Young people feeling anxious and confused when looking for jobs? This career mentor who understands young people better has a way... career guidance | mentor | career
Li Hong had a kind of "magic" as soon as he spoke. Regardless of whether the person sitting opposite is a confused job seeker or an anxious job seeker's family, she can quickly calm them down, put aside their emotions, and start a conversation that touches their hearts.
As the Chief Career Mentor of Baoshan District Employment Promotion Center, Li Hong has been working in this position for 16 years and has been awarded titles such as "National Star Career Mentor", "Top Ten National Career Guidance Personnel", and "Touching Person in Happy Industry Service" in Shanghai. This year, he was also invited to join the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's "Job Seeking Ability Training Camp" project. Despite numerous tasks, this career guidance "old wizard" still holds the original intention of work, bravely accepts new challenges, and guides job seekers with professionalism and enthusiasm.
Guide job seekers to make decisions from their own perspective
Entanglement is a common characteristic among many young job seekers. They are well aware that stepping into the workplace from campus is a significant leap in life, but if they really want to take this step, many people will hesitate: there seem to be many paths ahead, which one is most suitable for them? If you make the wrong choice, will you make mistakes step by step? Some people hold complex emotions in their hearts, some cannot reach a consensus after communicating with their parents, some look at successful cases of classmates and online, but struggle to replicate the path
"Job seekers are troubled by complex external information and are hesitant to move forward. Our job is to help them sort out their own situation and make correct career decisions from their own perspective." Li Hong recently received a graduate student majoring in Political Science from a 211 university in Shanghai. As he was about to graduate, he didn't know whether to take the civil service exam, civil service exam, or enter a company. After a preliminary conversation, Li Hong found that the core point of his entanglement was his disagreement with his parents, and then asked about the underlying reasons for the conflicting opinions between the two sides. Guided by neutral third-party questioning, this student analyzed that his parents were not completely against him, but expected him to find a more stable and secure job. Therefore, what he needed to do was to communicate honestly and transform the conflict of "turning left or right" into a "1+1 greater than 2" family support system. In the end, the boy still entered a company based on his career interests and gained recognition from his parents.
Li Hong remembers a boy saying during a conversation, "You still understand me.". In fact, this kind of "understanding" is particularly needed by young job seekers. As a stranger, career counselors need skills to establish emotional connections with job seekers in a short period of time.
At a job fair, Li Hong met Xiao Zhang who was dragged to a career guidance booth by his parents. My parents are very anxious and say there are so many positions here that we can accept anything you do. However, Xiaozhang looks embarrassed and says that his education is not high and he cannot find a good job. Li Hong noticed his inferiority complex and instead asked him what he wanted to do. Xiao Zhang replied that he likes history and wants to open an antique shop. Upon hearing this, his parents immediately became angry. "I haven't found a job yet, but I still want to start a business!" Li Hong stopped Xiao Zhang's parents' criticism and followed his answer, asking, "Have you ever thought about whether you want to open a store online or offline, and how to arrange the initial investment, procurement channels, and marketing methods of the store?" Xiao Zhang was confused and shook his head. Li Hong then went straight to the point and comforted Xiao Zhang. The goal of opening a store is still far away, so it's better to find a sales job first and accumulate experience. After this exchange, Xiaozhang realized that his previous ideas were unrealistic, and finally mustered up his energy to search for a suitable position for him. His parents also finally smiled.
In recent years, the influx of post-95s and post-2000s into the job market has brought new job seeking needs and problems. Compared to finding a job to alleviate anxiety, some young job seekers are more concerned about whether the job position matches their abilities, interests, and personality. In this situation, Li Hong believes that career counselors need to demonstrate professional spirit and professional qualities, not simply and rudely label job seekers, directly provide job search directions, and cannot deny job seekers' ideas by saying "you don't have much contact with society and don't understand the workplace" in front of slightly immature ideas.
"Only by facing them head-on can we provide job seekers with the help they truly need." Li Hong said that some college students are interested in new forms of employment such as internet celebrity live streaming and purchasing agents. She will have in-depth communication with them, ask if they understand the risks behind these trends, and be prepared. "When we have thoroughly discussed the career cycle, subsequent planning, and transformation adjustments, college students can also have a more rational view of their career choices."
Utilizing group motivation through competency training camps
In addition to receiving visiting job seekers, Li Hong has also invested a lot of energy in developing career guidance courses and writing career guidance courseware over the years. The courseware "Difficulties and Countermeasures in Career Selection" compiled by her has won the Shanghai Top 10 Excellent Courseware Award, and the courseware "Career Positioning and Job Seeking Ability Enhancement" was showcased as a courseware by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security during the National Double Creation Week. In order to prepare more young people who have job seeking intentions but lack relevant knowledge and skills, Li Hong also took the initiative to step forward and enter the campus, serving as a lecturer in the "Job Seeking Ability Training Camp" in universities.
Li Hong has his own way of teaching in universities. "College students usually have heavy academic workload, and the boring theoretical teaching mode of 'you tell me to listen' is difficult to arouse their interest, and the effect is not good. Our training camp aims to stimulate their employment awareness, enable them to complete self-awareness through activities, and ultimately achieve the transformation from campus people to professionals. The form is very important. After studying the adult learning mode, Li Hong found that the mode of acquiring knowledge from experience and improving skills through interactive feedback is more efficient. Therefore, her classroom arranges practical exercises every time.". College students should start making personal resumes and learn how to highlight their personal strengths to better win the hearts of human resources managers; Face various recruitment websites directly, learn to search and filter through massive amounts of information, and find positions that match your preferences; Participate in the simulated interview process, understand the characteristics of one-on-one interviews and group meetings, and practice smoother expression and communication methods
In Li Hong's view, college students have strong learning abilities, and through carefully designed course content and game segments, they are able to execute smoothly and gain something. "It is worth noting that in the 20-30 person training camp, we cannot let any student become 'little transparent'. We should closely monitor everyone's participation and be good at playing the role of group motivation in group counseling." Li Hong said that the training camp is also a support system, where everyone can participate not only to receive guidance from teachers, but also to find job seeking partners with similar situations and demands, and work together. "By creating a positive group dynamics, students can interact and interact with each other, thereby achieving development, training, and even healing effects."
A person's power is limited, while a professional team can transmit more energy. To this end, Li Hong combined more than ten years of career guidance experience to develop a plan for the construction of a star rated career guidance team in Baoshan District. In 2021, the star rated career guidance team in Baoshan District was established, and Li Hong transformed from a professional chief career guidance teacher to the chief instructor of the star rated career guidance team, imparting practical experience and guidance skills to dozens of star rated career guidance teachers rooted at the grassroots level without reservation. With the construction of grassroots employment service stations and the improvement of grassroots service networks, more and more job seekers can find public employment services at their doorstep and seek timely solutions. Baoshan District Employment Promotion Center introduced that in the first year of its establishment, the star rated mentor team provided 1601 career guidance, of which 290 were specifically guided, and more than half were successfully employed.
In 2023, the star rated career guidance team was also included in the "faculty pool" of Baoshan District Community Governance College. With the latest courseware and innovative service methods, Li Hong and his colleagues came to Jiezhenju Village to lead over 600 public employment service workers to learn how to do well in career guidance and job recommendations under the new situation.
Talking about resonance with young people on the same frequency
When providing job guidance, Li Hong will also encounter some people seeking change. They often have several years of work experience, but are unwilling to continue in their current positions. They have concerns about changing directions, and some have encountered difficulties when re applying for jobs.
Xiaoguo, a post-90s graduate majoring in Electrical Automation from 211 University, once had a stable job, but three years later he resolutely resigned, hoping to improve his education through postgraduate entrance examination and find a more ideal career. However, the path of taking the postgraduate entrance examination did not go as smoothly as imagined, and the one-year career gap also made Xiao Guo suffer greatly. On the one hand, he was under pressure from his family, and on the other hand, he felt a lack of confidence when facing a new job search. Through guidance, Li Hong guided Xiao Guo to clarify his own ranking of professional values and handle unreasonable ideas and methods in the decision-making process. After having a clear goal positioning, by sorting out Xiao Guo's professional abilities, career tendencies, and personality traits, it helps him to dynamically understand the job content of the target position and consciously exercise and cultivate professional abilities related to the target position. With the help of Li Hong, Xiao Guo became increasingly confident and eventually joined his desired new energy company as a market analysis assistant.
"Change is not scary, what's important is to remember the original intention of changing your career direction and make efforts for it." When talking to your mentor, Li Hong was also asked, "Teacher, was your career development path also planned from the beginning and continued along the way?" Li Hong would tell his own story.
In college, Li Hong studied law, but during his internship, he found that he preferred a job that involved interacting with people, conveying warmth and happiness, so he gave up his legal related position. As a newcomer to the field of public employment services, she has also been confused about which direction to choose. After being guided by her employer's career mentor, she has once again confirmed her original intention for work and is determined to focus on the career introduction section, becoming a mentor who uses her professional expertise and public employment resources to provide assistance to job seekers. In the following decade, she also worked hard to improve her personal abilities and qualities, and honed her skills and showcased her talents in national and municipal vocational guidance competitions.
Through his own experience, Li Hong conveyed to job seekers the idea that career decision-making is a dynamic process. "Using the PDCA working method to explain, it means continuously adjusting oneself through the four steps of Plan, Do, Check, and Action, and striving to move scientifically towards the goal as much as possible."
Therefore, Li Hong pays special attention to the current new employment situation and the new trends and ideas of young people. Every once in a while, she takes the initiative to communicate with peers and industry experts, especially with human resources managers from various industries and enterprises, to gain a deeper understanding of the emphasis and requirements of different enterprises on the ability and quality of new employees, the ways to cultivate new employees, and internal promotion mechanisms. "Understanding a company's mindset is more instructive than reading industry reports. In his free time, Li Hong also follows new dramas and games that young people like, and understands social hotspots." Only by chatting with young people and resonating with them on the same frequency can we better establish connections with them. "
