Did you add education but fail to change your thinking?

Let’s talk about how education and change fit together.

I’ve mentioned my intern, Emily, in several posts:

1. An “A” on your resume does NOT mean you have an “A” quality resume! which was a post actually suggested by Emily as a real need for those people confused by what their campus teaches and why professional resume writers advise a totally different strategy, layout, wording, and process.
2. In Is the career fair worthwhile? I talk about Emily’s successes in a career fair and why I think it worked for her.

Should you change your appearance to move into the job you want?

Yesterday, I had my first solid session with Pattie, my new intern, who is also from Rasmussen College’s Intern program. Pattie and I were talking about college degrees and why they matter.

She startled me with the revelation that as she sees some of the students whose academics are stellar, (think 4.0), she has observed that those same students may not want to change the way they dress, look, or even grasp that they do have to change their appearance to move into the jobs in the career they studied in school.

She said that she sees many who are ready to graduate, have done great in school but are firm in their belief that what they look like doesn’t matter or that they see no reason to change their appearance to get a job.

Her comment was, “So they will graduate with a degree, be great students, but the degree will do them no good at all because they couldn’t get past a stumbling block.”

Are you clinging to status quo?

Perhaps the desire to work in the new field isn’t as great as keeping things status quo (the way they always were for you, not the new employer.) For a college degree to be helpful, it has to be relevant to the industry you are targeting, be desirable by employers, and you have to succeed as a student in the subject matter.

What Pattie was saying is that for some students, all of those are in place and yet it is the thinking of the students that creates the barrier. Whether 25 or 55, she said that some students can’t seem to realize that there is a standard to strive for in dress, hair, and appearance in general.

Think about this. This also applies to the person who didn’t have to worry about haircut, beard, dress, or perhaps even cleanliness in their last job. To succeed in landing your next position, you have to be ready to change your appearance and that may mean you need to change your thinking first.

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