approach to finding a career
needs and expectations. That's the
point behind individual differences.
Dig deep and identify what
motivates you and what your
psychological needs are: Power,
prestige, challenge, money, advan­
cement, fulfillment, opportunity to
make a contribution, and so on.
Decide which o f these needs are
superficial and which will have the
greatest impact on your overall
career.
One important criterion to con­
sider is access to professional role
models whom you admire. While a
prestigious job title may please your
parents or a high salary might im ­
press your classmates, your career
might benefit more from access to a
professional leader who has a vision
about what he or she is doing:
Someone who w ill stretch you,
make you grow, serve as a mentor
and an advocate. Rub minds with
the achievers. That will pay o ff even
more in the long run. D o n 't just
look
at
the
immediate
benefits— consider the long range
im plications o f your career.
N othing w ill influence that more
than a person on the move up who
w ill pull you along— until you
become that visionary professional
yourself.
and put it together again. Let it
represent your best writing: Weigh
every word. M ake it concise, a r­
ticulate, and to the point.
Practice your interviewing skills
with friends. Attend interview
clinics held at your school. Role
play the interview with another
friend and have a third serve as
critic. Let them rake you over the
coals. Even if it hurts a bit now,
poor interviewing will slam the door
shut. And, unfortunately, we often
don't know if we are poor at inter­
viewing and loo many people are
afraid to confront us with that fact.
Interview ing is a s k ill— it can be
learned, with practice and concen­
tration. Invest energy here— don't
just hope for the best.
Know your
alternatives
10. Aim for tha ideal, b u t have
a aeco nd c h o ic e end a th ird
c h o ic e end e b a c k -u p p la n in
case y o u r c h o ic e s d o n 't w o rk
out. Don't avoid your ideal, even if
it looks like a long shot. But by all
means, have a back-up plan. That
doesn’ t mean, for example, that if
you can't get a job as a teacher you
should work in a factory. Know
what your similar level alternatives
are and be prepared fo r the
possibility that you may need to
start out in your second or third
choice.
The concept of multiple careers is
no longer novel or rare. People have
a way of changing interests and
values. Seek some breadth as well as
depth, recognizing the likelihood
that you may make some dramatic
career changes in your lifetime.
Practice the
interview
9 .Put to g e th e r the beat job
hunting toola you can a m e n .
Don't just slop together an outline
o f your education and experience
and call it a resume. Let your
resume, letters and correspondence,
credentials and interview skills shine
as an example of the best work you
can do.
Get some guidelines from the
counseling section o f the College
Placement A nnual 1984 (available
for free in college placement offices)
and then get some personal help in
constructing job hunting tools.
A fter three or four rough drafts
o f your resume, ask your career
counselor, friends and professional
associates to rip it to shreds for you
Try new
approaches
11. Become en expert in the job
hunting process. Who gets the job
is not necessarily who knows how to
do the job best, bu, who knows how
to get a job. Master many different
strategies and approaches for job
hunting.
One of the most popular job hun­
ting approaches— perhaps the most
widely used by college graduates— is
the shot-gun approach: Mailing out
piles and miles of resumes. Popular,
it is Effective it's not.
Your odds are that about one or
two out of a hundred will lead to an
interview . A nd , you w ill need
roughly three interviews to lead to
an offer. And of two offers— using
this random approach— one w ill
likely fit you so poorly that you
w ill reject it. T hat's 1 out o f 600.
One renowned job hunting expert
revealed, from his research, that
only one in 1,400 resumes led to an
actual job offer.
T here’ s got to be a better way.
Use a number o f d ifferen t ap­
proaches, but not one at a time.
Pursue
d iffe re n t
strategies
simultaneously. Get a career coun­
selor to help you to devise an in ­
dividually tailored approach to your
chosen field , and then do many
things at the same time.
The more personal you make
your job hunting, the more effective
you will be. This doesn't mean you
should sell your typewriter, but the
phone will be better than a letter, a
visit better than a call. Go ahead
and play the numbers game, to be
sure, but supplement that with as
personalized an approach as
possible. Very few job hunters make
"contacts” through the mail.
Find your
“mission”
noted psychiatrist, toured the coun­
try for years as a lecturer and con­
sultant. He was frequently asked the
secret o f a good and happy life.
Menninger's answer was usually the
same: "F in d a mission in life and
take it seriously.”
A story is told about a class in a
theological seminary. The professor
came in and asked each student to
go around in turn and answer the
question, "W hat is your mission in
life ? " Despite the nature o f the
school — to prepare ministers— he
received answers like " I d on ’ t
k n o w " or " I'v e never thought
about it.”
Only one student in the class an­
swered the question affirm atively.
“ My mission,” said Martin Luther
King, Jr., “ is to help Black people
to help themselves.”
Years later he stood before two
hundred tw enty-five thousand
people
at
the
March
on
Washington. You can imagine the
noise two hundred tw enty-five
thousand people can make with kids
crying, radios blaring, and people
talking But you can't imagine the
silence two hundred tw enty-five
thousand people made when King
began speaking these words: " I have
a dream.”
It is having a dream and a vision
(hat drives men and women to
realize (heir fullest potential and to
enhance the very meaning of their
existence.
It’s not tor everyone. In fact, it is
unlikely that a young person would
have such a vision— it usually comes
later. But if you know it's there and
go looking for it, chances are that
you will find it ...if you want it.
12.Consider th e "highest level
of career p la n n in g ". It's not for
everybody and maybe not for you.
But you should know that there is a
step beyond the "W h a t-c a n -l-d o -
with-my-degree-in ...?” approach.
The highest level of career plan­
ning is to first identify a cause or
value or ideal or belief that you
want to commit your life to and
then plug in occupationally.
W illiam C lare M enninger, the
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PORTLAND
OBSER VER
m uLTnom AH
counTV
PEOPLE power
ww v
enthusissm, snd •
,
la an Equal Opportunity
Nordstrom Is an
v
Employe. <*• 0
x
e
The Oregon A lliance o f Black
School Educators will be sponsoring
it's
second
annual
Student
Achievement Awards Banquet
Saturday, June 16, 1984 at West­
minister Presbyterian Church (1624
N .E . Hancock) beginning at 6:30
p.m.
The keynote speaker for this
year’s banquet will be D r. Don H.
Smith. He will be speaking on " A
N ation At R is k ." D r. Smith is a
Professor o f Education at Baruch
College o f the C ity University of
New York He is native of Chicago,
receiving his Bachelor's degree from
the University of Illinois, and M A
from DePaul and his Ph D. from
the University of Wisconsin.
Dr. Smith is a former high school
teacher and guidance counselor. In
addition, he is an author of a num
her of articles and monographs on
Black education and other related
issues.
An expert in the establishment,
management and evaluation of
special programs for minorities, Dr
Smith has most recently completed
research on a study of admissions
and a ttritio n problems o f Black
students at white universities. He is
currently the president o f the
National Alliance ol Black school
educators.
Individuals wanting tickets for
this year's banquet, may contact
M rs. Addie Jean Haynes, ticket
chairperson at 249 2(XX), Ext. 447 or
281 (446 Donations are $ 10.(X)
Employment
with
Multnomah County
WITHIN THE DEPARTMENTS OF HUMAN S E R V IC E S , JU S T IC E S E R V IC E S , GENERAL S E R V IC E S ,
ENVIRONMENTAL SER V IC ES, AND THE S H E R IF F 'S O F F IC E , ASSESSMENT AND TAXATION
AND ELECTIONS O F F IC E S , MULTNOMAH COUNTY EMPLOYS APPROXIMATELY 2 , »00 PEOPLE.
DEPENDING UPON DEPARTMENTAL NEED, THE COUNTY PERIODICALLY OFFER:'. CAREER
OPPORTUN ITIES IN THE FOLLOWING GENERAL CATEGORIES:
haiolna
satisfaction ln M P 8
PnoolS With mOti»StiOn,
. „ fin d
r
Black educators to
honor students
MULTNOMAH COUNTY OPERATES tTNDER A MERIT SYSTEM OF PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION
WHICH GUARANTEES THAT EACH EMPLOYEE WILL RECEIVE FA IR AND IMPARTIAL TREATMENT
IN ALL PERSONNEL ACTIONS REGARDLESS OF RACE, R EL IG IO N , COLOR, BBJth AGE, MARI­
TAL STATUS, NATIONAL O R IG IN , HANDICAP OR P O L IT IC A L A F F IL IA T IO N .
tesis strongly •*>o u t
**
DR. DON H. S M IT H
oppo,.
opie with all
s
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
custom«
restaurant and
csssing. clsrlcs.
„ c»M«nt
bbM M
for
Of quality, s u c tio n , »alu.
end customer ssrrics.
Service Occupetions
Skilled Trades
Clerical
Data Processing
Planning, Engineering, Appraising ft D rafting
Law b Law Enforcem ent
Counseling, Guidance b Social W ork
M edicine. Health b Sanitation
Para-professional, Professional b M anagerial
Peopls powsr. It's th . d i e n e s
et Nordstrom.
PO SIT IO N S ARE FILLED THROUGH OPEN COM PETITIVE RECRUITMENT'AND TESTIN G TO
DETERMINE THE Q U A LIFIC A T IO N S, COMPETENCE AND A B IL IT Y OF THE APPLICANTS TO
PERFORM THE DUTIES OF THE S P E C IF IC P O S IT IO N .
n n r d 5 1 r o IE
APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT MAY BE MADE AT THE COUNTY'S A PPLICA TION CENTER, IN
ROOM 1 3 4 , F IR S T FLOOR, OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 1021 S .W . FOURTH
AVENUE, PORTLAND, OREGON.
FOR INFORMATION REGARDING CURRENT JOB O PEN IN G S, A
L IS T IN G I S AVAILABLE ON THE JOB RECORDING AT ( 5 0 3 ) 2 4 8 - 5 0 3 5 .
THE RECORDING
I S UPDATED ON A WEEKLY B A S IS .
FOR MORE INFORMATION, YOU MAY CALL MULTNOMAH COUNTY EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
D IV IS IO N OR THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION O FFIC ER AT ( 5 0 3 ) 2 4 8 - 5 0 1 5 , OR ADDRESS
IN Q U IR IE S TO 1 1 2 0 S .W . F IF T H AVENUE, SU ITE 1 4 3 0 , PORTLAND, OREGON 9 7 2 0 4 .
M u ltn o m a h County is an Equal O pportunity Em ployer.
Portland Observer, June 6, 1984 Section II Page 5
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