Transitions

I went to my oldest son's graduation at Purdue over the weekend. It's hard to believe that he is already finished with college and is ready to enter his next phase of life. At the ceremony there were no protests, no alternate venues or controversy of any kind. But there was a lot of talk of near term discouragement. Over and over we heard that this was the toughest climate for new graduates to enter the job market since the Great Depression. I have no ideas of percentages, but none of my son's friends have been able to secure jobs as of yet. When companies have the choice of hiring new graduates or people that are currently out of work with 5-7 years experience, why would they choose the "newbie"?

As a dad, I'm trying to encourage him to take a long-term perspective and realize the current economy will not stay so dismal forever. And yet, he's facing the same reality that many companies (including my own Insight2) is facing, in that he has to somehow survive the near term to be there in the long term.

Something we're both learning in this interim phase is the importance of taking a non-traditional approach to the future. He went through numerous university sponsored interviews, taking many of them to the second and third levels. But ultimately to no success. Likewise, I've found that the way I've used to sell business is not effective in this climate. Now that he is out of school, I've been pointing him toward my network trying to surface opportunities. In just a week, I've been able to get him as many interested interviews as he was able to get through the university in a semester. From a business standpoint, I can't sell what I've been selling in the way it used to work. I'm having to really open my eyes to new networks to see where the opportunities lie. And I'm having to adjust what I sell to meet the needs of my new clientele.

This is a tough transition for my son. It's been a tough transition for many US companies. But those that survive it will come out of it with a whole new perspective, a leaner approach and a true appreciation for innovative approaches to doing business... or to finding jobs.