“I used to have zero clubs in college. I can’t find the time to go to them. I had to make some money, ”says Miranda, now 25. If she had participated in the sport, she would not have been able to learn a trade. “Even paid internships don’t pay very well,” he says.
Miranda said: “I did not realize how many people were looking for a successful career before completing their studies.” “My friends and I are too late for the party.”
Until she, too, found a way to Braven to prepare for a job as a junior, Miranda did not know how to start a career. “We have no one to lead us. We’re just going to college, trying to get good grades. We don’t have anyone to say, ‘Hey, you have to do your CV. You have to make a mark. ‘”
In comparison, he says, “People with parents who go to college, know things. Early college students don’t know what happens after college. Like, what do you do? I didn’t know how to use the network or who to connect with. I didn’t have anyone.”
Miranda got a job as an operations manager at Amazon’s fulfillment of the job, starting with a process that she says she hopes will eventually lead her to sell. (Braven has no relationship with Amazon.)
Even small things like a handshake can upset others who have just graduated from college, says NASPA’s Waintraub Stafford. “If you have never been to a place where you have learned the basics of working hand in hand as is the case with partner organizations, this will be fun for you and for those you meet,” he says.
A very small number of colleges and universities are recognizing the unique challenges that first generation children face in finding employment after completing their education and adding support programs.
UC Berkeley is now offering on-the-job training especially for first-year and low-income students, including academic reviews, support for LinkedIn profiles, and semester courses. The University of Toledo has a social networking site to help students connect with their employers and alumni as well as a pre-programmed program to teach them how to write CVs, networks, and other skills.
Last year, Cal State Fullerton launched the I Am First program, which brings in graduates to train their young peers who have signed up, says Jennifer Mojarro, director of the university’s career center. Among other things, the program teaches payment negotiation skills.
“It’s dangerous to admit you don’t know” how to get a job after graduation from college, Mojarro says. It is also stressful. “Their parents are very happy for them to be college students, and that can be dangerous, too, for them to have this.”
Non-profit organizations, such as Braven – which brings its education to universities and community colleges that have a large number of native and low-income students – also partner with colleges to help indigenous peoples.
Aimée Eubanks Davis, founder and CEO of Braven, was working in New Orleans as a schoolteacher whose students were first-generation and low-income earners when they realized the importance of support.
“I saw my students go to college and get scared when they arrive,” Davis says. Although they acquired the same qualifications as their peers – often working hard to do so – they were missing out on the “invisible good” that exists for students whose parents are college students and who are well connected.
Braven is similar to the students and coaches who work in participating companies. “The instructor is usually the first person the student gets to know,” Davis says.
While it affects everything from dressing to being asked until it’s time to send thank you, Braven’s approach is primarily to build trust, he says. “Much has to do with the story and the story he was told abroad.” Students are reminded that “their experiences in life, no matter how difficult and difficult and imperfect, are what make them successful and courageous.”