Transcript of Trent Perry,President of CTP Enterprises on CNBC’s Closing Bell

Tyler Mathisen, Co-anchor:

Coming up next, college grads facing the most daunting job market in years.
Maria Bartiromo, co-anchor:
Yeah, we’ll get some tips on how college grads can stay out of the unemployment
line and find out how to get a job and a career. Back in a moment.
Commercial break
Mathisen:
College grads facing the toughest job market in years. Launching a career, let
alone finding a job, can be a very difficult thing these days. But one career m
anagement expert says it doesn’t have to be that way. Trent Perry joins us now…
Mr. Trent Perry: That’s correct.
Mathisen: Trent…thanks for coming by.
Mr Perry: Thank you.
Mathisen: Let’s cut to the bottom line, what’s best way to find a job today?
Mr. Perry: Well I think it’s important to, first of all, make sure that you hav
e a real effective resume presentation for your skills. Young people need to as
sess their background, their experience, everything they can into a marketing de
sign that will be effective in identifying their skills and allowing managers to
see the value of their background. And then they have to, basically, use all t
he options they can, including the Internet. But also, in terms of looking at o
ther non-traditional employers like larger corporations. I think they need to l
ook also at smaller businesses for today’s opportunities. Smaller businesses ar
e hiring a lot of recent grads.
Bartiromo: Mr. Perry, Wall Street has been certainly a landing place for many c
ollege grads over the last 10-year period or so. Do you see that trend reversin
g? Do you think that given the fact that Wall Street has been now, over the las
t two years, among the biggest job layoff, you know, that’s where the layoffs ha
ve been coming from? Do you think people will be changing their majors, changin
g their focus, maybe going into law or other professions?
Mr. Perry: I think there could be a lot of that. I think there are a lot of yo
ung people going into graduate degree programs now because the economy is so sof
t.
Graphic on screen

Mr. Perry: I think that Wall Street and other industries have shown that they’r
e cutting back some- somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 percent to 40 percent i
n some cases in terms of hiring recent college graduates. So I suspect Wall Str
eet would be in there with the rest of the industries.
Graphic on screen
Mathisen: Let’s talk a little bit about small business. What kinds of small bu
sinesses are hiring? And are we talking about going to someone, a local machine
tool shop if you’re an accountant and seeing what kind of work you might be abl
e to do for them or what ever?
Graphic on screen
Mr. Perry: I think across all industries there’s a lot of small businesses that
have significant needs for people. There are approximately four times the numb
er of businesses under 100 employees than there are businesses over 100 employee
s, so there’s a lot more businesses out there.
Graphic on Screen
Mathisen: Don’t small businesses employ something like 80 percent of the nation
’s work force or 85 percent? I mean, it’s a huge number.
Mr. Perry: It’s a large percentage. It’s a large percentage. And admittedly a
lot of those companies are small businesses, very small, and may not be taking
on college graduates in professional opportunity areas.
Graphic on screen
Mr. Perry: But there are a lot of opportunities in the service industry, the re
tail, the manufacturing settings and so forth. There’s a lot of opportunity tha
t we just aren’t looking for.
Graphic on screen
Bartiromo: What, in your opinion, are the must have qualifications that can get
you into a broad range of industries? When a candidate comes for a job – I mean
, what are the qualifications that really impress you regardless if it’s small b
usiness, Wall Street, law?
Mr. Perry: I think the willingness to make a contribution to their employer. I
think so many young people are so anxious to get their career started and so fo
rth, they have to realize that the important part of developing a career relatio
nship with their employer is to define what the employer wants out of them and t
hen make sure that they deliver that type of service or that type of work effort
. Too many times they just sit back and wait for their job requirements to be o
utlined. I think it’s important to take some initiative and communicate with yo
ur employer. Communication is very important.
Mathisen: I want to get your thoughts on two thinks
Mr. Perry: Mm-hmm.
Mathisen: One is should a perspective employee ever take a job that they think
is beneath them, number one? And, number two, should they consider taking jobs t
hat may not be permanent, may not have benefits or part-time, temporary or what
for?
Mr. Perry: I’ve seen a lot of young people do very well by going into temporary
contract positions and working their way up into permanent employment. Sometim
es it’s necessary with young college graduates leaving with college debt and the
lack of opportunity and sometimes in major corporations and traditional career
paths it is important to get to work and begin planning your career. But don’t
stop and not continue to look for better opportunities to grow your career profe
ssionally.
Bartiromo: Mr. Perry, good to have you with us. Thanks so much for your insigh
t.
Mr. Perry: Thank you.