Social Media Governance Rules

This is a link to a database of the range of institutional policies that have been established by various government agencies, NGOs, corporations and schools, governing/guiding their staff regarding use of social media.

American workforce getting grayer

Pew Research Center study shows American workforce getting grayer.

"Why Craigslist is Such a Mess"

Excellent analysis from Wired Magazine about Craigslist, which remains one of the world's most visited websites. Only part of the article discusses Craigslist as a jobs site, but well worth reading.

Employment Index Contradicts Government Data

From Consumer Reports: Employment Index Contradicts Govt. Data

Although unemployment data released last Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics paints a pessimistic picture of the state of jobs in the U.S., the Employment Index indicates more jobs were lost than gained in the last 30 days. The Employment Index examines the change in employment of those that reported starting a new job, compared to those that have lost their job or were laid off in the past 30 days. An index below 50 indicates more jobs were lost than gained, while a score more than 50 indicates more jobs were gained than lost in the past 30 days.

In September, the Employment Index improved from 48 to 50.3, resulting from the decline in reported job losses in the past 30 days, reflecting August 2009, and an increase of those reporting starting a new job in this period.

However, the August unemployment rate jumped from 9.4% to 9.7%, and the total number of unemployed persons rose from about 14.43 million to 14.9 million. In addition, the civilian labor force participation rate, which is the proportion of the non-institutionalized civilian population age 16 and older serving in the labor force, remained flat at 65.5%. Meanwhile, the employment-population ratio, which measures the ratio of employed persons to the total non-institutionalized civilian population age 16 and older, dropped from 59.4% to 59.2%.

The Consumer Reports Index, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, is a monthly telephone poll of a nationally representative probability sample of telephone households. Interviewing of 1,009 adults aged 18-plus was completed between August 27-30, 2009. The margin of error is +/- 3.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

Extensive & growing use of social media

Forrester Research, a leading media research firm, has released an extensive study on U.S. usage of social media. At this point, four out of five U.S. online adults report using social media at least once per month. Half participate in sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Forrester classifies users into categories:

• Joiners — those who simply visit blogs and social media sites;
• Creators — the 25% who create content in one way or another for blogs, social sites, etc;
• Collectors — the 20% who use tags, RSS feeds, voting sites (like Digg and Reddit) to assemble or categorize web content.
• The most rapid growth in social net usage is occurring among those age 35 and older, prompting Forrester to recommend that every marketer needs to be in the social media biz today.

Twitter Message Design

Wisdom from Web Guru Jakob Nielsen re optimal Twitter message design

1. Don't start with word "Announcing" -- "Of course it's an announcement — otherwise I wouldn't be posting it..."
2. "Remember that users tend to read only the first few characters as they scan down a list. Make them count."
3. "Frontload attractive keywords to make the message more scannable."
4. "Users have become somewhat hardened against event promotions" ... make users "feel like they're getting concrete and useful info."
5. Twitter time passes 10 times faster than email time. "One of the big downsides of stream-based communication compared to email newsletters is the highly ephemeral nature of the postings: Once they scroll off the first screen, they're essentially 6 feet under. A look at clickthrough statistics for links posted to Twitter vs. those circulated in email newsletters shows ... lots of clicks the first few minutes, and then almost none. In contrast, email continues to generate clicks for days as people work their way through their inboxes.
   

Grad school fair demographics

This is a very good one-page set of charts from Idealist.org, analyzing the demographics of people who attend their graduate school fairs in DC. By far the largest category among "fields of interest" is "International Affairs/Relations," followed by "Public Policy." Next such grad school fair is Sept 21st, 5pm-8pm at the Washington Convention Center.

free online technology skills training

Only a small percentage of students will want to tackle this, but here's a website -- w3schools.com that offers free online technology skills training for a variety of software; e.g. -- Flash, HTML, Java scripting, etc.

American U. Goes Test-Optional for Early Applicants

From the Aug. 18 online version of the Chronicle

Students applying to American University this year won't have to submit an SAT or ACT score—if they apply under its early-decision plan. If the university ultimately adopts the "test optional" policy for all of its 15,000 applicants, it would be one of the largest, more-selective colleges in the country to do so.

Full article here.

Forbes Newest Top Colleges not the best news for AU

However you slice and dice it, AU is not in the top 100 or even 200 or even 300 of the Forbes' list of public and private colleges and universities. Out of 600 schools listed, we're #433rd. All our competitors in the area did better. George Washington, with the highest tuition, was 429th, 4 slots ahead of us. University of Maryland at College Park was 387th, George Mason at 338th, and Georgetown is 106th.

We also aren't in the list of the 100 top value colleges. University of Mary Washington is (and they're on Tuition Exchange!), at 58. Virginia Tech is 53, College of William and Mary is 33, VMI is 21, UVA is 19, and "Canoe U" (as my West Point father calls it) in Annapolis is 6.

The methodology was pretty interesting in how they balanced different factors. 25% is based on student satisfaction with courses, 25% on post-graduation employment success (based on listings of alumni in the 2008 edition of Who's Who in America and salaries of alumni from PayScale.com) and 20% to debt after four years. The remaining 30% was from the four year graduation rate (16.67%) and student and faculty nationally competitive awards (students at 8.33% and faculty at 5%). Their comment on awards was interesting, but I wonder how quantifiable it really is.

We have modestly demoted nationally competitive academic
awards as a feature in this year's index (from an overall weight of 16.67% to
13.33%). We have kept the portion of this variable related to student receipt of
nationally competitive awards like the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships the same
as in 2008 (8.33% in the total ranking). We have reduced the component relating
to faculty scholarly recognition (e.g., Nobel prizes) from 8.33% to 5%. We
believe having eminent faculty add to a campus's luster, but in some respects
this component has aspects of being an input into the process rather than an
outcome (e.g., a university can buy Nobel laureates), something we are trying to
avoid.

Also, frankly in discussions with students and parents, often the other
factors cited above (quality of instruction, postgraduate success, graduation
rates, etc.) are mentioned, but rarely do they talk about the competitive award
factor as a determinant of college decisions. For the typical student, it is
vastly more important that they feel rewarded by the classes that they actually
take than that there are eminent scholars in their midst who are generally
inaccessible to undergraduates.

Let's see what our own PR folks make of this. At least we're still a top Career Center!

World of an Intern (Music Video) and eBay auction

"Just a video us interns put together in the last couple of weeks here at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. " I think it's great. Wish our interns would come up with something like this. It's a tad cutting but basically positive without being obviously "rah rah."


They also had an eBay auction which raised over $17,000 FOR their 38 interns. That's an interesting way to budget for them!

Rob SanGeorge quotes in Baltimore Sun on Pesticides in Chesapeake

Career Advisor by day, Rob SanGeorge dons a super hero costume off hours and as director of the Pesticides and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Project, was the go to person for the media when it came to a new report on pesticide pollution causing things like intersexed fish. In the article, which came out Friday, reports,

"There's no smoking gun," SanGeorge says, acknowledging the lack of conclusive research showing that toxic chemicals in the bay and its tributaries are harming fish and wildlife and bay grasses. But he points to studies suggesting problems and "enormous data gaps" that need to be filled.

http://www.thinkswiss.org/index.php

Study in Switzerland! For the third year in a row, ThinkSwiss has selected 17 talented undergraduate and graduate students from the United States as winners of ThinkSwiss Research Scholarships. These students will receive a stipend for up to three months to conduct research at a Swiss university or research lab. The scholarship is open to students of all fields who have an outstanding academic record and a keen interest in Switzerland. This year’s winners come from a range of top U.S. universities, including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Columbia, and will study at Swiss institutions such as ETH-Zurich, the University of Basel, the University of Lausanne and others. Now in its third year, these research scholarships are an important part of the ThinkSwiss mission to build dialogue between the two nations. You can read about the work and experiences of ThinkSwiss research scholars on the ThinkSwiss Research Blog.

Social Entrepreneurship

Good article on social entrepreneurship in Stanford Social Innovation Review. Potentially useful reading for students interested in the field.

Rank & File Non-Profit Staff Members Earn Average $45,615

From Non-Profit Times, July 2, 2009

http://www.nptimes.com/09Jun/bnews-bluewater.html

From Time Magazine: Postcard from Bismarck

Very interesting article from this week's Time Magazine. Apparently, Bismarck, North Dakota, of all places, has not been adversely affected by the economy, with an unemployment rate half the national average and many "Now Hiring" signs. Could some of our alumni be happy living in the hinterlands?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1907145,00.html

69% of Non-Profits Report Funding Cuts

From Non-Profit Times, 06/29/2009: "Non-Profits Employ Tougher Measures as Downturn Deepens"

Revenue & Donors Continue Free Fall

Fundraising still taking big hit, from Non-Profit Times, 06.25.2009.

CUNY Social Networks in the Leadership Program

Why should we be interested in CUNY's Leadership Program? Like our interns, they don't see each other. Unlike our interns, they do gather at the very beginning, and at the end to present projects. They use Ning to create their own social network and keep everything professional. Faculty approve each photo to help students understand parameters and purpose. Keeping it professional means students can eventually show this to their potential employers. CUNY also has them develop a LinkedIn profile, turning graduates students into mentors, and keeping track of alumni after graduation.

Old students recruit new students into the program through Ning (but everyone's approved by administrators before being granted access). They also have a Facebook page.

LinkedIn becomes the students' portfolio. They have a poster of their life with links to academic work through the Keep Toolkit, they have their LinkedIn profile, and they link to their blogs that were in their Ning profile. Employers have been very impressed.

You can watch the presentation yourself through Slideshare!

Supporting Students Cross-Campus Collaboration Through Educational Social Networking [Sloan-C, San Francisco: June 18, 2009]

View more OpenOffice presentations from Christoph Winkler.

Twitterpated? and more possibilities

Alexandra M. Pickett is getting us to experiment and teach outside the box. Just consider . . .

Check her top ten list.

• Twitter is used for course announcements and she used the widget to embed it in her course for lots of flexibility and immediacy.
• Meebo widget lets students IM her online for synchronous interaction.
• Quick capture in YouTube lets her do an intro video.
• Voicethread lets you comment via video, audio, text, on the phone on documents, etc . . .
• All her students created blogs as a structured reflective activity and she has one, too.
  
• Diigo is like deli.cio.us on steroids and it can feed deli.cio.us and she created a group based on the class number and the students tag things with that course number, and you can highlight and leave stickies on public web pages, too!
• Jing for screen captures
• Breeze, which she thinks became Adobe Connect
• Audacity
• PollDaddy for getting feedback on the course

Will someone get Geoff an aspirin?

Screen shot is Map of the World 2.0.

How about Advising via Web Conferencing?

Go, Parkland College! This community college has seen online classes take off in the last ten years, and student services didn't want to leave those students out of what they had to offer. They use Adobe Connect because faculty and students liked it, it was less intimidating, customizable, flash-based with nothing to install, and affordable! You can pop in and out with ease, too.

For advising, they schedule their appointment online from the tutorial, click the time, get an automatic tutorial, and have a link that takes them right into the meeting. Both have access to shared screens so the advisor can demonstrate things. It has received rave reviews.

True, advisors resisted. Online?! Ugh. They felt overworked already. And it was unknown. So, they got an early adapter, and she then trained the others. Some students don't have cameras, but it's fine. It's also used by their writing center for tutoring, and they do it as a drop in. Students go to a "waiting room" after ringing a doorbell (they have fun with this). It gets a little awkward when the faculty has audio and can be heard, but the students just chat back, but it's not that bad. They go off line for the summer, and come back in the fall. Students can't always figure out screen share, so faculty just have them upload documents for review. Faculty can be washing dishes at home, hear the "doorbell," and go to their computer to help the students.

Help was needed because people forgot passwords, etc., but most issues were dealt with a phone call or email. Otherwise, they've staffed a helpdesk that deals with Adobe Connect issues. The student experience has been very positive and most would highly recommend it. Then the tech genius tells us how he integrates it into the student system and I'm completely humbled and lost. He created the doorbell so faculty didn't have to stair at their blank screens waiting for students. He gives us the code.

So, maybe it's even simpler to use Skype or Google chat and share with Google docs . . . They'd rather pay the fee because they need to know that the person they see is their student. That's why they log in. They found no need to market it for academic advising other than being on their web page. For the writing, they did need to put an ad on their equivalent of Blackboard.

Photo by kuljuls.

Multi-dimensional Assessment for eLearning

Why go to a session on online MBAs by Thomas Downey? Well, I ended up in the wrong session and can't get out of the room. But there are always take aways . . .

• Online learners are a different market than those who seek face to face, so remember that you aren't replacing anything (though we may want to try for scalability).
  
• We assess learners through authentic tasks, eLearning portfolios (employers want more than resumes and transcripts), and 360 degree evaluation
• Instructors need mentoring
• Reflection is one way to assess online learning, and to check with alignment with learning objectives.
  

So for us . . .

1. Define learning objectives (what are the objectives for each AUCC workshop/learning activity?)
   
2. Align curriculum with goals, including internships (tell departments)
   
3. Identify instruments and measures (including longitudinal evaluation to see if students "get it" over time) and evaluate all four levels: reaction, learning, behavior, results (did you like this, what did you learn, did you apply it, what happened?)
4. Analysis and dissemination of data
5. Use assessment data for continuous improvement
   

Photo by toastforbrekkie

Higher Ed Meets the S-Curve

What do you get when you have Google, Microsoft, and Future Changes together? You get a way cool panel talking about how to stay abreast of technology.

Julie Clow has three points from an instructional design perspective.

• Focus on the learner, not the technology, when you build your tool kit
• Launch and iterate to get input from users on how to improve it by thinking small and building on it
• Change the world and don't settle for technology to just make things faster and cheaper - how do you change how people learn?
  

Stewart Mader, a chemist by training, wants us to make the right choices, know about him, and understand the uses of wikis within organizations. He splits his time between universities and Fortune 500s

• Wikis are much more efficient than emailing back on forth for collaboration (think friends you meet on a train versus driving your own car) and make better results.
• He started using wikis because of all the distinct Chem 101 courses taught by different faculty with different projects . . . this helped with consistency in curriculum and the wiki created 6 years ago is still being used and built upon.
• Unlike Wikipedia which is wide and flat and completely transparent, organizational wikis are used for meeting management, documentation, knowledge base, project management, tacit knowledge, and as an encyclopedia.
  

Adrian Wilson shares Microsoft's perspective. (And don't worry! MS Office will soon be available on the web and enable collaboration! So cutting edge!)

• The world IS flat, and we're being overshadowed by India and China in a competitive environment.
• 21st century needs critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, innovation, collaboration, communication.
• One example addressing this is CareerForward, out of the virtual university of University Blogger: Kollective Konsciousness of the AUCC - Create Postof Michigan and is used as a way to reach the changing demographic.

We end with a glimpse of Wave, and a reminder that wikis are mature and have been around since 1995.

Photo by Ray Schamp.

U.S. public perceptions about job market

From the Pew Research Center: Americans by a wide margin say they are hearing mostly negative news about the nation's job situation, though they are more likely to sense a mix of good and bad news about other elements of the economy. Click here for a summary.

Wacky Wikis

Thomas Mackey of Empire State's used them for a couple of years. Transparency is they key issue. Who gets to say what to whom, and who decides? Faculty are very worried about giving credit where credit is due, but it’s like that in any group project.

He's used a variety of platforms (and we may want to check out PBWikis. It's free). It was used for reader response, reflection of service learning, feedback on drafts, team presentations, schedules, collages, wordles, web-based multi-media, Second Life journals and presentations, student-produced podcasts, YouTube videos, links, plus they could make their wiki pretty as they wanted. Students took a critical stance, though. It was hard! They wouldn't edit each others' work. They put their names on things, because they had a hard time letting go of ownership. It was hard to write for collaboration. But that’s not so strange. When he uses Buzzword for faculty collaboration, the faculty put their names on things, too. But since content was student-generated, it moved them from seeking answers just on Google, to taking responsibility for learning and sharing what they learned.

Could this be a new model for Peer Advisors? Should they be doing an AUPedia?

Photo by Lightmash.

Online Learning in a Social Media World

Intellagirl got a FT faculty gig so she's not here. :-(

The WGU experience is really parallel our AUCC, except they are completely online. Students need to be self-directed and independent and are mentored. They are assessed when they come in and as they proceed. BTW, they have a nice balance of academics, affinity, admin services, and accounts, and they strive to have the bulk on academics, driving down the time they have to spend on admin and money.

They also have students starting their program throughout the year, and a challenge is creating community with all their students starting at different times from different places. Plus, tutoring isn't scalable. If they can pull together a community and address something rather than answer a question 200 times, that's scalable. But communitiy can't be required, so they have to make them so interesting, students want to be there. Hmm, should we get career planning folded into our learning communities? Sound familiar?

The faculty needed to be trained to work with the communities because they kept wanting to be mentors. So WGU uses the GEM model: generate, evaluate, modify. Of course it's hard with student novices and experts together, and to switch from a learning management model to a social media model. They trained on blogs, weekly chats, discussion threads (students were used to them), email, documents, and IM.

But that was hard for their faculty and students because they couldn't quite get the model. So currently, they developed an in house system with focused learning activities, streesing networking rather than community. (Sounds like what our students have expressed.) Since mentors aren't available 24/7, message boards were very important. Mentor FAQs were the first place students went, but if nothing was there, they went to Google! They created a closed Ning network rather than communities.

Lots of parallels here! Let's watch this session together when I get access and discuss!

Podcasts and Vodcasts

Nickle and Nickle of Old Dominion presented this. Shocker: podcasts of lectures have mixed effectiveness. Can you believe that students don't usually listen to the ones professors make!?

On the other hand, having students create them was a way for students to learn course content and to learn a technology was great. The students started with a common event, experimenting with questions to see what would and wouldn't work. Then they wrote script, collected images and audio, then edited all into a vodcast. Technology was the biggest hurdle for them, but in addition to using pods to help students learn, they became part of an electronic portfolio students had, because they were also keeping blogs on Wordpress.

Each had the audio disclaimer that no part of the vodcast could be used without permission. Students learned about copyright issues when getting images. And some were created in students' native languages.

Hmm, so here's a way for students to process internship learning and potentially be used for prospective students. In addition to learning content and learning the technology, the presenters hope to use the learning products themselves to eventually promote their art collections.

Venture Well

Something to keep in mind for your entrepreneurial students...

Venture Well (http://venturewell.org) is a small-scale, non-profit venture capital organization focusing on "student generated businesses emerging from colleges and universities in the United States ... We're looking for scalable market-oriented solutions to health and environmental problems."

This is a credible organization -- a friend of mine who has been involved in a number of corporate social responsibility initiatives is one of the founders.

Keeping Your Cool Despite Interview Jitters From Washington Post

Good article from Sunday's Post providing advice on battling interview anxiety

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/13/AR2009061300633.html

Keeping Your Cool Despite Interview Jitters

By Susan Kreimer
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, June 14, 2009

Interviewing for a job is akin to performing on stage: Knowing you have only one chance to get it right can make nearly anyone nervous. But you can tame those jitters and prevent them from jolting an interview off course.

"Just like any performer, know your script -- cold," said Ed Schilling, 56, of Davidsonville, who started in March as executive director of the Biomedical Engineering Society. Although Schilling tends to talk rapidly when he's nervous, a conscious effort helped control his speech.

Job interview jitters are normal physical and emotional reactions. Kept in check, they can be more positive than negative, spurring candidates to prepare well and be at the top of their game when it matters most.

"It's like having butterflies before you go on stage to perform -- a small amount of them is good, so that your body and your mind are ready for the experience," said Marsha Lindquist, a career consultant in Prescott, Ariz.

Every job seeker probably deals with these sensations to some degree during the course of a career, "perhaps more so in the earlier years as the interviewee is not as experienced and probably less confident," Lindquist said.

Anxiety surrounding the interview process may intensify in a troubled economy, when there is more at stake. It's much easier to feel less pressure when the outcome seems not so critical or when the interview is one of many scheduled, said Kathy Albarado, chief executive of Helios, which serves companies in the Washington area.

Because of the pressure, job candidates should try even harder to keep calm, said Shira Harrington, director of professional search at Positions Inc. in the District. If you're unemployed, act like you have a job and are just looking for your next career move.

Researching an organization before the interview will calm your nerves while providing an impressive platform for discussion. Review its Web site thoroughly, try to find people who work or have worked there, and ask the recruiter for any information he or she can provide. Employers are impressed if you remember specific details and ask intelligent questions related to the organization, Harrington said.

You have to get there first, though. Leave home with plenty of time to spare, avoiding the anxiety that comes with feeling rushed.

"Do whatever you can to be 10 minutes early -- no more than that, however, so that you don't put pressure on the recruiter," Harrington said. "If you are extremely early, hang out in a local coffee shop or your car and continue to prepare."

Use the time to re-examine your appearance, said Amy Foy, a nurse recruiter at Harbor Hospital in Baltimore. "Check a mirror before you come in to HR, if anything just to confirm for yourself that you look okay," she said.

Once you reach the reception area or interview room, refrain from fidgeting, playing with your hair, glasses or clothing. Being relaxed will show. Be leery of talking too much and not listening enough.

"Too many nervous candidates try to fill the air with expanded versions of their accomplishments," Harrington said. "While you should provide good detailed responses, recruiters want to know that you can effectively tell a story with a clear beginning, middle and end."

The conversation should help both parties gauge whether the position and environment are a good fit. "You have just as much right to say 'no' as they do if you don't feel the click. Knowing that puts you more in a balanced relationship," Harrington said.

Boston Globe Article on Alumni Career Services

http://www.linkedin.com/newsArticle?viewDiscussion=&articleID=40750170&gid=1774538&trk=EML_anet_nws_title-cThOon0JumNFomgJt7dBpSBA

Boston.com THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING
The Boston Globe
Career counseling draws alumni back to campus

By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff | June 4, 2009

WALTHAM - When Brandeis University alumni arrive from across the country for reunions this weekend, the most popular event may not be the academic lecture on President Barack Obama's first 135 days, or even a luncheon with the university's president, Jehuda Reinharz.

The hottest ticket of the weekend looks to be the first-ever Alumni Day at the Hiatt Career Center, with one-on-one counseling sessions, career management lectures, and full access to the center's career development resources.

College career offices aren't just for directionless seniors anymore.

These days, a degree from many prestigious schools in the area comes with free job counseling for life, a perk that has been drawing back graduates who have hit a bump in their career paths, in some cases decades after leaving campus.

It's a sea change from recent years, when the most common alumni sightings - if they were seen at all - were within five years of graduation, said Joseph DuPont, director of the Hiatt Center, which serves 30,000 Brandeis alumni.

"We have seen a great upsurge in people who are 10 to 20 years out, if not beyond," he said, noting that 50 to 60 alumni had already registered for this weekend's career sessions, and dozens of others have attended college-sponsored networking events in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago in recent months.

Wendy Morris Berliner, a 1995 Brandeis graduate who calls herself a "recovering lawyer," is contemplating her next career move. She's also president of the school's Boston-area alumni chapter, and says more people are turning out for events.

"They are coming for the networking, no question." said Berliner.

People being squeezed by the recession often feel safer in a peer gathering, she said.

"It's fun, it's social, and it's a group you already have something in common with," Berliner said. "I've had friends who are going through a tough job search tell me they feel less conspicuous and less like a failure when they come to one of our events."

A group exclusively for job-seeking alumni from Brandeis was launched on the LinkedIn professional networking site in January. It is already topping 600 members and is the second-most popular Brandeis group on LinkedIn, DuPont said.

"I think people are becoming much more savvy about using all of their resources, and that includes the place where they received their education," he said.

Career counselors at another Waltham school, Bentley University, as well as Babson College in Wellesley, Wellesley College, and Boston College in Chestnut Hill all said they have seen a boom in alumni interest in career services and requests for passwords to college Internet sites and job boards during the past six months.

Officials at several schools, speaking anecdotally because they had not gathered statistics on contacts from laid-off alumni, said they noticed the first wave of calls and e-mails last fall after a series of cuts at several high-profile financial services companies.

But now it seems as if just about all career fields are affected by the troubled economy, said Andrea Dine, associate director of career development at the Hiatt Center.

The most challenging alumni are the ones who felt most at home in their careers and are reeling after being laid off.

"They may need to do some grieving," Dine said. "They may need to rethink whether to do something that maybe they have never done before."

At Wellesley College, the motto for the career center is "Translating the Liberal Arts Into Action." There is a lively job board, with 250 listings at any one time, and the W Network of alumnae willing to help out other Wellesley women, said Irma Tryon, director of recruiting at the college's Center for Work and Service.

Wellesley has also planned a special career program during its June 12-14 reunion weekend. The two-day "Shifting Gears" session is aimed at alumnae in transition, and features several authors and consultants, including Carol Fishman Cohen, author of "Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work," and Pam Lassiter, author of "The New Job Security." All of the regional Wellesley alumnae clubs have additional one-night career programs planned this spring as well.

Theresa Harrigan, director of Boston College's career center, said her office is also busier than in past years with requests for phone interviews and Internet counseling resources from alumni, but recent grads continue to make up the bulk of its business.

Sometimes what is most needed by alumni is a quick catch-up tutorial on social networking services, such as Twitter, or some clues on how to leverage alumni connections, said Megan Houlker, director of undergraduate career development at Babson College.

She said calls and e-mails to her office are now as likely to be from someone who graduated in the 1980s, when career services were a few resource books and personality surveys.

Older grads are happy to find so much job-help material and networking forums available through the college website, but sometimes are a little hesitant to use them.

"Many of them are looking or needing to make a transition and they need some reassurance that it's OK to reach out. People want to ask, 'Am I doing it right?' " Houlker said.

Business-oriented programs like Babson's have for years offered fairly sophisticated and popular networking and affinity groups for graduates focused on such careers as marketing, real estate, and consulting. Many grads don't need to come back because they never left, said Effie Parpos, Babson's director of MBA alumni relations.

But participation at recent networking breakfasts is booming, she said, adding, "Folks are finding these programs even more valuable." The school launched a new site May 1, and its Immediate Hire Job Networking Board, for people needing a new position right away, has had hundreds of postings this year.

Bentley, too, has long offered lifelong career services, including a free, five-week refresher course on networking, resume writing, and interviewing that currently has close to 40 participants, far more than last year, said Len Morrison, executive director of corporate relations, which oversees the school's Miller Career Center.

A more advanced five-week course on reinventing careers, offered for alumni who want a major change, is nearly filled, and is so popular that nonalumni are willing to pay $150 to join. The Bentley Success Network, launched just last month, has attracted 70 midcareer job-seeking alumni who meet monthly to help each other, said Morrison. He'll even roll up his sleeves and make calls to a company to offer support or references for an alumni applicant, if appropriate.

The current demand for alumni services may be a result of the recession, but it may have the long-term effect of shifting the traditional relationship between an institution and its graduates, administrators said, with the old notion of alumni-as-perpetual-donor seemingly giving way to more of a partnership in the career paths of its graduates.

"We ask so much from them, this is one of the ways we can give back," said DuPont.

Erica Noonan can be reached at enoonan@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

In Your Face!

At the University of Houston, the staff of the business school's career center have found that the key to reaching students is to be seen, even when in PJs. Dealing with commuters, part timers, and first generation students, in your face events have been a hit.

The "Resume ER" was a resume review in lab coats, with wellness videos for resumes in the "waiting room." Handouts became first aid kits. Companies would support and underwrite events while employers volunteered. Faculty and deans came. Surveys said that most heard about it from class or actually seeing the event. People don't read fliers, or pay attention in class.

There was a resume deli for MBAs could only come between 4 - 6 with staff in aprons and hats. There was an Interview Skills carnival with a duck pond with random questions and ducks, prizes for questions, balloon darts with questions. If students went to all five booths, they were entered in a drawing for a Starbucks card. again, students heard about event not from fliers or classes, but just seeing it. Their online job search workshop was "Job Search in your Jammies" Giving out gimmies before workshops helps - they need to meet you first before they come to workshop. For front desk outreach they wrote riddles on a white board totally unrelated to career issues, and front desk traffic spiked. After a month, they switched to announcements and traffic remained high.

It may seem silly, but since staff are usually in suits, the craziness bridges gap showing that people in suits can be nice people.

Techie Techie Techie Tech Me! I wanna get geeky!

The "Tech Summit" idea was raised last year at NACE when it was incredibly clear that interest was growing. NACE itself is tweeting, blogging, wikiing, and updating the association management system.

Louis Vong started with a shirt that glowed when it could detect a wireless network. COOL!! He's pushing social media and used Obama as an example. He had a diversified social network, his campaigned showed that mobile marketing works (wall papers, ringtones, etc.) if you have relevant and exciting content. He let his audience participate in the discussion.

Mobile Marketing
He shows us breathalyzer phones, projector phones, and phones that can buy things out of vending machine, or content from posters that will deliver content to your phone when tapped. Content is king! It has to be cool. They've had this for 8 years in Japan, Asia. Phones can read bar codes (mine can), you can create bar codes to push content . . .

There's text to email, campus scavenger hunts via Blue Tooth, class schedules, . . . Last year, there were ONE BILLION downloads. How would mobile marketing serve any of our needs?

Gamers: Great Multitaskers
Advergaming uses games to push your product, in-game advertising promotes your product in a world.

Augmented Reality: where virtual images are blended into first-person real time imagery (ie: Minority Report).
I don't quite get this, so watch the video. It's basically connecting everything and will be out in Japan soon.

Going into the advanced tech summit, there were basically loads of people sharing what worked and what didn't.

• Lots of schools are using intern blogs with mixed success.
• YouTube videos are hot when turned over to peer advisors who interview employers, students, interns, and do events. Schools post them on YouTube and basically think the administration isn't aware of them. But the videos are viral and a big hit on campuses.
• Twitter is being explored to push resources, especially with all its new applications.
• Second Life has too steep a learning curve, still (sorry, Marie).
• Applications for iPhones and Blackberrys and G1s are also being explored.
• Facebook is great for alumni coaching current students.
• Skype is used to record interviews with employers (instead of doing it at CC or on site) then used in a CC video library.
• Google calendar of events is embedded in a site and students can subscribe to it.
• RSSing everything for student subscription.

And here are the websites and resources we should check out:

• Jing Project free for web shots and video of on screen action (like demoing AUCC)
• Google Aps have lots of free possibilities and the list is growing
• HootSuite as a Twitter tool box to target your students after opting in
• DimDim is $19 a month for web conferencing and is open source

Jing looked especially exciting for showing how to use our online resources.

Why Wikis?

This session hopefully addresses a way to better communicate across campus. Our faculty blog bombed. From our colleagues at Purdue and their career wiki . . .

They've had this about a year and a half and are really excited as to how it can identifying overlapping resources, common goals, collaboration, allow multiple offices to see what each other are doing. Students can also use it as a one stop shop. (Sorry, KAS.) Staff from several offices just got together, staff who informally meet once in awhile to discuss the wiki. The library runs it. (Hmm.) It saves a lot of money and helps students be more aware of resources across campus. Communication has been fluid, and the regular discussion keep it from being a junk site for tons of resources. They have a few people with accounts who can modify it, but anyone can view.

They use open source software, Confluence, on their server. It's cheap and the library pays.They were trained by library staff, got it up in an hour, and took a couple of weeks to train folks. They have 10 offices involved, and hope to have all involved in the next year. And an added benefit is to get to know each other better.

For students, they have great links. They have a visual as to how to research companies. In the session, they use skits to demo how to use the wikis with students. It's a way of teaching students good internet research.

They have a description of the database and have a link to a tutorial. LexisNexis is a great way to research by region, topic, company to decide if one wants to work there, and to prep great questions for the interview. CareerBeam requires a registration, and have really good resources for resumes and cover letters which match the CC philosophy. If one searches on the university name for the bio keyword, they can pull up names of alumni. Plunkett is a nice way to research industries after a student decides on a career field, and ties directly to job listings in indeed.com. The wiki folks have to be careful with site licenses, because if there are only 5 licenses, then the 6th student can't get through. Offices share costs for the databases with the other offices.

They loved using it for their career fair. There were over 6000 hits on the wiki the week of the fair, and 60,000 from September to May. They list the companies, link to their websites, then link into the Lexis Nexis profile. Since they've used it for several fairs, they have over 800 companies already set to go. It puts things in one place and makes it easier for the students. Students who don't normally come to the CC use the wiki then call and ask questions as a result. Alumni are also heavy users and can access it easily.

For marketing, they developed a "brand" and produced post-its with "Do the research, get the job!" which also directs students to them researching rather than thinking the CC will get you a job. They do little workshops, had a table at their career fair, and going to residence halls. Advisors write down the resources they explore together on the post-it and give it to them.

For employer partners, they're impressed that the students have good questions. And if they are impressed, maybe companies can SPONSOR a site that otherwise can't be afforded, and that gives them visibility and a direct link.

They also plan to expand usage for staff development.

Webshops

Translating workshops to the website from UC Irvine . . . if you can do PowerePoint, you'll be fine. Check out their webshops.

It's narrated (but not reading slides), the outline is on the side with the seconds for how long the section is, and there are notes for hearing impaired students. They measure hits on each webshop each hour of each day, seeing 45-50 visitors at 2 am!

They can't meet everyone's needs, and students want it now, when they want it, and short and sweet. Webshops give students the basics then they come in for specifics. Attendance at workshops was going down. Participation on webshops is skyrocketing. CC staff are using their time in more strategic ways. It isn't a replacement, it's another version. They have stopped giving basic workshops and refer students to these. Their workshops are all next level now, and lots of one on one.

In person, have to start with basics. With webshops, you can go top down and choose what you need. With webshops, know they aren't captive, so consider length, lack of interaction, and you can only pass on limited information.

Start with an objective. Workshops can be in depth, webshops have simpler objectives - but you can do more of them.

To translate your workshops: absorb, connect, do. Give the basics, ask reflective questions, then have a quiz! Then ask them if they'd like fries! Give them a next step.

You can't bore someone into buying your product! So add advertising elements! They also interview students and employers, tag with people's names, push their CC brand. The copy should be addressed to one person, not a group. Dark type on a light background is better. And KISS! Keep it down to one objective, and DO NOT BE WORDY. It works well for the front desk to refer students with questions to these resources. Keep them to 7 minutes, definitely not more than 10 minutes. They use Color Index to help with color design. Quizzes are embedded, they can be mandatory, and their OCR webshop is required. A "unique" code is generated upon completion which is emailed to the OCR person. (Could we do that for NYC site visit?)

Adobe Presenter is what they use with PowerPoint and it's $150 with the educators' discount. It converts the presentation to Flash, so you have to have a Flash web site. Others use Caliphate, Camtasia Studio. Just go at your own pace and enjoy. AND they offer for us to link to their webshops. You can attach videos and put them in Symplicity.

They have an "on demand" button on their website for videos and webshops. Videos are very visual, like PopUp interviews. They have a camera ready to go at all times. They tape stuff, and she edits it. HELLO!!?? THAT'S WHAT I'M TRYING TO GET US TO DO!!!! Sometimes it's purposeful, sometimes it's a throw away. They assess with numbers of hits, focus groups, and surveys. If you can make it visual, storyboard it, if it has a beginning and middle and end, it's a video. If not, it's a webshop.

They also recommend Gallup Strengths and Clemson's website.





Simple!

Revisiting Facebook

In 2006, students saw Facebook as their world. They didn't set security settings, some posts inappropriate, and there was a huge disconnect between employers and students regarding its use. So why revisit it? There have been huge changes. If users were a country, they would be the 5th most populous nation in the world.

Student use hasn't changed much . . .

• 94% of students use it
• 3/4ths of them visit it daily for more than an hour mostly to socialize
• 67% use it to keep up with events (CC emails bounce back)
• 1/3 join groups that don't represent them
• Half use profanity and 2/5ths post pictures of others without permission
• 1/3rd post pictures of self and others using alcohol
  

Students more realistic: 80% don't see employer use of Facebook unethical, half want employers to know that they shouldn't believe everything they see. 2:1 said employers shouldn't use it, but 1/4th weren't sure. At out session, most college folks said that employers should consider it, but more employers thought that they should not use Facebook. In 2006, 84% had not heard of Facebook, now 59% use it.

Dramatically increased employer involvement: fewer employers are using privacy settings than students! Only 6% think it's unethical to use Facebook and half take everything with a grain of salt. Half say that it's OK to use it. It was an even split as to employers were positively affected and negatively affected by a Facebook profile, about 20%.

Employer uses include hiring, recruiting, on-boarding, branding, intern/worker communication, networking, advertising, team building. 20% of the employers they surveyed had a Facebook page. In our session, 2/3rds had pages.

Few organizations have policies regarding Facebook, only 31%. There's a lot of internal strife regarding its use, and some concerns regarding legal ramifications. The biggest disconnect is whether or not profiles are the "real" student. 1/3 of employers think so, but 90% of the students says that it is. Maybe employers are giving a pass . . .

Increasing use of: 33% increasing Facebook, 42% increasing LinkedIn (13% students use it but 57% employers use it), 20% using Twitter, and half said none.


Lessons

• Employers are using Facebook in more and more ways. (Don't delete your account!)
• Employers plan to increase their use.
• Employers are more tech-savvy.
• Students need to be more knowledgeable about privacy settings, policies, etc. but the profile photo can still be seen.
• Can't generalize about employers
• Students need to use LinkedIn (we're there, folks)
• Networking issues
• Private vs. professional self
• Use Facebook proactively when searching.
  

Analysis of Online Survey Tools

From Non-Profit Times, June 10, 2009:

http://www.nptimes.com/technobuzz/TB20090610_1.html

External Peer Reviews

What do they REALLY think of us? Risks and Rewards of External Reviews . . .

A two person office at Edgewood College Career Services in Wisconsin used an EACE model and NACE model.

She picked really different people with different styles from programs she respected. Then take 6 months to a year to . . .

• consulted with VP
• researched external reviews
• secured reviewers
• created binder of materials for reviewers
• conference calls with reviewers
• logistics and planning; campus communications
• budget
  

It's a lot of work for reviewers. The presenters suggested reading a lot in advance to distinguish between perceptions and facts. They needed a month and then asked questions. The review took 2 days, with them verifying objectives with the dean then meeting in the strictest confidence with campus constituents on the first day. Reviewers met for dinner privately to share perceptions and identify themes, then spent the second day compiling initial verbal findings then delivering requested initial, preliminary verbal feedback later in the day. Larger universities will need more time to hit key constituencies.

Report writing: not so much fun. They felt that they were creating a new wheel. They hadn't, but needed to have, set time in their schedules to pull together the report, and needed a better system than exchanging copies of multiple documents. They ended with 39 recommendations, and the reviewers ranked them by primary, secondary, and tertiary recommendations. And they created their own review standards guide.

The report gave them focus and direction, and the process helped push their message. Others at the college were very impressed that the Career Center was willing to put itself out there, and they got great internal PR as reviewers corrected misperceptions. And, yes, they were headed in the right direction. The buzz also created buzz among their career services consortium.

Beloit decided to do one for strategic planning. They had tons of data and were looking for new possibilities. Having faculty together for this process, the users inspired the nonusers to get involved with career services. For students, they had users and nonusers of the office. There is no good time to do it. Fall is bad, spring is worse.Mid-January before at just at the beginning of the semester seemed to work.

Cardinal Stritch University decided to delay theirs. They had a brand new provost.

NACE Keynote: Frans Johansson, "The Medici Effect"

Geoff wanted me to tweet, but my phone won't work.
Quick points: 1400 attendees, Tweeting at #NACE09

Frans Johanssohn's purpose was to get us thinking about connections. We have the best chance of coming up with new ideas if we step into unfamiliar territory. Companies used to last 25 - 35 years on the S&P, now it's just 10 - 15 years. Diversity of everything drives innovation. Look at these cross-disciplinary inspirations (the Medici Effect).

• Apple was inspired by candy to use colors and be "young."
• Termite mounds inspired the largest office complex in Zimbabwe without air conditioning.
• Combine bikinis and burkas and get a full length garment made of swim suit material for more comfortable swimming for conservative Muslim women.
  

How does this work?

1. All new ideas are combinations of existing ideas. (Some are better than others.)
2. Innovative teams generate and execute more ideas. Hey, we humans are pretty bad at predicting what will work in the future.

Our ability to make divergent connections decreases as we get older, except for Marie. So how do we do it?

1. Find inspiration from fields or cultures other than your own - and dare to explore the connections. (Make mistakes - most schools don't encourage it.)
2. Staff for innovation.
3. Leverage existing diversity.
4. Change the definition of FIT.
   

His examples included Marcus Samuelsson, Diverse focus groups for Lays, Volvo and women not liking opening the hood.

His recommendations . . .

• Step into the intersection and develop new ways to recruit students (My seat mate says says her president at Pepperdine wants to make Career Services the norm!)
• Diverse teams outperform quickly. Most important leadership skill is to be able create and move diverse teams.
• Plan to make mistakes.
• Think differently about risk.
• The key is passion.

USE DIVERSITY OF ALL KINDS TO TRANSFORM!

DC Intern Blog

Very interesting blog where people report internship horror stories. Probably not a resource to share with students, but a good one for us to utilize as advisors


http://dcinterns.blogspot.com/

The New Phone Interview

Phone interviews are getting more detailed and require better preparation.

Read full Wall Street Journal article here

Blackboard Killer?

Maybe blog software can meet the same needs as Blackboard on college campuses.

From the Chronicle of Higher Ed

Women Need to Get a Grip

The importance of the handshake...

How important are interviews

Studies cited in the Fast Company article Made to Stick: Hold the Interview suggest interviews may not lead to better employees.

Michael Wesch: New Media Experiments in Education

At this TLISI plenary, hosted by Georgetown's CNDLS, anthropologist Michael Wesch shared his experiences with large and small classes in his efforts to "create students who can create meaningful connections" in this world. There are SO many tools and an overload of information in this environment. But remember, it's about people, not new media. Without a doubt, the pedagogy leads the technology, and sorry that was not stressed before. (read TSLSI blog entry here)

His pedagogy follows a process of exploration, guided introduction, self-guided research, publication, and sharing. Graciously sharing his successes and failures in both large and small classes, there are a few takeaways for us.

• You can share Deli.cio.us links by using a common tag rather than try to create an account. For instance, he used class registration numbers. For "Whose Life" we could tag based on semester and year (ie: WLISAF09 for Fall 09)
• Facebook and Twitter tended to distract
• Wikis, RSSing links, newsfeeds, Twitter during activities, and publishing on YouTube worked well.
• He likes Smart Pens that record audio and notes into a PDF (read the TLISI blog entry)
  
• Check out Netvibes, Yahoo Pipes, and Killerstartups.com

Photo "watching the anthropology of Youtube on the iPhone" by ~C4Chaos

How to manage VIRTUAL internships!

It's being asked on the listserves. And Monserrat College of Art has an answer for successful virtual internships. Regarding Second Life, Joan Milnes, the Director of the Office of Internships and Career Services, said that the, "same Learning Agreement that is used for "non-virtual" internships was completed by the supervisors and students" and that she "made a virtual site visit with the supervisor’s and student’s avatars in Second Life . . . The goals in the Learning Agreement were the focus . . ."

Anyone for THAT type of site visit??

A Visual Resume

Utilizing the website daytum.com, user CBCV created a visual representation of his resume (in french, but much of it is web-related and universally understood).

The site allows users to "creat(e) an elegant and intuitive way to count and communicate the personal statistics generated by each of us every day." CBCV's use of the software was particularly interesting and pertinent in a field where folks are constantly trying to differentiate themselves. He gives quantity and value to often listless information (plus I can discern much of what he is communicating I don't speak a lick of french).

Volleyball 2009!

Revolution in Career Services

Provocative article from Sheila Curran's Connecting College to Career blog. Please do read. Question is, will this revolution be televised?

Here's the article

cover story in the Time's current issue

I haven't read the article yet but the title "The New Work Order" sounds interesting.

This is my first time posting anything in our blog. Please, let me know if you were unable to access the article.

Anna


http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1898024_1898023,00.html

Using Adobe Captivate for Online Tutorials

Very cool but looks fairly labor intensive. Educational software license is $150. Here's the session in PDF.

So, imagine loading up your PPTs, but then they can become webpages with rollover photos that if they click on them, take students to a new part of the presentation. You can include question slides anytime (great pedagogical tool for review) and at the end (great for learning assessment.) They are interactive and can give students instant feedback and a score at the end. Questions can be T/F, multiple choice, fill in the black (with key text), or matching (drag and drop). So, have your PPT presentation, digitally record it when you deliver it live, then edit the audio to go with the slides. (Got that, Rob?) Then upload the project to your server and give the URL to your students. Hmm, use this for alumni crash course this summer? We get a 30 day free trial! If it isn't embedded in Blackboard, then students have to email after taking a test, but that's hinky. GT will add ConnectServer next year as an option to putting it in BB.

The branching idea is very cool, very self-directed. So, you have photos or buttons on dressing for interviews, networking, using AUCW, and a student clicks on one and is sent in a distinct direction. You can sort of do that with hyperlinks in PPT, but this way, the branches are all in one place in a contained way. (Does that make sense?)

There are tutorials on YouTube.

Students can use these for review after classes, not just as tutorials. Captivate is like PPT, but can be interactive and have assessments, too. You are creating a Flash movie when you're done with your Captivate project (so the audience needs Flash player). Video files have to be converted to .flv for uploading. There are free programs for Flash video encoders/converters, like Riva.

HEATHER IS PREGGERS!!! DON'T TELL OTHER CCers!

8 weeks and quite the surprise. Sue knows, and now this is an experiment to see who looks at the blog. When you see this, leave a comment. We'll collect them for Heather!

SHH! Don't tell anyone at work. Let's see who reads the blog!

Blackboard Collaboration and Assessment

The upshot of this session is that students can evaluate each other and grade themselves in Blackboard, and it goes right to the grades (not a need for us), and that though wikis and blogs are better, you CAN use BB for some interaction. The focus is on how-to, not pedagogy. Here are small notes to not take up space . . .

GT uses BB 8, looking at 9. Presenter is demonstrating how to post assignments which you can receive back. BB doesn't use DigitalDropBox anymore. Looks like you can embed video clips, link to articles, all from Blackboard using icons like in a blog. Students get a time/date receipt and could do a screen shot to prove they turned something in. A faculty member says that she has problems getting recordings to play. "It's good when it works." (What version of BB does AU have?) Students sometimes hit SAVE rather than SUBMIT. You can see that in the grade center that they saved but didn't submit.

Self and Peer assessment . . . BB randomly assigns who assess whom in peer assessment. You set very structured logistical parameters for when to submit and when to review. Submit, then modify . . . give clear evaluation parameters to students . . . Students will see on their site who they are supposed to review.

You can create groups within BB to encourage collaboration, though presenter mentions that blogs and wikis are better. In groups, you can have discussion boards, file exchanges (but it takes up space), and email each other.

Having lunch with Heather shortly!

Identifying employee skill gaps

I realize that some aren't fans of McKinsey (you know who you are!), but this is a topic we've been discussing lately:

Employees’ own assessments of their learning needs can lead to more effective training programs.

Full McKinsey Quarterly article here

Using Blogs and Wikis (Georgetown TLISI)

(They need to offer coffee, not healthy juice.)
Greetings, all. I will try to live blog from my session on blogging. How redundant is that. This session is on facilitating group interaction, an issue with have with interns, alumni out of work in need of community, each other (this blog isn't so widely used), and maybe even faculty.

They use open source WordPress, hosted at the university through Georgetown Digital Commons, providing privacy options public blogs can't. Get to that site and it has a host of options plus advice on best practices. Wiki software is the same as Wikipedia, plus they are adding Wikispaces because it's more user-friendly. RSS is the glue. (I'm the only one who knows what RSS is in the group.)

NETVIBES uses rss feeds to pull a bunch of blogs together.

What affects interaction? Presence of authority.

(Actually, the room of about 23 mostly faculty, some are overwhelmed and half haven't used blogs at all. But they're interested! They want to know the difference between Blackboard and blogs and I offer my experience with my class. Discussion boards are linear when you want that, and blogs are easier to get to with less clicking, and more free flowing.)

Wikis, you continually edit as a group. (Maybe we should have one of those rather than a blog? Maybe CTE should have one with a section on internships and a section on merit advising. Maybe that's what AUPedia is.) You need structure and roles to get it started with different pages for each task. To set one up at GT, it goes through Digitalcommons, though they are working on letting people set their own up. (Hmm, not talking much about wikis.)

Back to blogs, the second presenter has an RSS stream of the community's blogs into a side bar. Her blog has list of students, links to their blogs, RSS feed, and uses it as away to keep in touch in the research process.

Yahoo pipes bring things together. Not quite sure what this can do. Hmm, session went awry. Here's a tutorial for that.

Going On The Second Interview

It will be different from the first one. Be prepared.

Full Forbes article here

Face to Face Matters

Office workers who make time to chat face to face with colleagues may be far more productive than those who rely on e-mail, the phone, or Facebook, suggests a study carried out by researchers at MIT and New York University.

Full Technology Review article here

Networking for people who hate to network

You've got to do it, especially these days. So you might as well make it fun (kind of). Read on to find out how.

Full Money article here

Graduating With a Major in Go-Getting

This is a little old, from March 30, but I think it's a useful
-----------
Darvika Sarin had been working toward finding her first post-college job since she arrived at school her freshman year.

Full WSJ article here

Hard Times for Charitable Organizations

These are the results of a GuideStar survey: http://www2.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2009/guidestar-survey-hard-times-for-charitable-organizations.aspx?source=may09nwsltr

Negotiating the Freelance Economy

From the Wall Street Journal

Rebecca Haden, of Fayetteville, Ark., is among a growing number of professionals who are making ends meet by working on a project-by-project contract basis.

Full article here