Life is a Business – Chapter 21
A series of essays on the past, the present, and the future
Last week we discussed the problems trying to “Google” experience. We hear a lot of young people in this difficult job market struggling with this paradox of being told they have no experience and there is no way to get it without a job. This is not a new phenomenon – we were told the same thing when we were young and an employer tried to let us down gently. I promise you, if you show great promise as raw talent, they will find a place for you…it may not be where you want to start, but they will get you warehoused somewhere for future development. This my young friends, is the answer: Make your potential for success overcome your lack of success by how you have prepared yourself and your life story to market your future accomplishments. This is how and why we “kids of adversity” kick your well-off kids’ butts! We are able to weave a story of overcoming obstacles and achieving results through ingenuity, courage, work ethic and sheer tenacity…all the traits businesspeople are desperate to find in bright, educated, socially acceptable young people who have the basic requirements in hand. If children of hard times do the work to educate and prepare themselves, they automatically have an advantage, not a disadvantage among children of wealth and privilege. The disadvantages come from a lack of family commitment to education, training and discipline for the children. Do not place this handicap upon your children – lead them to the door out of poverty – the steps are steep and the door is heavy, but they can do it, if you will make them climb and help them when they falter.
Show a businessperson that you participated in extra-curricular activities in school; show them that you performed good deeds in the community. Demonstrate by your appearance, speech and manners that you came from a home that demanded personal responsibility for your actions. Communicate the truth that you are motivated to succeed the right way, the hard way, the way that leads to permanent, consistent levels of achievement for you and the lucky company who invests in you.
Sell all that you have been through, all you are now and all that you will become in life to an interviewer who is charged with keeping out the losers and capturing the winners for his/her company’s benefit. Once you get in the game, make them look like a genius for finding you! Take the lowest, dirtiest, least desirable task and blow the rest of the folks out of the water with how you performed it…your next task will already be headed your way. Be the person who gladly accepts responsibility and accountability for hard work and the authority will soon follow…if not, there is another company who will gladly take you away!
All the things you do, or don’t do as a young person scream loudly throughout your resume…once into the interview, they are looking at you, not the piece of paper. Can you/will you defend your record, showcase your strengths and show the conviction in your eyes, heart and hands to win the job and earn your place on the team?
By Bill Hewgley
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