Young People Need To Approach Employment Like Olympians

The next Olympics are in Rio: 4 years away. Now, if you're a parent of a teenager, I have a question for you. If an athlete intends competing for a medal at the next Olympics, when should that athlete begin training? He should have started already, right? When he stands on the rostrum having a medal hung round his neck, it's the result of 4 years preparation. He doesn't wait until the opening ceremony is only a week away and then decide he'd better make a start; not if he wants to be in the medals he doesn't. Yet this is exactly how most young people approach the challenge of employment. They concentrate all their efforts on working for a qualification, whatever that happens to be, and then they say to themselves, €Right. I guess I'd better look for a job.€ That's in August when tens of thousands of other people their age are all sending out applications to the same employers for the same vacancies. The employers are inundated. The result is that most applicants don't even receive the courtesy of a reply let alone an invitation to interview. When a young person's first experience of the workplace is rejection after rejection after rejection, it's more than discouraging. It's heart breaking. My heart bleeds for them.
But what if you're the Mum or the Dad of one of these youngsters? You were so proud of her when her results were announced. You know how hard she worked. She deserved it. She doesn't deserve this though. How are you feeling? If it were me, I'd be worried sick. If it were me I'd feel embarrassed every time one of my friends asked me, €How's Lauren getting on?€ If it were me I'd be wondering how she's ever going to pay off her student debt, how she's ever going to get on the housing ladder. What if she ends up living with us €til she's 35? Have you seen the state of her bedroom? Should we offer her a financial leg up? What if we're in no position to do so? Even if we are, what's the implication for our pension fund if we do? My heart bleeds for you as well.
But what if this were to happen instead? Lauren is revising for her final exams (whatever those are). Suddenly, the phone rings and the conversation goes like this,
€Hi. Am I speaking to Lauren? Good. This is Nigel Johnson speaking. (She knows Nigel Johnson by the way). Now listen carefully, Lauren. In about 8 week's time, we're creating a new position in our research and development team. We don't intend to advertise the position which is why I thought of you. We consider you to be the ideal candidate. There will be a few formalities of course but, subject to a satisfactory interview, the job's yours if you want it.€
How would you feel if your youngster told you that she's had a job offer and she hasn't even sat her finals yet; and she didn't even have to apply for the position? Very proud I should imagine; and so you should be. But there are two things you have to understand.
1. Well over 50% of jobs are never advertised.
2. Phone calls like this are not made randomly. The employer must have known Lauren for some considerable time. They got to know one another a long time before either of them was in any position to offer one another anything. She wasn't qualified and he didn't have a vacancy.
It's like the Olympic athlete. Lauren had a strategy in place for developing her contacts in the job market and she began putting that strategy into action several years before she needed a job. That's what you do when you want to be in the medals, at Rio or in the job market.