An article appeared online within the Wall Street Journal this morning entitled, Reverse Mentoring Cracks Workplace: Top Managers Get Advice on Social Media, Workplace Issues From Young Workers by Leslie Kwoh. The link is here.
Three reputable companies, General Electric, Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard, have all been successful in implementation of a Reverse Mentoring program. Jack Welch from GE championed such an initiative a decade ago by pairing senior level managers with emerging professionals to learn how to surf the web. In today’s programs, these managers are learning about Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and more.
Why not have this here? In Lansing, we have a huge transient population of frustrated college graduates. It’s easy to find job postings, however each and every single one of local businesses either expects them to have extensive volunteer or “unpaid internship” experience in lieu of 3-5 years of experience in their respective field. Rather than chasing away our young, emerging professionals, why doesn’t Lansing step up to the plate and start some reverse mentoring of its own?
Imagine a Lansing that wants to retain these college graduates. Just because somebody may be studying Human Resources, don’t discount their knowledge of social media. Perhaps you could start a young professional out in a mentoring program to teach some of the more experienced marketing managers how to effectively use Twitter, Facebook and Linked In. Let’s say after a one year reverse mentoring program, the company then turns around and mentors that young professional for a year.
Can you see Blue Cross Blue Shield, Sparrow Health System and more jumping on this bandwagon? This would really benefit companies and emerging professionals alike. It builds a professional relationship and creates a commonality and purpose for both to exceed expectations.
Can you imagine that Lansing would be competitive within our state? Rather than having an out flux of our talented graduates migrating to Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor, what if the new desire was to remain right here in the Greater Lansing area?
Let’s do this Lansing!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Business Dilemma on Hiring
The sad fact is that only cyclical unemployment is honed in on. What is scary is the fact that “discouraged” workers are not factored into our economic figures. What truly defines a “discouraged” worker after all? Is it simply a person that has exhausted their unemployment benefits, yet still is looking for work? If so, our unemployment numbers would be higher than currently recorded. Is our economy really improving or are more unemployed people falling off the radar since they are no longer considered to be within the cyclical unemployed and now considered to be “discouraged” and not part of the numbers? Keeping this in mind, what is holding back our local businesses from hiring?
Overhead costs, trimming the fat and trying to do more with less has been the way of Lansing businesses over the past several years. Downsizing and layoffs have become a normal business practice. Major cuts are typically made within the Human Resources Departments and result in reduced or elimination of training and development programs. While we are seeing an improvement within our economy, businesses are still functioning within the survival mode and waiting for more signs of the economic recovery before they start hiring.
Often times, businesses want to ensure that they are hiring candidates that are not going to require training. They desire people who have their college degrees and at least three to five years of experience within their respective field. In theory, this will prove beneficial to the company because they don’t have to worry about teaching a new candidate their job duties. This helps to “preserve” training dollars and the overall bottom line for the company while in survival mode.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have more experienced workers with years of experience on top of their degrees. I would welcome anyone within the Lansing Community to attend one of the Lansing Go Getters networking meetings on any given Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM within Capital Area Michigan Works! These talented professionals have been networking, taking classes, participating in Shifting Gears through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), networking and more. Yet, because of their many years of experience and partly because of their age, these folks are finding it extremely challenging to find a career here within the Lansing community. Perhaps its due to the fact that these companies do not want to spend out more for such highly skilled employees, thereby preserving their bottom line while still operating in survival mode.
The survival mode is not helping the sluggish economy and it’s time for companies to step outside of their comfort zone. It is time to move from beyond talking about creating jobs and actually stepping up to do something about it. While many jobs are being posted and there are several qualified applicants, the business community needs to lower the bar for hiring. I’m not suggesting that they decide not to hire a college graduate, but start being more flexible on the experience end. If you truly desire a person with more than seven years of experience, don’t dismiss a person that has fifteen or more.
Lansing can rebound into a thriving, competitive market. We as a community need to band together and start making things happen rather than just sitting on our hands waiting for the economy to rebound. It will never rebound if there is no action taken by our business community. I would like to challenge that every single business in Lansing hire one college graduate, one veteran and one older unemployed professional. That’s three jobs – one entry-level, one mid to senior level and another senior level. Imagine how many of our unemployed people we could get back into careers if every business in Lansing hired three people.
Overhead costs, trimming the fat and trying to do more with less has been the way of Lansing businesses over the past several years. Downsizing and layoffs have become a normal business practice. Major cuts are typically made within the Human Resources Departments and result in reduced or elimination of training and development programs. While we are seeing an improvement within our economy, businesses are still functioning within the survival mode and waiting for more signs of the economic recovery before they start hiring.
Often times, businesses want to ensure that they are hiring candidates that are not going to require training. They desire people who have their college degrees and at least three to five years of experience within their respective field. In theory, this will prove beneficial to the company because they don’t have to worry about teaching a new candidate their job duties. This helps to “preserve” training dollars and the overall bottom line for the company while in survival mode.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have more experienced workers with years of experience on top of their degrees. I would welcome anyone within the Lansing Community to attend one of the Lansing Go Getters networking meetings on any given Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM within Capital Area Michigan Works! These talented professionals have been networking, taking classes, participating in Shifting Gears through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), networking and more. Yet, because of their many years of experience and partly because of their age, these folks are finding it extremely challenging to find a career here within the Lansing community. Perhaps its due to the fact that these companies do not want to spend out more for such highly skilled employees, thereby preserving their bottom line while still operating in survival mode.
The survival mode is not helping the sluggish economy and it’s time for companies to step outside of their comfort zone. It is time to move from beyond talking about creating jobs and actually stepping up to do something about it. While many jobs are being posted and there are several qualified applicants, the business community needs to lower the bar for hiring. I’m not suggesting that they decide not to hire a college graduate, but start being more flexible on the experience end. If you truly desire a person with more than seven years of experience, don’t dismiss a person that has fifteen or more.
Lansing can rebound into a thriving, competitive market. We as a community need to band together and start making things happen rather than just sitting on our hands waiting for the economy to rebound. It will never rebound if there is no action taken by our business community. I would like to challenge that every single business in Lansing hire one college graduate, one veteran and one older unemployed professional. That’s three jobs – one entry-level, one mid to senior level and another senior level. Imagine how many of our unemployed people we could get back into careers if every business in Lansing hired three people.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Non-Traditional Students Dilemma
Imagine walking in the shoes of a single mother who has decided to return to college so she can have a better life for herself and children. As she pursues her education on top of her full time job and tries to balance her kid’s activities, she realizes that all of the jobs that are being posted here in the Greater Lansing area require you to have 3-5 years of experience. When she attends networking events to inquire on how to gain this experience, she has prominent business leaders tell her to do unpaid internships. How can she successfully do unpaid internships and afford shelter, food and clothing for herself and kids?
For far too long, Lansing businesses have cried out that there are not enough skilled workers to fill their highly skilled jobs. An increasing number of non-traditional college students have realized that in order to get ahead in life, they need their college degree in order to get ahead in life. These students take on college classes in addition to a full time job and family obligations.
Programs like Keep Learning… Our Future Depends on It emphasizes the true importance of getting a college education. We see their bright yellow advertisements within the Greater Lansing Business Monthly and even see them on the news stations. It’s apparent that lifelong learning and obtaining these vital educational degrees is essential for career success.
What has happened though is that while more non-traditional students are attending college, businesses are caught in the mind-set that all college students are very young adults who are attending and living on campus of Michigan State University. In the eyes of business professionals, these college students have no “real-world” experience. They encourage college students to volunteer and do unpaid internships.
The non-traditional college students are now facing a huge dilemma – either give up working and supporting their family to “invest” in their futures or not accept unpaid internships and be at a huge disadvantage among future employers. Rather than looking into the non-traditional college students’ backgrounds and work experience, companies in our area discount the transferable skills and expect them to “invest” in their future.
For far too long, Lansing businesses have cried out that there are not enough skilled workers to fill their highly skilled jobs. An increasing number of non-traditional college students have realized that in order to get ahead in life, they need their college degree in order to get ahead in life. These students take on college classes in addition to a full time job and family obligations.
Programs like Keep Learning… Our Future Depends on It emphasizes the true importance of getting a college education. We see their bright yellow advertisements within the Greater Lansing Business Monthly and even see them on the news stations. It’s apparent that lifelong learning and obtaining these vital educational degrees is essential for career success.
What has happened though is that while more non-traditional students are attending college, businesses are caught in the mind-set that all college students are very young adults who are attending and living on campus of Michigan State University. In the eyes of business professionals, these college students have no “real-world” experience. They encourage college students to volunteer and do unpaid internships.
The non-traditional college students are now facing a huge dilemma – either give up working and supporting their family to “invest” in their futures or not accept unpaid internships and be at a huge disadvantage among future employers. Rather than looking into the non-traditional college students’ backgrounds and work experience, companies in our area discount the transferable skills and expect them to “invest” in their future.
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