Lots of people are buzzing about the recent New York Times Magazine cover story, “What is it About 20-Somethings?” The article focuses on the fact that today’s 20-somethings are “delaying adulthood” by moving back in with their parents, marrying later and hopping from career to career.

The article speculates about whether these shifts are happening because of the current economy, a fundamental change in the definition of adulthood or — as many of the article’s more negative commenters believe — the “entitled” nature of the Generation Y.

Personally, I believe that 20-somethings are simply reflecting the reality of our current times. But I have seen evidence that many Millennials aren’t aware of the way they are perceived, particularly in the workplace. I frequently hear recruiters and employers complain that today’s young people have a sense of entitlement — a belief that they deserve jobs, high salaries and advanced responsibilities even when they don’t have much experience.

Whether you personally feel this way or not, it’s important to understand that this perception of 20-somethings is out there. In many companies, the older generations are still in charge, so when you’re looking for a job or wanting to advance in your career, you’ll have a better chance of success if you avoid the “entitled” label. Here are some tips for overcoming the “e” word…

Read these tips on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…

TAGS: emerging adulthood, Generation Y, Millennials, New York Times Magazine

This week, Lois and I will send the Nice Girls Don’t Win at Life: 99 Ways to Get the Respect You Deserve, the Success You’ve Earned and the Things You Want manuscript back to our editor at Crown Publishing. Yes, we’re excited!

Our work is almost done — we submitted the manuscript at the beginning of June, received and reviewed our editor’s excellent suggestions in July and, last week got the well copy-edited version, which we are now returning for proofing and other production related tasks.

As far as I’m concerned, this book has been a joy to write and I attribute a great deal of my enthusiasm about it to the quality of the collaborative experience I’ve shared with Lois. Not only did working together make the book better but we had a lot of fun along the way.

What made our collaboration work? I’m sharing my perspective in the hope it’ll be useful to you when you next have the opportunity to collaborate with someone. Your chance may present itself when you work with a colleague on a project, with another volunteer to further a worthy cause or in any one of a number of different situations. The recipe for success:

• Agree on a process and a timeline. We decided to build the book’s outline together and then divide the work evenly. We also agreed to exchange and edit each other’s work at certain intervals.It’s useful to work out a process early on so that everyone’s clear about how things will get accomplished. In addition, we set a timeline, working backward from when the manuscript was due.

• Communicate early and often — and not just by email! Although Lois is on the west coast and I am on the east coast, we set aside time to work together in person as we began to write the book. It was time well invested — benefits included a surge of creative energy and a strong start to the book’s outline. After that, we talked via telephone regularly and emailed one another often.Consider a face-to-face meeting to kickoff your project; if it is at all feasible, the effort will probably provide a big pay-off. And mix it up — although email may be easier, it’s good to talk with your collaborator at least once in a while!

• Respect one other. Lois and I chose to join forces because we knew we’d bring different strengths to the project and admired each others’ work. The fact that we like one another as much as we do, although wonderful, isn’t required for a successful collaboration. Even if you had no choice regarding the person with whom you are working, take the time to identify the knowledge, skills and personal attributes that he or she bring to the party.Respect also means you have to stick to the schedule unless there’s a true emergency. Not only does a delay pose a risk that you won’t be able to deliver the project on time, it also sends a message to the person with whom you’re working that you don’t value his/her time as much as you value your own.

Readers, what other suggestions do you have for successful collaboration?

TAGS: Collaboration, LinkedIn, Nice Girls Don't Win at Life

Dear Lindsey,

How important is getting your MBA from a top graduate school verses a middle of the road or maybe online school make? What difference does it make regarding future pay and opportunities?

Thanks,
Marie

Dear Marie,

Educational decisions are personal and the right answers are different for everyone. What I can do is provide you with the right questions to ask to make the right move for you.

Here are three questions to help you make the best decision for you:

1. Why are you getting an MBA?
Education is a wonderful, valuable endeavor and a worthy goal in itself, but in my opinion, you should always have an end goal in mind. That desired result can help you make the decision about the best school for you. For instance, if you are getting an MBA to help you make a career change, your top priority should be finding an institution that is known for guiding people into careers in the new field you want to join. If your goal is to increase your technical knowledge of accounting, financial management, etc. (for instance, to gain a higher position or salary bracket in your current organization), then the school name may not be as important as simply gaining the knowledge you need. If your number one goal is high-level networking, then a “brand name” school might be the choice for you. If post-grad school salary is the key factor for you, then ask schools for the average starting salaries of their graduates.

Read the rest of my response to Marie’s question on Excelle.com…

TAGS: business school, Career transition, Education, MBA, Women and Careers

Dear Lindsey,

I recently received two master’s degrees (MBA, 2008 and MSA, 2010) after many years of working in state government. Now, I am ready to explore more opportunities in the private and public sector.

Thank you,
Beverly

Read my answer to this question on Excelle.com…

TAGS: career advice, management tips, women

This week I’m sharing five more tips for winning at social media while still having time for a life…

6. COPE – Create Once, Publish Everywhere. Another best practice in sharing content is to get the most out of everything you create. If you write a blog post, get interviewed on a podcast or create any other content, share it on appropriate social media sites. Similarly, if you work for an organization that produces content (such as white papers, cool ads or events), share that information with your networks to support the brand of your company. Learn more about the COPE concept here.

7. Pay attention to privacy. Be aware that on most social media sites, the default setting is for all of your information to be public. If you want to keep anything private (meaning only visible to the people you are directly connected to) — such as your list of connections on LinkedIn, your photos on Facebook, your tweets on Twitter — you have to go into the account settings on each social media profile and manually change them. It’s worth the time to read through each setting carefully and make decisions that feel comfortable to you. My rule of thumb about privacy is: when in doubt, keep it private.

Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…

TAGS: Social Media, women and social media

Last week, Elena Kagan was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court — she’ll join Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor to constitute a “critical mass” of women on the highest court in the country (with apologies to our non-U.S. readers). Critical mass, a theory first posed by Harvard professor and renowned business thought leader, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, is the concept that once the number of women reaches 30% in an organization, they are no longer “tokens”. Their actions are seen as those of organizational decision-makers, rather than through the lens of gender.

Whew! What a relief! Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Court, must have been lonely when she took her seat. For a long time, everything from her choice to wear a lace jabot with her robe to her hairstyle was scrutinized. Justice Ginsburg, who joined her on the Court in 1993, stated she was lonely when O’Connor retired.  Quoted by USA Today, Ginsburg said:

“…I didn’t realize how much I would miss her until she was gone.”

Critical mass is important to women who don’t serve on the U.S. Supreme Court too. Those of us who’ve been in the workplace for a while can clearly remember being the only woman in the room — it wasn’t fun. And, regardless of your tenure in the workplace, it’s important to reach out to help other women to be successful. Consider your behavior:

• Are you a diva? Divas believe that there is room for only one woman in a starring role — and that she’s in line for the part. Today’s workplace, as competitive as it is, has room for more than one female lead. Don’t make the mistake of approaching your female colleagues from a perspective of scarcity.

• Are you in denial? Some successful women are reluctant to admit that playing field is not yet even. They figure that because they were able to make it, the obstacles really weren’t that daunting. Other women shouldn’t expect things to be better — after all, shouldn’t they suffered too?

• Or, are you a doer? Doers help other women to build strategic networks. They mentor other women. They do what they can to help other women to succeed.

As Madeleine Albright said, “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”

Stay away from there!

TAGS: critical mass, Elena Kagan, LinkedIn, U.S. Supreme Court

Every day it seems that social media is growing and changing — there are new sites to join, new privacy settings to deal with, new features to add and customize. It can all be pretty overwhelming. If you want to be active on social media but still have a life, here are some simple tips to follow. I’ll be sharing five tips this week and five tips next week.

1. Own your online brand. One of the main reasons social media is important is because people are Googling you. By having a few great social media profiles, you’ll have some control over your online image and what people can discover about you. Google yourself regularly to check on your progress.

2. Make sure people find you. Most people will look you up on Google because they’ve had some contact with you, so make sure to drive them to the best online information about you. Link to your professional LinkedIn profile in places like your email signature line, your business card and any place else you provide your contact information.

3. Choose your platforms wisely. If you don’t live and breathe social media, you probably don’t want to follow every new trend and join every new site that pops up. My recommendation for professionals is to focus your social media efforts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn is the essential professional directory — it’s like a business needing to be in the yellow pages. Facebook is the essential personal directory — the place to keep in touch with friends and family who can support your career efforts. And Twitter is essential for research.

Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…

TAGS: Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, social networking, Twitter

Dear Lindsey,

I’m an engineer at a leading tech company, and for the most part I love my job. At 29, I’m one of the younger people in the office. One of the most frustrating things for me is working with much older people who are a lot slower with new technologies — even my superiors who are in technical roles can’t work as quickly as the younger crew can.

And I don’t blame them — I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up in such a rapidly-changing field when I’m in my 60s. Still, it’s hard to watch (or wait for) them to figure something out that I could have done myself in half the time.

How do I show respect to my older, less tech-savvy coworkers without losing my mind?

Thanks,
Young and Speedy

Read my answer to this question on my new “Ask the Gen Y Expert” column at Excelle.com…

TAGS: Generation Y, managing generational differences, technology

Love her or hate her, you can’t deny that Joan Rivers has shown amazing staying power in the fickle world of show business. I was never a fan or Rivers or her comedy, but the new documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work got such good reviews that I thought I’d check it out.

I’m glad I did. The film was fascinating, funny and offered major insight into what it takes to survive for 50-plus years in Hollywood — one of the toughest career paths there is. Here are some of my takeaways:

Persevere, persevere, persevere. From tremendous career highs (substituting regularly for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show) to devastating lows (being blackballed by Carson when she left to host her own show, which ultimately failed), Rivers never, ever, ever, ever, ever gives up. I’m not sure many of us could handle the many rejections, public humiliations and personal and professional traumas Rivers has endured, but every time she faces a challenge she dusts herself off and gets right back to work.

Do what you love. Perhaps perseverance is easier when you love what you do for a living. According to Rivers, she knew her entire life that she wanted to be in show business, even describing it as a “calling.” While Rivers’ passion borders on compulsion, I was still inspired by her absolute love of performing, the deep effort she puts into it day after day and the sheer joy she feels on stage.

Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…

TAGS: career advice, Joan Rivers, Movies

As you can probably tell from reading my blog, I love lists. Top 10 These. Absolute 5 Thats. Well, I recently came across a fantastic list of 10 Everyday Super Foods, described by WebMD as “multitaskers,” such as nuts, blueberries and salmon, that are packed with multiple nutrients to help you stay healthy, promote wellness and weight control and taste good, too.

This got me thinking: What are the “Everyday Super Foods” for career success? What people, practices, tools and habits give you the biggest bang for your buck? Here is my list, and I hope you’ll share more “Career Super Foods” in the Comments.

1. Daily Goals. We often talk about annual goals or life goals, but successful people set — and achieve — small goals all the time (we sometimes call them priorities or to-do lists). Especially when you have a big goal — such as getting a new job, writing a book or launching a business — set small, daily goals that will keep you moving forward. Big goals are important, but small goals get the job done.

2. News. One of the most popular tips in my book, Getting from College to Career, is to read a newspaper every single day. Whether you read the headlines on your laptop, your phone, in an e-newsletter or a printed copy of the paper, it’s crucial that you keep up with world news, national news and the news of the particular industry you want to join. We live in the Information Age, so the most informed people are the ones who are most likely to succeed.

Read the rest of this post on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com…

TAGS: career advice, Job hunting, Job Search, Networking