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!

Do This! Get Hired: Resume Tip #1

Do This! Get Hired: Resume Tip #1
By: Greg Hill

   For some, getting a job is easier than others. Some students have several dozen activities that they have done throughout their college career. Some have excellent GPA’s that they, and recruiters, can be proud of. But what if you don’t have the best CGPA? What if during your time at college those pesky “gen ed” courses, such as math and English, brought your excellent GPA down so far you don’t think you will ever get a dream job? Have no fear because Mark is here! In his book, “College Students, Do This: Get Hired! Mark Lyden describes the many tricks you can do to ACTUALLY put a GPA on your resume. Putting a GPA on your resume actually allows recruiters to distinguish your resume from the other 300 they get on a weekly basis for one job. Now if you are like me and the general education courses have been a burden to your CGPA, you can always calculate you MAJOR GPA and put that instead. Not only will you have a way of distinguishing your resume, but you have a greater chance of getting a call back from an employer about a job/internship. 

Do This! Get Hired! by Greg Hill

Getting a real life job could possibly be the scariest, and hardest, thing in the world to do. But do not fear there is help out there! Do not try to go down that dark path of employment alone! Many students have recently become plugged into a book called, “College Students: Do This! Get Hired!” by Mark Lyden and it is your look into a new way of going about getting that job, it’s called: The Right Way. So you think you got the interview thing down pat? Do you think your resume is flawless? Believe it or not, there are techniques so simple to getting that job/internship that you may not even think of doing them! Mark Lyden’s book, “Do This! Get Hired!” will expose those techniques to you and change your outlook on interviews, resume writing, and many other techniques to get you on your feet and making THAT salary you always dreamed of.       
            These are just a few examples of how “College Students: Do This! Get Hired!” by Mark Lyden has helped students here on campus and it can help you to! So get connected with your copy of “College Students: Do This! Get Hired!” at  DoThisGetHired.com or by visiting Amazon.com. Check it out and get a jump start on your dream job today! 

Recent Graduates Face an Unemployment Rate of 8.9%, and the Highest Debt-burden on Record

[January 2012] –The Unemployment for new graduates is about 8.9% (TheDailyTarheel.com, 2012). “The search for potential job opportunities has become frustrating,” according to Ms. Caison who writes for The Daily Tarheel. Add to this the fact that the class of 2010’s debt burden grew -- the highest debt on record. (NYTimes, 2011)

How are today’s universities ensuring their students get hired? By arming their students with the skills and knowledge to GET HIRED in today’s market. The Lally School of Technology and Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  has made “College Students: DO THIS! GET HIRED!” required reading material for its MBA students.  According to Thomas Whalen, Director of Career Services, “[College Students: Do This! Get Hired!] ….gives  (an) 'insider's' perspective on the hiring process. [Mark’s] His work ethic gives him the energy and appetite to remain at the front of his field. His message is what gives everyone hope and confidence that the hiring process is not a fixed game. His message is fundamental, it is human, it is real and it is a message that is transformative when heard by an audience with open ears. I recommend Mark's books to any serious student of the hiring process. Mark really is his message and, at his core, he is utterly authentic and hopeful.” 

“College Students: DO THIS! GET HIRED!” Mr. Lyden’s first top selling book caught the eye of Senator John McCain’s son, Jim McCain and his fellow Marine Jesse Canella, both co-founders of HonorVet.org.  With their full endorsement and with the help from veterans from all four major branches of the military Mr. Lyden’s second book “Veterans: DO THIS! GET HIRED!” is hailed as the, “Best advice for getting hired that we have ever read." (Jesse Canella, CEO of HonorVet); and is helping reduce the high unemployment for our veterans and soldiers getting out of the military. Mark has now turned his success, attention, and expertise to helping today’s unemployed professionals with his book, “Professionals: DO THIS! GET HIRED!”

About the Author

Mark Lyden is an expert at getting people jobs.  He has already helped thousands get hired even in this difficult job market.  For over 15-years, he has been a Professional Lead Recruiter for a Fortune 50 company.  His approach is fresh, practical, easy to follow, and extremely effective. In his recruiting career he has recruited for small, medium, and large companies and organizations. Mark has screened, taught, mentored and interviewed thousands of candidates and has presented job search seminars across the country.  His extensive experience plus the fact that he recruits each day in this difficult job market, gives him the unique insight on the best ways--the proven ways to approach every major step of the job search process so candidates have the best chance at getting hired.

A substantial portion of the proceeds from book sales Mr. Lyden and his wife donate back to charity to help our military veterans and to help the stray and abandoned animals at Logan’s Run Rescue.  

Mark has been interviewed by or featured in The Washington Post, CNN MONEY, The Huffington Post, The Herald Tribune and many others. He has been a frequent guest on national and local talk radio shows including Ken Gaines (WKZK-103.7FM), Marc Bernier (WNDB-1150) The Marc Bernier Show  and with Howard Keating and Gail Kubiak, www.TheKeatingNetwork.com.

College Students: DO THIS! GET HIRED!

·         CreateSpace	·         ISBN: 978-1439229132
·         Price: $19.99	·         Pages: 94 pages, Paperback, 6 x 9
·         Pub Date: April 2009
www.DoThisGetHired.com

REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE

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EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT! [by Jenny Chabrian]

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT! Here it is the inside story on college recruiters! WAIT A MINUTE?! Recruiters are real life people with subjectivity to other real life people?
Stop the presses!
This has changed my whole view on my approaching technique. If  I just keep in mind that giving my recruiter the chance to see that there is in fact a positive, go getter of a person behind my resume I can in fact open up my recruiter to the ability to evaluate me as a person on top of my resume. Hiring managers and college recruiters rely a lot on the evaluation of your attitude to judge whether or not your attitude will make the difference.  I think this really ties into what Mark says in Chapter 3 about resumes too. How sometimes the STRUCTURE is actually as important as the CONTENT. I can write or simply speak and try to portray all that I do and have accomplished. However, if I do not expose that hard positive attitude I have in a way that is arranged and structured to portray myself as the hard working, motivated person I am, I will basically be out of luck. It’s funny how everything is really pretty much interconnected. It’s all about the attitude. 

DO THIS! GET HIRED! [by Jenny Chabrian]

DO THIS! GET HIRED!

“I’m not going to waste your time.”  That is the first thing that jumped out at me when I started reading “College Students: Do This! Get Hired.”  Someone who is actually going to be real with me about what I need to do to get my dream job!  Many times when I  meet potential employers I try to use impressive big words  and focus on my technical skills because lets face it my bad jokes and part time job I never thought recruiters were interested in. Turns out some of my soft skills are actually really important! I now know that allowing my recruiter the ability to see that I have a positive attitude along with  an openness and ability to learn new things can really give me a heads up in getting that interview. I never had the other-side-of-the-fence view on recruiting and now I can cater my  approach to  recruiters knowing that not all recruiters are the same. According to Mark the experience and level of training  of recruiters will vary and that means my approach to each must vary accordingly too. I feel now I will have a significant competitive advantage by showing both my ability to effectively communicate with a recruiter and not shying away from my soft skills. 

In this difficult job market: Start Applying to Jobs that You Qualify For

What I hear from students all the time is they can't seem to find the job that matches them on the website's of the companies they really want to work for.  They explain to me how they know the companies they want to work for take students from their major but when they go on the website they find nothing that is a good match for them for what they want to do.  

First, you are not alone.  Many, many students come up to me with this problem and they all are very disappointed and feel as though all their hard work in college might not get them the job they want.  Let me answer your question with a real life story that happened early in my recruiting career.

I was out recruiting with a senior engineer.  There was this candidate by the name of Jeff and he was great.  What made him great was his attitude.  His grades were solid and he cleaned up in the interview.  The senior engineer asked him what he wanted to do.  He thought a few seconds and said, "Well, I really like all aspects of engineering but I know what I DON'T want to do."  The senior engineer asked him, "What is that?"  Jeff said, "Structures." 

Well it turned out Jeff really struggled with his Structures class.  He actually had to take it twice to pass and felt he just wasn't good with that subject.

Jeff took that structures job.  And guess what?  He LOVED IT!...and did very well.  He stayed in that group for years. 

Jeff got hired into the company I was recruiting for as a Design Engineer.  He did very well.  But a few years into his job, the program he was on was winding down.  He needed to find a new job in a new group because the project he was working on was nearly complete.  But Jeff made the mistake of staying too long.  While other engineers around him got picked up by different groups, Jeff kept hanging on until finally he had to leave.  But now, there were few jobs to pick from.  He tried everything but the only job he was offered was in, guess what?  STRUCTURES! 

The point of the story is the answer to the question.  The point is you can take all these classes and you can read all the text books, however, sometimes you never know what you are going to like or not like unless you try it.  You can't try it if you don't get your foot in the door. 

For those of you in this situation, start applying to more openings.  Especially in this market, STOP looking for the perfect match and apply to anything and everything that might interest you. Not only that, but apply to all the jobs THAT YOU QUALIFY FOR. Remember, managers are not English Literature professors.  Sometimes their job descriptions to a really, really cool job is just boring or flat when you read it.  Just apply!  You can always say "no."  But give yourself a chance at being contacted by someone who can give you a better idea of what the job will entail.  I have seen this for the last 10 years, some of those jobs you think sound boring on paper, are some of the coolest jobs out there.  APPLY!

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.