As the Young Entrepreneur Council (an organization that promotes entrepreneurship as a way to put youth back to work) will tell anyone, the job market for recent college grads is a tough space to enter these days. College students looking to make themselves an attractive job candidate might want to consider modeling their college experience after Mikhail A. Naumov.
Know Thyself
Let’s start with the easy part. Cultivate personal interests. Naumov is a tea connoisseur. He also reads historical fiction, plays chess, and enjoys both house music and classic rock. Hobbies or pastimes will keep you sane, allow you to interact with people across pursuits, and serve as a reminder that you’re a little bit like everyone when you go on to achieve incredible things. Interests will also come in handy when you need to supply a metaphor for a life philosophy. In Naumov’s case, he enjoys “squeezing every ounce of joy from each and every day.” The tea passion lets him get away with this.
Seek out others that share your passions. If you can’t find an organization that creates space for your craft, skill, business, then start one! Naumov founded an entrepreneurial society at Rutgers University.
Keep One Foot On The Streets
Take advantage of affiliations or organizations that offer on the job training. Naumov put in time at Google, Morgan Stanley, Discovery Communications, and the Trump Organization. Even if you can’t access such an impressive lineup of companies, any experience equals an opportunity to test likes and dislikes. While your hitting the books and diversifying your knowledge base, gaining a sense of how you might apply skills and knowledge will add value to your efforts.
Embrace Adventure
OK, here I get to sound like the adult you probably won’t listen to but wish you would have years later. If at all possible, spend time abroad. Spending time outside of your native surroundings expands horizons. You’ll learn about your strengths and weaknesses in a way school can never teach. And it’s easier when you’re younger! The youthful body is more resilient when it comes to handling travel, modest accommodations, altered rhythms, changes to sleep and eating habits. You’ll learn to relate better to people from all over, see opportunities and career paths you didn’t know existed.
Again, Mikhail Naumov sets a crazy-high standard. he’s from St. Petersburg, Russia. He attended the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit in Mexico City. And, yes, he founded a company that specializes in offering a unique travel abroad program. Hey, if you can’t do the same, you might want to sign up. Anyway, the point of having a model is to give yourself an example worth emulating, right?
The GREEN Entrepreneur
Naumov’s company is GREEN, The Global Renewable Energy Education Network. It provides students with a twelve-day immersion program in green technology in Costa Rica. Students tour geothermal, wind turbine, and hydroelectric power plants.
They visit organic farms, learn about reforestation programs, and explore the abundant wildlife parks and centers. Students attend lectures on sustainable industries and renewable energy, and receive credit for the program. The highlight is the hands-on experience. OK, there’s some beach time as well.
The program costs students $2,450, all inclusive. About 80 universities have established partnerships with GREEN, sending 250 students to Costa Rica annually. Because the company is for profit, obtaining scholarships or grants to attend is difficult at the moment. For the aspiring entrepreneur, the on-site training, adventure, and CV building experience add up to a rather incredible opportunity.
Sound extraordinary? Yes. It’s unreasonable to expect that every college grad will find themselves a startup founder with such impressive credentials as Naumov. However, GREEN started in a dorm room with students hashing out a vision, then working hard to establish contacts, bootstrap expenses, and build from scratch. Pretty ordinary work that any student include in their life journey.
