Jenni Luke, CEO of Step Up, offers essential career advice for new graduates, emphasizing the importance of skills, networking, and persistence. She encourages graduates to take inventory of their strengths, tailor their job applications, and remain enthusiastic during their job searches. Building relationships and continuously learning are crucial to successfully transitioning from college to a professional career.

1. Jenni Luke, CEO of Step Up, shares advice for kick-starting your career.
HOW NEW GRADS
BUILD GREAT CAREERS
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2. Meet Jenni Luke!
Jenni recently answered questions from the
members of Connect: Professional Women’s Network.
Here is some of her most popular advice!
Jenni Luke is CEO of Step Up, a nonprofit
membership organization inspiring women to
inspire girls. Under Jenni’s leadership, Step Up
empowers girls from under-resourced communities
to become confident, college-bound, career-
focused and ready to join the next generation of
professional women.
Jenni also sits on the advisory board for the National Conference on Girls'
Education and frequently speaks on various topics affecting women and
girls.

3. Transitioning from college to a career means
building your skills, experience and network.

4. You should also maintain and build relationships with
professors and others at your school who can serve as
references for job interviews and perhaps open doors. These
relationships should not be overlooked.

5. First things first: Take inventory of your skill set, being careful not to
undervalue the things that come easily to you. List all the things that make
you great––hard skills as well as ‘soft’ skills. If you’re great at building
consensus amongst difficult personalities, that is a very important skill and
shouldn’t be left off. Share this list with your closest friends or work
colleagues and ask them to add to it.

6. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS !
TO EXPLORE:
- What do you like to do during the
day?
- What have you enjoyed most about
prior jobs? What have you not liked?
- What have you been consistently
told you are good at?
- What do you enjoy in your free
time?
- What do you like to learn about?
- What piques your curiosity?

7. Strengths + Passions = Career Path. After gaining clarity on what
your skills are and which you’d like to use and want to build, think
about what jobs you might want to transfer these skills to. Begin
building the story of how your past experience points to desired traits
in the job posting.

8. Challenge yourself. If you are experienced in everything
they are looking for, then you are likely not reaching high
enough. Seek something that you are now under-qualified
for and express your desire to learn.

9. No candidate has 100% of what the employer is looking for.
Just because they say their ‘ideal’ candidate will have 3 to 5 years of
experience does not mean they will not consider someone just out of
school. Explain how your experience in internships, part-time work and
school translate to experience in the areas they’re looking for.

10. Don’t doubt yourself. It can be challenging to find your footing
when you’re new to the professional world, especially in fields
that are very competitive or where women are not the norm.
Be persistent and confident in your abilities while interning,
interviewing and during the job hunt.

11. Attitude is everything. Keep in mind that part of any job
qualification is excitement about the position and a desire to
learn. If you can express that, you may leap in front of someone
with more technical experience but with less enthusiasm.

12. Applying to multiple fields means creating multiple resumes.
Speak in their language about how your skills are transferable. No
doubt your work history and skill set are impressive, but tailoring it to fit
the needs of each audience will be more effective at getting in the door.

13. Show–rather than tell–an employer where you want to go. Even if
you aren’t interning or working in exactly the department you are interested in,
you are still in a position to learn a lot. Focus on what you are learning and
what you bring to the job. Add value to the company by taking what they've
given you and turning it into insights that will help them do better.

14. A tip for connecting with colleagues: Ask yourself how can you help
them do their job better. Don’t do it for them, but add your thinking in a way
that engages them while demonstrating your capabilities. Same in an interview
process: What have you learned about the company and what is your unique
take on their work? Show them the value of your input.

15. Learn from those you look up to. Network at the company where
you intern, and not just with peers, but with supervisors and others.
Create your own opportunities to meet people and learn from them.
Asking someone for 15 minutes of their time to share career advice is
most often seen as a compliment.

16. Connect in new ways. Volunteer doing something you love
and get to know people in another context. You will meet like-
minded people who may become personal and professional
contacts.

17. If you’ve learned all you can at a job, the culture is not a great fit, or
you just made a mistake and are working in a field that doesn’t interest
you, then by all means move on. Just make sure you’re ready to
explain your work history in a comprehensive way when interviewing
for your next move.

18. Life is a giant
experiment.
Understanding
that trial and
error is part of
your career is an
excellent place
to start.

19. The good news is that whatever experience
you gain at this point will teach you something
new that you can take forward with you.

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Join the conversation!
Connect: Professional Women’s Network, Powered by Citi, is an online
community on LinkedIn that helps women achieve the careers they want
and discuss the issues relevant to their success
For more great insights from Connect members, check out
the discussion: Hi, I’m Jenni Luke, CEO of Step Up, here to answer
questions about entering the workforce.
Visit linkedin.com/womenconnect for more information
and to join the group for free!
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