Supporting students during Covid-19
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
Graduation marks a major milestone for students as they step away from their classroom, eager and ready to launch into their new chapter. In the best of times, the step of graduating is filled with uncertainty. Despite the energy and eagerness, the limited experience means many are caught in a Catch-22 on “entry level” roles - employers want candidates with experience and candidates cannot get experience without getting a chance to develop those. Getting a foot in the door is so critical for so many to put their professional paths on a solid trajectory. From a societal view, the sooner people are in productive roles, applying their skills, paying off debt and contributing to society overall, the better off we are economically and otherwise. Delays or suboptimal decision making early in the career has a downward cascading impact, not only for the individual, but for society as a whole.
Recently, trends facing recent generations are troubling as students face mounting debt, limited opportunities, “stickiness” in the labor market which has young adults, in the prime of setting up their careers, delaying key decisions and reducing risk taking at a time when risk taking is key. However, 2020 was actually being projected as a strong market prior to Covid-19. Additionally, socioeconomic inequities are further exaggerated as the American dream that “we can be anything” has been replaced by a more stark picture of limited social mobility.
During this time of the pandemic and pandemic-induced economic crisis, many groups are facing unknown challenges and high levels of uncertainty. Graduating seniors and graduate students completing their degrees are facing a double-whammy of downward pressure, we know how important those first steps out of school are (even more so with social mobility challenges) and the projections are stark. The current crisis could create even greater inequity and upheavals for those in lower socioeconomic levels.
In “good times”, there are a host of activities that we can do to help support students as they launch into the job market, e.g.,
Mentoring students is helpful and mutually beneficial. Like many, I receive requests from strangers on LinkedIn. Somewhat reluctant to connecting with strangers (partly due to bandwidth issues), I realized that if a student takes the initiative, writes a clear request and is appreciative and mindful of my time, then why not help (and that goes beyond students too)?
Sharing feedback and being open and accessible with students you know or in your community is valuable. Opening yourself to working with new folks, whether through your existing communities or in new ones, is valuable and desired. Ultimately, being open, kind and giving advice that you wish others had shared with you, has benefits. For example, I had the opportunity to speak with students at University of Minnesota’s School of Statistics to share experiences and answer their questions as part of the Advisory Council efforts, and that led to individual conversations with students, as well as helping me to view different perspectives and ideas to pursue.
Create opportunities for students by hiring interns. Yes, it is more work, but it is also quite rewarding. For example, I began a statistics internship program within the Seeds R&D and production while at Syngenta. The influx of energy, new perspectives and knowledge was personally energizing, and clearly had benefits for the company as it was able to hire several of those students as full-time employees with knowledge of their skills and interest in agriculture. While this does take some more time and coaching through the learning curve, it becomes easier and standardized over time (e.g., I have a set of my own resources, many resources also exist online).
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
For those who have time, energy or desire, those activities to support graduating students have even more impact now. Reaching out to students, creating opportunities, finding innovative ways to reach out, beyond your own community to those who may not have a chance.
My personal choices have been informed by the actions of others that positively influenced my path - mentorship, people just answering the phone, people being supportive, scholarships, internships, projects. The smallest action could mean so much to someone on the receiving end:
Recently, I posted on LinkedIn for mentors for two graduating seniors and was positively impressed by the response. Remember, you have skills and experiences to offer, you have empathy to offer since you’ve been there, you have compassion to share because you’re human and it's always a part of us.
In 2017, I launched the Open Rivers scholarship focused on STEM, inspired by those who helped me as I graduated from high school. Beyond monetary support, which was greatly appreciated, the acknowledgement and boost given by these groups meant a lot. In 2018, I wrote about how Bill Gates’ speech to our inaugural Gates Scholars class truly affected me. I wanted to do something to support and empower the next generation. We will be offering two scholarships for the 2020 graduating class.
My business just fully launched and I am intentionally growing it slowly so that it is sustainable with a strong foundation that I can fully manage (I’m a fan of intentional investment upfront and slowing the pace now to move faster down the road - crawl, walk, run - as I’ve seen my share of organizations run too hard, too quickly and topple). I planned to hire one graduate research assistant for the summer. However, given the number of students looking for opportunities, and the virtual nature of the work, I am expanding the number of roles.
There are no magic bullets. There is no script. Openness with compassion and empathy serve us all well. Let others know what you know. Let those in your communities know you are a resource. Remember how much it meant early in your career, to have someone to talk to, to have someone bounce ideas off of, to have someone to help navigate.
If one person is better off because of you, isn’t that worth something?
“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”