Thoughts on NASPAA Career Professionals Conference in Berkeley

Travis Sheffler and myself were fortunate to attend the NASPAA Career Professionals Workshop in Berkeley this week. This conference served as a great opportunity to not only share best practices with our colleagues, but to also learn about employment trends that will have an impact on our students.

We heard from a panel on corporate social responsibility(CSR). This is a very hot relatively new career area. Raj Sapru of Business for Social Responsibility said that although there are some expectations that some corporations may cut back in this area due to the economy, he feels that they will generally continue sustainability efforts due tho their long-term investment in it. He also sees CSR as a good opportunity for public policy students because of their expertise in regulations.

Dr. Frank Benest, the former city manager of Palo Alto, California and now with ICMA, spoke about what he deemed an "historic opportunity" for millennials to find opportunities in local government due to a large exodus of baby boomers who are now retiring. He predicted that today's economy may constrain hiring somewhat for the next two years, but that a strong hiring trend for millennials will persist.

Nick Ellis the managing partner of Bright Green Talent, a green recruiting firm said that DC is a hotbed for environmental jobs, especially with the incoming Obama Administration. He also stated that transferable skills are very important because the green industry is such a nascent one. It is also one of the few where salaries are rising.

Hearing from these practitioners provided me with a small ray of hope in such trying economic times.

Taking One (Percent) for the Team

From insidehighered.com

At Brandeis University, faculty are considering whether to voluntarily forgo 1 percent of their salaries next year to prevent possible layoffs of support staff.

“It’s not painless for us, but it’s not a huge hit to take,” said William Flesch, the Faculty Senate chair and a professor of English literature.

Lawyers are still vetting the details of the proposal but, in short, interested faculty would contribute to the cause either by forgoing 1 percent of their paychecks, or via a charitable contribution to a reserved Brandeis fund. Faculty would volunteer individually and anonymously (“only the payroll office would know,” Flesch said), without any cuts to their listed base pay. And, to avert concerns about freeloading, contributions would kick in only if there is a critical mass of willing faculty — if those who volunteer collectively earn at least 30 percent of the total faculty salary pool within the College of Arts and Sciences.

Virtual Meditation Rooms for Peaceful Sounds

Need to destress at work today? Gaiam Life has virtual meditation rooms with peaceful images and sounds that could help you on stressful days . . . or hours . . . or minutes. Try the forest room for birds softly singing or the water room for sounds of surf. There's even a link on how to meditate for beginners.

Gaiam Life was created by the eco-friendly product company, Gaiam, and describes itself as a, "first attempt at using the Internet as a gathering place to communicate our values and to provide people with a gathering place to share thoughts, ideas and feelings about the world we live in and our relationship with it. We hope that our microcosm of the world community is a nurturing, supportive, positive destination for people seeking health, wellness and sustainable living." They are based in Boulder, Colorado, and currently have one position open on their careers page for an applications specialist.

FACEBOOK: Just because you end up in the National Archives doesn’t mean that it will become public information.

So you're thinking of applying for a position with the new Obama administration. You've answered the incredibly personal questionnaire and promised that there's nothing embarrassing in your online presence, or maybe you admitted there was, but promised that you could explain it.

Um . . . where will all this end up? Afraid that your life will be an open book? Eamon Javers soothes your worries in this Politico piece about who keeps all these records from 15,000 applicants. The upshot is that while, yes, they may be in the National Archives, they probably won't be public.

Photo by Takomabibelot.

Job Search Tips from Indeed.com

Our fearless leader, Katherine Stahl, forwarded these online job search tips from powerful job search engine, Indeed.com. Friendly reminders include . . .

• cleaning up one's act - from online profile to cover letter typos
• choosing job sites carefully
• keeping it focused by NOT applying for everything
• avoiding scams

We give our students similar advice, but this is nicely updated to include the online world.

Students Face Financial Challenges as Family Budgets Shrink

Here's a story from The Daily Californian (UC Berkely's student publication) that's not such new news. Students are working more hours, on top of their full time loads, to help pay for college. High school seniors are looking more at application fees in deciding where to apply, not just the bottom line. But the one bright spot is that FAFSAs, based on the previous year's tax returns, can enable families not previously eligible for aid to have help for the next academic year.

Photo by Matt Glaman

Lenders Worry That Colleges Don't Yet See All the Dangers

The nation’s student-loan companies remain deeply worried about their financial health. They may now be worrying just as much, however, about the willingness of colleges to recognize their own financial peril...

“I think they’re in trouble,” said Daniel M. Meyers, president and chief executive of the First Marblehead Corporation, a leader in the marketplace for private student loans, of the institutions he visited during a recent tour of college campuses.

“I wish to say that I saw schools' being way more proactive and way more concerned about their current revenue picture,” Mr. Meyers said. “But I haven’t seen too much of it.”