Top Five Tips For Recent College Grads

0:00All right, well K 12 students here in the state are back in school colleges are back in session, but it also means for those recent college grads who graduated at the end of last year maybe will graduate mid-year at the our wonderful Institutes of Higher Learning That means that they are entering the job force. Yes now and so what are some of the big things That they need to remember in order to be successful early on in their careers and continue to build forward It's what we're talking to Dr. Suzy Segal the president and CEO of Walsh College about today Dr. Suzy Segal. Good morning. It's good to have you So much. I'm so happy to be here. Well, we're happy to have you so let's talk a little bit about what you are telling Recent graduates. How should they traverse their early workforce career? Yeah, absolutely. This is a great question. Thank you for asking it So you know, it sounds counterintuitive because they just graduated right and for me to say education is life long

1:01Especially in this age of AI, you know while our students are graduates have accomplished something incredible You want to continue to invest in yourself? They curious and commit to lifelong learning. I know for me when I finished my undergrad I thought oh, I'm done. I'm not possibly going back to school And yet it has been lifelong learning that has opened incredible doors Of access and opportunity. So as much as you have finished one thing keep going invest in yourself It will pay lifelong dividends Second thing I would tell them your network is your network You want to build your well before your thirsty. So make sure you're nurturing those connections that you are You know following advice from people who's lies you admire right how many times do we take advice from people? We're like I want to want their life right so build that network because that will sustain you through good times And through rough times in your career The other thing I tell them is no where you're going have a vision You know, I have a very detailed vision statement for my life for my role at Walsh College is the president You know exactly where you want to be and what you're doing and look at it regularly because it will keep you on track

2:04Now I can keep going. I know we just hit number three. We want me to keep going keep on All right number four help others, you know Especially when we first graduate we can feel like okay We've got to get our lives in order we got to get our finances in order our career And you have to do that right because you're no good to the world unless you have your professional And your path mapped out but help others how can you pour in to serve and help others because that's going to lead into the very next thing Which is your purpose versus your gifts? So you've probably heard this too where students will say I just want to find my purpose and what I have found through years of working with people Students leaders professionals is where you're in natural gifts where your abilities where what you love to do Like you up align with the needs of the world there is your purpose You know that may change in a few iterations of your career in your life because the needs of the world change So finding your purpose is literally saying where can I show up for others and the world to make massive contribution And if you notice none of those things talk really about anything tactical or anything that really requires a lot more than just a great level of self leadership

3:07But that's what I would tell you in the timing couldn't have been perfect because we just had a career fair last night on our campus And I got to share this with so many of our students But Dr. As you go you know, I want to go back to the first tip, you know education is lifelong What does lifelong learning actually look like for somebody say balancing a full-time job? You got a family and you got other responsibilities? Oh no 100% absolutely what we do it anyway in a lot of ways right? How many times do we go on YouTube or chat or clawed to learn something that we want to know now? Imagine if you could tap into a learning community and we offer this at walls right through our continuing learning and professional development But it doesn't have to look like another degree now it can because if you go to a place that has flexible Modalities, you know, we do we definitely want to work with people in our doctoral program For example, I've got people in the C-suite that are between they're taking care of parents or taking care of kids But really what it looks like is a commitment to always grow and develop and we're seeing this with AI How many folks are saying you know what I really need to get trained up I mean myself I've taken classes certifications in AI and machine learning because I know for me and my role

4:09It is so important to bring that to the campus to make sure we're training our students So I would tell you it's an open mindset But it's also knowing how to integrate that into your life and to scale time like this morning I was audible in a book while I was running So I'm literally using an hour of time exercising and listening to a book Our students can do that with their classes with their learnings with their lectures That's what it means. It's a commitment to building this in so you are always investing in yourself I was wondering about number two I mean networking is an art and is there a way for students when they get there to to learn this because that you have to do this your whole life Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. That's a great question So let's go to last night. We had a career fair on campus And I would tell you that it's an ability to say there's power to being in rooms with people who want to talk business and network and growth and career So we have some students that alumni come to our career fair last night They weren't necessarily looking for a new job But they wanted to make connections because they saw an opportunity to be in the room with employers to build future connections for their career

5:11So when we say networking we get this image right of these business cards and these morning breakfast that we go to and hand out But it's really asking curious questions. This is what I do all the time to businesses to leaders to entrepreneurs What are you looking for in talent? What could our workforce today look like to better help you? How could I better serve you? It's being able to ask those questions and build those connections and then ask for advice You know how many times is networking saying hey what advice would you have for me as an emerging professional I just got my degree or I'm just earning my masters What are you looking for in hiring? It's staying curious. It's staying learning. It's building that trust and authenticity And sometimes you don't even have talk business It's just getting to know people because now you have an inside connection somewhere that a resume that doesn't Won't have and how many people have have you heard say oh, you know, I send all these job applications and I never hear back Right? It's the people that have their connections that that network is their net worth that helps them And if you are between jobs or there were layoffs We're seeing a lot of that in companies having a powerful network that can refer you and get you right in That's amazing

6:12Dr. Susie Segal we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. It's great advice for recent college crowds Yeah, we appreciate it. We'll talk again very soon I you know, I just remember after college You know, I think it takes a little bit of time too for a lot of this to sink in with recent college crafts Because I remember when I I mean Jamie when I let God out of college it was go it was hustle It was grind it was get to the next thing and then eventually I became more curious and then I wanted to learn more and then like I think a lot of that stuff it's it's it's great advice to start in stealing as soon as possible into these Grads, but then you kind of start to pick it up along the way Yeah, and I think you you're now in the real world and you're like okay, I better get serious about this and let me call this person or let me go to this event and start networking and get things done and You know for for people who have you know been out of school for a long time You know and they're into their careers and they want to change sometime they hesitate

7:12You know changing direction because they they feel like they've invested so much into one career and so you know You want to do something and so you have those connections that will help you kind of Transform and maybe get you into that next career if you have those connections Yeah, certainly also the NFL started last night Did it yes it did oh the NFL started last night. Oh, okay, and we ran into a real conundrum in our house because Jake wants to watch football all the time Uh-huh, but I'm like hey man. It's too late like you can't we you gotta go to sleep you have school tomorrow And it turned into this big thing in our house and I'm like you I mean I'm Jamie I'm sure you get it too where it's like they want to go do things stay up late And I'm like I think you're just trying to prank me like I think you're you're trying to pull a fast one over on me Because you want to just stay up. Uh-huh But the NFL got on the rope. Olivia told me last night sleeping's not her thing Olivia

8:13Pretty smart all right, let's take a break more next You