What is the biggest concern for you and your friends?
Employment. Overly frustrated to get a job. In Japan, people start becoming serious about "employment" from the winter of their third year at college. I think the pressure is coming down to first/second year people lately.
This quote is from a twenty-year old college student in Japan. It can be found in a white paper titled, The 8095 Exchange: Millennials, Their Actions Surrounding Brands, and the Dynamics of Reverberation, written by Edelman, a global PR firm.
I think it's safe to say many American college students feel the same way.
So college freshmen and sophomores, what do you do? Do you spit out a shiny résumé? Do you cut your hair, buy clothes to cover your tatooes, remove excessive metal and shelf the fun side of college life?
No. You become a story seeker. Go out and find people on the path ahead of you and ask for their stories. Tell me about how you got to where you are? How did you choose? Describe the obstacles you had to deal with. How did it make you feel? Describe how you feel now. Where will you be in five years?
While the intent is to listen and learn from the storyteller, the storyteller is also someone who can tell YOUR story. In your conversation, you should talk one twentieth of the time you listen. Just enough to let that person know and FEEL that you are curious, respectful, have passion and want to make a difference in the world.
Now, about those tatooes and metal... It's a fact of life, you're going to be judged. Keep in mind that the storyteller could be a person of great help to you in the future. If this person is an artist, there's a less chance that your appearance will be a factor. If she is mainstream corporate America, it will be. It's possible that if you're respectful and clean, you can overcome a minimum amount of exposed skin art and metal. You are in the driver's seat. You'll need to decide how much of a positive impact you want to have.
Story seeking is just a start. You'll need to maintain a connection to the storyteller so she'll remember you when someone asks her, "do you know anyone who can...?" More to come on that here and at the Standing out in a Sea of Sameness Facebook page.
For Edelman's report described above, click on White Paper on this page.