One of the most rewarding things I have ever done...

Don't get me wrong - there have been many rewarding things I have been lucky to be a part of in my life. But I have to say that being a part of the Habitat project and seeing the absolute joy and gratitude on the face of the homeowners made my day! Being able to be a part of this project was the highlight of my conference. Before we started I was tired and cranky and wondering why I volunteered - I quickly discovered that giving back is one of the most energizing things I could have done . Yes it was hot and humid - but it was so invigorating!!

Habitat provides decent affordable housing in communities all over. I cannot encourage you enough to donate some time - perhaps in your local community. They are safety conscious and they dont expect everyone to be able to climb on the roof (not this Mom at least ----> no heights!).

There is such emphasis on being a part of a larger community - we all need to look inside ourselves and see where we can make a difference. In New Orleans, the need is great and obvious. There is need everywhere and through our efforts,we can help make this world a better place.

Everyone has asked if NACE will be doing this type of work again - my answer is a resounding yes - we will find a way to give back wherever we go.

Thanks to all who supported us(esepcially our friends at Target who helped with the transportation) and thanks to all who were able to participate!

Peer-to Peer communication

I attended a very useful session today on the Topic of Minute Clinincs, presented by staff from NC State CALS career services. Great ideas at work here! One of the ideas that seemed to work very well that I might like to try is to use student peers in our career education. Of course there's a lot of training needed to utilize students as representatives of the Career Services office, but as shown in this presentation, when done well, peers are great tools to get messages accross to their fellow students. It's an effective tool to get our message out to students, but also, what a great learning/ leadership tool for the students working for career services. We're teaching them along the way too.

If you go to the NACE website to download their presentation, you'll get some great visuals of what they've done. They've shared some great ideas!

The State of NACE

This state of the association address featured President Ralph Brigham, President-Elect Manny Contomanolis, and Executive Director Marilyn Mackes. Intros and a brief dance by Ralph opened up the session focused on NACE's mission & values followed by strategic goals and steps for operationalizing those goals. Wrap-up with Manny's vision for the future.

Marilyn Mackes:
Mission - To facilitate the employment of the college-educated.
Core values

• Integrity
• Knowledge
• Leadership
• Collaboration
• Inclusion
  

Manny Contomanolis:
What does it mean to be a content-focused association? Through various benchmarking channels the question of what kind of association NACE would be. Content-focused serve membership by content provided. Content being knowledge, tools, networking.

Ralph Brigham:
NACE Strategic Plan

1. Surveyed members for input needs & preferences
2. Conducted benchmarking
3. Environmental scans
4. Researched trends for a forward look

Marilyn:
Essential to achieving goals? volunteer leaders, engaged membership, Executive Director and NACE staff Things happen because we make them happen.

Manny:
Strategic Goals:
1. NACE will be acknowledged as the foremost resource related to the college student/graduate employment market.
2. NACE will be used by colleges and employers as the essential connection to support the successful transition of college students into the workplace.

Ralph:
2007-8 Accomplishments: Education, Research, Membership, Member Network Opportunities, Leadership Advancement, Committee Activity

1900 attendees at past two national conferences, ten more vendors than last year, MLI in 17th year, career coaching intensives booked for next three, 1300 employer organizations, 2000 schools, 6000 individual members, 200 related service providers, 30 individuals for second year of leadership advancement program

Committees - 150 volunteers on at least 10 committees producing a number of tools and standards either ready for deployment or creating baselines for more development including recruiter evaluation tools and an international virtual job fair.

Marilyn:
Operational accomplishments - products & services (career coaching workshops, JobChoices magazine, October's Salary Survey will be a new product for delivery and flexibility, NACELink network, more electronic deliveries, Int'l Student Virtual Career Fair, more web-based development), financial viability (membership fees cover 20-25% of operating budget by design, more diversified income streams for more budgetary stability), staff support (40 staff total, new research staffer), technology infrastructure (more web & email delivery, Int'l Student Virtual Career Fair), public & media presence
We are a community accountable to each other and those we serve. Within the community are sub-communities. As a community we are here to advance knowledge.

Manny:
Issues going forward - 2008-9 Planning for the future

• Global Initiatives - Ingrata consortium; clearinghouse for members needing info and connections to understanding, connecting, and growing relationships overseas.
• Tech & Web 2.0 - Intent to better engage membership and rewrite understanding of membership; tools for restructuring how we do business and the nature of our roles in relation to each other as content developers.
  
• Strategic Partnerships - Exploration of greater collaboration with groups like SHRM for shared development of certifications and content
  
• Product/Service Review & Improvement - New products like new meetings, new meeting formats
  
• Professional Mentorship Program - Create formal support
• Leadership Advancement - new training and opportunities built into association to equip and open pathways for prospective leaders
• Increased advocacy role on relevant public issues

Audience comments & questions
Q. How is NACE approaching looming Boomer exit from the U.S. workforce and related regional forces?
A. Still emerging dialogue. Looking to help the general public better understand the issues and their real impact, including debunking rumors and misinformation.

Q. Tell us more about the Leadership Advancement program.
A. Deb Cherek (past President) sought to bring together potential leaders together for ongoing training and engagement and continues to evolve. Further helps identify candidates for roles in a fair and effective manner.

Q. What is NACE doing to stay in contact with retiring practitioners?
A. Historically have wrestled with this. Exploring tapping them for supporting mentorships and some projects are a couple ways to integrate them.

Thoughts?

Gone and Sometimes Forgotten

I'm in the 10:45 session about how career services can (and need) to provide services to alums...particularly "mature" alums (those over 40) who are changing careers, have been laid off, or who can't afford to retire.

The big number is that by 2010, 51% of the workforce will be 40 years or older (a 33% increase since 1980). This aging baby boomer workforce is no surprise...but there are economic and personal factors that complicate this situation. The economic factors include the current recession, offshoring, corporate mergers/restructuring, and globalization. The personal factors include increased life expectancy, need for healthcare coverage in retirement, elevated social awareness, and increased desire to 'direct' own career.

Much of the discussion was around how career services can serve alumni and included examples of best practices in connecting career services and alumni offices, what the current (and future) economic situation means for career services, stories about what alumni are looking for (even if they don't know it!) and how to best utilize these alums on campus.

It was a standing-room only crowd...lots of head-nodding as the issues were laid out...and great questions for the panelists.

Most Grads Don't Want Full-time Employment

Jennifer Kushell of YSN.com just completed her presentation at the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) annual conference in New Orleans. Her presentation was entitled, "What Students Don't Understand About You, Your Company, Your Opportunities -- and What You Can Do About It."

She had a lot of great tips and thoughts but two really stuck out for me:

• There was a lot of discussion about how an increasing number of students are accepting offers from one employer and later rescinding their acceptance in order to accept a later, better offer. This drives employers and college career service offices nuts and burns bridges for the candidates. Yet not one person in the room acknowledged that employers have been just as guilty by rescinding offers they've made to students who are then left without an internship to go to for the summer or, worse yet, a job to go to upon graduation. We need to remember that Gen Y are largely the children of Baby Boomers and that generation has done a very good job of counseling their children that they cannot and should not rely upon the good graces of their employer because the vast majority of employers have repeatedly demonstrated that their loyalty to their employees extends only so far as their profit motives allow. At the end of the day, the employers owe a fiduciary duty to maximize the wealth of their shareholders, not to provide employment to their workers.
  
• Only 49 percent of college seniors who are approaching graduation are interested in working full-time for an employer. Most see themselves owning a franchise, distributorship, or other business within a handful of years of graduating. This is good news for organizations such as Valpak but bad news for many and perhaps most of the traditional employers of college students and recent graduates. They either need to find a way to make their opportunities more entrepreneurial in nature or they will find themselves competing for an increasing shrinking candidate pool.
  

Anticipating 2018 - The tech groups

What follows are the rough notes from 2 mini-breakouts in the NACE Future Dirtections Committee session.

Group #1

Following some introductory notes and a brief demo of Twitter conversation moved into texting and the shift from email for some populations. Broadening of techonology - openess - empowers the expanding

Use the students for credibility building, but what about good management of one's web presence?

Threat of technology being used as a career services bypass in the connection between students and employers.


How can NACE better support our own professional development on this front?
1. Continued best practices presentations/content
2. We need to twitter more
3. Intro'd wikis
4. Student focus groups


Group #2
Basic impact of rise of mobile technologies:
1. changes in etiquette

NACE can help with:
1. Information and support on virtual internships
2. Developing strategic partnerships. What are the elements? Need to be able to customize our services to our different constituents.
3. Shaping of best practices standards/outcomes.
4. Tracking and pushing next practices to get ahead of the curve
5. Global links to mine emerging practices from around the world
6. Guides and workshops to help professionals learn and adopt emerging technologies
7. Shaping of etiquette and standards of professional practices and delivery of services - not being on-call 24/7

Time and resources to implement, how to stay current when there is so much going on and coming out? Do we need to adjust our thinking about timelines for viable or sticky applications/tools?

Colleges having to rethink and subsequently advocate on campus for new measures of success.

Rise of virtual worlds and our need to adapt to new environments for work and socialization to meet needs/expectations of students.

Sessions Update - Day 1

Two of three breakout sessions down and sitting in the third and final one for the day.

So far this year's quest for knowledge has taken me to "On-boarding New Hires Effectively" and "Understanding Reality Bytes". The first on the components of a successful process of bring on new hires, whether interns, co-op students, or permanent employees. Robust content covering the full range of the experience for new hires. Next was a look at one school's work on recruiting and deploying student bloggers for driving up student awareness of services and career related issues. Solid introductory content in that.

And now I'm in "Strategically Assessing the College Recruiting Function". This session comes out of a NACE committee's work this year. Case studies on streamlined tools for, well, assessing college recruiting processes.

Two of my three choices have been employer-side, an unusual choice for a college-side member. Then again, if I'm here to connect with employers, what a great place to find them. Plus it gives me a better idea of their world, their concerns, and their language. This makes it easier to relate to and serve them.

While process focused, this last session has a strong strategic element in the background and integrated into the answers of the Q&A. Members looking for a peek at the tool can find it at naceweb.

Forums@4 is next up with 8-10 topics set.

Exhibit Hall

Walked around the exhibit hall yesterday evening to get a feeling for who is there. A great mixture of service providers, employers, and schools. I didn't count but there are probably 100 exhibitors. Unlike some exhibit halls, this one is in the center of the action and not stuck off in a corner someplace so the organizations which have invested the time and money necessary to have a booth should see a nice return.

Daniel Pink - What Talent Wants

How many political speech writers also write books on business and use Japanese Manga as a medium for career development? Yeah, Daniel Pink.

For an opening keynote Mr. Pink delivered a brisk and energetic speech. Beginning with a humorous overview of his life and career track in all its meanderings, he moved into a talk on the shifts and emerging drivers of the world of work. At the core was the intersection of economics and values.

Economic forces are so "baked in" that they are uninteresting and below the radar of recent college grads. The first of the three is the demise of corporate paternalism. Second, changing economics of production. Third,

1. Demise of corporate paternalism - culturally it was expected and assumed corporations would take care of their employees. Implication? Shift from loyalty/security transaction between employer and individual to talent/opportunity transaction. The axis goes from vertical to horizontal.

2. Changing economics of production - Marx stated revolution would come when the workers controlled the means of production. Did not work in the industrial era, but has become possible in the new tech environment. Factories are big, expensive, and difficult for one person to operate. "Talented people need organizations less than organizations need talented people." Daughter's web comic - www.squirmtheworm.com cited as example of new knowledge and production equation.

3. The emergence of the meaning gap - per capita GDP has tripled over 50 years with no recognition, simultaneously the rate of satisfaction has remained level. Prosperity has liberated us, but not elevated us. More people are now pursuing fulfillment through other channels now available via that prosperity. What does this do our understanding of the nature and inherent value of work itself?

Autonomy, authenticity, mastery, and purpose are the 4 drivers of young contemporary workers. People want autonomy over their time (results oriented work), tasks, techniques (let me do it my way as long as its right), team (do not underestimate the interest of good people to work with good people). They want authenticity, to feel they are themselves in their work. No masks. No Stepford Workers. Mastery or the drive to improve. Give me my feedback so I can get better and master my work. Millenials especially are accustomed to regular, almost continuous, feedback systems. Gaming, E-Bay, Digg It, etc. "They crave it." Finally, purpose is the drive to have transcendence, meaning. Jeff Immelt - "If you want to be a great company, you have to be a good company. The reason why people come to work for GE is that they want to be about something larger than themselves." Increasingly grads want to do work that has a positive impact. Cycles back to autonomy of tasks. "Honoring these values is essential", if companies want to recruit good talent.

The experiment in reaching college students and recent grads - "The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need", Pink's manga-styled career guide.

Tactical vs strategic information: which is what and how do we deliver it? Tactical info is gleaned online, students do not seek it from books or campus offices. It is timebound and grows stale quickly. Strategic information is where career service offices can excel by being curators, guides to the tactical information.

What is the animating question for the early 21st century worker? "WTF?!" - Daniel Pink.

early activity

...lots of buzzing about the band last night. And the food was excellent! I hope everyone got a chance to try the gumbo- almost as good as mine!

Plenty of choices today....I'll be the whirling deverish going by....

It Begins...

I am setting in the middle of NACE Quarter having just experienced my first NACE opening session and the exhibit hall. Wow! The marching band sure got things started and the jazz was top notch.

Although I have been a NACE member for a number of years, a Community College Career Center Director doesn't often have the budget to attend conferences out of state. Career Services was not my career of choice; it found me and wouldn't let go despite many interviews and job offers in other fields. Perhaps it was because I didn't consciously choose this path but I never felt like part of a profession. I have always been excited about what I do but a benefit from my new institution is certainly attendance at the NACE Conference. Sitting in the hall with approximately 1900 others, I felt differently about myself and my career. If I get nothing else from this conference (highly unlikely) I will have that new feeling. I am thankful to Iowa State University and my Director, Steve Kravinsky, who believe in professional development.

To all those who have never attended a NACE national conference, who don't know what you're missing.

Let the 2008 Conference begin!

La Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom - 5:38

The Jazz infused opening session is about to begin. The hall is filling with weary travelers and Habitat volunteers, but a buzz, as every year, hangs int he air with networking and reconnecting with old friends and colleagues.

The session kicked off with an energetic jazz marching band leading a NOLA-styled parade complete with beads tossed into the crowd. Welcome to the Big Easy!

Louisiana Association of Colleges and Employers Annual Conference

Later today I speak about how employers can destroy their brand by incorrect using Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites. Today's presentation is at the University of New Orleans for the annual conference of the Louisiana Association of Colleges and Employers.

One of the interesting things that I've been encountering these past few months about this topic is that the vast majority of employers still have no presence on Facebook and no strategy for incorporating it into their recruiting strategy even though it is far and away the highest traffic site used by Gen Y. But for those employers who are starting to use Facebook, the consensus is that it is not a place to source but instead to network. Makes sense, doesn't it? A social networking site should be used for networking, not directly for hiring.

On the Ground

Don't know about my fellow bloggers, but I'm here and getting anxious for the conference to begin. First up, though, Habitat for Humanity and a bit of building for the people of NOLA. Hope to meet you on site tomorrow!

Countdown to Annual Conference!

With the last shipment winging its way to New Orleans, we here on staff are getting the last items ready for next week! There are so many fun things this year to do and new people to meet and new things to learn!

The attendee list is posted online (dont panic if you just registered and your name is not there- the list was run May 15) here. See who you might know and make a plan to meet. The convention center is LARGE but we are in a compact space but a meet-up is always fun!
Perhaps you want to be more leading edge and meet through a BLOG(heh!) or via Twitter(Look me up! I'll be twittering when I can!) or Facebook. Use those social tools to make your meeting even more effective!

Remember - FREE WIRELESS is yours! Use it!

Federal Career Opportunities through Partnership for Public Service--at NACE!

As I highlighted in an earlier post, there is a growing interest in careers that benefit the common good. These careers can be found in the exciting diversity of the nonprofit sector, the rapidly growing field of corporate/business social responsibility (CSR or BSR), or the wide range of positions available in all levels of government.

Whether you are just starting to figure out how to answer the increasingly frequent questions by students and alumni about meaningful careers or you have already been involved with finding ways to educate your students and alums about these opportunities, Partnership for Public Service is a great resource to check out and will have several must-attend events at this year’s NACE conference.

The first is the Call to Serve National Summit on Tuesday, May 27th from 2pm to 5pm that brings career services leaders and federal agency representatives together to network, gather and share ideas, and build relationships to collaborate in connecting people to federal government careers. For more information and to RSVP for the Call to Serve National Summit, click on the summit name and look on the right column of the page.

The other event that you will want to put on your schedule is the concurrent session on Wednesday, May 28th at 1pm called “Collaborating to Fill the Federal Skills Gap: How 5 universities and 11 federal agencies made the government an employer of choice.” Agency and university representatives will share effective ways to build a campaign on a campus that allows students to see the federal government as an employer of choice. For the session abstract and location, click here.

With just a week to go, I’m getting excited about all of the NACE events and sessions, but these two are fixtures on my schedule because they address the growing interest in (and availability of!) careers that provide more than just a paycheck.

The Future's so Bright . . .

This year's conference is nearly upon us. Most of us will be wrapping up business in our offices, packing our bags, printing our boarding passes, and confirming our reservations. We may even be meeting with colleagues to determine the sessions of most value and interest to our organizations. Oh, and graduation season is in full swing.

In this flurry of activity you may miss or put off taking a look at the May NACEJournal. Here are a few reasons not to delay (or at least take it on the plane with you):

1. Networking - peruse for icebreakers to use while waiting for a session to start.

2. Get the word on NACE award winners - see your reputation as a prognosticator soar when you predict this year's ChevronTexaco award. No one needs to know you read it there first.

3. Hot off the press research and stats to fuel your insightful questions to session presenters.

4. Get the inside scoop on this year's Future Directions Committee and their presentation "Career Services 2018: Embracing the Seismic Shifts in Work Force Development". This way you can come ready to discuss the future.

Never enough time...USE a PLANNER!

So how do you figure out what to do when you are on site at the conference? Try creating a schedule using the conference planner found here.

This is a cool tool that your whole team can use to plan your day! WARNING: dont forget sessions can fill up so you many want to have an alternate just in case. Rooms should NOT be shut out so early this year as the session rooms are larger but you never know.

No Experience? Volunteer. Even After Being Hired.

One of the most frequent statements that we hear from frustrated job seekers is that employers are rejecting their applications because they lack experience. The job seekers typically wonder how it is that they can get experience if no one will hire them.

The answer to that conundrum is that the job seekers should get the experience they need outside of the job market. Instead of looking for someone to pay you and to give you the experience you need, instead look for someone who will only give you the experience you need. That's right, work for free. Volunteer.

But what about those who are employed and struggling to advance? Their paths are frequently blocked or at least delayed by their lack of experience. If their employer won't give them the experience they need in order to earn the sought after promotion, how can they obtain the promotion? Again, work for free. Volunteer.

A small but growing number of employers are encouraging their employees to volunteer occasionally or even full-time in an effort to inspire the employees, give back to the community, and shift the cost of training the employees to other organizations. But everyone wins in these arrangements so don't infer that I'm being critical of them. Far from it. I think they're fabulous.

Ernst & Young, for example, has allowed some of its accountants to volunteer for weeks and even months for non-profits. The firm covers transportation, food, and hotel expenses and even keeps the employees on its payroll so they don't suffer any loss of income. What they get back are employees who are far better qualified to do far more complicated work. Which means that E&Y has made a wise investment as it has essentially invested the costs associated with allowing its employees to volunteer their time for the non-profits and will quickly recoup that investment by being able to bill those employees out at much higher hourly rates to its clients.

And don't forget about the benefits these volunteer programs have when it comes time to recruit the next class of college students searching for internships or recent graduates hunting for entry level jobs and other career opportunities. A 2006 study by brand strategy and communications agency Cone Inc. found that 79 percent of Gen Y'ers want to work for organizations which care about how they affect or contribute to society. If your organization allows, encourages, or even pays for its employees to work for non-profits in a volunteer capacity then your organization's brand will skyrocket as you'll be demonstrating that you care about how you affect and contribute to society.

Best job sites?

There was an interesting article in Fortune magazine last week about the 30 best web sites for job seekers. With over 40,000 sites currently online that offer job and career information, this list is hardly a thorough overview of the who's who of the job site world, but it is interesting to peruse the winners. The 'best of' lists are broken down into different industries, professions, and locations.

Do you have any sites for job seekers that you love that aren't listed?

Forums are back! And a WIKI? YAY or what???

Yes! We have Forums at 4 again! This year they start at 4:15 (gotta keep eveyobdy on their toes.....) and there is only one session thi syear. Topics are red hot and facilitators are ready to keep everybody talking!


During a facilitator session yesterday, I thought we might want to try an experiment this year.....anybody up for starting a wiki for the ideas generated from the forums? Each session could have a page on the wiki and things could be added after the session.

IF .....anyone comments on this and tells me it is a good idea...I'll run with it and set up the wiki. SILENCE......means no thank you!

Pick the Party Tunes!!

Our Thursday night entertainment is one of New Orleans' most revered local groups, The Topcats, consistently voted top cover band. They have played with many legends and have been around the New Orleans music scene for a long time. They will be playing on Thursday evening May 29 from 8-11 in the Acadia Ballroom at the Marriott at 555 Canal. It promises to be a GREAT party with desserts, coffee and (come on it is New Orleans)drinks!

So what songs need to played at party for NACE'ers? Got a favorite you just have to hear or it isn't a party? Their songlist spans the pre-50's to today and you can find it here . Take a look and drop a comment with your favorites................who knows...maybe if they play it, you can join them!! Or you might win a fabulous prize!!

Parents…can’t live with ‘em…can’t get their kids hired without ‘em…

I’ve been to a year’s worth of NACE and NACE regional affiliate conferences and am always intrigued by the number of sessions that discuss the issue of parents in career services and recruiting. Oh, the tales that are told: Fortune 500 corporations that fund elaborate “parent orientations” to coincide with their new hire orientation sessions; career service offices that spend just as much time and energy informing parents of their offspring’s career options as they do the students; and of course, then there are the stories about the parents themselves… The media has been focusing on this for several years; these articles from USA Today, Forbes, and MSNBC aren’t new.

I spent six years as a middle school teacher and saw this trend creeping up the education ladder. But while middle school seems like an understandable time period for parents to hover, college graduates seem a bit old for this kind of treatment.

One of the interesting studies I’ve read recently was published in December’s Journal of Family Psychology. In this study, 392 unmarried college students and at least one of their parents were surveyed about whether these students are perceived as adults or not. It stands to reason that if only 16% of the 18 to 26 year olds see themselves as adults, their parents’ perception may not be that different (16% of moms and 19% of dads perceive their children as adults). You can read more in this USA Today article or this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (if you have a subscription to the latter).

So while the negatives are fairly well documented, what do you see as the benefits of this kind of uber-close relationship between parents and children (aside from making sure that they get to interviews on time)? Is this trend going away anytime soon? What are you doing to accommodate parents, whether in terms of career services or organizational recruiting?

Fascinating way to think about ATTENDING a session- although the blog is directed towards presenters...

"But what we aren't doing, and where the real opportunity might exist, is crafting tools and resources that support all meeting attendees as catalysts for content sharing and meaningful change in their own organizations. We should think of every single meeting planned and workshop created as a train-the-trainer event, an equip-the-teacher opportunity."

Read the whole post here:
http://jeffreycufaude.blogspot.com/2008/05/one-to-many.html

Wouldn't it be great if as an attendee you went in with the idea that you had to go back and teach others? How can presenters make this happen? Or is just too darn much to ask??

Planet GREEN!

If you havent seen this reinvention of a small town...you might want to:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/greensburg//?site=PLG

Watching a segment over the weekend really makes you think about all the efforts that COULD be made in helping build a sustainable earth. This town is a great example of what can be done and it is also a testament to what people can do when they decide to overcome adversity in a positive way.

So what does this have to do with us...well, as you know we are making every effort to make our meeting more green- recycling, less printing etc. ... People around here are shake their heads anytime someone mentions printing - "Nancy won't let us!"...well, not really but if we are at least THINKING before we print something then we are doing better.

But Wait...I am in a concurrent session and there are not 100 small pieces of paper lying around just waiting for me to fill them out? NOPE!! In keeping with the green efforts and MAJOR paper waster was session evaluations - some turned in, some not etc! So this year you will have the opportunity to complete session evaluations online. We have done the conference evaluations online for several years but this will be a first for sessions. It really is exciting and will keep our efforts to be green strong! Be sure to complete them after you attend sessions! Dont forget - FREE WIRELESS - sponsored by NACE - in the convention center meeting rooms!!

A Great Gift to Our Nation

I recently completed watching Battle 360, a multi-part series on the History Channel about the famed World War II carrier, the U.S.S. Enterprise. Pam Webster of Enterprise Rent-a-Car gave me the heads-up about the series and am I ever glad that she did. It was fabulous.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car was founded in 1957 by Enterprise by Jack Crawford Taylor, father of current CEO, Andy Taylor. Jack served as a fighter pilot on the U.S.S. Enterprise during World War II. The History Channel series did a very nice job of tying the men and women of Enterprise Rent-a-Car together with the proud legacy of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

For history buffs, Battle 360 was a fabulous trip back in time with plenty of computer generated graphics, historic film footage, and recent interviews of veterans. For those of us fortunate enough never to have been in such circumstances, the show was an important reminder of the incredible sacrifices made by an incredible generation. Over and over again you hear these men and women state that they weren't heroes; they were just doing their jobs. Well, they were heroes and because they did their jobs as well as anyone could ever hope we enjoy liberty.

The men and women of Enterprise Rent-a-Car give the world of college recruiting great gift after great gift. They are always there for us as sponsors, organizers, and more. They also gave the country a great gift by helping us to remember the U.S.S. Enterprise and its vital role in our history.

Text messages - as Marketing Tool?

I see that many of the sessions at the conference surround the topic of technology. And marketing is a big one too. So put those together and we're probably all thinking about ways to use technology to market our programs.

There's the standard website and email format that comes to mind first. But, I haven't really heard a lot about using text messaging as a marketing avenue. I feel like it's kind of a random thought I'm throwing out there, because I don't even know if it would be possible (or legal/ethical). And here I may also be showing a little bit of my limitations with technology. Personally, I've written one text message in my life and it took me about 5 minutes to write it and figure out how to send it!.

Emails seem to be easily ignored or deleted because we're all overwhelmed with the number of emails we get each day. But students seem to be very in tune with their cell phones for text messaging. But, is it even possible to send text messages to groups of people? (Again, my lack of knowledge shining through here). Would students be receptive to this kind of marketing, or would they be more annoyed by it? Are there legal/ethical limitations to this?

Although I can think of the advantages of using text messages to promote career programs, personally, I think if I were to receive text messages of the "marketing" variety, I would fall more on the "annoyed" side. But that's just me. What do you think? Anybody seen/ heard of this being done anywhere?

Is it May already?

Where has the time gone? Graduation is a week and a day away. While I am looking forward to the NACE Conference coming up at the end of the month, I confess I have hardly looked at the materials yet. I have another trip scheduled two weeks before and I haven't even had time to review that one yet either. I'm sure I could become more efficient in some areas but I also think there is just more to do. Hmmm, maybe there is a good session on that. I'll have to look, when I get the time.

Seriously, glancing through the schedule again I am reminded of the excellent topics and the difficult decisions I will have to make. Certainly a large area of interest revolves around marketing to students and I believe (along with many others) one key component is our effective use of technology. The only problem is that it keeps changing. There are several sessions within the technology track that look like they will provide some up-to-date information on what types of technology students are using now and how we might channel this power for our own purposes. I hope to also have the opportunity to discuss new technology in an attempt to be prepared instead of always playing catch-up.

Fads and Trends

Whether we are planning, presenting, or simply attending, conferences offer us the chance to play the prognosticator. What is hot right now? What will become the next need-to-know thing, and what will be a flash in the pan? Technology continues to garner a bit of attention, mostly with a focus on particular tools that are top-of-mind. As always, though, there are too many offerings to take in everything of interest.

This year Facebook gets some more facetime (will the Beacon debacle be mentioned?), there are updates from the demographic front, we can hear echoes of the 2004 Chevron winner from a new campus and perspective, and YouTube seems to have replaced podcasting as the tech du jour. Are you planning your sessions out yet? Or do you wait until you are on the ground to decide?

At some point a retrospective on conference topics would be an interesting piece of research - track the true content trends and forces that have shaped our professions and have piqued our collective interest. What stories do you think it would tell?

Is Dolly Parton still right on?

In “9 to 5”, Dolly Parton sings about being “just a step on the boss man’s ladder” and how the work world is “all taking and no giving.” In Joni B. Cole and B.K. Rakhra’s new book, “Water Cooler Diaries,” the reader gets a glimpse at a day-in-the-life of 35 women whose jobs range from “orthopedic surgeon” to “voice-over actor.” These 9 to 5 chronicles present a diverse perspective on a variety of professional experiences, and I loved not only reading about the range of responsibilities and roles, but hearing such different and revealing views on careers. While there are plenty of disgruntled employees, there are also many who truly thrive in their work environments.

While reading these accounts, it’s hard not to imagine what kind of day you might jot down if given the opportunity. Like many people, my days vary so much that there’s never a ‘typical’ day (that was even more true when I was a middle school teacher—adolescents have a wonderful way of defying expectations!). In my current role, I’m neither a career counselor nor a recruiter, so I love hearing how people who are in those professions spend their time.

If you’ve time and inclination, jot down a snippet about an hour in your day. Hopefully your account won’t include the dripping-with-sarcasm line: “working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living...!?”

New hires want more than a paycheck!

According to a survey by Experience.com “It’s Time for a Job Description Makeover," 70% of job seekers value company reputation and ethics in a new employer. This often translates to finding a career where employers demonstrate a commitment to improve the local, national, and international community. There is no one model for how employers should do this, but with the increasing altruistic tendencies of this younger generation (volunteering is up 20% among college seniors), it seems like this is one generational trend that will carry well beyond just this group of students.

How do you see this in your line of work? Are students on your campus asking about how to find a job that is more than just a paycheck or making it a priority in their job search? Do you field questions about your corporate ethics and social responsibility from recruits or their parents?

How and Whether to Make a 22 Year Old Your Leader

Ryan Healy at Employee Evolution just posted a very thought provoking blog article for Gen Y employees about how they can become leaders in their organizations. Healy offers four tips:

1. Demonstrate that you're able and willing to make the decisions because leaders need to decide even when they don't have all of the information available.
   
2. Try new things. "Being comfortable and competent in unfamiliar situations is a sign of true leadership ability. So whenever you have the opportunity to do something new, try it!"
   
3. Surround yourself with people smarter than you. You don't need to lead them at every opportunity or even occasionally. But interact with smart people and learn "to hold your own in complex or thoughtful conversations."
   
4. Learn to work well alone. Leaders often have to make decisions by themselves and work through issues without the assistance from others.
   
   

That all said, what should organizations be doing to help 22 year old, recent college graduates and other Gen Y'ers learn how to become leaders within their organizations? College recruiting is strategic because it is used by organizations to recruit their next generation of leaders. But if those organizations don't teach their future leaders how to lead, then their college recruiting programs are doomed to failure.

So folks, how do you teach your Gen Y employees how to lead?

Going Green In New Orleans.......and in your everyday life........

As you may know, one of the NACE initiatives for the upcoming conference in New Orleans includes a focus on being "green". This concept of looking for ways to make an impact on the environment include a number of initatives at the conference including reducing plastic waste by eliminating individual bottled water, using post-consumer recycled materials such as an eco-friendly tote (51% recycled materials), badge holders that are made of 51% recycled material, having recycle bins in place of traditional trash cans at the conference, using post-consumer recycled paper for any printed materials including the conference notebook, and overall limiting the amount of printed materials by providing session handouts electronically. In addition, excess food from the conference will be donated to a local food rescue program.

These types of initiatives may seem small on the surface, but if we all make a commitment to small changes in our work and personal lives, we can make a difference.

As one of the largest recruiter of college grads, Enterprise has seen college students asking more questions about a company’s environmental and social practices. Employers who want to connect with the socially and environmentally conscious students are making their "green intiatives" a part of their recruiting efforts and marketing to college students as part of the company’s environmental or social platform. We are als seeing more employers are using the recycle logo on their career fair giveaways or using giveaways made from recycled materials.

At Enterprise Rent-A-Car, having been in business for more than half a century, we know that leadership is not a short-term proposition. For us, environmental stewardship is a long-term approach to addressing those parts of the world that we touch with our business, and involving ourselves with those issues over which we have some influence. It's an approach built upon a commitment to ensure the sustainability of our business, as well as the sustainability of the world we all share. Our environmental platform includes the following intiatives:

• Empowering our customers to offset the CO2 of their rental by funding projects that work to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• Operating the world’s largest fleet of fuel-efficient cars, including more than 440,000 vehicles that achieve 28 mpg highway or better.
• Embracing New Clean Technologies by taking advantage of existing alternative technologies, such as FlexFuel and hybrid vehicles, and helping expand the availability and use of alternative fuels, such as E85.
• Funding the search for renewable fuels by donating $25 million to one of the world's leading plant science centers to develop renewable, reliable fuels from plant sources.
• Funding the planting of 50 million trees over the next 50 years with The National Arbor Day Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service.

Sharing our environmental platform is important to our college recruiting efforts because it ties to our corporate values and ethics. With a fleet of more than one million vehicles, we understand that we have an impact on the environment. This initiative allows us to demonstrate that we're positively impacting change and we highlight our initiatives on our careers website and through our new website highlighting our environmental platform keystogreen.com.

I'd love to hear what others are doing either from an organizational level or a personal level to make a positive impact on our environment. Does your university or company have any formal "green" initiatives? What tips to you have for NACE members to support this cause?

Student attendance at Career Center Programs

Has anyone else noticed this trend? It seems like there are fewer and fewer students attending programs or workshops that Career Services offices offer. Is your campus experiencing this too? Perhaps your campus is noticing it not only with Career Services programs, but many other programs as well?

Any ideas as to why? Maybe students are just too busy. Maybe they'd rather look up the same information on the internet? Maybe they don't see it as valuable at that moment. Maybe they just don't even know about these programs?

Obviously there are a lot of factors that contribute to student attendance (or non attendance). But what do we do with the fact that this is a reality? Do we not offer low-attended programs anymore? Do we go to on-line only career centers? How can we market programs more effectively? How do we plan around students' schedules?

I'll be looking for ideas in the sessions in New Orleans. I know there are a lot of sessions that highlight great programs going on in Career Centers, and I'm sure they've confronted the student attendance issue to make their programs successful!! I'm ready to soak up all these ideas!

Young Professionals?

Ok - I'll admit it! I am a boomer (mind you on the very back end but still there ). I read a great article today about engaging younger members at meetings and was wondering if this is an area that we should be exploring?

Do we need to have a group for young professionals to network and engage at the meeting? How should such a thing or area be set up? Should we have a forum for young professionals? Is it different for Career Services and Recruiters?

Wow, I am full of questions....anybody want to comment?

Exploding Offers: Here They Come Again

Less than a week ago I wrote that there have been exploding offers this year and will be more but there won't be as many as there were in the 2001-03 recession. An exploding offer is a job offer which an employer makes to a candidate, which the candidate accepts, and which the employer later rescinds usually because of changing economic conditions.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal included an article about how a year ago law firms were falling all over each other to recruit and retain entry level lawyers for their summer associate programs (sort of like internship programs) and as first year associates (entry level lawyers). Now some of those same law firms are cutting back:

• Some law firms like New York-based, 800 attorney Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP shrunk the duration of their summer associate program from 12 to 10 weeks. That effectively cuts the pay of their summer associates / interns by almost 17 percent.
• Other law firms are delaying the start date of some of their first year associates. In addition to Pillsbury cutting its summer associate program, it is also delaying the start date of its first year associates.
• Chicago-based, 700 lawyer Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP is taking an even harsher approach. It admits to exploding the offers for two summer associates and two first year associates who had accepted offers to work at its Charlotte, North Carolina office.

Exploding offers are not confined to law firms. Over the next couple of months we'll see many more examples emerging from employers large and small, public and private, urban and rural.

I get why these employers believe that they should not pay money to employees whose work is not needed. But what I hope that all employers get is that their long-term viability depends upon these interns and entry level hires for college recruiting is strategic and without college hires entering the employment ranks, an organization is doomed to a lack of managerial and executive talent within a decade. If the organization manages to survive it will need the success of some very highly paid headhunters to acquire the talent that the organization could have brought on board at much less expensive rates through its college recruiting program.

It will be interesting to hear from the experts in New Orleans about this issue. When potential presenters were submitting their proposals last summer, the economy was humming and exploding offers were about the furthest thing from anyone's mind. Today though, the situation is quite different as virtually all lay people and many economists believe that we're in a recession and with recessions come exploding offers. I suspect that the The 2008 NACE Graduating Student Survey: Student Perceptions and Approaches to the Current Job Market session will be quite informative on this topic. I'll be in the audience. Will you?

Developing Global Citizens

What do you think about this article from cnn. com yesterday? A good idea? or not so hot?

There is a session at the conference called Give or Take? on helping students become good citizens. Interesting concept? And is it a part of your mission in career services? How about recruiting? Do you expect the same thing in your new hires?

Another voice chimes in . . .

This is quite a privilege. For me that is. I will leave it to you to draw your own conclusions.

My name is Chris Miciek and I have been drafted as part of the 2008 conference's blogging corps. As of this moment I am the Director of Career Services for Baker College's Online and Center for Graduate Studies campuses. Baker is Michigan's largest private, non-profit institution of higher education. I assumed this role a little over five years ago. At that time my two campuses did not offer career services and were facing a majority population outside of the state. Since the institution's mission statement expressly addresses lifetime career support, there was a need to develop a response and enfranchise those students and alumni. My task was to create and run what became the first 100% online career services office. This has included a full slate of standard career services offerings, plus supporting a required internship program. Our combined student population is currently just shy of 6000. Over 60% are outside of Michigan. Some of those are overseas as expats or foreign nationals. It has been an amazing ride.

Yes, I have a bit of interest in the intersection of career services, education, and technology. Because of the strong technology environment I have lived in the past five years, I will be focusing much of my attention on the technology and future casting content of this year's conference. Technology isn't strategy, but it must be a key piece of our strategic plans and vision.

I say "as of this moment" because when I have the chance to meet all of you in New Orleans I will be there as a Drexel Dragon. And I do expect to meet all of you at the Future Directions Committee's session on Thursday morning. Sure it's early but what better way to start the day? Okay enough shameless plugging for now.

Other's have mentioned it so I'll chime in - join us at the Habitat worksites. These are great opportunities to be contributors and not just tourist/conventioneers. It is a pertty good way to network, too.

Embrace your chopsticks.

Networking With 1,500 of Your Closest Friends

One of the real challenges in attending a large gathering like the annual NACE conference is getting together with the people that you really want to see and meeting some new people who you really need to meet. So how do you do it?

I don't pretend to have all of the answers. I don't even pretend to have most of them. But I am happy to pass along a few suggestions that have worked well for me over the years:

1. It is too late for the 2008 conference but try to be one of the speakers. It is VERY easy to meet people if you are a speaker because they come up to you before and especially after your presentation to introduce themselves and pick your brain. Give away a lot of nickels in life. They tend to come back as dollars.
2. Regardless of whether your regional ACE chapter is organizing the conference, volunteer. I volunteered for about half a day a few years ago in Milwaukee and helped check attendees in as they arrived. Yup, I was one of the folks handing over the bag full of presentation materials, water bottles, and other assorted goodies. I probably helped 200 people check-in that day. That's 200 people with whom I had an opportunity to say hello and open the door to speaking with later in the conference.
3. When you have breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc., deliberately sit at tables where you don't know most of the people. It is okay to know one or two but don't just speak with them. Speak with the others at the table. You all have things in common: the conference and even the hotel banquet hall chicken in front of you. Complain about your flight, laugh about the meal, share advice about presentations you attended or plan to attend, whatever. But have fun and enjoy yourself.
4. Arrive at sessions at least five minutes early and sit beside people you don't know. Introduce yourself and ask about their work lives first and perhaps their personal lives (married? kids?) later.
5. Business cards. You can never bring enough or hand out enough. Never, ever leave home without 'em.

Keynote Update!

Dan Pink is launching a new book today called The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, written in manga (a Japanese comic book style - which I only know about because a friend of my teenage son is a BIG fan of it!). The site includes a video ' movie trailer' which is very interesting. I have NOT read the book but it will be carried in the NACE bookstore!

Talk about an interesting marketing campaign designed to capture the intended readers. Perhaps we can all learn a bit from looking at this program!

Hello, my name is...

Hey there!

My name’s Meg Busse and I coordinate Idealist.org’s Nonprofit Career Transitions Initiative. The focus of my work is to find ways to connect people to and educate folks about the exciting, diverse range of career opportunities in the nonprofit sector.

My main project over this past year has been the creation of The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers, a comprehensive guide to finding a job in the nonprofit sector. This free (!) book is available online in downloadable pdfs; check it out at www.idealist.org/careerguide. We’ve just finished the second edition: one version is specifically for first-time job seekers and the other has information tailored to sector switchers and mid-career transitioners.

Along with co-authoring these books, I present workshops around the country at conferences like NACE, NSEE, and ASPA, as well as at Idealist’s Nonprofit Career Fairs.

In fact, I spent this past week in Minneapolis and DC, and am heading to Indianapolis on Tuesday for three of our Nonprofit Career Fairs. It’s been thrilling to talk to so many people at our fairs who are looking for a “career with meaning” or some way to connect their paycheck and their passion. The best news is that there are so many ways for people to do this!

There are also plenty of other things I’m passionate about. I’ve lived in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA for the past five years and love the Pacific Northwest for a whole host of reasons, including great food, amazing music and hiking, and the fact that I could snowboard, swim, windsurf, walk on the beach, and take a vineyard tour all within the same day (if I had enough energy!). I love Portland, but I did grow up in New Jersey and am a Jersey girl through and through and always love to connect with fellow New Jerseyians.

I’m so excited to be back in New Orleans this May—it’ll be my second NACE national conference (I had the opportunity to present a workshop at last year’s conference in New York) and this year I’m excited to be exhibiting and roaming around trying to meet as many folks as possible! Do stop by and see me at booth 505 in the exhibit hall and share the nonprofit, west coast, or Jersey love!

The Big Easy is alive and thriving!

First of all, by the way of introduction, I'm Pam Webster, Corporate Recruiting Manager with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I work at our corporate office in St. Louis where I've been in my current role for the past three years. Prior to moving to St. Louis, I spent 20 years with our Southern California operations where I began my career with Enterprise in our Management Training Program. I worked my way into management before moving into HR and Recruiting and have been involved in college recruiting for the past 19 years. I've been actively involved in WACE, then MPACE where I served on the board. I've been a member of NACE for many of those years and have served on the NACE Future Directions Task Force, and this year had the pleasure and honor of serving as a co-chair for the 2008 Conference Programming Committee.

I am now a NACE blogger, and am also a first time blogger............Steven, you may need to teach me a thing or two.

I'm actually in New Orleans as I write this blog, attending the American Marketing Association's 50th Annual Collegiate Conferece. I've spent the past two days getting to know some amazing students that are here for training and development in the chosen major of business and marketing, even with the tempt of Bourban Street just a few blocks away. I've been back to New Orleans several times a year since Katrina, and the city is getting back to the great city that New Orleans is. You will experience, great food, great music, great history and great hospitality! And guaranteed, you'll gain a few pounds while you're here. While you are here, make sure you head down to the Cafe Du Monde, an original french market since 1862, and taste the beignets, the state donut of Louisiana........and at a price you can't beat--three for $1.82.

If you've never been to New Orleans, you may have a difficult time understanding the city. It looks like no other place in the United States---it seems almost European.The first puzzling impression usually comes from the appearance of the French Quarter near many of the city's hotels. It is more than just a few blocks of townhouses and cottages standing side-by-side, up against the sidewalk. The size of the district startles even those well traveled in the rest of the nation. You'll experience a melange of people moving at all hours of the day and night in the very center of the city. You will quickly learn that bars have no closing hour (and I know how NACE folks love to party), that the food is spicy, and that the music is pulsating almost everywhere.

What's exciting to me about NACE 2008 in New Orleans, is an opportunity to work with the Area Habitat for Humanity, helping families realize their dream of affordable housing. More than 100 families have benefited since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We've also got some great programming planned and of course the best networking where friends and colleagues can come together to catch up and share idea and have the opportunity to meet new friends along the way.

So, if you haven't made plans to attend the conference yet, we hope it will fit into your busy schedules and you can join us in New Orleans!

How to be a part of the Recovery!

Thanks to all our bloggers for jumping in!

And just a reminder, after reading Steves post of 4/4, that NACE has TWO work days scheduled with Habitat for Humanity. You can read all about the project here.

Dont think you can swing a hammer or hang drywall? ME neither....but I can wield a mean paintbrush if I need to.:)) Regardless, we can all do something. Even if it just means carrying water for another person, I can contribute.

I personally will be working on Saturday and promise we will all have a great time! Why not join the fun and help out!

Returning to New Orleans

One of the reasons that I'm excited about the NACE conference this year is that it is located in New Orleans. For those of us who had the good fortune of visiting New Orleans prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we know what an incredible city it was. There are so few cities in the world which are electric and New Orleans was definitely one of those. In the U.S., I would put New York, San Francisco, and Chicago into that same bucket.

I joined the board of the non-profit organization, Nechama: Jewish Response to Disaster, about four years ago. I flew down to Mississippi five days after Katrina to see what help we could be in helping people clean out their homes and small businesses. You couldn't get near New Orleans as it was still under water and the gulf coast from western Alabama all the way through Mississippi and Louisiana was absolutely devastated. There was too much damage and too little water, fuel, electricity, and security for us to attempt to help out in those areas. But I found that there was plenty of work and logistical support a little further north near Hattiesburg, Mississippi so we started there and as life started to return to normal or at least somewhat normal further south we moved down there. Nechama has gutted out dozens of homes in New Orleans since then and we're quite proud of the work that we've done there.

Today, New Orleans is again a vibrant city, especially in the tourist areas. But I urge all attendees of the conference to venture outside of the tourist areas. Go to some of the devastated areas and see first hand how terrible the flooding was and how much work remains to be done. This is a city that needs and deserves the help of all of us. Bringing NACE to New Orleans will help tremendously. Consider donating a day or even part of a day to the ongoing clean-up efforts. Consider contacting your federal political representatives to get the money flowing properly. But above all, come to NACE, enjoy New Orleans, and be part of the process in getting this proud and wonderful city back to 100 percent.

Becky Vianden Introduction

Hello everyone!

I am excited to be a NACE Blogger! This is my first experience at blogging, and I'm sure it will be fun. Hopefully it will be fun (and of course educational) for those of you reading as well. :)


Currently, I am at the University of Arkansas Career Development Center, serving as Associate Director for Program Development. I'm fairly new in this position - just started in December 2007. My previous experience in Career Services has been as Associate Director of Informatics Career Services at Indiana University as well as some time with eCampusRecruiter as a Software Consultant.


There are several reasons why I was interested in becoming a blogger for the NACE conference, but one of the reasons stems from our attempt at using a blog here at the UA Career Development Center. This semester, we started a blog for our Sophomores, called the "Sophomore Scoop" to provide a place for sophomores to "discuss" career development "stuff" for students at that level (choice of major, internships, campus involvement, etc). We have a real Sophomore student as the blogger, presenting topics for discussion based on her experiences. We envisioned a blog where most of the student learning was coming from the comments that various students would make to the blog - kind of like discussion among the blogger and all those making comments to the blog. Being a blogger for NACE will, I hope, be a learning experience for me not only about NACE related information, but also about the process of blogging. I hope to learn some tips that we can apply to our own CDC blog about how to get those blog "conversations" going. (Any advice welcome!)


This will be my third national NACE Conference. One of my favorite aspects of attending the NACE conference is having the chance to learn about new ideas that are out there. If you're like me, I always feel renewed and refreshed after attending a conference because I see so many great ideas out there that are being done in other centers that I'm inspired to try some of those ideas as well. For example, in our center, we'd like to start a blog in the Fall where we follow a few seniors as they make their way through the job search. And wouldn't you know it, there is a session to be presented at the conference that details this very topic. I'm excited to see how this campus went about doing this, what their outcomes were, and if they'd do anything differently.


And of course, there's nothing better than meeting up with old friends and making new ones at the conference. See you in New Orleans!

Intro from Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com

I'm honored to have been selected by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) to again present at their annual conference and to also be part of this group blog effort.

For those who don't yet know me, I'm the President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading job board for college students searching for internships and recent graduates hunting for entry level jobs. Our business model is much like that of Monster or Careerbuilder in that employers pay to advertise their job openings and the students and recent graduates use our site for free. Unlike some of our college job board competitors, we don't provide job board software to individual career service offices so we're set up more like sites such as Monster and less like sites such as MonsterTRAK or NACELink.

The origins of CollegeRecruiter.com date back to my senior year in college in 1988 when I published a campus map for my undergraduate school, the University of Manitoba. That's right. I'm a Canuck. Actually, I'm now dual as I moved to Minneapolis later that year and became a U.S. citizen the same day that O.J. Simpson was acquitted. My guess is that the connection between those two events means more to me than it does to him but that's okay.

After moving to Minneapolis I attended and graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Law so I'm a Golden Gopher fan and also a lawyer. Well, I'm actually a fully recovered lawyer as I only practiced for a year and then got out to enjoy my life. In 1991, I re-started the undergraduate business and in 1995 we added an employment magazine called College Recruiter.

The magazine initially was only distributed by University of Minnesota career service offices to their students but due to employer client demand we expanded the distribution metro-wide then state-wide then to the five state area in the Upper Midwest. We then added similar publications for Chicago, Illinois; Phoenix, Arizona; and Columbus, Ohio. But in 1996 a career service office director at the University of Minnesota told me that there was this thing called the Internet. She'd never been on it but she was hearing from her students that they were doing job research on it so she thought we should get a site. Later that year we went live and we gradually moved our business away from campus maps and employment magazines and to CollegeRecruiter.com. By the fall of 2000, we were only on-line.

Those who know me know that I'm an avid blogger. I write almost every day and often multiple times a day at CollegeRecruiter.com Blog about issues mostly related to college recruiting, social networking, and occasionally unrelated topics for which I have a personal passion such as retired hockey star Mark Messier.

Another passion that I have is how social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can and should be used by candidates and employers. I've been fortunate enough to be quoted about these issues by a number of local and national publications and been a guest on some radio shows and television broadcasts. The NACE conference selection committee was kind enough to allow me to speak about this topic at this spring's conference in New Orleans. My goal is to show employers how they can destroy their brand by misusing the social network sites. I hope that you'll attend and help spread the word that employers should use but not misuse Facebook, MySpace, and the other social networking sites.

Caponi Introduction

Hello everyone,
I am Kim Caponi, Assistant Director of Career Services for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. I started this position in December 2007 prior to that I was the Career Center Director at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, IA. In addition, I have taught goal setting and job search skills through the welfare reform program.

Currently, I continue to live in Mason City and drive up to 2 hours or more to Ames for work (depending on traffic and the number of stops I need to make). Although I have been a NACE member since 2000, was involved in the Attracting New Professionals committee and wrote an article for the 2-year articles collection, this will be the first national conference I have attended. This will also be my first visit to New Orleans.

It is always exciting to me to attend various conferences as I return to work with renewed energy and new ideas. Although I still have the new energy that comes with a job change I am still excited to meet new people, put faces to names I have seen through the listserv, and come back bubbling with ideas. I'm also hoping for a little sightseeing and if anyone knows of some great vegetarian restaurants in the area please look me up. I look forward to meeting many of you in New Orleans!

Welcome to the Conference Blog!

We've arrived! At least the blog has! This blog will be part of the information you get about the NACE Annual Conference. You will be reading several different perspectives as there are 5 team members who have decided to join this "maiden voyage". They will be introducing themselves to you over the coming weeks!

I invite all NACE members to read and comment on the blogs here - even if you can't be in New Orleans you can read up to the minute information and then perhaps get a glimpse of the activities taking place during the meeting!!

As a native New Orleanian, I am proud and thrilled to be part of the NACE 2008 Annual Conference Team! Welcome to my town!

Regards,
Nancy Mikkelsen
NACE Director of Education