Open Letter to the Class of 2008

First off I wanna say congratulations on your accomplishment. This is a defining moment in your life, an achievement that not many people see to fruition, so congratulations on “Seeing it Through”. This post is mostly aimed at the college class but I do want to say to the high school class your lives are just beginning and anything is possible.

Now back to my focus, the college class. So this is an exciting time for you and take your time and enjoy the fruits of your labor. After that though well now its time for the real world, well at least for those of you that aren’t going to grad school. For those of you going to grad school we will talk in another two years but for those of you entering the workforce now there are some things you need to know.

At this point you will fall into either one of two categories: you have a job lined up or you don’t. For those of you that do have a job lined up, excellent now all you have to do is make the best of your opportunity. For those of you that don’t have a job lined up, no need to panic you just have to work a little harder is all. I know a lot of smart people that can’t get a job especially in their degree field. Is it because they are not smart enough or talented enough? Nope. The reason that a lot of them can’t get hired is because they have terrible interview skills. In the real world you will live and die by the interview. You have to know how to sell yourself to prospective employers, its something that if you don’t have you can learn. The first thing I suggest you do is pick up the latest copy of a book that I love, its called “Knock Em Dead: The Interviewer’s Handbook”. This is a book that I think every college student or anyone who is looking to nail an interview should read. The book is great and it gives you the little keys to success.

For the boys it tells you why you should only wear 100% wool suits and 100% cotton shirts. It will tell you why you NEVER wear black to an interview. The book talks about learning to control your body language and what it says about you. For the girls it talks about why you want to limit the amount of jewelry you wear on interviews and why its better to not wear any perfume at all.

Take it from someone who is not so far removed from where a lot of you are right now, preparation is the difference. In closing I just want to say never settle, follow your dreams. But be practical and there are multiple ways to get there. If you have to take a detour in a direction that is much less your interest but it allows you to build the foundation that you need to achieve your real goals then DO IT. Don’t let your pride get in the way, in the real world you will have real bills and real responsibilities and you have to do what’s necesarry even if its not what you really want. You will have to struggle some now to succeed in the end.

Well I just wanted to share some thoughts with you, hope they help and feel free to leave me any questions that you have, I will try my best to answer it. Thank you