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A student (we’ll call him Andy) came by my office last week to register for next fall’s classes. After we sorted out his schedule, he asked, "What should I be doing to prepare myself for work?"

Andy’s interested in working in financial advising or some related career after college, and we’d had this conversation once or twice in the past few months. We’ve talked about elective courses he might take or internship experiences he should pursue or books he should read. So I was a little puzzled by Andy’s question.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Are you asking about elective courses?"

"No," Andy said. "I mean what things can I be doing now to make sure I get a good job."

I smiled. You see, Andy is finishing his sophomore year. While he has more long-term focus than many other students, his short-term efforts–class participation, grades, that sort of thing–may make his long-term goals unreachable.

"Well," I began, "probably the best thing for you to do right now is excel in your classes."

He seemed disappointed by my answer but, frankly, it’s true. By doing well in school, you demonstrate your ability to:

• Show up
• Follow instructions
• Work with others
• Show competence in some basic areas of knowledge

And these are simply the things that earn you the right to talk to future employers. Getting a good job (however you understand it) takes a lot more than just doing well in school.

I often remind my students that they’re competing for jobs with candidates who are just as qualified as they are–or even more so. If you can’t distinguish yourself from the other 10 or 20 or 50 candidates, you’re going to have a hard time finding the job you want–or at least convincing potential employers that you’re the best hire.

This is what Seth Godin calls "being remarkable" and it applies to job seekers as well as businesses and organizations.

So, interestingly, students applying for Seth’s internship are not revealing their remarkable qualities. A resume isn’t enough:

Having a resume begs for you to go into that big machine that looks for relevant keywords, and begs for you to get a job as a cog in a giant machine. Just more fodder for the corporate behemoth. That might be fine for average folks looking for an average job, but is that what you deserve?

If you don’t have a resume, what do you have?

• How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
• Or a sophisticated project they can see or touch?
• Or a reputation that precedes you?
• Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?

Some say, "well, that’s fine, but I don’t have those."

Yeah, that’s my point. If you don’t have those, why do you think you are remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular? It sounds to me like if you don’t have those, you’ve been brainwashed into acting like you’re sort of ordinary.

Great jobs, world class jobs, jobs people kill for… those jobs don’t get filled by people emailing in resumes. Ever.

How will you distinguish yourself?

Filed under: Job Hunting by Michael