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THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 2011

A publication by AIESEC in Jordan – AIESEC’s Career Development Seminar, Irbid, Jordan

Published on April 2nd 2011 | Amman, Jordan | www.aiesec.org/jordan

The first youthful strategy

in Jordan created to enable

students to face their career

challenges, develop their

potential and maximize their

opportunities

“ ”

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A LETTER FROM A YOUNG PERSON TO ANOTHER…

ONE SIMPLE THOUGHT Today, over 70% of the population in Jordan is under 30, which means our generation is already the largest yet, and most likely to play the biggest role in defining the direction of our nation for the next 50 years. This thought simply indicates to what we can as young people, achieve for our country if we aspire to make a positive change, if we obtain the right values, and if we all together agree to make one simple decision to activate out potential.

The challenges around us are indeed great, as economical, environmental and social issues around us grow every day, affecting our way of life, but also the responsibility on each one of us to take ownership over these challenges become greater, to take simple actions, each one at a time to overcome the obstacles standing in on our way for a

better future. Today more than ever, young people are needed to give a hand and participate in developing their community, to innovate new ideas and bring growth to their economy, and to utilize the resources they have to develop themselves and others. And I truly believe if we all embrace this simple thought, we would be able to break every

challenge in our way and Jordan will be one of the leading countries in the region and the world. Thank you. Best wishes, Zaid AlBitar 22 years old President | AIESEC in Jordan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

4 AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

5 ABOUT AIESEC

AIESEC International

AIESEC in Jordan

6 BACKGROUND

AIESEC’s Career Development Seminar 2011

Concept of the Career Development Strategy

8 IDENTIFYING THE CHALLENGES

9 THE STRATEGY

Mindset preparation

Key challenges

Key solutions

Recommendations

15 7 STEPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL PLANNING (CREATE YOUR OWN PLAN)

17 OUR PARTNERS/SUPPORTERS

CONNECT WITH AIESEC IN JORDAN

Website : www.aiesec.org/jordan

E-mail : Jordan@aiesec.net

Facebook : facebook.com/AIESECJordan

Twitter : @aiesecjordan

Youtube : AIESECJordanchannel

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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS This document represents the consolidated output of a 3-day Career Development Seminar held between February 19th and March 5th at Al Yamrouk University with the participation of 220 university students from over 10 Jordanian Universities and 15 corporate and non-corporate partners. Therefore, AIESEC in Jordan we would like to extend our utmost gratitude to each student that have participated in all 3 days of the seminar, Al Yamrouk University, AIESEC members, and AIESEC Alumni. Special thanks to our sponsors and supporters who have invested their time and resources and contributed to the impact that was achieved; AIESEC Jordan Supervisory Group, Consolidated Contractors Company CCC, Iris Guard, Irbid District Electricity Company IDECO, Solutions Development Kit, Arab Directory for Websites D1G, Schema, Better Business, Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, and Meydan.

*Disclaimer: None of the information showcased in this publication are used for the

aim of generating a profit of any sort and shall be used for education purposes only.

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ABOUT AIESEC

AIESEC INTERNATIONAL AIESEC is the world’s largest student-run organization. Active in over 1700 universities across more than 111 countries and territories, our international platform enables young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for them to have a positive impact in society. AIESEC partners with an ever-growing number of corporate and non-corporate organizations worldwide, giving them the chance to work directly with a network of young talents spread throughout more than 1700 universities in the world.

AIESEC IN JORDAN | جمعية تنمية مهارات الشباب القيادية Since 2006, AIESEC in Jordan has been activating the leadership potential of 100 students every

year, through providing them with local and national leadership opportunities, international

internships and local & international conferences.

Until 2011, AIESEC Jordan have partnered with over 50 corporate and non-corporate

organizations and enabled those organizations to have access to youth talents, opinions and

attitudes as well as the social engagement and the opportunity to impact the local community on

social and economical issues such as; Entrepreneurship, Social Responsibility, People with

Disabilities, Education, Cultural Understanding, Emerging Markets, Sustainability and Education.

AIESEC’s unique approach believes in creating platforms for young people to voice their opinion

and take part in creating initiatives that bring positive impact on society.

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BACKGROUND

AIESEC’S CAREER DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR 2011

In 2010, AIESEC’s Career Development Seminar’s first edition (CDS 2010) was launched at Al Yarmouk University in Irbid, under the theme “Youth, Community, and Business” and was successfully concluded with the presence of 100 students from 5 different universities, and 11 corporate and non-corporate partners, the seminar focused on highlighting 3 approaches in-which young people can develop their career path; Youth Leadership, Entrepreneurial Outlook, and Social Responsibility & Voluntary Work. In 2011, AIESEC decided to create a long-term impact out of the 2nd edition of the seminar, to reach out for more students beyond the ones participating in the actual seminar, through creating an output that could be used by any student, anywhere in Jordan. Therefore, CDS 2011, aimed to create the first youthful and simplified career development strategy that highlights the main mutual challenges young people in Jordan face in terms of starting their career, and proposing practical solutions and simple action steps that enables those young people to overcome each challenge. The seminar itself brought together a staggering number of delegates up to 220 students and 15 partners on a 3-day agenda, and was held under the patronage of HE. Prof. Sultan Abu Orabi, President of Al Yarmouk University, making it one of the largest youth conventions in the country. The 3-day agenda covered a number of panel discussions, skill-building sessions, and workshops that tackled topics such as; Career Planning, Career Decision Making, Time Management, Entrepreneurship, Voluntary work, solution-oriented-leadership, CV writing, Job Interviews, and the reality of the talent market in Jordan.

CONCEPT OF THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

As mentioned above, the strategy aims to activate young people’s potential by identifying mutual

challenges young people face and proposing new solution, however the unique concept of this

strategy is that it focuses on the role of these young people to empower themselves on their own

regardless of how much external support is available, which highlights the ability for young

people to be independent and also take responsibility and ownership over their lives.

During the seminar the 220 students were divided into 17 different groups, each group tackled a

number of challenges, and then proposed solutions and recommendations for each challenge.

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IDENTIFYING THE CHALLENGES

“CIRCLE OF CONCERN & CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE” Dr. Steven Covey In his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®”, Dr. Steven Covey presents a simple principle

on how people can identify the sources of their obstacles and challenges, the simplified principle also helps people understand those challenges and categorize as either concerns and influences.

In order to understand this principle, you would need to imagine your life in a form of 2 different circles:

1. The circle of concern:

Which represents everything that surrounds you and either directly on in-directly interacts with you (information, interests, people…etc) however you do not necessarily directly impact or influence.

2. The circle of influence:

This circle falls within the circle of concern, therefore it is smaller in size, and represents that matters that you directly influence in your life (your education, career, time, choices…etc)

As more you get exposed to new people, information, trends, general issues, behaviors from around you, your circle of concern grows larger, however the size of your circle of concern does not affect your circle of influences. On the other hand, as more you get involved and decide to impact things around you, your circle of influence grows more and forcing your circle of concern to grow as well and expose you to new potential interests (As more you impact and directly contribute to the matters surrounding you, you are more likely to expand your horizon, networks of people, and have a more fulfilling feeling, while on the other hand if you don’t become proactive, your circle of influence will remain very small compared to the growing circle of concern which may lead to depression for oneself). Moving on from this point, your circles can interconnect with other people’s circles which may cause pressure and external influence on a persons’ life, for instance, many students face challenges caused by their parents and they don’t necessarily understand why,

Example:

"You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive (concerns), you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Being proactive (Influence) mean taking responsibility for every aspect of your life" From Seven Covey’s

Habits of Highly Effective

People

C

I

Parents

Student

In this example we notice that, the students’ circle of concern is considerably larger than their parents’, due to their exposure new matters in modern life, now the interconnecting area between the two circles represents the shared interests they both have e.g.: family obligations/career decisions which when we look closely at the ratio between this shared area to the parent’s circle, we find it larger than it is for the student, and that is why parents might react on those matters more than young people which causes communication issues.

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Based on this simple model, people are able to divide the different obstacles to fall within one of the circles, and also to understand how people influence each other, and why is it more important to some than others, which could help us change our approach to our current obstacles

THE STRATEGY

MINDSET PREPARATION The following segment is designed to provide you with key information you need to know before you move forward with implementing your career strategy: I. What is a career? A career is a sequence and variety of occupations (paid/non-paid) a person may undertake for a long period of time, a career would include a person’s education, learning, activities as long as they link together under one function or industry. From this definition we realize that a career is a long-term concept and does not focus on a particular job rather an industry or a function, which is more long-term and includes more personal and professional development than a job. II. Talent Market in Jordan In Jordan we have approximately 47,000 graduates every year, 53% of which are female which enforces the fact that Jordan is a knowledge-based society and very much educated, however, the country suffers from unemployment rates which almost reach 16% and directly affecting recent graduates and particularly female students which their unemployment numbers reach 6,000 annually. And this presents a major problem as thousands of young freshly graduates individuals are involved in labor market and are not contributing in any way to the social and economic development of the country.

What determines my

career path?

Your career path is

influence by your

experiences, not

necessarily by your

diploma, and no one can

tell you what should your

path be, people can only

inspire you through their

experiences and only you

know what you like to do

Should my career be for

a life-time?

Not necessarily, in fact it is

recommended that you

change your career

whenever you don’t feel

you are developing from it

anymore, shift to

something you enjoy and

passionate about doing.

- 70,000 – 80,000 New jobs

- 65.1% of these jobs were

filled by Males

- 64.9% of these jobs was

created by the private sector

- 34.9 Is the increase in new

employment opportunities for

Female in 2009

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Statistics also show that the there is a huge gap between the talent supply from Jordanian universities to the market demand in the terms of pools and industries, which calls for a much needed synergized strategy between academic and corporate sectors to diminish this gap before it grows further over the next generations III. Being a solution oriented leader

Solution oriented-leaders are the people who have a positive attitude towards whatever comes in their lives, and are able to think of solutions their and other people’s challenges, their strongest competencies are flexible thinking, innovation and entrepreneurial outlook. This kind of leaders are not necessarily more skilled than other people, skill is not what makes them different, it is their attitude, and this means that every person is able to be a solution oriented leader, they just need to realize that they can actually simplify their challenges and find solutions.

Developing this attitude could mostly come from putting oneself in challenging situations and committing towards solving these situations, therefore, corporations in all sizes and scopes look for this kind of people, not only because they can manage pressure and remain positive, but also because they are able to transform challenges into opportunities through innovative ideas.

“Your personal and

professional development

comes from how much do

you challenge yourself,

therefore, think about

challenges as

opportunities to develop

and learn”

“When you are being

challenges, don’t think

about why are you being

challenged, and think

about how you can deal

with the situation”

“As you grow, your

responsibilities grow as

well, there needs to come

a time where you need to

take charge over your

life and deal with your

challenges

”

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KEY CHALLENGES

Challenge Finding reliable career guidance Description Many students find themselves unable to decide what career is best for them as they have not been

coached to do so, and they don’t have access to guiding services

Roots Mindset External Factors Resources and Information

Issues Depending on official guidance instead of taking chances and trying things on your own.

Reactive attitude and focusing on what is missing rather than taking action to solve the issue.

Wrong definition of who is/isn’t a role model

Career guidance offices on campus are either not publicized for or not active.

Difficult to have access to true role models.

Faculty members are not supportive and narrow minded

Not knowing where to look for guidance.

What is expected from the career guide?

Solutions Think positively and start taking actions

Open your mind and look for all kinds of role models many of them could be in your age.

Explore different careers, it is all about what you want and what you are good at, not about what other people tell you is good for you

Seek for information and research about the guidance offices on your campus or in your city.

Socialize with business people

Enroll in the business environment

Build a supportive network of faculty members

Read about career guidance and know what you should expect from your guide (either through online or books).

Ask for the information, seek different opinions from different people (It doesn’t matter who they are or how reliable the information is, the point is that you gather information

Opportunities Read more about personal leadership.

Go through resources

Engage in constructive discussions.

Make sure you are surrounded by social network that supports you and encourages you.

Volunteer

Take part-time jobs

Attend conferences and seminars

Participate in social and cultural activities on campus.

Books

Online resources

Networking events

Social and business activities

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Challenge Getting accepted for the first job Description Most of the companies require working experience, and very demanding in terms of what skills and

competencies they want in their employees

Roots Mindset C.V & the interview Skills and competencies

Issues The myth that university diploma and higher education is the way to find jobs faster.

That the job must be perfect

That the more money the job pays the better.

That you should start with a large company

That working at corporations better than working in non-for-profit organizations

Bad C.V representation

No working experience

Personal representation at the interview

Personal values

Not knowing what competencies are, what competencies you have and what competencies the job requires.

Not skilled enough (language, time, communication…etc)

Solutions Education is no longer an edge; corporations now look for competencies not qualifications.

80% of employees quit their first job, jobs are not supposed to be perfect, you need to find the best job for you, not the other way around.

Consider getting paid less in a job you like, you will grow, so will you paycheck, you need to be patient.

Consider working at small/medium size corporations (better chance for development)

People are different in terms of their business ambition, some are better in working at corporation, some are better in working at organizations.

Be honest to yourself

Schedule for a meeting and ask for an interview (don’t send you C.V).

Be confident, you want to convince them to hire you.

Read about C.V writing and look at successful C.Vs online/offline before you send your CV.

Your C.V must be very presentable, print it on proper kind of paper, and design it nicely and professionally.

When organizations require working experience, they would be looking for someone who achieved something in that function (It is not about the years of experience), work in something and start making remarkable achievements while you are still in university.

Behave professionally during the interview, you are being judged based on your look, attitude, and behaviors.

Showcase your personal values (e.g. you are environmentally responsible, and you recycle) corporations nowadays look for people with high social and environmental responsibility.

Read and learn about competencies, and understand what are your best competencies.

Read about the company, and try to understand what kind of competencies they look for in their employees.

Get professional help, you can network with HR specialists that can help with you how you can develop your competencies.

Understand what are your strengths and weakness and work on developing new skills (learn new languages, train yourself, up-skill yourself)

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Get feedback on your C.V before you send it (no spelling mistakes are allowed)

Opportunities Think about ways to practice what you stud (part-time jobs, volunteering)

Try your first job and complete your responsibilities until a better opportunity comes (don’t quit too early).

Small/Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Volunteering: - Cultivates new values in you - Working experience - Networking and more job

opportunities

Take C.V writing and Job interviewing courses or attend conferences and seminars on related topics.

Simulate the Job interview before you go to the real one.

Online and offline resources

Company website

Professional social networks.

Read books, articles and posts about personal development, and skills building.

Volunteer/work part-time

Find the best way for you to learn a new language (courses, practicing, reading, and even music)

Challenge Negative social and cultural norms

Description Many negative norms affect the decision making process for young people when they want to decide which professions to take

Roots Family Employer/work place Community/tribe

Issues Parents intervene with your academic or professional decisions

Discrimination between male and female on the right to work.

Minimal communications within the family.

Making perforations based on the gender, race, ethnicity, and looks)

Culture of shame in all of its categories (women labor, shifting careers, working in a career different than your field of study…etc)

Categorizing people based on their university diploma (Doctor, PHD, engineer) Vs (Service sector employee, industrialist, teacher, artists…ect)

Solutions Reestablish communication channels with your parents, based on a 2-way positive and constructive dialog.

Showcase how much you are aware of yourself and what you want to be, parents like to see that you are mature and that you are not rushing your decisions.

Build a supportive network within your family, and communicate to your parents that you appreciate their

This is very minimal and decreasing rapidly in the last decade, however if you got in such a situation, then you most probably do not want to work there because it is not the best environment and it is not professional.

Look for organizations that have “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)” strategies, those corporations believe in diversity and community engagement and their number is growing rapidly.

Be part of the change, start removing those negative norms.

Involve in focus groups within your community that oppose such norms and help spread awareness among younger generations.

Showcase examples of people who have gained respected degrees, but yet are working in completely different

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opinion, but you want to make decisions for yourself.

Establish trust, and show your parents that even when you are making your own decisions, you still seek their opinion and thoughts.

Ask your parents to challenge you, this will show how mature you are

Keep the conversation constructive and stop the argument when it’s not working, then try again later with a different approach.

industries, and there are many examples here in Jordan.

Opportunities Every day at every home Corporations with CSR programmes.

Majority of companies in Jordan

Non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, and non-for profits

Non-governmental organizations

University groups

Conferences and seminars

Focus groups, you can initiative a group of your own!

Challenge Long-term unemployment and economic challenges Description The growing unemployment problem booming in the aftermath of the financial crisis

Roots University Market place Family

Issues Outdated syllabus

Not integrating practical methods with theoretical education

No synergized effort with the corporate sector to balance between the supply and demand in the talent market

Corporations and organizations reducing the number of their recruited employees.

Governmental sector reduces the number of recruited employees.

Jordanians coming back from the gulf to work in Jordan in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Un-stable economical situations do not leave much space for investments.

Solutions Understanding the gaps within the syllabus and proposing direct solutions.

Electing a true democratic students council that can influence development on campus

Participate in discussion about linking academic and corporate sectors and voice your opinion.

Start an entrepreneurial project and become an employer.

volunteer for a period of time if you can’t find a job

Do internships abroad for a period of time then come back with a working experience

Do local internships for free with local companies (they usually recruit you once they have vacancies)

Seek financial aid (scholarship programmes, grants, loans) to support your family with your university/volunteering expenses.

Work and bring money

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Look for resources and educate yourself (this is becoming a global challenge, especially in IT/ICT fields)

Opportunities Propose a feasible and track-able development plan to your university president (take positive action)

Attend conferences and seminars about this topic.

Volunteer with organizations that work on diminishing this gap.

Entrepreneurial projects (there is a growing number of organizations that can support you financially and technically to start up your own business)

International internships

Local internships (paid or for free)

Part-time jobs

volunteering

Finding and financial aid

Part-time jobs

Paid internships

RECOMENDATIONS

I. Participate in making a change on the matters that you feel are affecting you and other young people, and lead by example.

II. Take risk, try “unusual” things such as international internships, you could learn a lot and bring many ideas to your local community

III. Connect with as many people as possible and use social media properly, you have the ability to connect with everyone all over the world and learn a lot and engage with role models, however, make sure that you portray a positive image for yourself on your social media pages, and use them wisely (many major corporations search for their candidates online and check their personal social media pages.

IV. Get used to be more committed to your responsibilities, this is a key attribute employers look for.

V. Lean how to manage your time especially if you are considering voluntary work, working part-time, or doing internships, this is a key skill that you need to master.

VI. Remind yourself of what you like the most, what are your values, and how you can impact other people.

VII. Volunteer in organizations near you and that also work on issued relevant to you, volunteering could come in a form of community service work, or in a an organized office work and both are highly impactful as long as you know what values, experiences and skills you are gaining from them.

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7 STEPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL PLANNING (CREATE YOUR

OWN PLAN)

Time management, planning, and life management, are different terms however fall under one

basic concept of: how can a person effectively manage their responsibilities and move

step-by-step towards one directions, and when it comes to making career decisions whether

the include; volunteering, or doing part-time jobs, this skills becomes truly important to be able to

fulfill every role and finish it successfully without having to quit or face problems.

Here, we present a very simple model of 7 steps on how can a person create their own plan and

effectively manage their life:

STEP 1: Set your vision:

What do you envision yourself to be in your future? What is your ultimate goal in life that might even seem impossible to achieve? The effect of having a vision does not only get the person focused, but also gives them ambition to reach something because they really want it. STEP 2: Set S.M.A.R.T objective:

Objectives serve as small steps, or goals that you need to walk through in order to reach your vision, and here we explain the S.M.A.R.T model to how to set your objectives in a way they can actually be achieved: S: Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general

goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:

*Who: Who is involved? *What: What do I want to accomplish? *Where: Identify a location. *When: Establish a time frame. *Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

M: Measurable: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each

goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and

experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to

reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as...How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

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A: Achievable: before you set your goals you need to think of ways to achieve them, either with a certain time-frame or effort and they should not be out of your influence or capacity. R: Realistic: To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just

how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love. T: Time-bound: A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday" won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by May 1st", then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal. STEP 3: Set action items: Action items help you visualize your plan and simplify it even more, and action items come in as the smallest goals on your plan, and the reason why they are called “action” items, is because they need to in fact be written on your plan in a form of actions e.g. call Mr… to confirm the meeting. STEP 4: Prioritize:

Before you start implementing your plan you need to know which goals needs and which action item needs to be done first based on priorities, based on the following model:

Important Not Important

Urgent e.g. doctor appointment e.g. submit an application for a competition (due tomorrow)

Not Urgent e.g. send Mr. the partnership proposal (due next month)

Watch the latest 3D movie

STEP 5: Take action:

Immediately start implementing your and put yourself in the action mode, and keep crossing off every action item you finish (this helps you also visualize how the plan is being implemented) STEP 6: Limit your time-wasters: Reassess how you spend your time on daily bases, what activities are not useful and just waste your time, remove them and replace them with new action items that can support the progress and achievement of your plan. STEP 7: Evaluation:

Decide on how often you want to re-evaluate your plan (weekly / monthly/quarterly)? And make sure you assess the mistakes you have made and adjust your plan accordingly.

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