College is the stepping stone for obtaining the learning experiences necessary for future professional opportunities. Education is important and placed at the forefront for Millennials to succeed in life. Although higher education leads to academic advancement, there are many lessons for professional development that are exempt from the classroom curriculum. To launch your career, take notes on these progressive skills that you won’t find in a textbook. 

Many young professionals lack the assistance of a mentor and a sponsor while they are in the workforce, which can really affect the success that they achieve. A young professional should always be armed with tools, skills and people that will help them advance their careers and achieve their professional goals. In college, the importance of a mentor is often stressed, and some organizations have created formal mentoring programs to help new hires navigate the corporate landscape. Sponsors, however, are often an unfamiliar concept for young professionals and an untapped resource. What is the difference between a sponsor and a mentor?

     Interpersonal communication is a fundamental source of fostering successful and healthy work relationships. Discovering effective interpersonal communication skills and tools can improve the functionality of a company. Without clear communication, your attributes and skills can get lost in the workplace and create career setbacks. Interpersonal communication’s role in the professional atmosphere has its challenges as people are turning to technology and digital platforms to efficiently stay connected. Although the significance of face-to-face communication has become de-emphasized, interpersonal communication is crucial as it helps with daily contact, organizes workflow, and assists when work issues or misunderstandings emerge. 

You've spent hours carefully tailoring your resume and cover letter to each position, sent out hundreds of applications, and have become yet another player in the painfully frustrating waiting game. It’s a hair-pulling, cliff-hanging experience that makes you second-guess your every move.

It also makes you want to throw your hands up in the air and shout to the high heavens, “What else can I possibly do!?”

There’s no doubt that one of the most frustrating aspects of the job search is waiting to hear back from an employer. Every career expert will tell you applying to jobs is a tough process that takes time, to which most of us reply with a sigh and secretly think, “Not me. I’ll be the exception to the rule.”

Since your main objective is scoring an interview, here are three tips to increase your chances of winning a return phone call.

Happy National Mentoring Month!!! Take some time out of your day today to contact your mentors just to say how much you appreciate them. Don’t have a mentor? Then there’s no better time to find one!

Sources from Business Week, Forbes, and more say that having a mentor is not just a suggestion for success, but a necessity! So, why do you need a mentor?

Any opportunity for students to gain work experience and learn more about their chosen field of study is a great thing to take advantage of. The question is, with thousands of graduates emerging from colleges every year, how can young professionals stand out among the rest? 

One way to set your resume apart could be by adding a virtual internship experience. A virtual internship consists of gaining work experience without physically being at the company headquarters. Instead, virtual interns utilize technology such as web or teleconferencing, email, cloud software, and Google drive to complete tasks and assignments. This type of position is new to the marketplace, but with a growing demand for interns, it is quickly becoming a means for current college students or recent graduates to balance their busy lives and still gain practical experience.

Winter break is the glorious time that we all look forward to a few short weeks after the semester begins. That vacation gets old really fast however. Why not get one step ahead of your peers and get a few more weeks of internship experience under your belt? An internship over winter break will help you develop your network and be productive while you are home from college.

Reality check: college doesn’t teach you certain life skills, especially when it comes to careers and personal branding. Higher education promotes traditional ways of doing things instead of how to use your knowledge to create a path of your own. Spending one hour with someone who has experience doing something you wish to accomplish is more valuable than countless hours in classes that you attend because of a participation grade. Napolean Hill said it best, “ Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.”

As a young professional or college student, you must get comfortable with speaking about yourself and your accomplishments in a quick and concise manner. Your elevator pitch should get others excited about you by summing up your unique qualities in 30-60 seconds. In its simplest form, an elevator pitch describes who you are, what you do and what you offer.  Here are some steps to perfect your elevator pitch and receive exclusive access to an elevator pitch template: