Kollective Konsciousness of the AUCC

How Millennial are you?

2010-02-24T09:41:00.002-05:00

To find out, take this Pew quiz: http://pewresearch.org/millennials/quiz/intro.php

(Chris Swanson scored 84.)

Social Media Governance Rules

2009-09-23T15:03:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-17T17:37:00.002-04:00

Pew Research Center study shows American workforce getting grayer.

"Why Craigslist is Such a Mess"

2009-09-10T15:19:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-10T12:15:00.000-04:00

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

2009-08-28T09:59:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-24T20:53:00.002-04:00

Wisdom from Web Guru Jakob Nielsen re optimal Twitter message design

Don't start with word "Announcing" -- "Of course it's an announcement — otherwise I wouldn't be posting it..."
"Remember that users tend to read only the first few characters as they scan down a list. Make them count."
"Frontload attractive keywords to make the message more scannable."
"Users have become somewhat hardened against event promotions" ... make users "feel like they're getting concrete and useful info."
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

2009-08-20T13:06:00.004-04:00

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

2009-08-19T11:56:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-19T09:14:00.001-04:00

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

2009-08-06T11:20:00.005-04:00

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

2009-08-05T10:50:00.003-04:00

"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

2009-08-03T09:35:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-30T10:12:00.001-04:00

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

2009-07-09T17:16:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-06T16:50:00.001-04:00

From Non-Profit Times, July 2, 2009

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

From Time Magazine: Postcard from Bismarck

2009-06-29T16:13:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-29T12:34:00.004-04:00

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

Revenue & Donors Continue Free Fall

2009-06-26T12:13:00.002-04:00

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

CUNY Social Networks in the Leadership Program

2009-06-18T19:04:00.006-04:00

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

2009-06-18T18:01:00.007-04:00

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?

2009-06-18T17:00:00.005-04:00

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

2009-06-18T16:14:00.003-04:00

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 . . .

Define learning objectives (what are the objectives for each AUCC workshop/learning activity?)
Align curriculum with goals, including internships (tell departments)
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?)
Analysis and dissemination of data
Use assessment data for continuous improvement

Photo by toastforbrekkie

Higher Ed Meets the S-Curve

2009-06-18T14:12:00.005-04:00

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

2009-06-18T13:41:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-18T12:57:00.006-04:00

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

2009-06-18T11:58:00.006-04:00

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

2009-06-18T11:07:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-16T13:19:00.005-04:00

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

2009-06-15T16:40:00.001-04:00

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

2009-06-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

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!

2009-06-12T11:09:00.007-04:00

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!

2009-06-11T16:06:00.008-04:00

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?

2009-06-11T13:14:00.012-04:00

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

2009-06-10T18:03:00.010-04:00

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

2009-06-10T16:12:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-10T15:34:00.002-04:00

From Non-Profit Times, June 10, 2009:

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

External Peer Reviews

2009-06-10T13:24:00.013-04:00

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"

2009-06-10T11:20:00.008-04:00

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?

All new ideas are combinations of existing ideas. (Some are better than others.)
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?

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

2009-06-04T15:36:00.000-04:00

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

2009-06-02T18:19:00.001-04:00

Phone interviews are getting more detailed and require better preparation.

Read full Wall Street Journal article here

Blackboard Killer?

2009-06-02T16:36:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-01T14:56:00.000-04:00

The importance of the handshake...

How important are interviews

2009-05-28T16:44:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-28T15:14:00.007-04:00

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!

2009-05-28T13:49:00.003-04:00

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

2009-05-27T09:30:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-05-25T23:56:00.003-04:00

Revolution in Career Services

2009-05-21T15:19:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-21T14:08:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-20T13:44:00.010-04:00

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!

2009-05-20T13:38:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-20T10:34:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-20T09:14:00.000-04:00

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)

2009-05-20T09:03:00.004-04:00

(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

2009-05-14T16:56:00.000-04:00

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

Full Forbes article here

Face to Face Matters

2009-05-14T16:53:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-13T09:06:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-07T17:10:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-07T15:03:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-06T15:14:00.000-04:00

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

Why Politico is successful

2009-04-23T17:41:00.002-04:00

Excellent analysis here from Peter Osnos of The Century Foundation (he's very respected former Wash Post editor), about why Politico is a model for successful online journalism that's independent, objective and much more than blogs. Good reading for students interested in communication careers.
http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=NC&pubid=2285

Physical Networking vs Online Networking

2009-04-23T10:48:00.002-04:00

This thoughtful essay from HigherEd Jobs discusses the limitations of the Linkedin approach to networking. I'm an advocate for Linkedin and often urge students to put their profile on it, but this writer points out that some people use it as a substitute for physical networking.

http://www.higheredjobs.com/Articles/ArticleDisplay.cfm?ID=95

Three U.S. States to Apply the Bologna Process to Higher Education

2009-04-22T10:06:00.001-04:00

The success of the Bologna Process, an initiative begun 10 years ago to standardize degrees and university systems across Europe, is now being applied to higher education in three U.S. states as part of a pilot program of the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education. According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Lumina funded a report on an American perspective on the Bologna Process, which was released earlier this month, and is applying the findings to a project in Indiana, Minnesota and Utah. The pilot will use Bologna methods to analyze degree programs in biology, chemistry, education, history, physics, and graphic design in these states.

Currently, 46 European countries are entering the final phase of the Bologna Process, and some of the results include openness and the recognition of degrees across national borders, making it easier for students from all over the world to get comparable educational experiences in multiple countries.

To read the article: http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/04/15430n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

In Grim Job Market, Student Loans Are a Costly Burden

2009-04-20T09:32:00.000-04:00

In Grim Job Market, Student Loans Are a Costly Burden

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/your-money/student-loans/18student.html?em

Social-Media-Inspired PR Crises

2009-04-16T15:42:00.001-04:00

Are the Social-Media-Inspired PR Crises Starting To Fall Like Domino's?
by Catharine P. Taylor , Thursday, April 16, 2009

So, this week, the client in the unfortunate spotlight was Domino's.

I probably don't even have to recap this, but, in case you've been spending your time instead watching Susan Boyle sing on "Britain's Got Talent," you must know that two Domino's employees (well, they used to be Domino's employees) uploaded a video of themselves doing disgusting things to the ingredients before putting them in people's food, and this created a crisis for Domino's. (The video is no longer available, incredibly, because one of the perpetrators has made a copyright claim to YouTube. In a world gone mad!)

But, hey, clients, it could just as well have been your brand -- as the executives in charge of Motrin and Tropicana well know. (Granted, each of these instances is quite different from the others, but, on some level, a PR crisis is a PR crisis.)

I actually don't think it's fair to take Domino's to task too much here for not already monitoring social media channels so it could get more out-in-front of this -- it's still early. When you're deeply involved in this business, it's too easy to remember that others are not. But, my patience on that will soon wear thin. If we're still in the first inning of social media, we're clearly at the bottom of the first, with two men out, runners on first and second, and a hitter who routinely hits into double plays at bat.

By the top of the second, it's time to stop having sympathy for companies that have no clue as to what the blog-, Twitter- and YouTube-o-spheres are saying about them, and even less sympathy for companies that don't have any awareness of how to use these channels to their own advantage. Even if social media has unleashed the sometimes ugly, venal side of human nature, the beauty of it is that the tables can be turned, rapidly, by the companies themselves. As a former practitioner of PR, I would have died to have the avenues there are today to put my company's voice out there, unfiltered by the traditional, uncontrollable distribution channel: the media. I bet that when Domino's set up its Twitter account yesterday, someone at company headquarters marveled at how simple it was to do so. (In fact, some news accounts covered Domino's creation of a Twitter account as though it had done something far more involved, like go into the hamburger business.)

Stimulus spending will bring thousands of jobs to region

2009-04-15T16:36:00.000-04:00

But economists warn that this massive effort to juice the economy could create a stimulus bubble for the region

Washington Business Journal article here

How to Hire—and Get Hired—in a Recession

2009-04-15T16:32:00.000-04:00

The founder of Silicon Alley Reporter and Mahalo.com offers advice to employers trying to make the right hire and candidates struggling to land a job

BusinessWeek article here

AU Abroad Scholarships

2009-04-15T09:54:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I served as a judge for the AU Abroad scholarship. We should all be in the habit of encouraging students going abroad to apply. For example: we were judging applications for students going abroad in the fall, and we had enough applicants to pick from. But in the prior process for students going abroad this summer there literally weren't enough applicants for them to give all the money away.

The grants are modest but meaningful, ranging from $500 to maybe $2,500. Any student can apply, including international students. Success rests largely on your ability to write a nice essay and a good resume. (Note to advisors: for this scholarship, resumes that highlight campus community involvement are most helpful.)

Preference factors:

students going abroad for a full year

serious language study while abroad

students in the sciences (or other fields under-represented in study abroad)

challenging locations (e.g. Africa) or programs (e.g. Sciences Po)

students who have never previously studied abroad

What works against you:

being a recipient of another AU-funded scholarship (Presidential, etc.)

The Interview That'll Bag a Job

2009-04-14T16:46:00.000-04:00

At an interview, you want to stand out for the right reasons. To do so, you'll need to leave your baggage and anxiety at the door.

Wall Street Journal article here

Income-Based Repayment

2009-04-10T11:16:00.001-04:00

From: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/index.html

Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is a new way to make your federal student loan payments more manageable starting July 1, 2009. And if you're a teacher or work in government or at a nonprofit (501(c)(3)) organization, you might qualify for a new type of public service loan forgiveness after 10 years of eligible payments and employment.

IBR will be available to borrowers starting July 1, 2009, and the clock is already ticking for public service loan forgiveness.

On October 23, 2008, the U.S. Department of Education posted the final regulations for how each program will work in the Federal Register. However, some of the operational details of the programs are still unclear. Register with your email address and we'll make sure you get any new information as it becomes available.

An Online Toolbox Starts With a Polished Résumé

2009-04-02T15:41:00.001-04:00

Some tips on resume formatting and storing from our friends at the New York Times.

"Altitudinal" PowerPoint Tips From IBM-- a humorous guide for tech sales folks

2009-04-02T10:48:00.003-04:00

Thought you might enjoy some IBM humor on how to adjust your powerpoint for your audience. They LOVE to talk about things from "10.000 feet" or "30,000" feet. Evidently, they are confusing customers, so here are there new guidelines. ;-) Do note the date of the directive.

SWG Directive
April 1, 2009		http://stats.surfaid.ihost.com/crd/uc.GIF?1.50&saemail&saemail&http://stats.surfaid.ihost.com/crd/uc.GIF?1.50%26saemail%26saemail%26mailto:sdarling%2540us.ibm.com%26sa_campaign=swgfc/Elena_Tezzi/SWG_This_Week:_01_13_2009/Feedback/2009-01-13/dl=SWG%2520Comms.%2520Group/sz=104&sa_campaign=swgfc/Elena_Tezzi/SWG_This_Week:_03_31_2009/Feedback/2009-03-31/dl=AP%20SWG%20Non-Mgrs%20-%20004/sz=200

To: All SWG professionals who deliver customer-facing presentations

Date: 04/01/2009

In response to widespread confusion on the part of customers and IBMers, the following presentation standards are today being announced by IBM SWG.

Issue

Inconsistent and arbitrary use of altitudes when delivering product presentations.

Details

The use of notional altitudes (e.g., "30,000-foot view") is a potentially effective device for describing the level of content of a presentation. Such imagery can lend color to one's presentation and set the customer at ease in regard to the level of technical content that he may expect. However, unconstrained use of this metaphor can lead to inconsistent interpretations of the various altitudes and confused messages from IBM. For example, one customer complained that in a 5,000-foot view of Lotus Notes he was unable to see a Connection document, whereas in a 50,000-foot view of Tivoli Access Manager he could read the details of a failover cookie on an inbound browser request. Another customer complained of dizziness and blurred vision during a presentation that alternated randomly between 60,000 feet and 90,000 feet. Such inconsistency is injurious to our professional reputation and may adversely affect the health of our customers.

Resolution

Effective immediately, the following guidelines are to be followed when delivering altitude-based presentations.

Admissible altitudes

Only the following altitudes are to be used:

1,000 feet

5,000 feet

10,000 feet

50,000 feet

100,000 feet

Please note that the use of any other altitude will be considered a violation of these guidelines unless prior authority is obtained.

Altitude assignments

Audience	Content (example)	Suggested altitude
Programmer	Product API	1,000 feet
CTO	Product technology	5,000 feet
Analyst	Product architecture	10,000 feet
CIO	IT value	50,000 feet
CEO	Business value	100,000 feet

Note: The above are for guidance only. Presenters are expected to use their discretion when pitching their presentations, taking into account conditions such as audience acrophobia, supported climb rates, etc.

Altitude transitions

In order to minimize customer confusion, at most three altitude transitions are permitted within a single presentation. Further, such transitions must be monotonic, i.e., all must be decreasing or all must be increasing. Please bear this in mind when setting your initial and final altitudes, taking into account the set of admissible altitudes as above. Please also consider the resilience of your audience to sudden and unexpected changes of altitude.

Presentation formats

A new set of mandatory presentation templates customized for your business unit are being prepared. These templates contain a configurable altimeter icon on each slide. Presenters must ensure that this altimeter is set to the correct value for each slide and clearly visible to the audience.

FAQs

In order to expand on a certain point in my presentation, I need to change altitudes and temporarily move to the whiteboard. Do I get an extra transition in addition to what is allowed in the base presentation?

No, any temporary use of other media is considered to be a continuation of the same presentation. However, if multiple presentations are being given consecutively, then the altitude is reset at the start of each presentation, provided that the audience is given sufficient time to adjust to any applicable change from the previous presentation. Alternatively, a mid-presentation break can be scheduled according to the following table:

Break length	Equivalent altitude change
5 minutes	1-5,000 feet
10 minutes	10,000 feet
15 minutes	50,000 feet
20 minutes	100,000 feet

My customer has set 40,000 feet as the standard altitude for all vendor presentations. Do I need IBM approval to present at that altitude?

IBM approval will be provided on presentation of an appropriate letter from the customer.

I need to present to the CEO of a large corporation. May I present at 150,000 feet?

No. Our products have not been tested beyond 100,000 feet. You may wish to consider asking the CIO to attend your session.

Are there any plans to approve additional altitudes?

IBM will monitor and assess the effectiveness of the supported altitudes. Consideration may be given to expanding this set over time according to business and technical requirements.

Questions?

Please contact IBM Altitude Enforcement/Somers/IBM if you have any questions regarding this directive.

<<<

Way New Collaboration! Howard Rheingold

2009-04-01T09:51:00.004-04:00

This is a great 20 minute think piece by Howard Rheingold off of TED on the direction of society towards collaboration. It's both a new way of thinking and an old way. (The hunter couldn't kill the mastodon all by himself.) It seems that this is really relevant to the future of work and points out the need for our students to include collaboration in their skills portfolio.

Using LinkedIn to get a job

2009-03-31T15:47:00.001-04:00

more than ever, experts say, a profile on an online networking site could actually turn into a job.

Charlotte Observer story

Lining Up Interviews Is Just the Beginning

2009-03-31T15:40:00.001-04:00

Q. You have had several job interviews at different companies, but still no job offers. Are you doing something wrong?

Full New York Times article here

Careers in renewable energy

2009-03-31T12:58:00.002-04:00

If you are advising students who are interested in careers in renewable energy, the emerging jobs in the near-term will be in the private sector with government contractors, as well as directly with the Energy Department. The paragraph below is from an article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, about the Energy Dept struggling to fulfill President Obama's mandate.

"Most of Energy's stimulus spending will be in the form of grants and contracts--the administration of which will be a major challenge for an understaffed and neglected federal workforce. Years of outsourcing and staff cuts have left Energy ill-prepared to handle the onslaught of work and responsibility these programs will require. Recognizing this, Congress has urged the department to hire more federal workers."

For the full article: http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/the-energy-department-ready-to-reboot-the-country

KAS a Star!

2009-03-30T09:01:00.004-04:00

Our own fearless leader, Katherine Stahl, appeared on a number of Hearst TV stations last week to talk about - what else - job prospects! Here's one of her appearances.

5 tips for better networking at events

2009-03-27T12:07:00.002-04:00

This advice goes against the grain...

from Jun Loayza in Personal Branding Blog

How great is our advising? It's AMAZING . . . and other words!

2009-03-24T13:34:00.004-04:00

Here's a Wordle create from our advising comments at our AU Career Center exit kiosk this academic year. Out came our names and titles, and in came the compliments!

And you can create your own by visiting http://www.wordle.net/.

Employers turning to Co-ops/Internships?

2009-03-24T11:05:00.004-04:00

Chris Pratt kindly sent this out on our CEIA listserve, referencing a NY Times piece, Recession Could Boost Co-Op Education which says

The recession could give new life to co-operative education," as
"cautious employers 'increasingly see that hiring a co-op graduate is a good strategy, since they know they are getting someone with experience,'" according to Paul Stonely, president of the National Commission for Cooperative Education (NCCE). . . According to NCCE data, "Nationally, 95 percent of co-op students that participate in co-operative education have a job when they graduate," and "more than 60 percent accept permanent jobs from the employers for whom they worked while in school." Companies, meanwhile, also benefit monetarily "because co-op employees do not receive health insurance or other benefits.

Structured internship programs may be similar. Stay tuned.

Photo by madebytess

Young and Old Are Facing Off for Jobs

2009-03-23T13:54:00.000-04:00

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — This city has become a front line in a generational battle for jobs, as older workers increasingly compete against applicants in their 20s for positions at supermarkets, McDonald’s and dozens of other places. And older workers seem to be winning.

Full New York Times article here

Demystifying the Federal Job Search

2009-03-19T14:23:00.003-04:00

BRAVO to our very own Travis Sheffler and THANK YOU for your fabulous overview of the federal government search and application process! If you missed it, here's his presentation that he tailored for us, with a link here to his presentation for students.

Electronic Portfolios: a Path to the Future of Learning

2009-03-19T11:32:00.001-04:00

If we truly want to advance from a focus on teaching to a focus on student learning, then a strategy involving something like electronic student portfolios, or ePortfolios, is essential.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

Faculty Speed Dating

2009-03-19T11:29:00.000-04:00

For all of their big ideas, sometimes faculty are a bit like wallflowers at a high school dance; they need a little push to make the first move. So it’s perhaps no surprise that the University of Southern California is using “speed dating” techniques to encourage professors to work together across disciplines.

From insidehighered.com

Stimulus bars hiring of some foreign workers

2009-03-17T15:21:00.001-04:00

From the Philadelphia Inquirer

An extraordinarily difficult job market has darkened further for foreign business students looking to get into the American banking industry...

...Patricia Rose, director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania, said the school knew of two students who saw job offers rescinded as a result of the provision.

Full Story Here

Non-profit retail sales plummet

2009-03-16T15:04:00.000-04:00

Non-Profit Times, March 16, 2009

Nonprofit-Related Sales Plummet

By Michele Donohue

Consumers might have just had enough of buying coffee, wristbands and anything else from
nonprofit organizations - in stores, on the Web or anywhere else.

In a national survey by The NonProfit Times conducted during January, only 23 percent of
survey respondents made a purchase from a charitable organization, a 43 percent nosedive
from when the same question was asked during the same time period three years ago.

The surveying was conducted for The NonProfit Times both times by Opinion Research Corporation. The question was identical and polling was performed during the same time frame.

And for those who blame the economy for the decline in nonprofit sales -- retail sales
overall decreased only 6.4 percent from January 2006 to December 2008.

All retail sales for January 2006 were nearly $326.2 billion, compared to December 2008 at
nearly $305.4 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Retail sales for January 2009 were not available before publication. When they are buying it tends to be at a consumer
location, rather than directly from the charity. In the survey completed this past January, 13
percent said they bought something at a consumer retail location compared to 8 percent at the
charity's retail location.

Women were slightly more inclined in 2009 to make the purchases, at 26 percent, compared to men, at 20 percent, across all buying locations. Women also made double the purchases men did online at the consumer retail Web site (6 percent to 3 percent) and the charity's Web site (2 percent to 1 percent) in 2009.

Those in the middle of the age categories seemed more likely to make a charitable purchase in the new study. Ages 35 to 44 had the highest response (29 percent), followed by ages 55 to 64 (22 percent) and ages 45 to 55 (25 percent). The 18 to 34-year-old demographic reached 21 percent, beating out the 65 and older demographic at 17 percent.

The conventional wisdom that those with greater household incomes would be more prone to make charitable purchases did not hold up in the 2009 survey. Household income from $75,000 to $100,000 had the best number at 33 percent, followed closely by those with household incomes of $35,000 to $50,000 at 29 percent, which beat the $50,000 to $75,000 (21 percent) and $100,000 or more (24 percent). Household incomes from $35,000
and less came in at 18 percent.

Between 2006 and 2009, the largest decrease for charity purchases in age demographic came from the 65 plus group with 46 percent, followed by ages 18 to 34 at nearly 45 percent and ages 45 to 54 by nearly 44 percent.

The West saw the largest decrease from 2006 to 2009 in purchases, nearly 50 percent, followed by North Central area with 44 percent and the Metro area with nearly 44 percent.

Purchases at special events decreased more than 63 percent from 2006, followed by consumer retail, down nearly 57 percent. Retail overall decreased 44 percent.

Online faired better than in-person purchases, with only a 21 percent overall decrease, but only 6 percent of the respondents bought something online.

Regarding household income, those with less than $35,000 showed a 55 percent decrease in
charitable purchases, followed by those making $50,000 to $75,000 with a 50 percent drop. Those making more than $75,000 decreased only 18 percent.

While the sluggish economy in 2008 and the start of 2009 certainly plays a role in all purchasing, not just cause marketing, another reason for some of the cause marketing slowdown could be part of the "ribbon-ization of America," according to Carol Cone, chairman and founder of Boston-based Cone.

Awareness pieces, like magnetic car ribbons, are not effective enough to stand on their own
according to Cone, who described the trend as"passé. It's over. It's DOA."

She said, "Anybody can add a ribbon onto anything. The question is whether it will be
effective. And why are you doing it? If you are doing it just to join the bandwagon, that wagon
is long gone."

Several charitable trends have also peaked and now fallen since the 2006 survey, which could contribute to the declines, according to Paul Schervish, director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. The Lance Armstrong Foundation launched the LIVESTRONG bracelets in 2004 and by 2005 sold more than 55 million, and on the wrists of everyone from Oprah to the neighborhood deli owner.

Other charities tried to capitalize on the LIVESTRONG success without producing the same
results -- people only have so much room on their wrists. "So, some of us don't wear them and one thing is just the phenomenon of saturating, or satisfying, the market," said Schervish.
"Some retailers are moving away from selling custom items that benefit charities and are doing more in terms of soliciting contributions at checkout," said David Hessekiel, founder and
president of Cause Marketing Forum. He explained that programs where donations come directly from the consumer cuts down on specialty goods that might not sell.

Hessekiel said the economy might also affect what nonprofits potential partner companies will most likely seek out. "Because of the economic crisis, I believe many companies will shift their cause focus toward groups helping people with basic needs such as hunger, clothing, housing and medical care," he said. "I think you'll see more nonprofits positioning their work to emphasize how they are helping people get through these difficult times."

According to Karen White, director of corporate relations for Susan G. Komen For The Cure, "As the economy goes, so does our business in cause marketing in terms of the industries that are really experiencing declines right now. That translates directly in the cause marketing realm."

Instead of cutting cause marketing, nonprofits want to amp up the cause marketing game by
strengthening the quality and quantity of company partnerships. Cause marketing programs are mirroring the economy. Fashion, auto and luxury cause marketing programs seem to be down, according to White, while other programs are thriving.

Susan G. Komen hit the 10-year mark with partner Yoplait - and hit it hard. For the Save Lids to
Save Lives program, Yoplait promised to give 10 cents to the Dallas-headquartered nonprofit for every specially-branded yogurt lid sent in, up to $1.5 million. The 2008 campaign received more than 16.3 million lids, more than the anticipated goal.

"I think the key to fundraising is multiplying yourself through others. Our partnerships give us
multiple points of contact with consumers, from checking out at registers to reading banner ads donated by our online partners. This enables us to get in front of a large audience with our
message," said David McKee, interim CEO and acting COO of St. Jude's Children's Hospital
fundraising arm American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, Inc. (ALSAC).

St. Jude's held its fifth Thanks and Giving campaign from Thanksgiving to New Years through
corporate partners such as Target and CVS/pharmacy. The campaign included cashiers
asking customers to donate $1 when they checked out. The campaign saw roughly double-digit growth from some partners, according to McKee. St. Jude's partnership with restaurant chain Chili's had a similar formula for the Create-A-Pepper campaign, which asked customers to purchase a chili picture to color for $1.

"Because retail was facing such a bad year, I think St. Jude became a positive part of the
holiday for the more than 50 partners that participate in our annual Thanks and Giving
campaign," said McKee. "I think they worked very, very hard for us to raise money that helps St.
Jude continue to find cures and save children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases."

The Thanks and Giving campaign raised more than $120 million during the past five years for St. Jude's. Chili's has a $50 million commitment to St. Jude's across 10 years and had raised $18.7 million for the organization by 2008, including the pepper coloring and designating a day to donate 100 percent of participating restaurant sales.

Corporate partner Hickory Farms asked consumers to add $1 to purchases for Share Our Strength during the holidays and received more than $100,000 for the hunger organization. The campaign was integrated through Hickory Farms' Web site, mall kiosks and catalogues, which made the branding "seamless," according to Chuck Scofield, chief development
officer at Washington, D.C.-based Share Our Strength.

"I think asking the consumer to donate is a great way to get people involved in a difficult
economy. You give a dollar and those dollars add up pretty quickly," said Scofield.

He explained that the organization was posed to increase some cause marketing campaigns and launch several more throughout the year. Scofield said that the organization has historically worked with the culinary industry but wanted to grow "at every different angle," especially since childhood hunger is a growing issue with the economy.

***

This article is from NPT Weekly, a publication of The NonProfit Times

Despite poor economy, employers willing to pay more for media-savvy hires

2009-03-10T14:54:00.000-04:00

From Employee Benefit News

By Kathleen Koster

March 9, 2009

The vast majority of employers are willing to pay higher salaries to new hires skilled in new media, according to a Ball State University study.

The Indiana university found that of the 229 firms interviewed, 67% were inclined to add 1% to 4% to these new hires' pay, and an additional 23% were willing to ante up 5% to 8% more

The Gen Y Guide to Effective Job Search Networking

2009-03-09T14:25:00.002-04:00

Listen to this free web interview on Wednesday, March 11:

During this lively and fun teleseminar, participants will discover how to:

Get on a recruiter's radar screen
Build relationships after the first contact
Follow up without being a pest
Avoid some of the pet peeves that recruiters and employers have about Gen Y networking technique

If you miss it live, you can access the mp3 recording up to 30 days afterward.

2009-03-09T10:40:00.000-04:00

From Center for Media Research
Monday, March 9, 2009

Web Users Shaping Consumer Opinion

According to a new study from Netpop Research:

105 million Americans contribute to social media
Social networking has grown 93% since 2006
7 million Americans are "heavy" social media contributors (6+ activities) who connect with 248 people on a ‘one to many' basis in a typical week
54% of micro-bloggers post or "tweet" daily
72% of micro-bloggers under age 18 post or "tweet" daily

Global Recession Is Not All Bad News for International Educators

2009-02-25T11:27:00.001-05:00

Worldwide, economies are grinding to a halt. Property values are plummeting. And stock markets are in the tank. Bad news, you might think, for American colleges searching abroad for students.

Not necessarily. At a meeting Tuesday of senior international-education administrators, several participants said that the declining world economy, combined with ever-increasing demand for higher education, may actually lead to international-enrollment increases at American colleges. And anecdotally, at least, several universities reported that applications are up for the fall.

Full Story Here

(This is the conference for which I helped find volunteers last year when it took place in Washington.--John)

Recycle Responsibly with Gazelle.com

2009-02-24T10:58:00.003-05:00

Get Cash For Your Gadgets at gazelle.com!

Not only does this seem to be a way for us to be green, at home and inthe AUCC, but maybe we could even raise money by partnering with them. Here's what they say they do . . .

Gazelle wants to change the world – one cell phone, one laptop, one iPod at a time.
It is our purpose – and our promise – to provide a practical, rewarding way for people to finally rid themselves of all those old cell phones, digital cameras, and gaming systems that they no longer use, but can’t seem to find a way to let go of.
Too often when people think of recycling, they rush straight to smashing things into bits for parts. We believe that reuse should always come first. If your GPS unit still works, why not keep it in circulation AND get paid for it? If reusing isn’t in the cards, then let us recycle that vintage camcorder. We think of it as ReCommerce.
Yeah, we’re green.Green for you with dollars in your pocket. Green for the environment with fewer electronics being trashed.
It’s good to Gazelle. That’s our promise.

Volunteer your way into a new job

2009-02-23T11:42:00.001-05:00

The current recession has turned almost all of us into career counselors for our family, friends, and even the person sitting next to us on the train as we go to work.

...volunteering some of your time to a favorite non-profit or even a small business is a great way to find a new job.

Full Story Here

Naomi Baron: Her Media Mentions

2009-02-23T09:35:00.003-05:00

We are so fortunate to have Dr. Baron join our advisor meeting on 4/16. We're already emailing back and forth some of the coverage she's received in the media. Here's a selection . . .

The Washington Post: 6,473 Texts a Month, But at What Cost?
Joint Winner of the 2008 Duke of Edinburgh ESU English Language Book Award
Science Daily: Being 'Always On' Impacts Personal Relationships More Than It Impacts The Written Language
Los Angeles Times: Killing the written word by snippets
The Seattle Times: OMG! Teens' lives being taken over by texting
WUSA9: STD E-Cards Provide Anonymity

Short Study-Abroad Trips Can Have Lasting Effect, Research Suggests

2009-02-20T09:27:00.000-05:00

The length of time students study overseas has no significant impact on whether they become globally engaged later in life, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, a conclusion that is sure to add fuel to the already fiery debate over the efficacy of increasingly popular short-term study-abroad programs.

The findings of the Study Abroad for Global Engagement project, presented here on Thursday at the annual conference of the Forum on Education Abroad, suggest that students who go overseas for a short period of time, four weeks or less, are just as likely as those who study abroad for several months or even a year to be globally engaged.

Full Story Here

It's 2009: Do You Know Where Your Web Site Is?

2009-02-20T09:25:00.000-05:00

Campus PR officers have been slow to exploit the potential of the Internet

The struggles of print media to adapt to the Internet age have been well documented. The implications of the Web for campus public-relations officers, in contrast, have received scant attention. But our day of reckoning has come.

We have two main issues to consider: Our Web sites represent a potent delivery system for disseminating stories about our institutions. Conversely, the gradual demise of daily newspapers means that we have fewer traditional opportunities to publicize our work.

Full Story Here

Agencies kick off recruiting surge

2009-02-19T10:51:00.000-05:00

By STEPHEN LOSEY

February 08, 2009

Across the nation, the job picture is gloomier by the day. Not so at the State Department. Or the FBI. Or the Border Patrol. Or many other federal agencies.

The government is hiring thousands of employees — to replace retiring feds, to supplement undersized staffs, and to take up new government priorities. Among the hot sectors: veterans’ health, border security, acquisition, diplomacy, law enforcement and intelligence. And the stimulus package before Congress, once passed, will certainly fuel more hiring.

Full Story Here

Job hunting for introverts

2009-02-19T10:43:00.000-05:00

If networking drives you nuts and you tend to think a while before you respond to interviewers' questions, you may find a job search especially difficult. Here's what to do.

Number of Internships Expected to Rise

2009-02-19T10:38:00.000-05:00

Boston — Feb. 12
Intern Bridge, a college recruiting consulting firm, recently began releasing data from its national internship survey completed by more than 42,000 students from 400 universities. The research gauges student expectations and experiences relating to internship supervisors, program structure, orientation, recruiting and compensation.

The survey found that seven out of 10 students would accept less pay in exchange for greater work experience. The data reveals that the average national wage for an undergraduate internship is $12.81, with a for-profit average of $13.50 and a not-for-profit average of $10.45. In addition, 11 percent of students do not receive compensation or college credit, a controversial practice that all but violates the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Full article here

Scoop 44

2009-02-18T11:29:00.006-05:00

Scoop44 launched today as "an online national outlet covering the Obama Administration, national politics, and a new generation of Americans produced, edited, and written by young people across the nation and abroad." It was covered by CNN in an interview with Alexander Heffner, president and editor in chief, but I can't seem to get the embed to work. The management are all current students, and if students are interested in getting published, they can apply here.

So since I can't embed today's story, here's one from Scoop44's predecessor, Scoop08.