I have been seeing more press coverage about “adult internships” lately. These refer to experienced professionals who take on a short-term project for little or no pay. Sometimes, these adult internships are for career changers to break into a new target sector, but sometimes experienced, unemployed professionals use internships to get a foot in the door at a new company in their same sector.
I have been seeing more press coverage about “adult internships” lately. These refer to experienced professionals who take on a short-term project for little or no pay. Sometimes, these adult internships are for career changers to break into a new target sector, but sometimes experienced, unemployed professionals use internships to get a foot in the door at a new company in their same sector.
I don’t recommend targeting these adult internships or offering free work to employers, whether projects or days on the job. However, savvy, proactive jobseekers absolutely work for free, just not for specific employers.
You are not paid for your job search efforts. A proactive job search takes 20-40 hours per week, and the payoff is not guaranteed. In this way, you are working for free – for yourself and the betterment of your career. The best jobseekers view their job search as their job, not activities to be fit in, somewhere between working out and Oprah.
In a proactive job search, your follow-up with prospective employers should be thoroughly researched and positioned to their pain points. In this way, you are giving specific prospects free consulting with the intelligent questions that you ask and the ideas and recommendations in your follow-up. However, you are careful not to give away too much, and the work that you do even if it is tailored to one prospect is helpful in your research and pitch to other prospects. So it’s free work still for yourself and the betterment of your career.
In job search and career management overall, regular and systematic networking is critical. This is the work that you do outside your day-to-day job to expand and deepen relationships, cultivate mentorships and stay connected to professional groups and associations. Again, you do not get paid for this, and it is work to dedicate time and resources to your network, but the payoff is for you and your career.
Is Your Job Search Flexible or Just Unfocused?
As a recruiter, I’ve seen lack of flexibility on the recruiting side with employers clinging to every last detail in their ideal spec while perfectly good candidates get overlooked. As a career coach, I see jobseekers prematurely dismissing possible targets waiting for that perfect job. It’s true that you want to be focused in your job search (otherwise you dilute your efforts and come across as scattered and possibly desperate).
5 Questions to Test If Your Resume Is Recruiter-Proof
After recruiting in search and in-house for over ten years, I have read thousands of resumes. Due to sheer volume of resumes received and all the other things that vie for the recruiter’s attention in the hiring process – scheduling, interviewing, networking, reference checks, client debriefs, and more – the resume review process is ruthlessly quick.
Why Conventional Wisdom On Work Flexibility Is Always Wrong
In a previous post, I wrote about why employment statistics are always wrong. In a similar way, conventional wisdom on work flexibility is always wrong. It is impossible to generalize something that is inherently case-by-individual case. Therefore, any boilerplate advice or conventional wisdom is bound to omit a key consideration, underweight or overemphasize other considerations, or take too long-term or short-term of a view.
