If You Can’t Leave It Better Than You Found It, Don’t Work There
“Leave it better than you found it” is something you’ve probably heard about a campsite or nature preserve. It’s a great rule of thumb for just about everything. Sticking to it will ensure that you treat every activity as meaningful. If you have to leave it better than you found it, you really have to […]
Developing the Proper Attitude Toward Feedback
Feedback is an almost universally praised tool for growth, yet it’s still incredibly hard to give and take. There’s a lot that goes in to making it easier, but that starts with developing the proper attitude towards feedback. When you understand what feedback is and exactly why it’s important, it becomes easier to give and take when […]
Kill Your Next Interview With These Tips
Interviews are a big part of life and a big part of Praxis. I interview dozens of candidates per month and send each of our participants off to do interviews with business partners. This means that we’ve picked up some of the best do’s and don’ts for successfully interviewing, whether for a job, fellowship, apprenticeship, […]
In Your Daily Routine, Are You Making Room for Thought?
I interviewed the founder of a Praxis business partner recently and he said something unexpected. He’s a high-energy, type A kind of person and incredibly productive. When I asked any tips or habits he employs to get so much done he said “I make time to think.” He went on to describe large chunks of time […]
College is Obsolete. Why I Jumped Into Something Better
The following is a guest post by Praxis participant Nate Baker. When I moved off to college, I was 18 years old and ready to begin the next chapter of my life. I was looking forward to exploring big ideas, meeting ambitious people, and navigating the beginning of a fulfilling career. I was hungry, curious, and […]
Get Out of Your Preparation Mindset
I spoke with a college student the other day over lunch about her career goals. She told me she’s studying journalism. She plans to be a political journalist. “What have you written?” I asked? “Do you have a personal website?” “Umm,” she said nervously, “well I have this one essay I wrote in my English […]
Can I do Praxis as a gap year?
You don’t have to skip college to do Praxis. Some of our participants choose to do Praxis as a gap year after high school, during a four-year college stint, or right after graduation. Why should I do a Praxis gap year? If you like school but don’t know what you want to do with your life, […]
Ditch Your Resume – Build A Pitch Deck
I have never seen a resume that I remember, and I have seen plenty of resumes from great and qualified candidates. This sentiment is echoed by businesses with whom I speak and the people who do the hiring. The reality is, a resume is much like a business card — it won’t ever get you […]
4 Outdated Job Search Steps and What to Do Instead
As a young professional at a growing startup that helps people begin their careers, I’ve seen people learn the hard way that much of what they’re taught in school about getting a job simply doesn’t work. I’ve seen people apply to dozens of jobs and get no answer back even though they did “everything right.” […]
Four Lessons I Learned from Dropping Out of College
I sat at my desk reading the same page for the third time in a row. It was a Marxist interpretation of the French Revolution. No matter how hard I tried to be interested, I just couldn’t care. I had been a Dean’s list student my freshman year but by the second semester of my […]
Why do Praxis when you can just go get a job?
“If your participants are so good, why don’t they just go get jobs on their own?” I get this question occasionally when pitching new Praxis business partners. They hear how Praxis participants can create value for their businesses on day one, how they are courageous, ambitious go-getters, and how they are people excited about working […]
I’m a college grad looking for a career change. Can Praxis help me?
Yes! At Praxis we don’t focus on your formal educational status. Whether you have no degree, an undergraduate degree or two, or graduate degree, if you want to dive in to an intense professional development program and startup career, we can help. We have participants and alumni with and without degrees. We don’t have a […]
Four Things Better Than a Mentor
There’s a lot of buzz about mentorship. Find the mentor who will give you the edge to succeed! The more powerful the mentor, the better! Chill out. Mentorship is overrated. I’ve written elsewhere about how mentors don’t have the answers: “You should always remember that no mentor has the answers to your questions. They have […]
How to Get a Job Next Week by Doing Highly Valuable Free Work (Email Templates Included)
For some reason, there exists this trope that “there are no jobs available” or “businesses are not hiring.” I consider this part of the epidemic of entitled young people expecting to be handed a job simply because they exist and sat through classes for 4 years. The reality is that businesses are desperate to hire. […]
Why Homeschoolers Should Stop Trying to Get Into College
I am constantly impressed by the homeschool families that I meet. Whether it is at speech and debate competitions where they blow the socks off of my own experience doing the same in high school or it is reviewing applications for Praxis of people who were homeschooled, they go above and beyond. By and large, […]