College = Employment

Groans and whining; that’s all I heard while listening to my previous student describe her experience at a student job fair:

“It was the same old, same old.  I pitched the same monologue over and over while shaking the hands of local employers in hopes that I land a job after graduation.  Why do I have to work so hard for only a few potential jobs?  It seems like someone should have invented a more efficient way for students to land a cool job by now… isn’t this the 21^st century?”

Looking at her with amusement, I shook my head in agreement before replying, “Check out Presentfull.com”.

You see, until now, colleges and universities have used traditional, localized methods to introduce students to the workforce.  It has been a difficult task that requires significant time, staffing, and institutional resources.  Many postsecondary institutions cannot afford student employment resources which leave students to experiment with employment challenges alone.  Fortunately, higher education can now use social media to achieve our instiutional mission faster and more efficiently.

Presentfull.com offers a more effective approach to increase student employment rates.  If enrolled in college, a student can create a free profile to market themselves and apply for internships, part-time, and full-time jobs.  Presentfull’s international student employment website has officially launched this month in the United States. I suggest that students, higher education, and the business sector explore its usefulness.

Think about it…no more door-to-door, hope to get an interview, inefficient employment plans.  You now have the freedom to brand yourself as a qualified professional from the comfort of your own home.   Presentfull.com is a new resource for college students to introduce themselves, develop and promote their resume, network with local and international companies, and apply for jobs all on one website.  Did I mention it’s free?!

How can your business benefit from having a free profile on Presentfull.com?  How can college students benefit from marketing their skills and applying to jobs all around the world? How can professors use Presentfull to increase student engagement and learning? And lastly, how can higher education benefit from using Presentfull's resources?

• Business Benefits- Open access to qualified college students interested in internships, part-time jobs, and full-time careers at your company.
• College Student Benefits- Increase professional network of potential employers and business partners, apply for internships, part-time jobs, and full-time careers on a local level and international level, and engage with other students and college professors.
• Professor Benefits- Familiarize yourself with students, create a free class discussion forum, introduce your students to open job opportunities that correspond with your course topic, and invite business professionals to speak to your class as guest experts.
• Higher Education Benefits- Free and streamlined student career planning: resume/CV development, Video Resume development, Cover Letter/Letter of Interest development, application station, mentor and network center.

Check out Presentfull.com for yourself by creating a free profile. Let me know what you think.

Also, congratulations to all 2012 graduating college students and incoming fall senior college students. I hope the Presentfull.com resource helps you get the job/internship that makes you very happy and successful. Good luck. -Tara

I wish…

A young woman from Florida named Elise wrote me last week and asked, “Because I don’t have an overwhelming passion for only one thing and I don't have a personal brand, how can I become a more valued and important professional in my workplace?” Most likely, there are many opinions and recommendations for Elise about this subject but I will respond by answering, “listen for I WISH statements”.  “I WISH” statements are another way of saying, “here is a need and it is an opportunity for someone to create a solution”. Purpose and value are often determined by the ability to satisfy a need and "I WISH" statements can identify those needs.

Examples include: -“I WISH my child had a mentor”. Solution: Dean’s Future Scholars

-“I WISH teachers had it better, I’d become one”. Solution: To Teach or Not to Teach

-“I WISH I knew more about blogs and how blogging can help me become a better writer” Solution: 6 Ways Blogging helps writers

-“I WISH I was more nationally recognized in Higher Education”. Solution: The Social Network Equation  Social Business in Higher Education: Increasing Faculty Competitiveness  Connecting the dots: Increasing competitiveness and leadership

-“I WISH we could study abroad”. Solution: USAC Increases Student Competitiveness

-“I WISH I didn’t have to drive all the way to Carson City in order to attend a Nevada Legislature meeting” Solution: Knowing the Politics behind your Success

-“I WISH I had more publications to put on my curriculum vitae”. Solution: Cross-disciplinary student initiated collaboration  Publish or Perish

“I WISH my son or daughter could do something extra to be more successful in college” Solution: Sticky Campus

“I WISH I had someone to talk to about becoming more competitive” Dr Tara Madden-Dent

These I WISH statements came from people in my life.  I responded to them by addressing the need and creating a solution or recommendation.  If I can’t solve their I WISH statement, I introduce them to other resources that can.  Either way, I contributing to others and creating progress within my industry.

Listen for I WISH statements in your life. These are moments when you can be of value and satisfy a need; thus becoming more productive and essential in the workplace.  Being proactive and taking initiative reflects creative ambition and selflessness: two very respected and rare qualities in today's workforce.  If you can’t resolve a need by yourself, search for other resources or work in partnership with other professionals. You’re ability to contribute to society, create change, and see your efforts manifest into solutions will inspire your passion through feelings of being useful and productive.  Creating solutions for I WISH statements can add professional value to yourself and your business.

Please let me know Elise after you address an I WISH statement in the workplace and how it impacted your role as a professional. Thanks for the email; I wish you great success.

Sticky Campus

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-en_prcq9k&w=560&h=315] Sticky Campus does not describe a college or university covered in gum or taffy.  It is a concept that college students and Student Affairs personnel should be aware of because it encourages student success. Sticky campus is a term referencing a college or university’s ability to engage and involve its students in curricular and extracurricular activities. Research suggests that students who are involved with campus study groups, clubs, sports, organizations, internships, part-time jobs, volunteering, etc have greater success in college.  If students get involved on campus they will meet other students, become familiar with campus resources, and practice leadership skills; thus developing into a more competitive professional.

Course Curriculum + Social Media = Social Curriculum

Some of the most interesting and beneficial college courses that I have instructed or have taken, included some form of interactive discussion using social media.  If fact, many colleges and universities host a campus web service providing classroom discussion forums and student chat rooms.  I believe this is an effective instructional tool but it is also limited. If classroom discussion was available on social media platforms, curriculum topics could include global perspectives and experiences.  Yes, some course material is more sensitive and should be held within the course web service, but other topics could simply contribute greater social benefit and a more robust learning experience. For example, I often invite guest speakers to visit my course and interact with my students.  Not only do my students gain from the guest speaker’s contributions, but through their interaction and discussion, the guest speaker benefits as well. Many times I have been told that the college student perspective has led to a change or update in the guest speaker’s profession.  For instance, during one of my law and ethics courses, our guest speaker who is a State Senator said that their engagement with my students was a good opportunity to interact with their local constituents and had gained from my student’s opinions, experiences, and perspectives about legislative issues.  In fact, the Senator was also inspired to try a new direction with a campaign strategy.

This got me thinking, if interaction between my guest speakers and my students was so beneficial for all involved, how could I promote these benefits on a larger scale?  How could I encourage a more effective partnership between my students and other resources outside of academia? What I have begun to practice and what I recommend other faculty to investigate is the use of Social Curriculum.  Social Curriculum is a web-based interactive learning environment used for course assignments. Twitter and blogging are two specific Social Curriculum tools that stimulate interactive discussion, build professional networks, and prepare our students as responsible digital citizens. One instructional tool that faculty can use includes a Twitter hashtab for a Tweetchat.  This application is free and provides a forum for real-time conversation that can connect guest speaker(s) to students.  It provides a forum for interactive, current, and ongoing discussions.

Another example of Social Curriculum includes the use of Blogging.  This social forum provides students an outlet to creatively express their responses to course topics either on their own blog website or on a course blog website.  This helps to engage student interest while making connections between course content and practical application. It also allows students to gain from other professionals and scholars in their discipline. In the very least, regardless of the course subject, faculty will be encouraging responsible social business skills.  As we develop Social Curriculum, faculty are preparing students to be responsible digital citizens in a social media culture.

The Social Network Equation

[tweetmeme source="drtaramdent"] In Higher Education, researchers like to measure everything. Quantitative or qualitative, we are interested in what works, why it works, how it works, and how it could work better.  As an educator, regardless of academic position, social business presents opportunity to promote accessible, quality education. There are almost infinite ways to use social business to achieve social benefit education.  Many of these ways will be discussed in proceeding blogs and video blogs.  But before we dive in, this discussion introduces the fundamental relationship of the what, why, and how of social business and Higher Education.

SP = I (R/V)

The Social Network Equation states, “Social Power is the amount of influence created by one’s reach and visibility” Tara Madden-Dent.

SP: (Social Power) the measurable influence an individual has within social business.

I: (Influence) the intended or unintended impact of an individual’s social business actions on others

R: (Reach) the sum of all social networking connections linked to an individual

V: (Visibility) the level of social media exposure and search engine rank of a social object.   [A social object is the searchable and sharable product or value in the form of a document, audio, video, pictures, presentations or link. (Simmons, 2011)]

I believe that a positive correlation is found between Social Power and social responsibility.  As Social Power increases, so does social responsibility.  As social business continues to redefine the world as we know it, we will see greater emphasis on social media regulation and accountability to structure social responsibility.  Measurement and analytics will be able to describe and infer relationships we never knew existed (probably because they didn’t) and predict how social media will be structured.  Social business analytics and measurement tools can quantifiably discern each variable within the Social Network Equation.  The breakdown of one’s Social Power (SP) will suggest how and what is effective (or not effective) in the reach (R) or visibility (V).

Student Affairs, Residential Life, Recreation, Faculty, Administration, and other campus networks can increase their impact to provide accessible quality education.  Remember, social business in Higher Education is for social benefit.  Identify what is working, why it’s working, and how to make it better by understanding that your Social Power presupposes high influence from network reach and content visibility.

Please use your Social Power responsibly.

Social Business in Higher Education: Increasing Faculty Competitiveness

[tweetmeme source="drtaramdent"]

A PhD is one thing, publications and grants are another, but what more can faculty do to increase their competitiveness in today’s international Higher Education market?  One effective strategy includes virtual marketing, networking, and publication known as Social Business. Social Business is a cyber market which provides an international platform to promote a product or business for social benefit (Simmons, 2011; Yunus, 2007).  Faculty can use Social Business practices to establish their value by marketing themselves as a personal brand while contributing new research (Evans, McKee, & Bratton, 2010).  An effective personal brand can be established through blogging, tweeting, a Google+ profile, a personal website, a professional Facebook profile, and other social media for business (Simmons, 2011). Social Business also allows faculty to publish and disseminate research faster, reach larger audiences, engage in worldwide educational dialog, and reinvent virtual delivery methods of classroom instruction while promoting their professional skills and achievements.

Higher Educational leaders should consider using Social Business strategies to become more competitive by increasing their rate of publication, curate data amongst other educational leaders, and build a personal brand.  Inbound marketing and blogging are metacognitive activities which contribute towards better publishing and instructional skills (Livingston, 2003). Employers, scholars, and students gain better access to faculty professionalism and academic contributions through the use of Social Business. The prevalence of Social Business will continue to demonstrate its usefulness within Higher Education’s faculty community and institutional practices (Kelm, 2011). I recommend that faculty learn responsible and professional Social Business skills in order to lead our digital citizenry within an international cyber culture.

Educational Leadership Administration has the responsibility to stay abreast to technological advances which influence our industry. We have the duty to master and lead effective educational Social Business strategies.  Higher Education’s increasingly capitalistic market suggests that faculty's effectiveness will be held more accountable and will be made more public via social media. We will continue to witness how faculty’s value will be considerably based on the impact, output, influence, and recognition of their overall personal brand.  Faculty can use Social Business to create a website portfolio showcasing their personal brand to increase their competitiveness and global recognition.

If you are faculty, Google yourself. What do you find? You have the power to construct an international image and personal brand to promote your research and professional status.  Social Business is a proactive technique enabling you to succeed in a cyber culture by competing in an international academic market.

References

Evans, D., McKee, J., & Bratton, S. (2010). Social media marketing: The next generation of business engagement. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Kelm, O. R. (2011). Social media: It's what students do. Business Communication Quarterly. 74(4), 505-520.

Livingston, J. A. (2003). Metacognition: An overview. Retrieved from http://1.usa.gov/zMT9ok

Simmons, B. L. (February, 2011). Social media for business. Retrieved at http://www.bretlsimmons.com/2011-02/social-media-for-business/

Yunas, M. (2007). Creating a world without poverty: Social business and the future of capitalism. Philadelphia, PA: Public Affairs.

Image: By cybernetikz.com retrieved from http://bit.ly/yPK8MO