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Name: Jamie Peretz
Business: 2MyCareer , career consulting for millennials
Industry: Coaching & Consulting
Location: New York, New York, U.S.
Reason for starting: After spending 15 years as an executive recruiter with Korn Ferry International, the world’s largest executive search and talent management firm, I knew that many of the millennials I was meeting needed advanced career consulting. Specifically, they needed individualized advice, refining the presentation of their experiences and crafting personal narratives in a manner that would appeal to competitive employers. I began 2MyCareer as a way to aid these individuals so that they could compete for highly sought after positions in their fields of choice.
Related: Read about a woman coaching millennial entrepreneurs here.
How do you define success? For me, success happens each time that one of my clients secures a desired position. The job market for college students and recent graduates remains competitive and I am always so delighted to be able to help these talented individuals.
Biggest Success: I recently worked with a grad student whose goal was to join the 2 year analyst program at a leading global investment bank. However, the individual had attended a relatively unknown college and it had been several years since their internship at a boutique investment bank. In short, they had neither the educational nor employment background of others vying for this prestigious position. After working intensely to refine the person’s narrative, presentation and written materials, this person was offered a coveted slot in the program.
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What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? I’ve encountered two types of challenges to date. The first challenge is when an individual articulates a desired career path that to me seems, at first blush, and after further consideration, unachievable. For example, an art history major without a science background is not a good candidate for NASA. The puzzle that we then need to solve is, how can we optimize the art history student’s academics and other myriad experiences while simultaneously addressing their interest? Are positions where collecting, archiving and then marketing information about an organization like NASA achievable? The second type of challenge is one that I share with all small advisory firms. How do I get the word out about 2MyCareer? I do a lot of networking, both social media and the old fashioned kind, and I give talks and workshops at different venues, such as colleges and parents associations.
Who is your most important role model? I very much admire my fellow Princeton alum, Wendy Kopp. Not only is Wendy the founder of the national teaching corps, Teach for America (TFA), but she has continued to grow TFA into the leading organization it is today. Incredibly, Wendy proposed the creation of TFA as her Senior Thesis for Princeton’s Sociology Department. TFA recruits graduating seniors from selected colleges, trains them for five weeks, and sends them for a minimum of two years to some of the country’s most needy classrooms. Since 1989, over 30,000 Teach for America teachers have instructed more than 3 million students in 34 states. And if that wasn’t enough, Wendy is now working on expanding the global program, Teach for All, which is already active in 22 countries.
[box_light]Website www.2mycareer.com
Twitter @2mycareer
Facebook www.facebook.com/2MyCareer [/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange