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.