Two Things Recent College Graduates Need The Most
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Posted By: How May I Help You NC on May 08, 2012 Marianne Bickle, Contributor Thousands of college seniors are graduating throughout the month of May. Family members will visit college campuses to attend the time-honored graduation ceremonies. Digital camera photo flashes by the hundreds will shoot off in a rapid succession. Grandparents will smile and wonder how the grandbaby grew so fast? Parents will sigh and think of a bank account that can finally rise after being depleted from four years of college tuition. After the ceremony and celebration with family and friends, reality must set in. All graduates require two things. The first of course is a job, unless graduate school is on the horizon. The job has been on the graduate’s mind since he or she entered college. Perhaps more importantly, and what many employees and employers forget or ignore, is the second thing – effective mentoring. Most companies have a human resource department. This department is responsible for payroll, hiring, firing and training. These activities are an enormous expense for the company. What is so mind boggling is that many companies expect (or assume) that just because a person (a) makes it through the hiring process, (b) is a graduate from college (c) and attends the company’s training session (if any) and he or she will automatically assimilate to the company culture. Wrong! Think back to elementary school, girl scouts or boy scouts. The buddy system (known as the mentoring system in the business world) is often used in elementary school. It works extremely well because it pairs someone who is knowledgeable with the environment with a newcomer to the environment. The newcomer is around the buddy often, is able to ask questions on a regular basis and is supervised. Close supervision allows for the newcomer to assimilate to the environment faster and avoid making significant and costly mistakes. Now think of your company. Is there an employee that you regularly wonder how he or she stays employed? This inferior employee is costing the company a lot of money through (a) loss of productivity, (b) promotion of an “it doesn’t matter” attitude, and (c) lack of respect for management. The employee may not care, therefore doesn’t put in the work effort. The ineffective employee may not have received sufficient mentoring. Many people don’t want to mentor because it takes time and effort. Some people don’t mentor because they don’t know how to mentor. Everyone is responsible for mentoring – whether formally or informally. Successful mentoring results in expanded productivity, enhanced skill sets, increased motivation and loyalty to the company and the workload. The time and effort required for mentoring is comparable to a high yield stock account. The company and employees earn more than they put into the account. Four tips to mentoring new graduates: Assign a mentor: The mentor should be someone who has been with the company more than one year. It takes approximately one year for an employee to fully understand the culture and expectations of a company. The mentor cannot be a mentor in name only; there are too many of those throughout organizations. Select someone who is committed to the process. This person must (a) clearly understand and believe in the company’s mission, (b) have a high standard of ethics, (c) not deviate from the company manual, and (d) be willing to spend time with the the new graduate. You may think these four requirements are obvious. However when you look at the headlines in the daily news, you may need to think twice – or even three times, before you select the mentor for the new hires. More: http://www.forbes.com/sites/prospernow/201... If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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How May I Help You NC
Management, See Moss Interactive Bellarmine University class of 2021 Member Since January 2011 |
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