GarthBox

I have prioritized other speaking engagements over ones with college students for awhile, but the other day I met with a handful of sophomores, juniors and seniors who had myriad questions about work in the real world.

Here are a handful of tips you can share with a student you know, in no particular order.

1. The quality of tangible real-life work isn’t as important as the fact you have tangible real-life work. Ask a local brand if you can help with their marketing. Volunteer your skills to a local organization. Opt for classes that have you produce real work (a rebranding guide for a real-life brand, a class that produces a magazine, etc.,)
2. Include a few hobbies on your resume. It’s as awkward going into interviews for the interviewee as it is the interviewers. Give us something to help break the ice. At the end of the day, anyway, if you match the same qualifications as another – the person who has a more cultural fit will get the job.
3. The real interview is the one you schedule, not the one they schedule. In other words, reach out and ask for informational interviews. Ask them questions before they ask you them. Every time, the people who give you the informational interview will be the ones to give the decision-maker feedback on how awesome you are.
4. Uncomfortable asking for informational interviews or it’s too soon? Then use your student card. Use a homework assignment to interview someone’s life in the job role you think you want. Let people know you’re a student and working on a school assignment to get an in. It’s incredible how many professionals are happy to help a student.

Stay Positive & Hit Me Up If You Want More Tips (And I’m Always Happy To Review A Resume)

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Resources can be replenished. Morale can be rebuilt. Plans can be replanned.

But time. All time is no time if time is passed.

The best leaders manage the amount of time they take (and give) to their team members.

Stay Positive & Give More Than You Take

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There’s no formula for how quickly you can or should make a decision.

There is only the fact that once you decide it allows you to start moving forward; moreover, it enables your team to move forward, the project to move forward – lessons to be learned, areas to be explored.

You can certainly decide things too fast, but there’s often less of a negative outcome from doing that than there is by taking too long to make a decision.

Stay Positive & Decide To Keep Moving Forward

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It’s a positive thing to be on different pages, well sort of.

The positive thing comes out of conversation about the different pages. Acknowledgement of the different pages and the agreement to try to get on the same page.

That’s where magic happens.

Then once you’re on the same page, that’s where the work happens.

The work will always be better when it’s rooted in magic.

But beware: staying on different pages too long is a recipe for disaster.

Stay Positive & Start With Showing What Page You’re On

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Having a zero inbox is easier than it seems.

Trust people to do the work that needs to be done. If they don’t, find better people.

Do work that matters. Say pass to the work that doesn’t.

Be efficient: five email back-and-forths could have prevented with a two-minute phone call.

1,000 unread emails might make you feel busy.

But 0 emails makes you feel fulfilled.

It starts with deciding how you want to feel.

Stay Positive & Enjoy The View

Being first doesn’t matter.

Being first to speak up, first to raise a hand, first to dive into a project, first to cross a finish line – no, placement title doesn’t matter.

What matters is the mentality you need to be the first: determination, tenacity, passion, care.

Are people who place first this way because they placed first? Or are they this way and then they place first, raise their hand, leap?

Stay Positive & Who Is First?

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Creating meaningful work and cultural change is a numbers game.

Write more and you’re bound to have written more things worth sharing.

Ideate more and you’re bound to have multiple client buy-ins.

The numbers game is the only game that everyone can play and the outcome is the same: the more there is, the more there is to choose from.

And the more there is to choose from, the more likely the chosen things will work.

You don’t have to ship everything, but everyone gains when you have more to choose from.

Stay Positive & Get To The Good Stuff

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