Adult Re-entry and the Job Search: Useful Ideas and Advice from Grossmont College
By Jill Randolph
December 1, 2010
The following is an interview transcript with Nancy Davis, Student Development Services Supervisor at Grossmont College in El Cajon, California. Grossmont is a community college that was established in 1961. The college was voted San Diego's Best community college in polls conducted by the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2010 as well. 8% of the student body is 40 years old or older.
Jill Randolph: How has the job market has changed in the past year? Have you seen any signs of improvement and if so in which areas?
Nancy Davis: People are desperate to find work. Unemployment in San Diego has been unprecedented with a record that hit 11.1%. At the San Diego Economic Roundtable, most of the economic experts on the panel, including Alan Gin from USD, and Marney Cox with SANDAG in San Diego, forecasted persistent unemployment with job creation slowly increasing in the 3rd and 4th quarter. However, with the Wall Street problems in June 2010, job creation came to a halt.
Despite this bad news, job growth is expected to slowly climb at 0.7% in San Diego. The areas predicted to have the most growth are education, public service, healthcare, and green technologies, as well as information and telecommunication technologies.
Employers are looking for both basic skill requirements and soft skills. They are claiming that approximately 85% of college students lack soft skill requirements. Unemployed adults looking for work have the right workplace attitudes, soft skills and work ethic that employers require.
I coordinate career development and job search activity in our Student Employment Office, Career Center and in the Adult Re-entry Program. Between those three programs, the traffic has been extremely heavy. In response, we have developed a workshop called "Success after 40, 50, and 60", aimed at these unemployed adults to explain the new paradigms of the work world.
Jill Randolph: You said you focused on three different programs in the career services office. Could you elaborate on those and your role?
Nancy Davis: Three programs have separate focuses but work seamlessly together for students. In our Adult Re-entry program, we assist students with application and registration online; assist students with the proper contacts to schedule Math and English Assessments, and direct students or introduce them to Financial Aid and/or Disabled Student Services suitable to their needs.
If prospective students are looking for a new career focus, we conduct career assessments and occupational research in our Career Center, so that students can learn the career development process and begin to manage their own career path.
After registering for classes, a re-entry student is eligible to apply for full-time or part-time positions, and our Student Employment Services helps students find work. We are not a continuing education program; we offer assistance with re-entry to adults returning to school after a long absence. The typical adult re-entry student is twenty-five years of age or older in the United States.
Jill Randolph: Do you have a breakdown of the percentage of traditional versus adult re-entry students attending your school?
Nancy Davis: Enrollment at Grossmont College is greater than it has ever been. Altogether, we have over 20,000 students. Last spring, we had over 6,600 adult re-entry students.
Our re-entry program causes some controversy because people argue that other programs and student services already cover adult re-entry students. For the first time, the largest population in the global economy is baby boomers.
Many are afraid of school because they think they are going to be discriminated against because of their age, when in fact, with the right support, they usually have the highest grade point averages and go onto advanced degrees.
Adult Re-entry Programs were organized in the late seventies for displaced homemakers when the divorce rate went up to 50%, and Vietnam vets returning from the war. This was compounded by cyclic employment.
Grossmont College's 32-year-old adult re-entry program was aligned with those populations. When I noticed that the populations were changing, I decided to do my thesis on the adult re-entry student. This new understanding opened up the program for lifelong learners. For the past ten years our program has evolved to include these populations.
We have also formed partnerships with many agencies in the San Diego community that work with the disabled population, Immigrants, "older workers" and parolees. Representatives from these agencies serve on our Advisory Committee.
Jill Randolph: How has job searching changed and how has it stayed the same?
Nancy Davis: I see older students approaching the job search and preparing their resume much like they would have 25 to 30 years ago. To help them, I developed a presentation called "Success after 40, 50, and 60" that focuses on new job search paradigms in preparation for today's world of work. Because the economy and technology is changing so rapidly, searching for work takes longer and most people need assistance to understand how they fit into today's world of work. The other important component is learning how to create an updated resume that attracts employers' attention.
The lifelong learning concept is admired and respected by employers. By returning for training or an advanced degree older students are demonstrating their desire to continue learning. People have to manage their career development like never before. The negotiation process has changed as well. Salaries are negotiable today, and even though the economy is tough, all job seekers need to have confidence in negotiating.
Although people are going online to submit resumes, cover letters, and applications, and social networks are prevalent, the two best ways to find work are still networking and direct contact with the employer.
Jill Randolph: If someone is offered a marketing position and they research at salary.com and see that the average pay range for that position is between $50,000 and $60,000, but they were offered $40,000, how do they know if it's a good offer, given the economy?
Nancy Davis: That's a topic I cover in my salary negotiation workshop. First, a candidate must consider what they can do for the company because that is the company's sole interest. If they are making a career change and considering an entry-level position, they need to assess their background, soft skills, and transferable skills to determine their worth in relation to the company's needs. If they have extensive experience, they can look at salary.com and then verify with other resources. For example, our website has a different salary website, and our career center has some great books.
Then, the student should evaluate the entire compensation package, including benefits. Ultimately, it's an individual decision. Some experts in the career development field are saying that people are accepting less, but I don't believe that's universal. Negotiating takes a lot of work. It's not easy, but it's worth it.
Also, before the interview and negotiations, students should extensively research the employer and the competition. On our website and on AARP's website (www.aarp.org), there is a list of companies that are less discriminatory towards older workers. The best employers for workers over fifty have included Cornell University, Script Health, S. C. Johnson & Son, YMCA of Greater Rochester, and Lee Memorial Health System.
Jill Randolph: What advice do you give students regarding traditional and social networking?
Nancy Davis: Students need to be aware of the information online about them because their current or potential employer can see anything they post. If used carefully, LinkedIn and Twitter are useful tools to communicate their professional information.
Jill Randolph: What are the most common mistakes students make in their job search?
Nancy Davis: Job Seekers may not have enough information on themselves, the new world of work and how they fit in. Without information on themselves, the occupational goals, salary, labor market, and local economy, they won't know where to apply their skills or how to prepare for interviews and informational exchanges. Without understanding themselves and the market, finding the right employer and staying employed will be difficult.
Jill Randolph: What do you think are the most common mistakes that older re-entering students make?
Nancy Davis: Many of the adult re-entry students feel remorse, because they are going through resume re-writing for the first time. Instead, they should approach it like a new adventure, and avoid getting stuck in the past. While it is part of a process when separation from a job occurs and / or transition to remain in the past, grieve and experience anger, find assistance immediately to move on and position oneself for success.
Success is all about having good information about oneself and being aware of the career development process. By embracing individual talents, and managing career development, individuals can become vital and find more satisfaction. It's about having a complexity of purpose, knowing major life goals, going after them and achieving them.
Jill Randolph: What do you recommend that students highlight about themselves in order to outshine the competition? How is it different for a traditional student, compared to an adult re-entry student or an ESL student?
Nancy Davis: It depends on the individual. It doesn't matter how old they are or if they are ESL. They all have unique gifts, and those are what they need to sell. Students need to find out what they need to market themselves as job seekers; whether it is soul searching, researching the economy and labor market, re-training to upgrade skills, or returning to school for an advanced degree and a career transition.
Today, students need to "arm" themselves with information to strategically sell their talents to an employer. Look at transitions as a new adventure and a chance to grow!
Jill Randolph: If an employer is interviewing two candidates, and one had a sense of humor or was more personable, do you think that has a positive impact?
Nancy Davis: They need to know the job, and why they are a good fit because personality alone isn't enough. Professionalism is also important. Our training programs at Grossmont focus on using the keywords in the interview as well as being personable.
Jill Randolph: Do you have any specific career-related books or websites that you recommend to your students?
Nancy Davis: We have quite a few. We have a list of job search related websites on our site, http://www.grossmont.edu/studentempservices. Some are geared towards career development; others are geared towards the job search. We also have a library in the career center with books for jobseekers over 50, as well as books for parolees and ESL students.
Jill Randolph: What advice do you give students who aren't sure what they want to do with their lives after graduation? Also, what about adult learners who have been laid off - what advice do you give to help them find a new path?
Nancy Davis: If they are going to school, they need to have a focus. They should go through a career development assessment to determine their major and specific classes, or take personal development courses on their college campus.
Jill Randolph: What tools do you have in place to help them such as assessments to find out what the best fit is for their personality?
Nancy Davis: At Grossmont College we have personal development courses for career planning that are online as well as in the classroom. The Strong online assessment, the Myers-Briggs Temperament Inventory, SIGI 3, DISCOVER / eDISCOVER and an online version of the David Keirsey Temperament Sorter-II which explains personality temperaments.
Discover is an interactive software tool we offer that works really well for the hearing and visually impaired as well as the learning disabled and ESL students. We also accommodate these students through group interpretation sessions for career assessment once a month.
Jill Randolph: Do you have any general advice on handling the stress and anxiety that accompany a job search? How can student job seekers stay focused without losing site of the ultimate goal?
Nancy Davis: Yes, I do. I recommend a 40-hour per week job search; we have many formats for scheduling job search, contacts made and educate students on the many forms of job search. We support students and community members through workshops, 1:1 appointments and an excellent job search library. Our Career Onestop in East County of San Diego offers weeklong intensive training workshops that we send students and community members to improve any negative attitudes, depression, anxiety, or anger. Individuals learn quickly that they are not alone in this difficult economy or uncertain times.
Jill Randolph: Sometimes it's simply reframing the situation, which is no consolation for someone who is out of work and potentially out of his or her house. If job seekers can see it as a chance to reinvent themselves, it can be a wonderful opportunity. How many times do you get that chance?
Nancy Davis: In the old world of work, it was only about making money, no one thought about reinventing him or herself. Today, that opportunity exists, and the tools are in place to make it happen.
Change can be intimidating; here are a few tips for surviving the velocity of change:
- Understand that change is constant; individuals, our world, and expectations are constantly changing.
- Focus on the journey.
- Continue learning.
- Team-up with family, friends, mentors, new acquaintances, and other students.
- Follow your heart and find out what it is you want from life.
No matter what a student's age may be, these tips help them cope with life's challenges, including successfully searching for a job.
