As many of you know, I am a Senior Career Coach at a major university in New York. Although I have several job functions and responsibilities, what I enjoy and love the most is my engagement with students. I can meet with them one-on-one; I can do a workshop or a classroom presentation in front of 20, 30, 40 or as many as 100 plus students. It is an enormous responsibility, and one that I take very seriously. The size of the crowd is irrelevant. What matters most is that I am in front of students trying my best to provide meaningful content and information that is designed to add substance to their career journey and provide a sense of direction. It is a joy to be able to do this. I like watching and observing the students as I present and talk. The body language is so telling. Most seem to lean into my words, listen attentively, process and learn, which, of course is the goal. Goals and objectives are part of their journey. If not for the goals and objectives, we have no place to go. Make no mistake, no matter the stage of life we are in, this applies to all of us.
Exchanging thoughtful ideas, mapping out ‘the plan’, helping minimize (or eliminate) the stress, anxiety of their ‘NEXT’ is rewarding. I measure my success by their success. Opening a students’ mind, watching them explore and discover a path that will jump-start their career progression and not just find a job, but to help them establish a career is our common plan. It presents a challenge either way. Part of my job is to help them identify the pain points and work through those challenges. It’s normal for some students to get it and some not. I admire all of them, as they begin to consider what that ‘NEXT’ might look like and how best to get there. When a student protests that the process is “HARD WORK”, I tell them not to complain and I reverse the order. Don’t focus on hard work, concentrate on WORK HARD; especially because no one works easy.
