Recent college grads turn to coaches for job help

Faced with the task of finding work in a down economy and unsure what career to pursue or how to focus her job search, Amanda Hamberg is using the $5,000 Christmas gift she received from her grandfather to hire a personal career coach.

Diane E. Lewis, The Boston Globe San Francisco Chronicle

Hamberg, a 22-year-old art history major who graduated in December from Boston College with a bachelor of arts degree, is counting on coaching — a service that usually caters to mid-career professionals in transition — to help her choose a profession and acquire the skills to land an entry-level job in that field.

"Everything seems really tough," she said of the job market. "I went to some office staffing agencies, but they don’t have any opportunities. It’s difficult to find work. The career center at Boston College was very helpful, but having a coach gives me more (personal) time."

Call it the one-on-one solution: In the job hunt, some newly minted graduates like Hamberg are turning to personal coaching in hopes of besting the competition and finding work.

Ruth Robbins, senior career counselor at the Five O’Clock Club in New York, says college graduates with financial resources have always sought personalized help, "but it is now increasing because of the economy and because new grads feel it is very, very hard to find work."

Robbins’s hourly rate: $85 per hour for young clients. Robbins said she started working with one young client in the middle of the college student’s senior year. "I worked with her on a resume and with getting her a job in hospital administration," said Robbins, who helped the client land an entry- level job in the health care industry.

CLIENTS USUALLY OLDER

Career coaching services have long been used by established professionals seeking personal assistance from counselors who also act as mentors. Most career coaches use personality tests or vocational assessments to determine the work clients are best suited for. Then they help them map out strategies for securing an interview and an offer of employment.

"Typically, people come for help in midlife," said Lauren Mackler, a Newton,

Mass., career coach. "They want to make a change. Or they’ve been downsized four or five times. They want to find a way to start a business or find out what else is out there. So the kids’ coming is unusual, and it’s mostly driven by anxious parents. The kids don’t have much perspective. They don’t know what to do."

Mackler’s practice is mostly executives and mid-career professionals in the $80,000 to $250,000 salary range. She charges all clients $1,500 for a two- month coaching program of eight 90-minute sessions. In recent months she has worked with a college grad and a student who left school to find her niche.

Take 22-year-old Maggie Sayer. Aware that she needed assistance finding a career path, she went to see Mackler last year at the urging of her father. Sayer, a history major who attended Hamilton College in New York before leaving school her junior year, meets with Mackler at least once every two weeks. She says the coach helped her focus on her interests and set personal goals. Though Sayer has not yet settled on a career, she does have a new goal: to finish her education at a college Mackler selected that offers a small co- educational environment and an independent study program.

"The idea has always been that with a liberal arts education you can go anywhere and do anything, but you still need help figuring it out," said Sayer.

"I didn’t even know what’s out there. I’ve got friends who graduated in 2002, and they still haven’t found jobs. They’re lucky enough to know where their interests lie, but they do not know how to get to those jobs."

After Christmas, Hamberg went to see Frank Faggiano, owner of Faggiano Consulting LLC in Boston. A former human resource professional and executive, he started the company last year after friends asked him to help their children find work and job leads. He currently coaches five clients who are recent college graduates.

TEST MEASURES SKILLS

Faggiano began by conducting an interview with Hamberg. At his request, Hamberg also began taking the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey, or CISS, one of several assessments that measure vocational interests and skills. The test focuses on careers that require postsecondary education and is often given to people who are bound for college or college educated.

Once Hamberg completes the test, Faggiano will send it for analysis to a consulting firm in Portland, Maine. The report he gets back should offer clues as to how confident Hamberg is in her ability to perform skills in a particular vocation. He will later conduct a three-hour assessment of her skills.

"Kids are very concerned about the jobs not being out there," said Faggiano,

who charges $5,000 for a package that includes helping young clients negotiate a salary when they receive an offer and advice for succeeding in a firm’s cultural climate. "There is real tension about this. I want to help them get jobs, but I also see my role as helping them figure out what it is they want to do and how to get there."

Faggiano said he helps his clients with resume writing, sourcing and strategizing. He also uses his own contacts to help them network with people who know where the entry-level jobs are. "This is a game of persistence," he said.

Last year, more than 1 million jobs were eliminated from corporate payrolls.

As a result, campus hiring was down more than 36 percent in 2002, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. It maintains that graduates with degrees in certain specialized fields such as accounting and the health care professions should have an easier time finding work.

"Liberal arts graduates are not on the list of the top 10 graduates who are more likely to be hired," said NACE spokeswoman Camille Luckenbaugh. "Many of these graduates are facing competition from the people they graduated with and the people who already graduated. These kids are young, they are just getting out of college, and they are not very business-savvy. Career coaching takes the search a step further. It’s a perk for these kids."

While there is no guarantee that hiring a coach will lead to a job, Lisa Shields has high hopes for an upcoming interview. Shields, 23, of Boston, wasn’t sure what route to pursue when she got her bachelor of arts degree from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., last May.

After taking the CISS assessment test, however, the former sociology major had a better idea: a career in the travel industry or working with people from foreign countries. She has an interview with a local travel agency, and she says she got the interview through Faggiano.

He knew someone in the travel industry and passed on the contact, Shields said.

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

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