{"id":3024,"date":"2013-05-07T15:45:42","date_gmt":"2013-05-07T19:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/?p=3024"},"modified":"2013-05-14T14:34:03","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T18:34:03","slug":"c3-how-to-get-from-here-to-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/c3-how-to-get-from-here-to-there\/","title":{"rendered":"C3: How to Get From Here to There"},"content":{"rendered":"

No one knew quite what to expect last October 4 when Hollins launched the first Career Connection Conference, shortened to the catchy name of C3. In one afternoon, some 500 students connected in various ways with more than 50 successful alumnae, who came back to campus to answer questions, share their experiences, and network, network, network. C3 received such universal praise that plans began almost immediately after the event for this year\u2019s conference.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Meg<\/p>\n

Navigating Your 20s<\/h3>\n

by Jeff Hodges M.A.L.S. ’11<\/em><\/p>\n

“To a great extent, our lives are being directed by far-reaching, 20-something moments we may not realize are happening at all. Some of those far-reaching moments can happen for you here today.”<\/h6>\n

With those words, clinical psychologist and keynote speaker Meg Jay welcomed a crowd of students to the first Career Connection Conference, aka C3. Jay, the author of The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter\u2014And How to Make the Most of Them Now<\/em>, opened C3 by sharing \u201csix simple things you can do now, even today, to make sure your career takes off and you get to where you want to go\u201d:<\/p>\n

Know the strength of weak ties.<\/strong>
\nJay cited research showing \u201cthe value of people we do not know well\u201d over close friends and family in launching a career. \u201cWeak ties give us access to something fresh, because they are not just figures in an already in-grown crowd. They know things and people we don\u2019t know. New information and new opportunities almost always come from outside the inner circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Start with one good piece of identity capital.<\/strong>
\nJay defined identity capital as \u201cour collection of personal assets,\u201d ranging from items on a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 (degrees, internships, jobs) to more personal attributes such as how we present ourselves, either personally or through email or social media. \u201cIt is what we bring to the marketplace, the currency we use to metaphorically purchase the jobs and other things we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Train your brain.<\/strong>
\n\u201cNever again in our lifetime will we be so quick to learn new things. Never again will it be so easy to become the people we want to be,\u201d Jay explained, adding that \u201cthe skills we practice, the jobs we have, and the company we keep are wiring our frontal lobes for adulthood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever it is you want to change about yourself, now is the time to change it.<\/strong>
\n\u201cWe now know that college in our 20s is our best chance for change. These are the years when people and personalities are poised for transformation,\u201d Jay said. \u201cWe become more emotionally stable and less tossed around by life\u2019s ups and downs. We become more conscientious and responsible. We become happier and more confident and less anxious and angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remember the 10,000-hour rule.<\/strong>
\n\u201cKnowing what you want to do isn\u2019t the same as knowing how to do it, and knowing how to do something isn\u2019t the same as actually doing it well,\u201d Jay said, noting studies have found that working five years on a full-time, focused level or spending 10 years on less-targeted work\u2014about 10,000 hours\u2014is the time it takes to become exceptionally good at a vocation.<\/p>\n

Pick your family and not just your friends.<\/strong>
\nJay emphasized the need to \u201cpartner well\u201d and \u201crecognize that it takes as many hours to build a good family as it does to build a good career. It is never too early to be as ambitious about love as you are about work and school.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Following the keynote address, students immersed themselves in the conference, attending everything from Speed Connection sessions, which enabled them to network with alumnae in a fast-paced and informal setting, to a wide variety of panels. \u201c[C3 is] a great way for students to interact with alumnae and get good advice,\u201d said Savon Shelton Sampson \u201904 during a break in one of the Speed Connection sessions. \u201cI\u2019m talking to them about real-life experiences, what they need to know before they enter the workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie Westhafer Basic \u201996, who helped lead a panel session on working in the nonprofit sector, said to students, \u201cI was never told at Hollins, \u2018You can\u2019t do that,\u2019 and that has served me well. The skills I learned from different disciplines also helped me. I\u2019ve learned to do what makes me happy and what I am passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the afternoon sessions ended, students mingled with alumnae at a reception and attended information sessions on internships available at UBS Financial Services (offered by Holly Hendrix \u201975) and Est\u00e9e Lauder (offered by Alex Trower \u201986). C3 concluded with students participating in one-on-one meetings with alumnae.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never felt so energized, happy, hopeful,\u201d said Sha-Keara Pinkney \u201915 at the end of the conference. \u201cThings after Hollins will go well for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horizon student Bertha Craggett praised the \u201creal-life honesty\u201d of the alumnae who took part in C3. \u201cThe information they presented was extremely helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her discussion of the college years and their consequences, keynote speaker Jay summed up what those who participated in C3 may have gained: \u201cIt is a pivotal time when the things you do and the things you don\u2019t do will have enormous effect across years and even generations to come. Even a small shift can radically change where you end up. \u2026If you can figure out how to navigate, even a little bit, you can get farther, faster, than in any other stage in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the C3 video<\/a> »<\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/strong>
\n“Best Conference Ever”<\/a>
\n“You are Being Recruited For a Movement” <\/a>
\nPanels of Experts<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeff Hodges is director of public relations.<\/strong>
\nPhotography by Sam Dean.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one afternoon, some 500 students connected with more than 50 successful alumnae, who came back to campus to answer questions, share experiences, and network, network, network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-3024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-winter-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3024"}],"version-history":[{"count":67,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3622,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024\/revisions\/3622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}