Seriously? 50% of college grads do NOT have jobs

By Kaycee Cash

50% of new college graduates do not have jobs…. Seriously? Here I am, pouring my heart and soul into my college education, and now I am threatened by this statistic. You don’t apply to colleges hoping to give them all your money and leave with a piece of paper but no money to your name. You think that you are going to college to get the “whole experience,” which is of course worth it and I encourage it, but me personally? I’m in college now so that I can get that job that I want. That one job that I have been dancing around, declaring majors for. Right now it happens to be a small animal veterinarian. It could change to anything with animals- but that’s just me. I feel like a lot of people go through the same cycle of not knowing exactly what you want to do with your life, and this statistic of not having a job is scary. None of us want to end up like that.

But here I am, not even finished with the third paragraph of the introduction to this book that is supposed to teach me how to get a job. “Do This! Get Hired!” is the title. Forceful, but it gets the point across. Why should I trust what this book says?  Well, to start off, the first chapter is titled “What Qualifies Me to Give You Advice?” Apparently, Mr. Lyden is quite qualified.

One of the things that I have learned about the author is that he evaluates college students for a living. He recruits people like me for businesses, grad school, etc. If I had to guess, he probably knows what he is doing, and I feel a bit more comfortable about the advice that he has to give. Not only does he recruit college students, he teaches them how to get recruited through several classes. Some of these include methods on how to succeed in applying online, interviews, and resume writing. I made my resume with a guide off of google, and I’m pretty sure it isn’t as good as it should be. I hope that the things that he has to say in his book will help. He also teaches others how to recruit, how to read resumes, and did I mention the businesses that he works for are ranked and rated highly? Within the first few pages I’ve already learned a lot about him and a fun fact: always put your GPA in your resume or run the risk of your resume getting thrown out immediately. Nobody has the time to call you and ask about anything you left out.

The most striking thing to me is his story behind writing this book. I know that the proceeds of the book go to saving animals, which is a fantastic thing, but he got the idea by reading somebody else’s help book for college students. That somebody else has a Ph.D, and his book was long and way too descriptive.  Not only that… some of it was wrong, at least from Mr. Lyden’s experience. What’s great about this book so far is that there is nothing fake to it. It’s concise and informative, and already helpful. Not only that, it has a sarcastic tone that keeps the book humorous.  I look forward to the rest of the book, and I think I have a lot left to learn about getting a job. (And I mean A LOT.)

Salary Negotiations by Abby Soley

Mark Lyden’s book, “Do This! Get Hired!” clearly identifies the steps you have to take in order to get hired, for almost any scenario. He explains how to make your resume as powerful as possible, how to succeed at a career fair, and how to master the interview. He goes beyond this, though, and helps you out even after you and the job!

“Did you know that failing to negotiate your starting salary at your first job by just $2000 will cost you about $250,000 over a career?”

I didn’t know that, but it makes perfect sense in hindsight! And I don’t know about you, but I am already imagining what I could do with that money (new boat anyone?)!

Mark describes exactly what you have to say in order to effectively negotiate your salary.  He explains the basics of the two-five rule, which is a way of determining your ideal salary range. It’s easier to explain in an example, so here is a scenario that Mark described in the book.

If the company offers you a salary of $61,000, add $2000 to it to come up with the bottom number of your range, and then add $5000 on top of that number to get the top number of your range. Here is what you should say to the company: “First, thank you for the offer. We are close! My ideal salary for this position is sixty-eight thousand with my range being between sixty-three and sixty-eight thousand.”

It’s that easy! Now, have fun on that new boat!! ;)

MARK LYDEN’S BIO

Mark Lyden is an expert at getting people jobs…in THIS difficult job market. He has already helped thousands with his advice because it is different and it is PROVEN to work! The advice he gives is not the traditional advice that can be found on the Internet or being given by most career professionals. Now and for the last 15-years, Mr. Lyden has been a Professional Lead Recruiter for a Fortune 50 company. Mark is the author of: College Students: Do This! Get Hired!; Veterans: Do This! Get Hired!; and, Professionals: Do This! Get Hired! Visit DoThisGetHired.com for additional information. A substantial portion of the proceeds from book sales are donated back to charity to help veterans and to help the stray and abandoned animals at Logan’s Run Rescue.

RELAX! by Abby Soley

I’m going to be honest with you: waiting in line to talk to a recruiter at a job fair can be boring and, for me personally, the most nervous part of the whole experience. Countless questions race through my mind. “What do I say?” “What are they going to say?” “Did I prepare enough?” “What if I don’t know how to answer the questions they ask me?”

RELAX!

While you are standing in line, don’t text your best friend about the new shoes you bought for spring break. Instead open your ears and listen to the questions the recruiters are asking the students who are in line in front of you. Chances are they will ask you similar, if not the same, questions! Now that you know the questions, spend the time waiting in line to formulate answers to them. Once you get to the front of the line, your answer will be perfect, and your confidence in yourself will sky rocket!

What if he line isn’t long enough to listen to the questions and come up with answers, casually walk by the table and listen to the questions, then go to a quiet corner to prepare your answers. Once you have them down pat, GO GET ‘EM!

MARK LYDEN’S BIO

Mark Lyden is an expert at getting people jobs…in THIS difficult job market. He has already helped thousands with his advice because it is different and it is PROVEN to work! The advice he gives is not the traditional advice that can be found on the Internet or being given by most career professionals. Now and for the last 15-years, Mr. Lyden has been a Professional Lead Recruiter for a Fortune 50 company. Mark is the author of: College Students: Do This! Get Hired!; Veterans: Do This! Get Hired!; and, Professionals: Do This! Get Hired! Visit DoThisGetHired.com for additional information. A substantial portion of the proceeds from book sales are donated back to charity to help veterans and to help the stray and abandoned animals at Logan’s Run Rescue.

Tell Your Story by Abby Soley

Do you dread seeking employment for the sole reason that you are scare to death of being interviewed? Fear no more.

I’m sure you know the basics when it comes to being interviewed: research the company, prepare, and if you wouldn’t wear it to your grandmother’s, don’t wear it on an interview. Beyond that, there are some very good tips outlined in the book, “Do This! Get Hired!”

The first one that helped settle my nerves about interviewing is to remember, “interviewing is nothing more than telling stories.” Yes, the company needs to know about the special skills you have, but that should be clear on your resume. The interviewer is trying to dig deeper to get to know how you can handle certain situations. Each story you tell should follow the SBO method. SBO stand for situation, behavior and outcome. You should describe the situation you were in, the steps you took and how you reacted to the situation, and the result to your action. If you spend about 30 seconds on each section (and completely answer the question in about a minute and a half), PERFECT! Remember, the interviewer wants to know how YOU reacted to a situation, not how the team worked together. Team work is important, but the team isn’t being interviewed, YOU ARE!

MARK LYDEN’S BIO

Mark Lyden is an expert at getting people jobs…in THIS difficult job market. He has already helped thousands with his advice because it is different and it is PROVEN to work! The advice he gives is not the traditional advice that can be found on the Internet or being given by most career professionals. Now and for the last 15-years, Mr. Lyden has been a Professional Lead Recruiter for a Fortune 50 company. Mark is the author of: College Students: Do This! Get Hired!; Veterans: Do This! Get Hired!; and, Professionals: Do This! Get Hired! Visit DoThisGetHired.com for additional information. A substantial portion of the proceeds from book sales are donated back to charity to help veterans and to help the stray and abandoned animals at Logan’s Run Rescue.

Ace the Interview by Abby Soley

Do you dread seeking employment for the sole reason that you are scare to death of being interviewed? Fear no more.

I’m sure you know the basics when it comes to being interviewed: research the company, prepare, and if you wouldn’t wear it to your grandmother’s, don’t wear it on an interview. Beyond that, there are some very good tips outlined in the book, “Do This! Get Hired!”

The first one that helped settle my nerves about interviewing is to remember, “interviewing is nothing more than telling stories.” Yes, the company needs to know about the special skills you have, but that should be clear on your resume. The interviewer is trying to dig deeper to get to know how you can handle certain situations. Each story you tell should follow the SBO method. SBO stand for situation, behavior and outcome.  You should describe the situation you were in, the steps you took and how you reacted to the situation, and the result to your action. If you spend about 30 seconds on each section (and completely answer the question in about a minute and a half), PERFECT! Remember, the interviewer wants to know how YOU reacted to a situation, not how the team worked together. Team work is important, but the team isn’t being interviewed, YOU ARE!

MARK LYDEN’S BIO

Mark Lyden is an expert at getting people jobs…in THIS difficult job market. He has already helped thousands with his advice because it is different and it is PROVEN to work! The advice he gives is not the traditional advice that can be found on the Internet or being given by most career professionals. Now and for the last 15-years, Mr. Lyden has been a Professional Lead Recruiter for a Fortune 50 company. Mark is the author of: College Students: Do This! Get Hired!; Veterans: Do This! Get Hired!; and, Professionals: Do This! Get Hired! Visit DoThisGetHired.com for additional information. A substantial portion of the proceeds from book sales are donated back to charity to help veterans and to help the stray and abandoned animals at Logan’s Run Rescue.

College Students: Do This! Get Hired! Initial Review by Liz Smith

Upon reading the Introduction of Do This Get Hired, I found it very useful that Mark Lyden states all his previous experience with interview processes, resume knowledge and recruitment methods, etc. It really helps the reader to understand his credibility and knowledge of what the reader is interested in. He also makes it easier for us to understand the material, because it’s clear and to the point. I also like how laidback the book is; it makes it a lot easier and more enjoyable to read. It’s also nice how he values the reader’s opinion and asks for feedback. That is a great idea considering he’ll get real information and experience from other people as well to show that his advice really is the best out there.

I worked so hard to raise my GPA, but it's still low! by Abigail Soley

"I worked so hard to raise my GPA, but it's still low! I can't put this number on my resume!"

WRONG! One of the biggest mistakes you can make is leaving your GPA off of your resume. If your Cumulative GPA is below a 3.0, there are some tricks to getting you a higher number. For instance, if you happen to do better in your major classes than you do in your core classes, calculate you Major GPA and if it’s higher than your CGPA USE IT! If it’s still not high enough, calculate you GPA for the past year you were in school. If that’s above a 3.0, include it on your resume and call it something like Junior Year GPA. If that’s still not good enough try calculating your Last Semester GPA.

If all of those numbers still don’t come out to be above a 3.0, you should still include the highest one on your resume and have a compelling story about why it is low. If you immediately, right off the bat, tell your story to the recruiter. You will be surprised at how well the recruiter will take the information. Above that, you will be AMAZED at how good it makes you feel about yourself, and in turn that will raise your self confidence for the rest of the conversation!