For $2,950, a Boston-based counseling service will help young people market themselves to employers.

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 25, 2006

BY ARTHUR KIMBALL-STANLEY
Journal Staff Writer

During Elizabeth Clabby's four years at Providence College she learned about topics as varied as the history of Western civilization and the ways in which consumers behave. What the recent graduate from Westwood, Mass., said she didn't learn was how to find a job now that college is over.

Clabby, who hopes to find work in marketing, said she found the challenge of searching for work daunting and felt as if she needed more preparation. Her mother heard through a friend about Hayden-Wilder, a counseling service for first-time job applicants based in Boston, and suggested that Clabby enroll.

"I knew I had the experience," Clabby said. "I've had internships in the past and knew what I was looking for, but I wanted to know how to communicate those things to an employer."

For years parents have shelled out thousands to send their children to get special preparation for the SAT. Lacrosse camp, soccer camp, or football camp have all become a rite of passage for ambitious high school athletes hoping to perfect their skills and show university coaches their commitment to their sport. There are even counselors and services available that will help young people turn themselves into Ivy League material, by tweaking their résumés and fine-tuning that all important college application essay.

None of this is cheap, but considering that tuition at a top 50 four-year private college or university can cost a parent nearly $100,000, a few extra thousand dollars here or there might not seem like a big deal.

"I think some parents are very concerned," said Kimberly G. DelGizzo, director of Career Services at Brown University. "They want to make sure their children are going to land successfully out of college. If students feel they could avail themselves of a little more attention then that is probably a good thing."

While the vast majority of colleges and universities offer some kind of career counseling, DelGizzo said that can vary significantly from school to school. With about 6,400 undergraduates at Brown at any given time and a counseling staff of six, DelGizzo said that in the end the level of preparation a student receives depends heavily on the work that student does with career services.

"There are some students who don't avail themselves of the services we offer," she said. "Are they getting more individualized attention paying for that kind of service? Absolutely."

Hayden-Wilder was founded a little less than a year ago by D.A. Hayden and Michael Wilder, both marketing professionals with over 25 years of experience. Their goal, they said, was not to become a headhunting or placement firm for young executives, but career coaches who specialize in creating a marketing campaign for recent graduates are trying to sell themselves to employers.

"We are really looking at building a personal brand for every client that comes in here," Hayden said. "Everything we do is designed to distinguish a candidate. We have a number of students who come in and are beautifully educated kids but they don't know how to make it relevant in the real world."

For $2,950 Hayden and Wilder give their young clients eight one-on-one sessions that focus on the young person's career goals and past experiences. From there they work on building a résumé "that tells a story," Hayden said. After the brand has been built, they work with clients to find jobs to apply for and teach them interview techniques.

"It's like taking a college course," Wilder explained. "Throughout our research interviewing executives at companies across the country we have found 85 percent of recent graduates applying to positions are not prepared. . . . This is not really the fault of the universities. They are in the business of academics, not in the business of finding people jobs."

Wilder said one of the main points he and Hayden ask their clients to focus on is researching the industry and business in which they want to work. "Most people use a company Web site as the sole source of information," he said. "What you should be doing is using all the resources available to you. If you can walk into an interview and say, 'I've visited 25 of your stores,' that would say much more to me than parroting back what I've heard on a Web site. That's the kind of thing that will set you apart."

Over the last year Hayden-Wilder has worked with more than 115 new entrants to the job market and, according to them, 98 percent were able to find the kind of job they were looking for. Over the last year they have helped students land positions in real estate development, teaching, investment banking and nursing.

Ultimately, according to Clabby, what Hayden-Wilder offers is someone to guide you through what can be a frustrating and frightening process. "They are just a great resource," she said. "I know I can call them before I go into an interview and they will talk me through it."

akstanle@projo.com / (401) 277-7485