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A college career service office professional emailed me earlier this morning to ask my opinion about whether colleges and universities should allow multi-level marketing (MLM) organizations to post jobs to the career service office websites and interview students on-campus. My answer:
I wish that I had an easy answer for you, but MLM employment is a tricky one.
On the one hand, we're talking about educated adults, some of which could thrive in that environment. Not everyone wants to go the traditional routes and I don't think that we should pass judgment or dissuade them from doing so, even if the work isn't our idea of attractive. There are some very legitimate MLM's such as Avon and so, to me, the issue isn't whether MLM's are inherently bad or immoral. The issue is whether the specific employer is and that could apply to many government, corporate, and non-profit jobs. Is it the role of career services to evaluate every employer and put up roadblocks to students who disagree? Even if we said it is, how feasible is that?
A new employee who is not onboarded the right way is going to have difficulty finding a sense of belonging inside an organization, says Scott Redfearn, executive vice president of global HR at Protiviti, a global business consulting and internal audit firm.
"Employees who don't have a meaningful career experience aren't going to last, and they will not perform to their full potential," says Redfearn. (more…)
Dear Matt: I really like my current job and company. But what I like most is the team I work with. We are all close and get along well. We are also good friends outside of work, and do a lot socially. However, I recently received a promotion, and am now the manager of these co-workers who are also my friends. I went from being part of the team, to leading the team. And now, I have to conduct weekly meetings with them, performance reviews, approve their days off, and face the fact I also suddenly know their salaries. It's created an awkward situation for me in and outside of work. Do you have any tips for a new manager who is now also managing friends?
Matt: It's exciting to be promoted, but when you're now supervising former peers that are also friends, there's an added complexity to the situation. Here's how to handle both the professional and personal relationships when you suddenly find yourself managing your friends:
1. Schedule group and individual meetings
To address these changes and challenges, schedule a group meeting, and one-on-one individual meetings with your team, says Arlene Vernon, an HR consultant who provides management training for first-time managers, small business owners, and corporate clients.
Set guidelines and expectations from the start.
"Be prepared for these discussions – do not wing the meetings, as it will look like you're not taking your new job as supervisor seriously," says Vernon. "Use the group meeting to set the tone for future meetings and general ground rules for attendance and participation."
Analyze what was and wasn't working under the previous supervisor, and decide what to keep and what to tweak. "Don't bash the previous supervisor, just introduce the enhancements as part of your style," says Vernon.
Then schedule a one-on-one meeting with direct reports. This is the most important step in this new relationship.
"This helps establish your new supervisory relationship with each individual," says Vernon. "Some of your former peers may be thrilled that you got this new position – others may not."
So approach each discussion, taking into consideration each person's feelings.
Sample one-on-one discussion items may include:
"The first discussion is not the time to point out the individuals' weaknesses and how you want to see them improve," says Vernon. "This meeting is to set the stage for a successful partnering with each person considering your new role."
2. Don't be afraid to make mistakes
Chances are, your friends are truly happy for you and will be supportive and understanding that you have this new role. So don't be afraid to make mistakes for fear of disappointing friends, says B. Max Dubroff, an HR Consultant at Einfluss, LLC, an HR advisory firm, in Albuquerque, NM. Dubroff has led teams from 2 to 570 people in a wide variety of industries throughout his career, leading those businesses to many best of workplace lists.
"The promotion is a sign of confidence that you can learn to manage and lead well," says Dubroff. "All manager-leaders make mistakes and are imperfect; the ones who hide their errors or feign perfection are less effective as leaders because they miss out on the lessons of leadership. Manager-leaders who show integrity and embrace their errors will earn credibility, their network of friends will provide feedback and perspective, and their progress will be even greater. Capitalize on the open communication, because in the long run that is what is going to be more important."
The promotion is also a sign that any awkwardness is your challenge to solve. Tap into the experience of your boss and fellow managers, but in the end, solve it yourself. Also, if you find yourself saying or doing things that you would not respect about your own boss, don't say/do them; they undermine your integrity.
3. Transitioning from friend to boss
The elephant in the room, of course, is how you handle transitioning from friend to boss. Some people can handle this dual role effectively and others cannot. That goes both ways – from the boss and the employee perspective. So it's important to discuss this reality with each employee up front and early on.
"Discuss the importance of maintaining a solid relationship with the person along with the recognition that you cannot show favoritism for your friends – that you will be treating everyone as equally as possible," says Vernon.
Set ground rules for not discussing co-workers or work after hours, during work. Vernon also recommends discussing confidentiality.
"It's likely you have confidential and/or personal information about your friends that shouldn't be considered from a boss-employee perspective and the same applies to what private information they have about you," says Vernon. "These can be difficult discussions, but it's vital to set communication standards, personal/professional boundaries, and to recognize that while at work, you're committed to taking your leadership responsibilities seriously."
4. How to address the relationship in social situations
But even though becoming a supervisor of colleagues who were formally peers does present a somewhat awkward social scenario, it doesn't mean friendships and social relationships have to end, says Elliot D. Lasson, Professor of the Practice and I/O Psychology Graduate Program Director at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County at Shady Grove. In fact, aside from the one-on-one conversations to be open about the changing relationship, Lasson suggests maintaining the same type of social relationship off of the job.
"If socialized together off the clock before the promotion, there is no reason why that should not continue," says Lasson.
His reason is simple.
"Life and transitions happen," he says. "The same way that you would include someone who has retired or left for another company beforehand, you should continue to maintain those same social circles. Part of professional maturity is to adapt to new roles and reporting relationships. If there is any anticipated anxiety about the modified role, that should probably be preemptively broached during the one-one-one meeting by the supervisor."
There could be another added benefit: Your friends may work harder for you because they respect you outside of work. Now you just have to earn their respect as a manager. They also be more willing to bring up issues, concerns, or ideas – positive and negative – because they feel a closer connection to you.
5. Understand things will change
Keep in mind though, that despite attempts to salvage personal and professional relationships, managers must ultimately realize that some personal relationships fall apart when one person is now the supervisor. Whether or not that occurs is unique to each relationship.
Through it all, make sure that you're consistent in how you interact, oversee, communicate with, and lead all your employees.
"As a manager-leader, you have a responsibility to manage any perceptions of favoritism to the best of your ability," says Dubroff. "The tough part about this is others may attribute favoritism, even if you know facts that demonstrate otherwise. Since your facts are not going to change their perceptions, the only control you have is through your actions."
Vernon agrees.
"Everyone is watching to see how you begin your supervisory position and whether they can trust you in that role – to do your job well, be their voice for upper management and treat employees fairly and equitably," says Vernon.
Want more career and job search advice? Stay connected to College Recruiter by visiting our blog, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
About Ask Matt on CollegeRecruiter.com
Ask Matt is a new monthly career advice column that offers tips and advice to recent college grads and entry-level job seekers. Have a question? Need job search or career advice? Email your question to Matt Krumrie for use in a future column.
Beginning a new career is a challenge, no matter the field. It is logical, then, to view starting a new job in career services as borderline daunting. Landing a career where you help others develop their own careers? Yikes! But don't sweat it. If you're a newbie to career services, take a deep breath and check out these helpful tips from someone who has recently stood in your shoes.
That's right. I'm right there with you. I have logged less than a year in career services – 10 months, actually – and I can tell you that it's taken each day in those ten months for me to develop a clear picture of how I'd like the services this office provides to look in three years. I've also come to realize that to remain effective and relevant, this office can't stay the same forever but must change with the times and the students who walk through its doors. I've learned so much in the last 10 months, and I'm content knowing that I have much more to learn and more opportunities to pursue within this office. That being said, here are eight necessities I've embraced in taking on my new role in career services. Good luck to you, and pay close attention to number one.
1) Get excited! I mean it! Get. Excited. This is an amazing, dynamic field where each day you'll have clients leaving your office happier than when they arrived and where your colleagues are always looking forward. Hope abounds. Potential is realized. You're part of one of the most important services a college campus can provide, in my opinion, because you help the future drivers of our economy and leaders of our workforce develop the skills they'll need to succeed in life beyond college. What an awesome space to occupy!
2) Know your history. If you're coming into a position previously occupied by another individual, be sure to network with that individual to determine the direction of the career center up to the point of your arrival – including the career center's current strengths, challenges, and opportunities. Read last year's annual report as well as those from two-three years prior. Knowing where you're coming from helps you develop a map for where you're trying to go.
3) Know your target audience. This is perhaps the key to effective operation of a career center. Whether you serve Millennials, non-traditional students, students of a particular academic background, or any other group, knowledge of your target audience is an integral factor in developing student programming, opportunities, marketing efforts, and career coaching practices. A resource I've enjoyed for learning more about Millennials (my primary target audience) is Lindsey Pollak's book, Becoming the Boss, though I've also learned from her presentations at the Kennan Summit 2015 and the NACE Conference keynote address.
It's important to note that there are more factors in identifying your target audience than generational attributes alone. For example, what percent of your students are first-generation? How many receive financial aid? How many are international students? How many are business majors? How many are from the state in which your institution operates? How have these things influenced your students' career development thus far? All of these factors and more will help you create a clear picture of the human beings you're going to help and how best to help them.
4) Inventory your resources. Any good carpenter can tell you what tools he/she has, what they're used for, and how to access them. The same can be said of any good career services professional. Upon entering your new role, you'll want to ascertain what tools you already have at your disposal – a website? Social media accounts? Job boards? Support staff? Professional memberships? Established student programming events? How about colleagues in other departments with whom you can potentially collaborate on future planning or programming?
This is something your predecessor can really help you with, but keep in mind that he/she is not your only resource. Support staff is always an EXCELLENT resource, particularly if they've been around a while. I am very lucky, for instance, to have come into a position where just 20 feet away sits the kindest, most professional administrative coordinator who has worked for the college for many years. Her knowledge of program and general institutional history comes in handy daily, and she is a wonderful sounding board.
Make yourself a list of resources such as those listed above. Go through existing files on the network drives to which you have access. Once you determine what you have, you're able to decide what you need.
5) Prepare to partner. Career services professionals absolutely must partner with other departments on campus. Neglecting to do so will prohibit optimization of career center programming. In other words, you'll be missing out, big time, and as a result, the students you're hired to serve will as well. Collaboration spreads the workload and allows for use of resources your little office will not have on its own.
Partnering is an expectation and, in my opinion, a gift. Embrace it. And keep in mind that partnering isn't limited to institutional departments. While it's great to partner with faculty, for example, to market a career fair to students, it's also excellent to partner with student organizations to boost participation in career center programming. For example, before that very same career fair, you could partner with Greek Life to host an interactive workshop where students prepare for the fair. You're effectively providing programming for a large, "captive audience," while at the same time bolstering attendance for your upcoming fair. Plus, your visible connection with this group will encourage other student organizations to partner with your office, thereby boosting your reach. I could go on and on about partnering. Don't limit your work to the confines of your office! Get out there, and I can promise you, you'll be happy and effective!
6) Attend a professional conference. The best ideas are often those you learn from colleagues, but your prospects are limited on campus. Professional conferences, such as the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) conference, allow for a meeting of the minds, where career services staff and professionals from the working world can share best practices, trends, and ideas. I attended the NACE conference in June and came home with ideas for events, new partnerships, assessment and reporting techniques, and several new contacts – including employers and other career services professionals with invaluable knowledge and expertise. State and regional-level professional conferences are wonderful resources as well. Look online to find appropriate events for you.
7) Build your network(s). For a career services office to function successfully, the staff must have connections with employers, volunteer services organizations, graduate and professional school reps, other career services professionals – the list goes on. You want to develop a list of contacts you can access and refer to easily throughout your day. If this doesn't exist upon your arrival, its development will be one of your top three priorities. You'll refer to this document when you send invitations and save-the-dates for major events, such as career fairs, grad school expos, and student/alumni networking events.
The key to harnessing the power of these connections is getting started. Create a LinkedIn account, if you don't have one, and begin connecting with company recruiters, career services professionals, and your institution's alumni group. If you're like me and are the sole career services professional for your office, consider forming a board of advisors with ten or so alums and professionals whose networks and influence can help you locate campus speakers, boost alumni support of career development efforts, and discover new career opportunities for current students. Remember that your network isn't limited to you. You have access to your colleagues' connections as well as the ones you forge yourself. Many times asking for help or advice is the best way to establish a connection, so don't be afraid to reach out.
8) Keep records and get creative in reporting them. Most career services offices already keep track of how their programming is operating – how many students they reach, what the students are saying about their services, what types of services are used by which students, etc.; but this isn't enough. Prospective students and their families want to see how your institution's students are faring in the "real world" before making the financial commitment to attend. Along the same line, prospective donors and business partners like to see the impact of their donations of time and treasure. For these reasons, it's imperative that career services professionals track current students' and graduates' experiential learning achievements and post-grad destinations (their first job or where they go to graduate or professional school) and share that information with other departments on campus. If your office isn't currently pursuing this data, this is an effort you'll want to initiate.
For more great tips for building your career services program, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
About the author, guest writer Annette Castleberry:
Currently Co-Director of Career Services, Annette Castleberry is excited to be promoted to Director of Career Development at Lyon College beginning August 1, 2016. You can connect with Annette and with the Lyon College Career Center on Facebook or www.lyon.edu.
A career assessment is a great way for college students to learn more about the type of career they could pursue, based on their personality, interests, goals, and aspirations. But career assessments can also be beneficial for college students completing an internship, new college grads, and entry-level employees looking to make that next step in their career.
The reason is simple: "Learning about oneself is an ongoing, lifelong search," says Stephanie P. Kennedy, co-founder of My College Planning Team (MCPT), a Downers Grove, Illinois-based company that provides college students and families with a variety of financial and academic/career planning resources.
There are a variety of popular career assessments that have value at all stages of one's college and professional career. The staff at My College Planning Team uses a combination of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and the Holland Code Test. They also use and favor the YouScience assessment, an assessment that helps students reveal their paths to education and career success.
Taking a career assessment can be of value, but taking a career assessment and working with a college career counselor, career coach, or other career services professional to expand on those results can add real value.
"Self-assessment based largely on what the computer program identifies you as can be misleading, frustrating, and downright false," says Kennedy. "Career counselors and educational consultants are trained to interpret these assessments and are skilled in presenting them in a customized manner."
The team at MCPT excels in working with students who may want to learn more about how to get the most out of an assessment.
"While the assessment tools are efficient and highly respected in our field, the value of those assessments comes from our customized processing of the results with each person," says Kennedy.
It's never too late to take a career assessment. And it's even more beneficial to complete a career assessment and get further analysis and guidance by partnering with a career professional who can help you plan your career based on the results of these assessments. Like Kennedy said, learning is lifelong. A thorough career assessment with a qualified counselor can be very helpful.
"For most people, the task of career exploration will not end with high school graduation, or with college graduation," says Kennedy. "The tools of career assessment can aid you in your career exploration and decisions throughout your lifetime."
For more tips on career assessments and other job search advice, stay connected by following College Recruiter on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Stephanie Kennedy is co-founder of My College Planning Team. She holds a M.S. in Counseling and College Student Development. A former admissions counselor, her team now helps students identify their passions and find the colleges that are the best fit academically, socially, and with career focus. Kennedy has worked at the University of Miami, Northeastern University, Texas A&M University, Stonehill College, and others. She has read hundreds of college applications and assisted thousands of students in their college adjustment and educational path. With her hands-on perspective, she guides students and families in a successful college search that goes far beyond the acceptance letter.
Introverts and extroverts handle things in very different ways. School counselors' job is to help all of their students, and one of the best ways to do this is to know how introverts and extroverts prefer to do things. When preparing them to leave college and enter the job market, there are several things a counselor can do that will help tailor students' paths with their personalities.
Discover which they are
Before school counselors begin counseling students based on their personalities, they have to determine if students are introverts or extroverts. Unless counselors have a longstanding and personal connection with students, it is probably a good idea to give them some tests to help determine their personality style. Tests — such as this one from Psychology Today — will help determine whether students are introverts or extroverts. Often students themselves are not aware of their own styles, and doing the test will be beneficial to both students and counselors.
Inform students how their personalities can impact their jobs
Many people do not know the difference between introverts and extroverts, and they often don't know which category they fall into. Once school counselors have determined which one students are through some tests, they can begin telling students about what it means. Explain to students how extroverts and introverts may tackle different scenarios, and how they prefer to do things.
Choose the right application method
Now that both counselors and students understand the latter's personality type, they can begin tailoring the application process for when they are looking for jobs. For example, counselors can tell extroverts that face-to-face interviews are better for them, since they are more outgoing, while introverts may be better at cover letters and resumes.
However, some application types cannot be avoided; in this case, counselors should help students improve on things that are not necessarily their strengths. For example, here are some ways that introverts can prepare for interviews.
In addition, school counselors can steer them towards jobs more suited to their personalities. As an example, an introvert may not be best suited for a sales position job, or one requiring a lot of group work. On the other hand, an extrovert is probably not suited for a job requiring them to work long hours alone.
Suggest outside activities
Since a lot of college students do not have work experience they can add to their resumes, outside activities can help bolster them. Give students some options for things they can get involved with that will be suited for their personality types, along with their interests. The more activities they can get involved with, the better their resumes will look.
Encourage them to explore outside their style
While it is a good idea for students to play to their strengths, that does not mean they should avoid anything that makes them uncomfortable. School counselors should encourage students to keep an open mind, and to try some things not necessarily suited to their personality types. At some point along their career paths, students are probably going to do something outside their normal comfort zones, and by expanding their horizons now, they will be better equipped to handle it in the future.
Hopefully this short list will help school counselors tailor the counseling of their students. Helping students realize what their strengths are and how they can utilize them is a great tool for after they graduate and will help guide them for years to come.
Need more tips for your job search? Learn more at College Recruiter's blog and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter.
Tony Newton is a contributing author for @DailyKos and @NationOfChange His favorite subjects are social awareness campaigns and public policy in pedagogy.
Do people believe their current career trajectories feel like a hopeless game of grasping at straws? Maybe they've been thinking, "I don't know what I want to do with my life" or "I don't know what jobs I can get with my major/degree." Having a long list of "I don't knows" in the career department certainly doesn't lead to increased life satisfaction. Luckily, there's a solution: career counseling.
What is career counseling?
Career counseling is a goal-oriented process targeted at helping people gain better insight about themselves and what they want out of their careers, education, and lives.
According to Boise State University, the counseling element is one-step in a lifelong process of career development. Therefore, the object of career counseling is not to guide people in making better career decisions today. Instead, the focus of this process is to equip people with the self-knowledge and expertise needed to improve their careers and life decisions over their lifespan.
A career counselor is generally a master's level professional with a background in career development theory, counseling methods, assessments, and employment information and resources. A professional will hold a confidential session with people to identify their unique values, interests, skills, career-related strengths and weaknesses, and personal goals in order to determine which resources they require and which course of action is most appropriate in helping them achieve these goals.
A career counselor can even help people separate their own career-related goals from those of others, such as parents, teachers, and friends who may be pressuring them to choose a specific career path.
Do I need career counseling?
Whether they're freshmen in college or five years post-graduate, college students and recent graduates can benefit from the services of a career counselor. Since career development is a lifelong process – and people's interests and skills are steadily changing – the earlier they gain insight about themselves and learn how to make career-related decisions, the better. If job seekers' current dialogue is filled with "I don't knows," career counseling is a smart choice for them.
Maximizing from the counseling experience
So college students and recent graduates made the choice to get career counseling and scheduled an appointment. Their part is done, right? Wrong. A common misconception about career counseling is people show up, and an expert tells them exactly what career choices are best for them. In truth, career counseling is not a one-sided, quick solution to academic or career dilemmas. Consider the following:
• Job seekers are not simply there to receive. The counseling experience requires participation. An honest examination of job seekers is vital for the career counselor to guide them in the right direction. Together, they might uncover their career interests, but they must take action to continue down the right path.
• People must narrow down their goals. Coming in with a broad desire to "Figure out what they want in life" just won't cut it. A clear-cut objective is necessary so each session has structure and both parties can tell when their work together is complete.
• Job seekers have to continue the career development process beyond counseling. A good career counselor can help them define their interests and values, identify goals, and provide resources and strategies for reaching these goals. Still, the important work is done by job seekers. They have to actually use these resources to pinpoint internships or job opportunities appealing to them and constantly consider how different opportunities match their interests, values, and skills.
Career counseling offers people a safe and confidential place to explore their career passions and identify areas in which they are experiencing difficulty. It is a collaborative relationship – the client and the counselor work together to discover the client's true career goals and work to overcome any obstacles. However, the client must be devoted to career development and willing to do the work to truly benefit from the experience.
If you want more career advice, go to College Recruiter's blog and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter.
Veranda Hillard-Charleston is Chief Contributor for MastersinPsychologyGuide.com. She received her Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology from Northwestern State University of Louisiana. Veranda has more than five years of experience as a trained mental health professional.
This webinar, 2015 employment market for recent grads and students, addresses the various job markets which impact today's college and university students and recent graduates, how students and grads find employment, their frustrations, and some ideas for how employers, career services, and other stakeholders can improve the current system.
Today's webinar features College Recruiter's President and Founder, Steven Rothberg. The webinar is moderated by former National Account Manager for College Recruiter, Andrea McEwen-Henderson.
Key takeaways:
There is no such thing as the job market for students and recent graduates. There are as many different markets as there are majors, schools, geographic areas, diversity characteristics, and other factors.
The job markets have improved dramatically since the Great Recession, but only a small percentage of recent graduates are employed within their chosen fields within six months of graduation.
The perception amongst many is that almost all graduates find their jobs through their career services offices, but the data shows quite the opposite.
Basic needs such as compensation and job security rank at the top of factors considered by students and recent graduates when evaluating job opportunities, yet few employers disclose compensation, and even fewer provide job security.
There are many ways employers, career services, and other stakeholders can improve the current system.
If the video is not playing or displaying properly click here.
Ernst & Young is still interviewing on college campuses, but based on research done in the United Kingdom, the company has followed the data and is not going to limit interviews to students from certain majors and with certain GPA's. This is great news for liberal arts majors and for students whose GPA's fall just below the old GPA cut-off.
If it's June or July, set up an appointment with the career services director and diligently follow her directions. Employers often look for shortcuts in college recruiting, but there are none. It is a strategic process. You have to invest properly. If you're running behind, use a niche job board like College Recruiter, or host an unconventional recruiting event and invite candidates via social media.
Military and college recruiting efforts are not mutually exclusive, but there are some aspects that do not overlap. For example, many military servicemen and women have gone on to earn college degrees. This is a sweet spot for recruiters, and corporate recruiting efforts can often find candidates who meet both criteria.
Growth is wonderful, but lack of budget is a huge challenge to overcome. Make the business case for an increase in budget by looking at the impact you have on alumni giving. If you provide employment opportunities, and your alumni prosper, you should request more funds. Career services should align themselves closely with alumni and development offices.
Absolutely not. The unemployment rate for college graduates is two to three times below average. The same politicians who claim that college is unnecessary are relying on their own college degrees to argue these points. We're in the information age, and if we can't properly educate our youth, we will be left behind.
Steven Rothberg is the president and founder of College Recruiter, the leading niche job board used by recent graduates searching for entry-level jobs and students hunting for internships. Steven founded the company in 1991 as a publisher of campus maps and employment magazines. Steven grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, moved south to Minneapolis for the weather, is married to the CEO of College Recruiter, and has three young kids and the world's most mellow dog.
A question was recently posted to one of the discussion lists operated by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The college career service office professional started by writing that she remembers from the Golden Parachute books that about 10 percent of job openings were advertised and then asked if that number was still correct.
I suspect that the percentages must be far higher now because virtually every organization of any size has a web site and the cost of publishing a job to those web sites is essentially zero. In addition, there are a number of high traffic job board which accept postings for free, including Indeed, SimplyHired, and most of the Craigslist sites. Then there are sites such as LinkUp, which takes postings from many corporate employer sites and aggregates them so they're all available in one place. Of course, virtually every posting everywhere is also a click away at search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. In addition, employers who want to post their jobs to CollegeRecruiter.com may now choose to pay $175 for 60 days or pay only when they receive qualified applications under our new pay-per-resume job posting option.
My best guess is that about 75 percent of job openings are now advertised, although many of those are advertised for free. From the perspective of the candidate, whether a job posting is paid for or free isn't very important.
One of the pleasures of managing a team of talented, dedicated employees is seeing one of their ideas take root and flourish. Case in point: content coordinator Candice Arnold recommended that we resurrect our Ask the Experts questions and answers feature using our blogging software and integrating it with our customer relationship management software, Salesforce.com.
Candice's vision was quite an upgrade over how we used to do it: email the questions to the couple of dozen experts, receive their answers back in the bodies of their emails and sometimes attachments, copy and paste their answers into html templates, and upload the web pages. The entire process took hours for our staff and the experts. The new process has saved everyone a ton of time and led to a ton of great answers by the experts who choose to address the questions being asked by students searching for internships, recent graduates hunting for entry-level jobs, alumni, and employers.
Each week, Candice sends out an email through Salesforce to the experts who have agreed to answer questions. None answer all of them. Some answer a lot and others answer a few. The choice is theirs. Here's the email that Candice sent earlier today:
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