All posts by Jessica Weinberger

3 Ways to Overcome the Communication Shortfall

By | Career Advice | No Comments

The newest entrants to the business world, the millennial generation, are most comfortable communicating through texts and social media channels. But in the business world, all professionals need to effectively communicate in person, beginning with interviewing and landing the job and on to managing the day-to-day grind.

Eighty-nine percent of employers say they want colleges to place more emphasis on oral and written communication to help address this gap, according to a study by the Association of American Colleges & Universities.

You can take steps now as a college student to use the opportunities available to you to ramp up your communication skills in preparation for your career. To overcome the communication shortfall, start by:

Learning proper etiquette

Communication isn’t only verbal. Employers look for candidates that actively listen and maintain eye contact through a conversation. Use your classes as a practice field for honing these important skills, and learn how to ask smart questions.

In our digital world, it’s crucial to craft professional emails and respond succinctly. You also need exposure to proper meeting etiquette. Shadow a business member in your local community and sit in on a group meeting. Watch how the participants engage with each other and respond to any issues that may arise.

Learning how to present

Proper presentation techniques can mean the difference between a worthwhile opportunity and a period of time that each member of the audience wishes they could get back. Intentionally prepare for each class presentation – know the material, speak slowly and focus on the audience – to set the foundation for future business presentations.

Take an intro class on how to develop PowerPoint or Prezi presentations for a corporate audience and also read up on tips for hosting online webinars and conference calls. New grads lack this type of business prowess, so you will differentiate yourself in the interviewing process and impress your new boss on day one.

Learning how to sell

One of the key ways to overcome the communication shortfall is to learn how to sell an idea, a project and most importantly, yourself. You bring skills and expertise to everything you do, and beginning with your interview, you need to learn how to showcase what you have to offer in order to succeed.

Engaging, dynamic professionals stand out in one-to-one conversations, as well as large industry events. Rehearse your elevator speech, learn something new every day and look to each interaction as an opportunity to clearly articulate the impact you can make. Selling takes confidence and beginning with your college experience, you can develop the selling skills that employers will notice.

How to Bridge the Gaps between College and the Real World

By | Career Advice | No Comments

The college experience gives students the opportunity to learn, explore and grow their minds and independence. And most college students believe that the skills they learn on campus are preparing them for the real world, but many employers disagree.

A study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) compared responses from employers and college students to questions related to career preparation, and in many key categories, college students appear to have missed the mark. While college students think they have the relevant skills to succeed after graduation, fewer than three in 10 employers think that college grads have the ability to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world settings. They also think that this group lacks critical thinking skills and written and oral communication skills.

So how can college students bridge the gap between college and the real world? Here are a few ways to start:

Gap #1: Hard knowledge vs. soft skills
Memorizing theories, concepts and equations may land you an “A” on your next exam, but just reciting hard facts won’t get you far on the job. Work to make connections in your classes that will help you apply the high-level knowledge you’re taking in every day, and focus on building the soft skills that so many grads lack. Push yourself to deliver a top notch presentation or take the lead on a group project. Those experiences will help you in the long run.

Gap #2: Study life vs. work life
Class, study, friends, sleep and repeat. That’s how most college students spend their four years on campus, but once you land your first job, your schedule will adjust to accommodate the nine-to-five grind along with the many adult responsibilities that come with it. To prepare yourself for this switch, look for ways to get valuable and relevant work experience while in college. You’ll get used to a more realistic work schedule, while also bolstering your resume.

Gap #3: Short-term goals vs. long-term vision
With your eyes focused on graduation, it can be easy to forget about the career that awaits you. Short-term goals will guide you through your final semesters, but you also need to start building the foundation for a long-term vision. It can be daunting to think of your life years down the road, but by outlining your long-term career vision, even in broad terms, you can focus your job search to the companies and positions that will get you where you want to be quicker than your peers.

By recognizing the gaps that exist between your college experience and the real world that lies just beyond graduation, you can focus on honing the skills that matter, both to your future employer and your future career.

Four Years: How to Make it Count

By | Career Advice | No Comments

From the first day of freshman year, eager college students choose their classes, major and more in anticipation of their final goal – graduation. But many students don’t look past the commencement ceremony to see the real world, which is not defined by term papers and final exams.

To make their college experience count, students need to focus not only on earning their diploma, but also setting the stage for a career when they transition from student to alumni. Here are five ways to make the most of this unique time:

Think long-term
College may be your main focus now, but there is life (and lots of it) post-college to plan for. Enjoy your once-in-a-lifetime college experience but make sure you devote time and energy into professional organizations and activities that will serve you long after your days on campus.

Build your resume
Just because you’re bogged down with a full course load doesn’t mean that you can’t start investing time into opportunities that will build out your resume. Internships are a must for any student, but you can also use volunteer work to gain invaluable experience that will set you apart in the job market.

Set goals now
It’s never too early to set short- and long-term career goals. Make sure they’re SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) and posted somewhere that you see every day. By understanding where you want to go in the next year, five years and ten years, you can make choices that best position you to reach your goals.

Make connections
Professional networking begins on the first day of class as you interact with other aspiring young professionals and faculty. Strike up thoughtful conversation where you share your career goals, and seek out professors with a business background that matches your interests. Build your network early, so you can also reap the benefits early.

Be resourceful
Colleges recognize the need to prepare students for a career after college, so most schools provide valuable support services to set you up for success. Take advantage of these free opportunities – such as resume reviews, etiquette dinners and interview coaching – to bolster your real-world skills prior to graduation.

By setting your eyes on your future career while simultaneously working toward your degree, your college experience will lead to more than just a paper diploma. Use these four years to learn and grow in these key areas, and you will build a solid foundation for a successful professional life.

College Senior: Set Goals, Learn to Sell to Succeed

By | Someone you should know | No Comments

University of Northern Iowa senior Ty Flood eagerly anticipates graduation this spring. With a degree in marketing, this Des Moines native credits his real world experience with Dardis for laying a foundation for a successful career post-college.

Ty shares his first-hand internship experience, encouraging other college students to “become comfortable with being uncomfortable” to grow and succeed in their careers.

Describe your experience with Dardis.
My internship with Dardis was hands-down one of the biggest learning experiences that I have ever had. The internship was challenging, but incredibly rewarding. Not only did I learn a lot about myself, but I had the opportunity to connect with many successful people in the Des Moines area.

What was one of the most important lessons you learned through the Dardis program?
One of the biggest lessons that the internship instilled in me is the importance of goal setting. There will be days where you hit the ground running, but there will be days when you don’t feel like a million bucks. Through setting goals, you will always have something to stride toward.

What kind of skills do you feel are most important for college students to learn through internships and volunteer work before graduation?
A skill that is critically important for any college student to learn is the ability to sell. No matter what walk of life that you travel down, you are going to have to sell yourself and your ideas to peers, leadership or customers. Every day, you are constantly selling your credibility.

What are your goals for the future? How has Dardis helped you work toward these short-term and long-term goals?
Currently, my short-term goal is to attain a full-time sales position before graduation. Through both the week-long seminar and the nine-week internship, I gained skills in oral, and written communication, as well as professional image and sales skills. This has been incredibly helpful in interviews. I received true business experience through this internship.

Ultimately, a long-term goal would be to start and run my own business. Dardis has prepared me for this by giving me a taste of what the entrepreneurial life is like by building a customer list and fulfilling their needs.

What advice do you have for other undergraduate students as they prepare for their careers?
Become comfortable with being uncomfortable. As a young professional, a lot of things are going to be new to us. Don’t shy away from these new things. Hunt them down and hit it head-on because that’s the only way that we can grow.

The Tools You Need to Succeed

By | Career Advice | No Comments

Standing out in today’s saturated job market represents a challenge for all undergrads. A college diploma is no longer enough to get you the job as hundreds of similarly-qualified young professionals compete for every entry-level job, sometimes even with experienced professionals looking for a new direction.

To ensure your resume lands on top, you need a combination of soft skills and experiential learning experiences – along with your college degree.

Soft Skills

As a college student, you likely spend most of your time hitting the books to learn facts and methodologies. But in the real world, book smarts won’t carry you through the Monday through Friday grind. Employers know this, which is why they look for well-rounded candidates that have honed their minds through college but have also focused on developing the soft skills that make a positive impact in the workplace.

Presentation skills, maintaining a professional image and following proper business etiquette are just a few of the soft skills that many college grads lack. Look for business clubs on campus that will help you develop these soft skills and seek opportunities within your regular course load to learn how to effectively work in teams and set goals – two other important soft skills.

Experiential Learning

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
– Aristotle

While research shows that the majority of learning comes through experience, our education system relies highly on instructor-led training in a formal setting to teach future professionals. There’s a significant missed opportunity for development that can only come from experiential learning – the process of making meaning from direct experience.

Combined with your college courses, you should be applying what you learn through internships, volunteer work and job shadowing. Explore different job fields and actually try your hand at different tasks. You can then leverage these experiences through your resume and interviews post-graduation.

By combining the knowledge you gain through your college education with a variety of soft skills and experiential learning experiences, you will have the real-world tools you need to land your first job and succeed throughout your career.

Photo credit: Sean Svadilfari via Flickr

12 Days of Christmas for College Students

By | Career Advice | No Comments

Christmas shopping, cookie baking and family events dominate the holiday season, but these prized weeks during December can also represent a break from the rigorous class, homework and work routine that college students must juggle each semester.

While students may feel tempted to stay glued to Netflix over Christmas break, they can make the most of this time by completing a simple activity each day to prepare them for the upcoming semester and their future careers.

On the first day of Christmas:
Set your short-term goals for the upcoming semester. Make sure they are SMART (specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and time-related).

On the second day of Christmas:
Create or update your LinkedIn profile to establish your social media presence and connect with colleagues, friends and family to expand your network.

On the third day of Christmas:
Research professional business organizations on campus or in your community and commit to attending the next meeting or event in the new year.

On the fourth day of Christmas:
Subscribe to a professional print or online publication that will expose you to new trends and thought leaders in the industry.

On the fifth day of Christmas:
Explore summer internship opportunities to gain real world experience and better yet, apply early and contact the company’s HR rep to show your interest.

On the sixth day of Christmas:
Identify a mentor through your network of family and friends that can guide you through your post-college job search and beyond.

On the seventh day of Christmas:
Complete an online personality or skills test to help you better understand your strengths and weaknesses in your personal life and in the workplace.

On the eighth day of Christmas:
Commit to a professional development opportunity like the Dardis Academy training simulation to give you a competitive advantage in the job market.

On the ninth day of Christmas:
Give back to your community and volunteer at a non-profit that you can stay connected to beyond the holiday season.

On the tenth day of Christmas:
Update your resume to include all of your relevant job experience and have a trusted business professional provide feedback on the format and content.

On the eleventh day of Christmas:
Establish three to five long-term career goals that you can work toward over the next five to ten years and post them in a prominent location in your dorm room or apartment.

On the twelfth day of Christmas:
As your first lesson in work-life balance, sit back and relax with a hot cup of cocoa – you’ve earned it!


Photo credit: Jamie McCaffrey via Flickr

What Are Employers Looking For Anyway?

By | Career Advice | No Comments

Young professionals entering the job market for the first time face the daunting task of proving to employers that they have the education, skills and potential to succeed at a position without the relevant work history.

So without a loaded resume to lean on, what are hiring managers looking for from young professionals and what will get you the job?

One LinkedIn researcher partnered with the organization Circumventure and surveyed 1,400 hiring managers from Fortune 500 countries to identify which skills and personality traits are most important when hiring young professionals. The results paint a telling picture about the importance of soft skills and the right attitude and mindset when entering the business world – all important components of the Dardis Academy training experience.

Skills

Based on the LinkedIn survey, hiring managers rank problem-solving (finding solutions when faced with challenges) and being a good learner (learning new skills quickly) as the most important skills they look for in hiring young professionals.

Most-important-skills

Personality Traits

The survey results also show that hiring managers look for young professionals that are collaborative, work hard and have a positive attitude.

Most-important-personality

The job you’re applying for will also impact the kind of skills and personality traits that you should share in an interview, as the research shows that the importance of specific skills and personality traits varies by the exact role they’re hiring for. Working toward a sales role? Focus on your oral communication skills and maintain a positive attitude. Hoping to land a marketing or public relations gig? Research shows that creativity, passion for the work and strong written communication are key.

Through Dardis Academy, students have the opportunity to learn the soft skills they need to achieve in the real world and actually apply their new skills in a six-week business simulation. When applying for their first job, Dardis Academy grads can describe to employers how the elite training experience taught them important professional communication skills and other important real-world business skills like preparing for and scheduling meetings, delivering business presentations, learning from audience evaluation and feedback and summarizing presentation takeaways.

To learn more about this opportunity to set yourself apart from the rest, click here.

Photo credit: bpsusf via Flickr

Adopting a Realistic Approach to Career Planning

By | The Dardis difference | No Comments

Deciding on a major and a future career can lead to sleepless nights and elevated stress levels for college students. College students need to quickly match their interests with a career path that they hope will make them happy and make choices with their time and finances that will impact them through their entire careers.

While following your heart and true passions  through this process can light a fire for a successful future, best-selling author and branding executive Dan Schawbel warns Millennials against adopting the mantra of “follow your passion’ as a career plan. Instead, he recommends that college students follow these realistic tips to developing and following a career plan:

Pick a career that matches your lifestyle.
Companies hire for “cultural fit,” so instead of applying for a thousand jobs hoping to get a few interviews, do your homework and zero in on the employers with the culture and the right amount of flexibility and benefits that work for you.

Carve out your own niche.
Clearly explain on your résumé, and during interviews, what makes you special. Be specific about what the company will gain from hiring you, depending on the types of roles you’re gunning for.

Experiment with several jobs and filter down.
Schawbel had eight internships before he graduated college. He learned about the type of company he wanted to work for, the size, and the job function—all of which helped him figure out what to do upon graduation.

Be realistic based on actual job prospects.
Think about which companies are hiring in which fields, and how your skills can fill those needs, if you want to pursue a long-term career that pays well. He recommends going to PayScale’s website to identify the salaries of jobs you’re interested in and Indeed.com to see what companies are actively hiring. Then apply for the jobs that match your skills.

“Your plan should be flexible. It will change, whether you like it or not, and you’ll need to adapt when that occurs.”
– Dan Schawbel

Schawbel’s recommendations for Millennials coincides with the Dardis mission to train students in professional communication, image and sales skills in order for them to be successful in their future careers. Through a six-week business simulation, students can apply their new professional skills while also participating in a networking event with organizations that are interested in recruiting and hiring Dardis graduates.

Click here to learn more about how Dardis can play a crucial role in your career plan.

Photo credit: Flazingo Photos via Flickr

College Students: How to Live in Today and Plan for Tomorrow

By | Classroom to Career | No Comments

From the moment incoming college freshman step onto campus, they enter a world where the expectations are higher. The social scene and comfort zone of high school life are long forgotten, and they must now soak in more information than ever before while laying the groundwork for a successful career post-college.

A U.S. Census report determined that 71 percent of the  19.7 million college undergraduates in the U.S. were working in 2011 and of that number, one in five undergrads were working at least 35 hours a week year-round. Combined with the pressure to have a once-in-a-lifetime college experience, students must quickly learn how to balance it all.

“When you know what you want, you realize that all there is left then is time management. You’ll manage your time to achieve your goals because you clearly know what you’re trying to achieve in your life.”
– Patch Adams

Here are five ways college students can strike a healthy balance between studying, friends and career planning:

  1. Prioritize: You will quickly learn that you can’t do it all, so list in order of importance the items that you need to complete on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Tackle the most important items first to ensure you produce your best quality work.
  2. Manage your calendar: If you didn’t learn this skill in high school, now is the time. Whether it’s a smartphone or a paper calendar, tracking your group meetings, sports practices and internship hours is crucial to staying organized now and in your future career.
  3. Take care of yourself: You’ll likely need to pull an all-nighter at least once, but overall, ensure you’re getting a full night of sleep and eating more than just take-out. When you feel your best, you’ll do your best at work and at school.
  4. Set goals: See your college experience as an opportunity to prepare for the real world in a controlled setting. Set specific and measurable short- and long-term goals, like completing Dardis’ professional training program.
  5. Indulge (within reason): All work and no play will lead to regrets after graduation. Take breaks from studying to cheer at the football game and get a few hours of extra sleep on the weekends, but always keep your focus on your goals for college and beyond.

Living in the present while planning for the future can be a daunting task for any student, but by balancing each aspect of the college experience, young business professionals will enter the real world with the tools they need to succeed.

Photo credit: CollegeDegrees360 via Flickr. 

Interns Reflect on Summer Success

By | Classroom to Career | No Comments

The 2014 Dardis Classroom to Career summer internship program came to a close earlier this month, but the impact of this real-world business experience will carry our interns through their entire careers. Many participants completed sales early on in the process and stretched that momentum through the summer. For others, they faced and overcame challenges to learn lessons they can apply in their first job and beyond.

Kendall Hendrix, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, attributes her offer for a full-time position with a financial services company after graduation to the Dardis Academy.

“Dardis was the sole reason this door was opened to me and is the reason I was able to further refine my interests and ambitions as a professional and narrow down what I want to do in my career,” she said.

She attributes her success to understanding that she’s not only selling clothing – ultimately, she was selling herself as an accomplished professional.  Kendall encourages other college students to seriously consider the Classroom to Career internship program regardless of their college major.

 “Aim high and don’t underestimate the doors this internship will open for you,” she said. “If you are putting your 100 percent best effort in every single day, you will see the results without fail.”

University of Northern Iowa junior Morgan Maiers considers her most successful sales experience with Dardis on a day that she actually made zero sales. While she had meetings set up, none ended in a sale, leaving her initially discouraged before she decided to search for other prospects on foot.

“I label this as a success because I could have easily given up at that point, but instead I pressed on and gained future prospects that I made sales to in the future,” Morgan said.

Brian Thompson, a senior at the University of Chicago, began his Dardis internship worried that he wouldn’t make any corporate or personal sales. But only a few weeks later, Brian was able to secure a meeting with a high-level executive at a software company. He had low expectations on his potential return, but to Brian’s surprise, the orders kept coming in, reaching 50 items for a total corporate sale worth $5,000.

“Sales is hard work, and I heard “no” a lot through the summer,” Brian said. “But I learned that every now and then, I will hear a “yes,” and that makes it all worthwhile.  Dardis helped teach me that I should never quit before the miracle.”

Congratulations to all of our 2014 Classroom to Career interns!
We are proud to have you a part of the Dardis family.

We would like to especially congratulation our top three overall sellers based on total sales. Together, they sold more than $35,000!

Cameron James, University of Iowa, Sophomore, Team Iowa: $15,655
Fran Campbell, University of Kansas, Graduate Student, Team Kansas: $10,940
Trevor Morlock, College of St. Scholastica, Junior, Team Minnesota: $8,603

2014 Top Sellers

Contact Dardis today to learn more. Contact Us