Make Sure Your First Job Provides Plenty of Training (and Fun)

College does not prepare you for your first job. Universities offer too many choices of majors. Students choose liberal arts degrees because they don't have the slightest clue what they want to do with their lives. Parents push their kids to do what they love rather than pushing them to be doctors, lawyers, or business executives like they did in the old days.

You can blame whomever you want, but that's not the point. The point is that an undergraduate degree today is worth about as much as a high school degree was 30 years ago. College is a place to make friends, grow up, and learn how to get work done without someone watching over you.
College does not teach us the ins and outs of the industry where we land our first job, and it certainly doesn't teach us other real-world lessons like how to play office politics, or how to handle being ridiculously busy one week and completely bored the next. Entry level workers are just not as prepared for the real world as they need to be.

But there is a solution. It's called training–lots and lots of training. In fact, if companies want to get real buy-in from their new hires, they should be prepared to provide so much training and mentoring that their entry level workers feel like their first job is really corporate grad school. I recently discovered a company who gets it, and amazingly, they're in my backyard.

Epic Systems of Madison, Wisconsin has taken training to a whole new level. A friend of mine started working there a month ago. She's basically still in college for the next six months – except, it's college with a purpose.

She goes to work every day and takes classes with the other people in her on-boarding group. They have assigned mentors, they do training programs, they listen to experienced employees teach them about the "Epic way," they do daily assignments, they watch funny You Tube clips after lunch, and they even have to pass tests.

The college atmosphere goes beyond office hours. The majority of new hires at Epic are young, and they almost always end up becoming friends with each other. They go to Epic parties; Epic events, and they hang out with each other on the weekends. Everyone I've talked to loves it because it's the perfect transition from college to the real world.

It may sound silly to older employees, but Gen Y grads aren't ready to graduate to a quick 3 days of basic job training, and then a 9 to 5 every day in front of a computer. We're looking for a learning atmosphere at work and social opportunities outside of work. Epic has figured out a way to successfully engage Generation Y by understanding the major disconnect between our generation and corporate America – we're not fully prepared for the real world.

And it's not just me who thinks Epic knows what they are doing. The majority of its employees were hired directly out of college, and they now accept only 2% of the 40,000 to 50,000 applications they receive every year. They were founded with an investment of $70,000 in 1979 and are now a privately held company valued at $1.2 billion. Sure, those numbers are good, but when you consider this is a company located outside of a small Wisconsin city, and they heavily recruit from out of state; those numbers are amazing.

Epic knows that traditional schooling is no longer enough, and they've taken the responsibility to prepare their employees for life in the real world – both personally and professionally. Hopefully other companies will start taking notes.

10 Tips for Successfully Managing Online Communities

When I first became the community manager at Brazen Careerist, I was less than enthused. Nobody could tell me exactly what the title meant, exactly what the job was, and so I had no idea where to start.

Five months later, the work has become the reason I get up in the morning. And the reason I keep working late at night. I also feel confident explaining what I can do for a startup in one word—bridge.

When companies, especially startups, get caught up in the hustle of post-funding mayhem, a sturdy bridge is what will keep you aligned with your loyal, pre-funding customers. And those loyal customers are important when you're community building. It's a messy and erratic job, but somebody's gotta do it.

And while some companies think that community managers are pointless, there's enough buzz about the position to make a few tips for success worth reading about.

1. Be a social media ninja.

Last week at SummerMash Austin, Dan Healy, our new sales guy, got a first-hand look at why being up on social media is so important. People don't just wear nametags with their name on them anymore. They sport their Twitter I.D. as well.

While Twitter may be the hottest new thing among social media elite, young and old, the rest are just as important to know and understand if you want to be a great online community manager. Equip yourself on a variety of fronts and you'll optimize how connected you and your community can be.

So LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace are just as important … okay, not MySpace.

2. Never turn down a cup of coffee.

Spending an hour of your day at a coffee shop with one person may be a waste of time for some people, but community managers need to learn to embrace it. I've gained some of my most valuable connections this way.

As a community manager, it's your job to learn to embrace the individual because there's not just one kind of customer in most online communities. Spend time with 1-2 people individually every week and you'll see what I mean.

3. Don't wait for people to come to you.

Some of your most valuable community members can easily go unnoticed if you let them keep quiet. Statistically speaking, about 25% of your community is going to be naturally introverted and slower to join the conversation, even virtually. It takes a little push to get some people engaged, but then they can't stop engaging.

It's your job to identify these members and find a way to get them more involved. Offer them help, or just encourage them from the sidelines. Don't be pushy, but don't be afraid to push either. There's a difference, and it's likely different for different people, too.

4. Know your community's goals.

While you're busy "embracing the individual," start embracing their goals too. Find out what they're looking to get out of branding themselves online, and use that information to help them achieve it.

Goals can range from starting a successful business to just expressing themselves as individuals. However lofty their goals may be, there's always something you can do to help them out.

5. Have an eye for potential.

It's quite likely that there will be members of your community without a clear goal or direction in mind, but with obvious potential for something bigger. And it's your job to figure out what that something is.

Recognizing potential is almost natural if you're accustomed to seeing the best in people right away. And if you have lots of A-team players in your life, you can probably identify high potential even in the youngest members of your community. Regardless it takes a little work, but the rewards can be unexpectedly huge.

6. Find a way to personally connect.

Maybe you both have a dog, or maybe you share similar alma maters, or maybe you just both enjoy watching some hit T.V. show.

Whatever the case, it's your job to find these commonalities. They're a golden opportunity to connect on a personal level. And it shows people that you don't see them as just another member of the community.

7. Display your genuine personality.

The problem with working in a business environment is that we all tend to act a little synthetic from time to time. But the one thing your community doesn't need is more corporate jargon. Show them your authentic, softer side instead.

Whether it's for a personal or professional purpose, communities are supposed to be fun, first. And community leaders are responsible for setting the tone so that goal is met for everyone.

8. Speak up for the community.

You're the spokesperson for your community. You're responsible for speaking up to the business side of your company on their behalf, even if you end up feeling like the lone wolf, or just the boy crying wolf.

Don't be afraid to bang heads and stir things up. At the end of the day, it's what you're being paid to do. And being the lone wolf is kind of cool anyway.

9. Take it offline.

Tonight we're hosting our first, fully-sponsored Brazen Careerist event in Washington D.C. and we're all extremely excited. Having the opportunity to meet a room full of people that you've been working with online for months gives me goose bumps.

Community managers should make an offline community presence one of their top priorities. And don't be afraid to think big either. Think Mashable big. The less you limit yourself, the more you'll realize is possible as your community matures.

10. Preserve the belief that you are helping people every day.

I should have made this #1, because if you can't believe that what you're doing makes a difference in people's lives, you shouldn't be doing it.

Traditionally, how we're valued in the workplace stems from quantifiable results. But a community manager's results aren't always quantifiable, and that's frustrating.

Keep your self-esteem high by reminding yourself that there would be a lot more problems if you weren't around. You help people with problems that can't be anticipated always, or even predicted, and it makes a difference.

My best days are when I receive genuine thanks from a person in my community regarding something I did that they thought I didn't have to. And even though I knew I did have to, it means a lot knowing that it made a difference.

7 Reasons Why You Won't be Getting a Raise this Year and What You Can Do About it

In the grand scheme of things a big raise won't make much difference in your life, but we'll all keep chasing it anyway. Maybe it's the big number, maybe it's the increased value that society places on us when we make a lot of money, or maybe we all just want more stuff. Whatever it is, everyone's gunning for that big raise. Unfortunately, most of us won't be getting anything more than the standard 3 to 6% Cost of Living Adjustment anytime soon. Here are a few reasons you won't be getting a raise this year, and some ideas for how you can fight back.

You Don't deserve it
Of course you want a big raise, but maybe you just don't deserve one. Did you go above and beyond? Did you schmooze with all the big shots at your office? Did you find a unique way to make a good name for yourself in your company?

Take a good look at what you did this year and honestly ask yourself if you deserve a raise. I didn't deserve one my first year out of school and I didn't get one. But I was fine with it because I worked my ass off in other areas. Work wasn't priority number one for me, so giving me a raise probably wasn't priority number one for my old company.

You Deserve it, but you're too young
Maybe you do deserve a raise. You tackled new projects, you started a company social committee, you made as many great contacts as you possibly could and you even asked for a raise, but you still didn't get one. Don't worry, the corporate world is a little behind the times. A couple of years with a company might seem like a lifetime to you, but to the old folks in the corner office, it's just a blip on the radar. Sometimes, you have no chance of getting a raise when you're 24–you're basically chasing your own tail trying to do everything right for little payoff. If you determine that this really is the case, you may want to reevaluate your career and your current company.

You didn't ask for one
This one is pretty obvious. Or so you would think. If you don't ask for a raise, you're not going to get one. As nice as it would be, there is no one sitting around watching out for you or your career. No one will tell the boss to give you an extra ten grand, you have to ask. Create a list ofeverything you accomplished this year, talk about the numbers you hit, the deliverables you produced and milestones you surpassed. When review time comes around, bring the list to your boss and tell him you want a raise.

If that doesn't work, put your resume online, get a couple job offers, and bring the offers back to your boss. He won't be so quick to brush off your request if he knows you have somewhere else to go.

You worked too hard
Working hard is not equal to working smart. Working hard is burying your head in a stack of papers and spending day after day pounding away on your keyboard. Working hard is coming to work an hour early and leaving an hour late, every day.

You can do these things. You can work really hard and still not get a raise because you got so lost in making sure your "work" was done that you forgot to do the right kind of work.

You didn't do the right kind of work
The right kind of work may not always feel like work and it definitely won't feel like the most "productive" thing you can do, but it pays off in the end. The right kind of work is putting aside your daily to-do list for an hour and strategizing with the boss after lunch instead. It's blowing off a night with your friends or significant other to go to the quarterly get-together and network with company big shots. And it's syncing your schedule with your boss's, so you come in when he's in and leave after he's gone.

Doing the right kind of work makes you a visible and valued asset, and it puts you in the position where you can ask your boss for a raise because you have invested time and energy into forming a solid relationship with her.

You got comfortable
It's easy to get comfortable at your job. When you do a certain job long enough, you learn the ins and outs. And more importantly you learn the shortcuts. What once took you half a day, now takes an hour.

When you get to that point, it's very easy to get comfortable. But the people who make the real money and get the big raises, don't settle for comfortable. Overachievers don't feel comfortable feeling comfortable. You can only learn and grow when you challenge yourself, and you can only get a big raise after you learn and grow into the new position and higher salary you're chasing. If you're comfortable being comfortable, don't bank on that big raise.

Your boss sucks (and you didn't do anything about it)
To get a big raise you have to make people like and respect you, but you also have to produce great work. But it's nearly impossible to produce great work if your supervisor doesn't provide you with great direction.

Let's face it, a lot of bosses just aren't good. It's not necessarily their fault that they were promoted to manager without the skills to manage well. We're all stuck in a system that often promotes based on "experience" rather than competence or managerial skills.

So, if your boss sucks, do something about it. Find the person in the office who is best at playing office politics. Take a look around at who can usually be found sitting at their desk, and who can be found hanging out just talking with others. The person who's chatting the day away probably has the most influence outside of his direct reports, so he's the guy to talk to.

What you're after here is a mentor, someone who actually wants to help you grow. After you find the right one and develop a solid relationship, tell him why you deserve a raise and why you'd rather not go to your boss with the request. He can help you find all the reasons why you should, and shouldn't, get that raise–and help you make real progress in your career.

If all else fails, there is always one final way to get a raise. Find a new job! If you're young and you have the skills that employers are looking for, there's a good chance you can get a significant raise by going to another company.

The trick is to start laying the groundwork for a potential exit before it's too late. Put your resume on the right sites, start blogging about the field you love to work in, and connect with the right people. When you find yourself in a bad position, you'll have the network in place to jump ship at the right time and start working for the right company, at the right price.

How I Cleared My First Career Roadblock

"Bill. Sit down! Bill. Sit down! OK, don't."

"Susan! Sit down! Sit down!"

This was my lesson in leadership. First hand, in front of a group of 15 experienced managers, executives, artists and actors, my task was to command them to sit down. They weren't allowed to sit until they believed me.

I was at TAI in New York City attending a course called Communicating with Power and Presence. Originally started as a training studio for actors, TAI now uses acting principles to train business people to be more visionary thinkers and more effective leaders.

My goals were a little different. I wanted to learn how to command a room. I needed this skill: I'd become a public speaker. My speeches were about managing, recruiting and retaining Generation Y, so the audiences I presented to were much older than me. It was totally rewarding, but it was also completely intimidating.

I was in an interesting position because my speeches consisted of me standing in front of an experienced audience, and more or less telling them how to do their jobs. The only way for an audience to take me seriously was for me to command their attention and respect, and actually connect with each audience member – not necessarily an easy thing for a 24 year old to do.

So, after listening to Penelope Trunk rave about the course for months, I finally took the plunge and found myself at TAI, learning how to command a room and connect–by standing in front of a room full of people at least ten years older than me and commanding them to sit down.

Nobody sat.

Elise, our instructor and a former actor, told me to follow her lead. She punched the air. She screamed at the top of her lungs. And she stomped her feet.

I laughed and shook my head. But eventually, I followed her lead. I punched, I screamed and I stomped.

Then something clicked.

I pointed at Bill.

"Bill, sit down!"

He sat.

I turned left. "Susan, sit down!"

She sat.

One by one, I went through the entire room, truly connecting with each person and forcefully, but politely asking everyone to sit, until no one was left standing. Then, I gathered myself and said,

"Stand up!"

The entire audience stood.

I thanked them, and returned to my seat.

My heart was beating out of my chest. I felt completely ridiculous. But I also felt powerful. I felt like I had finally come full circle. In many ways, I finally felt like I was an adult.

As the course went on, I learned a lot about myself and a lot about other people. I watched each person go to the front of the room hesitant and nervous, only to sit down 45 minutes later with satisfied grins on their faces.

I learned that anyone can overcome what once seemed impossible. As I watched Bill, a 50 year old man, nearly break down in tears of happiness, joy, or maybe just relief, after slowly reciting his speech and connecting with every person in the room, I learned that anyone, at any age, can overcome what stands in their way.

At this particular point in my career, connecting with an audience was what stood in my way. The Communicating with Power and Presence course was my first step toward developing myself as a public speaker and a leader. As my life and my career go forward there will be other roadblocks and setbacks. But now I know there is always some way to clear these obstacles. The trick is to be proactive about it.

Whether its by taking a course at TAI, finding a mentor, or going on an extended vacation, figure out what's holding you back, and do something about it. Life's too short and there are too many resources at your fingertips to let anything stand in your way.

Forget About Generation Y: We're All to Blame for Workplace Woes

I've been blogging about generational differences for over a year now. But with all the back and forth, constant banter, and little resolution, it feels more like ten years.

It feels like everyone is saying the same stuff over and over. Boomers and X'ers complain about Generation Y, and then Generation Y complains about everybody else. But really, we should all just be complaining about ourselves together.

We all have a lot of similar traits that make the workplace really suck sometimes. But for some reason we're so distracted by the minor differences between us that we forget how we're all a pain in the ass sometimes.

Generations aside, here are three things that will always remain the same:

We all have unrealistic expectations of each other.

Does Generation Y have unrealistic expectations when it comes to our first jobs? Absolutely, but who can blame us?

When it comes to education, I can't remember one professor who taught me the ins and outs of entry-level living. And parents, well, let's face it. It was a much different world when then got out of school than it is today.

So while Gen Y needs to get a grip on what it means to be at the bottom of the food chain, managers need to re-evaluate what they expect their young workers to be in tune with. It seems pretty logical to me that we won't know everything.

We're all a little stubborn at first.

My first real project was facilitating groups of senior management on a new operating model being released to the company. Nobody wanted to change and there was a lot of resistance.

"Why do we need to change now?" they'd ask.

Everyone left grumbling about all the work they'd now have to do, explaining this system to their employees. I didn't hear from any of them for weeks.

Then a couple weeks later people starting calling for materials to hand out to their employees. It started to make sense that no matter how much they fought, the company was still making a change.

I think the same is going to happen with the rift between Generation Y and the rest of the workforce. Only it will happen a lot slower. Change is a dirtier process when it occurs from the bottom up.

But just wait until you catch your boss texting and loving it. They're already sending emails via Blackberry, which is really not that different.

We're all whiners.

The older I get, the more I realize that we are all just a bunch of whiners. And by we I don't mean Generation Y. I mean we as in everybody.

For over a year now I've listened to older generations hate on Generation Y, then Generation Y hate back. Even I threw my own two cents into the blogosphere, adding some fuel to the on-going fire of generational conflict.

The sooner we come to terms with the fact that we all have something worth complaining about, the sooner we can cooperate using the only method that's ever kept the majority happy—give and take.

I'm hoping as more Gen Ys mature and become accustomed to the realities of the workplace, it'll be easier for us all to grasp that we all have problems, regardless of our generation.

But even then, Gen Next will enter the working world, bringing more grief for the rest of us who are corporately over the hill. So let the cycle continue, I guess. Just don't let me become the guy who calls all those young employees selfish and entitled. Let me be the cool boss, please.