic. So you’ve got to write the best content.

So how will your Knol become successful? Also unclear. According to Google, Knol is intended to help solve a search problem. So there’s not really any system of organizing or promoting Knol content right now.

There does seem to be the potential to direct traffic through links. Although there does appear to be a nofollow in place, so you can’t juice the authority of say, your own blog, even if you write a really killer Knol.

What you may get, if you write a good enough Knol, is some cash.

At this point, one thing you’re sure to get by writing a Knol is – practice at writing a Knol. In fact, by jumping in and writing a Knol, you may even become a Knol expert. And if Knol takes off like it could, this could be an interesting new industry/niche.

So, are you already brainstorming the topic of your first Knol, or are there too many unanswered questions at this point?

There it is. To Knol or not to Knol? What do you think?

Make sure you don’t miss more posts like these. Sign up today for a free subscription to Personal PR.

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

Maybe you’re an expert at being an entry-level Gen Y worker, or on the other hand, you’re a Boomer who’s great at being fed up with those young demanding types. Perhaps you’re a seasoned parent or an expert job-hopper. Could be you’ve spent years fine-tuning the art of the elevator pitch or you’ve got the art of flambé down pat. Maybe you’re an expert at marketing or knitting or pet care.

Doesn’t matter. You’re an expert at something, so why not share your expertise with the world? The only question is: how?

If you’re a blogger, changes are, you’ve got a pretty good hold on whatever you’re an expert at. Congrats! Now it’s time to take that expertise to the next level with ninja-like Personal PR skills. It’s a fine art to hone and pitch your expertise. And the skill-set is ever-evolving in a new media world:

• Linking like a master networker
• Befriending top bloggers
• Building relationships through reader contact
• Making your comments section a conversation
• Using the powerful golden rule of blogging
• Knowing what comments not to post

And that’s just a start. Trust me, there’s always more to learn.

Today’s tip can help you break beyond the world of social media and self publishing to dip into the powerful world of the traditional media. Are you thinking, well I may be an expert at how to cultivate beautiful roses, but I’m not PR guru.

Luckily for you, the skills of media relations are also ever-evolving along with the world of social media. Every day, new tools are emerging to help connect people, and it just so happens that one new great tool can help you connect with the gatekeepers to the traditional media: reporters

You can help a reporter, literally, by signing up for this free service that will e-mail you queries each day that you can skim. If you see a request for a quote in your expertise, you simply e-mail your responses in. It’s as simple as that.

So go ahead. Help a reporter. Who knows, you may just end up helping yourself or your business a little along the way.

Want more tips and tools like these? Sign up today and get a free subscription to Personal PR.

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

It’s the ultimate goal for the career-oriented individual. To become a thought leader, it seems, is the surest way to the top in a world where career paths are dead. And to become an organizational leader may be the next best thing, in the places where hierarchy still exist.

But there’s a flipside to the concept of leadership that its very essence demands. Leadership demands followers. Some of the most important quotes about leadership frame it exclusively in the concept of followship. All of the best definitions do.

But guess what? There doesn’t seem to be much buzz about being a good follower. There are over 25 times as many books on leadership as there are on followship. A Google search reveals 43,300 hits for that term, while leadership gets a whopping 174,000,000. In fact, followship isn’t even a defined word.

In fact, most everything written on followship focuses on one niche - spirituality. This makes sense when you consider that most spiritual people consider being a follower of a person, an organization or system of beliefs to be a critical part of their lives.

That said, there are still profoundly more things written even in this niche about leadership than followship. And hardly any literature at all focuses on followship in the workplace, at home, in our personal lives, and in our careers.

This might be because in our independent society, we don’t really care about what it takes to be a good follower. In fact, most of the time, the idea of being a follower is framed negatively. How many times have you seen people be rewarded for excellent followship? A highly lauded episode in last season’s 30 Rock showed Tina Fey’s character ashamedly receiving a followship award. Liz Lemon lamented that the $10,000 prize didn’t highlight her leadership instead. And most of us would probably feel the same in a similar situation.

We seem to think, collectively, functionally, that followers are just blind sheep, and though we may not say it out loud, it’s in the tone of our voice and the look in our eye when we say the word. Say it out loud, in a sentence, and listen to how you sound. “She’s a follower.”

Let’s just be honest, most of us think that “followers” just aren’t thoughtful, creative, ambitious, capable or admirable.

And that’s a problem. Because that’s simply not true. In fact, being a good follower is just as challenging, admirable and important a capability as leadership.

We extol the virtue of leadership so much, we’ve even had to create terms like self-leadership in order to make followship more palatable. Don’t get me wrong, I think leadership is a valuable attribute, and I truly believe every person has areas of their life in which they are called to be leaders. And self-leadership is a great concept, too, especially if it’s helping people realize the value of knowing how to follow. Because no matter how much of a leader you are, every person can benefit from being a world-class follower.

The truth is, you can’t really be a good leader unless you can be a good follower first. That’s because great leaders put other people’s success ahead of their own goals. They add value to people. They reject the idea that they must take down everyone in their path. They build relationships that are mutually beneficial and based on respect and authenticity. And they don’t just know how to do these things, they practice them by practicing great followship.

Whether it’s following a system to help you work better, seeking out a mentor within your field or industry, following the advice of parents or experts, or putting yourself as a leader under the authority of other successful people, followship can make you a better business owner, employee, friend, advocate, mentor, student - and leader.

Reject the idea that only leadership is admirable. Find the power in the art of followship. It’s time.

Is leadership all it’s cracked up to be? Not sure what I mean by followship? Let’s talk. Want more? Read over 15 responses to this post syndicated on the Brazen Careerist network. 

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

This is crazy, really, when you think about the fact that I’ve never seen one red cent from my own blogs. Don’t get me wrong here - blogging has changed my life and made me a more creative, thoughtful, insightful, skilled professional. It’s expanded my studies and helped me establish connections with people who challenge and encourage and inspire me. It’s what I’d call professional development on steroids, and that’s what I told the college class I recently spoke to. And I mean it, truly. In fact, it’s one of the single best things I’ve ever done for my career. It’s more than a trivial thing in my life; it’s a passion.

But that doesn’t explain the fact that I feel inspired to develop a new blog just to tackle the subject of - blog/life balance. I’m temped, but it’s almost too ironic. Well, what the heck. Let’s have a go of it, and see what happens.

Because my generation is already fighting the information overload epidemic. We’re so addicted to our connections they can actually become a hazard to our health and to the wellbeing of others.

But we’re also in the midst of trying to define our lives. To figure out who and what to build our lives around. Starting families, careers, marriages. Looking for meaning, change, value.

So it’s time we start looking up at the world that’s around us before it becomes so unfamiliar, we start sounding like one of my favorite Wall-E characters, Mary, who realizes one day with amazement, “We have a pool?” when it’s been there her whole life, she’s just never looked up from the screen in front of her face.

For me, it’s time I stop being worried that I went to see a movie with my husband’s family this weekend instead of staying home to blog.

We talk and we write and we debate about balance. But what we really need sometimes, it turns out, is to get off kilter every once in a while.

To lean, hard, on the side where life is, guilt-free, with abandon, loving every minute of it.

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

I’m speaking to a summer PR undergrad course, and though I’ve spoken to classes many times before, the professor for this class was so open with where she wanted me to go, I basically have free reign over all my beloved areas of expertise. So I’ve been thinking, what’s the most important thing I can tell these students? What would I want to tell my college self, about all these things I’ve learned since then. Everything? Anything? Nothing at all? Here are some ideas I’ve had so far:

About college.

Get experience. Get opportunities you can put on your resume under “work history,” whether you were paid to do them or not. If you can’t get someone to hire you to do cool things, volunteer at a non-profit, and make cool things up to do that are awesome experience in your field.

Broaden your horizons. Work in lots of different environments, industries, business models. Be an extreme job hopper. Travel to different countries or cities. Live somewhere else for a semester or two. Test your own ability to grow by ridding yourself of familiar places and people; force yourself to experience what it will be like to move away from home while you still have the option of returning back there. That way, when the decision to move across country for a killer job comes, you will know you can handle it, and you can make the decision more easily.

Build relationships. A great college experience is not all work and no play. I learned that the hard way, but I know it’s possible to do well in school and also be social and active and get experience. So, don’t get so busy you forget to build relationships. Most college students get their first job through a friend of a parent or a parent of a friend. So make sure you make lots of them, from lots of different places, with lots of different interests.

About the web.

Explore it. I started a blog my senior year, and it wasn’t award-winning by any means. But I learned a lot about the web, the shoulds and shouldn’ts of blogging and how it can impact your life. This experience helped me navigate into something bigger later on.

Get connected. I didn’t know then the amazing networking power of the web in the professional world. Now I know of student bloggers who get great job offers right out of school because of who they know – online.

Make real friends. Connect to as many people – in real ways – as you can. Making friends online, though, does not mean simply amassing thousands of Facebook or MySpace friends. Making real friends online takes a lot of time and work, so create a small working network of five to fifteen professionals, because these are the relationships hat will really help your career.

About work.

Get a job. Get and keep whatever job you can as soon as you graduate, even an internship. Don’t be picky, don’t hesitate, and don’t turn down offers because you think you deserve more money. Maybe you do, but someone else who’s being interviewed and is just as qualified as you doesn’t care about money, because they’re still living at home with their parents, and you have to compete with that. The longer you wait to get a job out of school, the worse you will feel and the longer you’ll have to keep waiting to get one. You can always get another job later.

Do amazing work every day. Settle for nothing less than being remarkable, even on the stupidest assignments. Find ways to make every project you work on better. If your boss doesn’t assign you amazing work, do the stupid work fast, and then come up with amazing assignments for yourself and get them all done in record time. If your boss isn’t impressed, start looking for another job somewhere else, because someone will appreciate the initiative.

Make your own ladder. There are some places where the career ladder is dead. There are others where it’s not. Who cares? Make your own career ladder based on your wildest dreams. Whether that means job hopping until you find something or someplace you love or whether it means having a braided career, a patchwork of working, traveling, starting your own business, freelancing, doing what you love. Before you have a family to provide for and a mortgage to pay, focus on finding your ladder, and climb it however you’d like.

About life.

Be a good friend. Stay in touch with your friends from college, the ones who are far and the ones who are near. But also, make new friends, and balance exploring new relationships with preserving old ones.

Love. Whether it’s someone or something, make sure you always have love in your life. It could be a hobby or a pet or a friend or a romantic relationship, as long as it gives you the love you need to be happy, motivated, and satisfied.

Make happiness your top priority. Money won’t make you happy, in fact, research shows that once you reach the $40,000 a year mark, your basic needs are met and more money simply won’t increase happiness (across socioeconomic and geographic locations). But love will, and friendships, and things you’re passionate about, so organize your time and your efforts to put a priority on these things first.

I’d love to hear your ideas as well, so tell me:

What would you tell your college self now? About the things that matter to you? About getting where you are now, or avoiding those places you wish you’d never gone?

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

The Problem with Bad Tools

My husband has an amazing Mac for his design work. It was spendy, but worth it, because it’s pretty much his favorite toy. How cool is that, that his favorite toy is something he uses for his work? I drip with jealousy, and it’s visible. Can’t you hear it?

I walk into his office sometimes and see him sitting there at his purposefully strewn desk; it’s like I walked in on him chatting with a best friend, with him penciling away on a page while connected to Kevin Rose smiling his way through this week’s Diggnation, or taking a break to play Age of Conan and chat live with his best friend who lives in North Carolina. He’d spend all day, every day there, if he got paid to. Actually, if we could afford it, he’d do it for free.

Then sometimes I walk into my “office” to see it strewn with still unsorted boxes, detritus from the wedding, piles of cards all waiting to be responded to with a thank-you-note that’s still unordered, and I feel miserable. Unmomtivated, unmoved, silly. Trapped.

I grab my laptop, go to my bedroom, hop up on my bed, and sit it on my lap while it crawls through the heating up process – this equally describes how slowly it turns on and how hot it gets while running. Very hot. I worry about my reproductive system, hope I’m not frying my future children away with it sitting there on my lap, and stare at the small screen, thinking, write something, anything, quickly, before another week passes. It’s worth it, really, just force yourself through this.

Passion Can’t Always Overcome Bad Tools

My problem’s not with the writing. It’s that I have a love-hate relationship with the machine. All the first steps to start both my beloved blogs began on this laptop. Looking back now, I don’t know how I did it – well, I do, but I’m embarrassed to say it, because the passion was so raw, I didn’t care that the technology I was using made my foraging through the unknown process of building a blog the physical equivalent to chopping my way through unchartered rainforest with a butterknife.

When it was new, the passion got me past the hurdles, past the technological challenges I face as soon as I leave my office for the day to take on the unpaid job this blog in reality is.

Seeing Forward, Looking Back

A year later, the passion is not gone, just different. My priorities shifted, my outlook matured. This blog is not my everything, my only hope at making meaning in the world; I’m not sure if saying this means that it ever was my everything, my only hope, but maybe just that I thought it could be.

Don’t get me wrong: it has changed my life. I am passionate about that. And even more passionate about the relationship-building power that it unfolds now that I’ve experienced its raw power. So now this blog is not merely a thing unto itself, but it’s a conduit to experiences that are opening up my world, and what is Personal PR if not that?

For example, this week, I had coffee with Penelope Trunk when she was here to speak at a banker’s convention. We talked easily, with no agenda, about things like our thoughts on Twitter and her farmer friend and how much our brains seem to work alike. Crazy, huh? Part of me thinks so, but in many ways, it feels no crazier than when she posted her first comment on my blog a year ago. Where I was at, I felt my world open up, a new relationship begin. It was interesting, appealing, and surreal, in a way, but also comfortable, memorable, good.

This makes me think about other opportunities blogging has given me, or at least, helped me find for myself – to be a columnist for a quickly-growing magazine; to have been quoted in the NY Times and U.S. News and World Report; to know people like Penelope and Anita and J.T. and Rebecca and Sam and so many more on a real, first-name basis; to be the youngest woman awarded the Achiever’s Under 40 in my state this year; to write, and have people participate in, conversations I’m passionate about.

Good Tools are Worth the Investment

Thinking about all this, it becomes so clear to me, - that my blogging journey is the definition of the subject I’m dedicated to writing and speaking about, and how cool is that? It’s exactly why I’m passionate about about blogging and about Personal PR, because I can talk myself blue in the face about them both and write 1,000-word blog posts about them, any day of the week. So now I feel silly that I don’t want to invest the money in a new tool that will help me harness that passion better.

So, here’s what I am thinking now. Money is a funny thing: It doesn’t get us things that make us happy, because really, things don’t make us happy. But maybe, what it does, sometimes, when we use it right, is gets us things that we can use to get us experiences and relationships that can help make us happy.

Sort of like blogging, actually. Sometimes, it’s worth it to invest whatever it takes – money, time, thought, effort.

Because when you use it right, it can take you to a place where you wake up one day and realize you’re exactly where you want to be, or on your way to places you’d never expected before.

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

I’ve gone for months writing about whatever popped into mind, and months following specific formulas. Each way has worked surprisingly well.

I had a minutia of life blog where I shared my thoughts on music, life, roomates, and more with friends and only a few strangers who became friends. I have a loosely defined blog that meandered from career to productivity to grad school to social media and beyond. I have a niche-focused, concept-driven blog that got the attention of people I never dreamed would notice.

In the five or so years I’ve been blogging, my writing and subject matter has grown and matured. My audience has expanded, and my reach has broadened. The platform has changed, and with it, so many other things.

But one that has remained the same is that when I blog, my best writing is always when I am curious, exploring, working at making sense of whatever world it is I’m writing about.

It’s easy, when you’ve been at it a while, when you’ve learned what works for you, when your ideas are so big you can barely contain them to a page before they escape into the blue, to lose this curiosity.

But it’s a powerful thing. And not only because of where it lets you go with what you write.

It’s powerful because of what it does for you. Because it gives you permission to be inspired from anything in the world surrounding you. Babies, lawns, fear, music, anything.

Embrace your own curiosity. Let it lead you wherever it wants, into wild places, under beds, through windows, into bright, new corners, to better, deeper, broader thoughts, posts, dreams.

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

It’s not coming up with enough ideas, or trying to find a creative way to cover them. It’s not building a network or forming relationships with rockstar bloggers. It’s not building authority or linking strategically or becoming the expert you truly want to be. It’s not getting major press. It’s not keeping up with your RSS reader, actively commenting on blogs, or keeping tabs on your peers. It’s not learning the programs or learning how to hack HTML code. It’s not transitioning from one blog to another, or even trying to actively write at not one or two but three blogs. It’s not navigating the ins and outs of social networks, learning how to master Digg, or becoming famously followed on Stumble Upon. It’s not jumping into new technologies like Twitter, or putting yourself out there, name and all, for the world to judge by the words you write.

Even though all those things can be hard, time-intensive, gut-wrenching, sleep-sucking, and thankless, somehow, they’re not quite the hardest thing I’ve come across blogging.

The hardest part about blogging is something that you probably wouldn’t understand if you don’t blog, like I don’t understand about children because I’m not a parent.

Here’s what it is: The hardest part of blogging that people don’t talk about is choosing not to blog. Even if you really need a break. Even if it makes you a better, more well-rounded, more insightful person to put it aside, even if it’s just for a tiny sliver of time in the grand scheme of things.

It’s hard, and not just for one reason.

Part of it is the feeling you get, sitting back down for the first time in what seems like forever, trying to figure out where to start, to remember where you left off, to believe in your words enough to put them out there to stand up against whatever may come.

Part of it is the guilt you feel, the kind of guilt I imagine you feel when you leave your child with the sitter for the first time, knowing that they’ll be fine when you get home, but paranoid the whole while about everything that could go terribly, terribly wrong.

Part of it is how much you realize you enjoy doing other things when you’re not spending hours a day writing, researching, networking, configuring, reading, commenting.

Part of it is fear, deep, immense fear, that somehow you’ll have lost all your momentum, that your readers are gone, that you’ll have to start over again.

Part of it is how the eagerness to write again overwhelms you so much that your fingers can’t type fast enough to keep up with your brain.

It’s not easy. Believe me. Or, believe him.

But just like with most things, getting through the hardest part pays off. Even if it’s just for you, just for the private moment of celebration, the satisfaction that you learned something, shared something, and are ready to move forward.

Because when it all boils down, here’s what I learned in what has probably been the hardest part of my blogging journey so far: you have to hold yourself to your own standard first, from your own courage, to fulfill your own passion, before you get anything else out of it. Because before anybody is great at blogging, they are a nobody at it. Before you write words that reach the world, you write them for yourself.

And that’s hard but beautiful. But it’s also what makes blogging unlike any other form of expression on earth.

Personal. Powerful. Worth it. Every time. 

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

So when people come up to me with the customary smiles of, “How are plans going,” or “Are you ready,” it’s kind of hard to convey that really, I’m doing great. I’m the type of person who tends to wear my heart on my sleeve and my stress on my face. And apparently, despite my best efforts at fasting stress up until the wedding, some of it just creeps in despite my best efforts. I realized this when a few weeks ago, after a wedding shower thrown by my best friends and attendants, someone approached me to apologize about the shower, because I looked upset – which shocked me, because I couldn’t have been more pleased by their heartfelt, low-key, intimate event. I explained that what I really looked like was stress and lack of sleep incarnate, and for all the world, I wished I could re-wind the time and take that moment back so that they all knew that in my heart, I was as happy as could be.

But that’s just the thing. I can’t rewind and have these moments back. And there’s literally more to be done than there is time to be awake.

So, what’s a bride-to-be to do? What’s anybody to do when the pressure’s on and time is running out? Here are my survival secrets that are keeping me coping when it’s down to the wire.

1) Calculate opportunity costs. Despite my best efforts a few weeks ago of typing out checklists for each day, unforseen things keep popping up. Where the heck is my swimsuit, for example, and is it a better use of my time and resources (and limited brain power) to search boxes strewn about my house for it, spend the time shopping for a new one, or pick one up on location? I know now why the wedding industry is so huge. Because when it comes down to it, you get to the point where there simply is no more time, and monetary cost becomes less and less of a consideration.

Life lesson: Whether you’re planning a wedding or trying to get more done in life, at work, etc., learn to consider opportunity costs. This is an easy way to clarify priorities and help you decide which of a myriad of plans will be the best option.

2) Plan to delegate. I’m very much a DIY kind of girl. And I love planning events. Heck, I’ve been a maid of honor twice, so I’ve got much of this wedding thing down. But I have to say, days out, now I understand why people spend so much paying other people to plan these things. Because it’s very easy to get way over your head and too involved when it’s your own big event.

Luckily for me, I have a team of wonderful supporters offering to lend a hand. Unluckily for me, I should have planned better to have help. Because when it comes to big things like your own wedding, you care about the details. But when it comes down choosing “do I want to make time to pick out what color of ribbon will be on the cake?” or “do I want to make time to go get my marriage license with my fiance?” your priorities become clear.

Life lesson: Make plans that include what you can delegate and what you need to do yourself. Then, delegate things as soon as possible. Choose people who you trust, and make time to communicate with them. A follow-up call with a friend buying ribbon takes a lot less time than trudging to the store yourself.

3) Pay for help. When it comes down to it, there are just some times when you need to pay for help to make sure you are sane. And since the people you trust are busy doing the things you want to do yourself but don’t have time for, buying help you can trust is well worth it when you’re in crunch time. Even though it hurts when money is tight, spending $50 for a few things at an excellent dry cleaner is a load off the mind that’s worth its weight in gold. Another $60 to get my dress steamed (again) after a lovely romp across the botanical gardens for my bridal portraits this weekend seems ridiculous, but the peace of mind that I won’t be standing in a designer gown with a crumpled train is priceless.

Life lesson: Career and productivity experts say investing in help is worth it. They’re right. It’s up to you to decide how often and to what extent you want to pay other people to help you, but it’s an option worth considering, especially if your only other option is to stop sleeping.

4) Say no. Planning, making lists, writing timelines, trying to stay on top of everything that has to be done has the funny side effect of also making you add more things to those lists, plans and timelines. Some of those things are necessary (Note to self: check on catastrophic insurance coverage tomorrow for soon-to-be hubby.) Other things are not. They have bookstores in the airport, so my impulse to hit Barnes and Noble after a long day of errands, though relaxing, should have stayed in the idea pile.

Life lesson: Delete things off your to-do list. Cancel appointments that don’t matter. Avoid new responsibilities. When it’s down to the wire, your ability to say no (especially to yourself!) and refuse to take on more will be priceless.

5) Say yes. There’s something you’re particularly aware of in these intense times in life - and that’s time. Most often, the ridiculous lack thereof. Moments seem to slip by without notice. Months slip into weeks, then into days, hours… it’s hard to keep track of the moments as they pass. But it’s the most important thing. Sitting in the car on the way to get our marriage license today, I had the distinct desire to be present, in the moment, moved. To say yes to the moment.

This is actually the hardest part of this whole thing. Being in the moment. Sometimes, this makes you do things that seem just a little bit crazy. Why, for example, am I choosing to blog when there’s laundry to do and phone calls to make? Jewelry to finish and gifts to wrap? Why will I make time to go to yoga tomorrow night regardless of whether or not I’m finished packing? My answer to myself is that anything I can do to live within, to capture, to say yes to the moments - fleeting as they are - is well worth its time.

Life lesson: It sounds like the most utterly trite thing I can think of, but it’s true. Even when stress is high, don’t forget to do things you love, to be who you are, to revel in the moment, to be alive.

In the end, that’s what this is anyway. Not a rush to a deadline. Not a series of endless tasks. It’s your life. Every day. So live it as well as you can.

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article

But another part of my job includes a table at the hiring process for entry level and intern positions within my department. And I’ve also noticed an unsettling trend from job-seeking Millennials: a real, deluded sense of entitlement about what employers are looking for and all the other realities of the hiring process.

Ask any hiring manager, and I’m sure they’ll report something similar. So with both of those perspectives in mind, here’s a glimpse from a Millennial on the other side of the hiring table for all the other Millennial soon-to-be grads out there gearing up for the job search.

1 - Employers don’t need warm bodies to fill empty thrones.
Yes, Baby Boomers hold most of the leadership roles in companies right now. That doesn’t mean you will be able to apply for their job. Somehow, Millennials think that the reality of sitting in the C-Suite for a top company could be realized in the next five years simply because Boomers are starting to retire. Not taking into account hundreds of other employees – younger Boomers and experienced Gen Xers – who have paid their dues and are waiting to fill those leadership positions in companies that are still, for the most part, hierarchically structured, at the very least, to favor actual work experience.

I sat in an interview with a Millennial candidate who literally used the words “easy street” to describe what a former employer would say of their work ethic. This candidate then proceeded to tell my boss that in a couple of years, their goal was to be: “In your chair. And in five or so, I’d like to be the CEO of a company like this.” P.S. – We are a multi-billion dollar international company. So, yeah, right.

If appearing confident is what the candidate was going for with this, they failed miserably. Because it’s important to demonstrate to potential employers that you understand your place in a work setting. And it’s also important not to demonstrate that you are entirely delusional about how career pathing works in real life. Because no one wants to manage people with completely irrational, impatient demands for undeserved advancement.

2 - Experience still rules, it’s just wearing different robes.
I like to tell graduating seniors to not turn their noses at any post-college professional work experience, especially in certain job sectors. Many companies offer paid and unpaid internships to graduates rather than full-time jobs, because that’s the entry-level way into their company. It’s important to consider these especially if you don’t have any prior professional experience from during semesters or summers in college. And sometimes, even if you do have experience, this can be an important stepping stone.

I took an internship (my third or forth) at a Fortune 500 company the summer after graduating with two degrees, in the honors college, Summa Cum Laude, from one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country, and the internship is what helped me build my professional network that led to the job I have now, with a great boss who created a career path for me and is a partner in my success.

Employers pay for experience and excellence on the job, not degrees and titles and GPAs, even though there’s nothing wrong with those things. So, see your first post-grad job as an investment in your career just like you did your college experience (which you paid for outright!) Employers also understand that they need to shape and mold Gen Y in to future workplace leaders. So don’t turn down a great stepping-stone opportunity just because it’s not the job you dreamed of. Dreams are reached, not given.

3 - Remember, you’re not the heir or heiress to this kingdom, so you’ll have to work for your fortune. Don’t believe the hype that you need to get the most money possible in your first post-grad job experience. Your parents may tell you this, but they are wrong. This is simply not the same world or job market that they entered, when you had to hold out for the highest salary because you would stay at that company forever and only build your salary based off of moving up from where you started day one.

We once had a candidate turn down a good paying job because of advice like this from a parent, and it took them months to find a good gig (probably one that paid less) after that. Don’t make this mistake.

Sure, you have debt to pay off, but holding out months and months for a high-dollar job is going to hurt you in the long run because it will make you less employable with every week that passes. Employers won’t think, “Wow, I must be getting a great candidate because they’ve held out for three months to apply for this high-paying position!” Trust me.

After you’ve got a year or two of whatever-paying experience under your belt, you will be a more valuable hire and can go somewhere else if your employer isn’t valuing you with a good salary by then.

All this can seem pretty frustrating to some Millennials, who wonder with all the fuss, why bother going the corporate route anyway?

The reason is that the worker shortage is coming. And by entering the world of work now, getting experience under your belt, and growing yourself as a professional, you may in fact become the answer to employers’ greatest fears. Invest in your career. Master Personal PR. Grow your personal brand. Do your best work every day. Align yourself with opportunities that can lead to your dreams.

Your chance to lead is coming. But you’ve got to prove you can do the job first.

Share, Bookmark, or E-mail this Article