But what if I told you there were a few more secret tips that might make acclimating to the post-college life a tad easier… oh, and also get you off that couch and into a real office with cubicles sooner.
This week, I wrote an article that included four tips that all college commencement speakers should have touched upon during their pontificating about how to really make it in the “Real World.” Yes, I am talking to you President Obama. Sure it’s all about knowing the right people, determining which path to take when you come at a crossroads, and realizing that “everything happens for a reason.” And, yes it’s also important to gloss over the front page of the “New York Times” so that you can fully understand the debt crisis and gay rights marriage contention and, of course, for some inexplicable reason you should have to listen to at least one hotshot who made his dreams come true off of nothing but determination and passion. But commencement speakers should have also mentioned about how you can end up being a part of the 50 percent of college grads that is actually employed if you follow a few very important technology guidelines.
Want to know what I am talking about? Then click here. Don’t agree with my suggestions? Then let me know at Twitter or on the blog. Happy job searching college grads!
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Okay, okay so I am being a bit dramatic because I am sure we have all been there and yet most of us probably still managed to get employed despite that ugly “C.” My story, however, is a bit more harrowing as I got a “C” in a class that I didn’t even have to be taking; I am going to chalk this up to college freshman naiveté. Okay here goes.
It was the end of first semester of freshmen year and I realized that I needed a science class to complete my one science requirement at Newhouse. Just one measly science class. Mind you, I was that student in high school who opted to take two AP math classes just so I could drop science senior year so that should effectively convey to you my distaste for all things atom-related.
So anyways, I consulted with one of my fellow Newhouse friends who suggested that we both take Geology second semester freshmen year. Being the freshman that I was – and being for no valid reason opposed to meeting with any individual whose title started with advisor – I took my peer’s word for it that the Geology class would satisfy my only science requirement towards a major that would never require my knowledge of rocks and sediment flow. Big mistake.
Turns out that for my friend who was majoring in broadcast journalism, a geology class was just fine. But for me, a magazine journalism major, I was supposed to take science… with a lab. Shouldn’t looking at rocks count as lab work?!
In essence, I got what I deserved. I didn’t do my due diligence, found myself in a class where I was slowly getting piled on (you know from all the sediments), and the result was a big fat “C,” a grade that killed freshmen year an almost-perfect GPA. Oh and then there was that little matter of me still having to take a science with a lab class.
The only option at that point was summer school – a time where I could really devote the hours needed to learning all the wonders of biology, figure out how to correctly use a scalpel, and get a respectable “B” for the course. And after a few arduous weeks spent at the local community college Saturday mornings, I found the moral of the story (aside from never trust a 17-year-old friend) to be that summer classes are actually a wonderful way of tackling that one class that stands in the way of you and your 4.0 GPA.
While I did have the option of taking biology over the summer – a move that proved easier for me as I could really devote my time to studying just one subject – students nowadays are even luckier as they have a myriad of opportunities at their fingertips as all they have to do is whip out their trusty laptop and sign up for online classes. Online classes not only allow students to still enjoy all the benefits of a summer internships, vacations and employment opportunities, but they also allow kids who may struggle in certain subjects to get those core requirements out of the way during a season in which the pace slows significantly and distracters like “Thirsty Thursdays” and “Toga Night” are fewer and farther between.
So, as I reflect on my first few years at college, as yet another summer comes reminding me of how far away freshmen year truly seems, I want to remind those younger than me that it is cool to take online summer classes. Not only will it most likely keep your GPA right on track, or enhance it, but it will give you some peace of mind when school rolls back around – a time in which you have to worry about balancing upper division classes with everyday college rituals.
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But little has been brought up about potential college athletes being watched and monitored over social media sites – until now. So, for all the Jeremy Lin and Stephen Strasburg wannabes out there, just know that in addition to coaches scouting you and following your every free throw and home run, they are also checking out your social media plays – particularly for you football players.
In fact, social media has quickly become the new way for coaches to communicate with potential recruits and almost every elite recruiter has a Facebook or Twitter account, or both, according to a recent blog post on AJC.
“I’m on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and you name it,” University of Virginia head football coach Mike London said. “You will find out more about guys on Facebook and Twitter sometimes than you will having a 10-minute conversation with them because a lot of times they will let their guard down and show a side maybe you haven’t thought about before.”
And for those of you that are wondering if this type of “Big Brother” behavior is acceptable, according to the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, rules are not being broken by these behaviors. In fact, as per the NCAA rules, a coach can send a Facebook friend request to a prospective student-athlete and follow them on Twitter.
But what coaches are learning about their prospective linebackers or star pitchers is not all good.
According to the blog, last year, one of New Jersey’s top prospects was expelled from school and had scholarship offers allegedly rescinded after he posted explicit messages on Twitter. And over at Duluth High School in Georgia, Coach Corey Jarvis experienced the same thing when one of his former players was recently kicked off a college team for the same reasons. “It was the final straw. It was stuff that shouldn’t have been posted. I understood where the college was coming from. He was representing the program when he did that.”
For those of you that have the time to check out the blog above, it is worth the read. It is incredible to hear about how many students realize quickly that they are being tracked via social media and how many students soil their chances to play collegiate sports because of social media misconduct.
After reading this blog, I have to admit that although I tend to be against social media monitoring, a bigger part of me feels content with the fact that college athletes will be held to the same standards as any other college student when it comes to social media use in that colleges have no problem saying no to a student who cannot exhibit proper networking behavior. After all, we hear countless times about how college athletes are given the “Red Carpet” treatment – from not having to attend class regularly to grade inflation to illicit substance cover ups. It is nice that maybe the carpet is being shortened a bit.
Simply put, if a college will deny a non-athlete admission because of poor behavior online that same behavior should not be condoned just because that particular student can help the college win the NCAA championship.
It’s time to level the playing field (pun intended) and have each student held accountable no matter if they don a jersey on weekends or a sparkly dance top instead. And to you high schoolers – with college scouts (both for sports and admissions) on the prowl, you may want to think twice before tapping the mouse on that most recent Tweet.
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In a new report produced by CarrerCast.com, positions ranging from a dental hygienist to an online advertising manager to a Web developer to an industrial machine repairer made the list of top 20 jobs you can nab sans diploma. And if it’s really true that you can earn $87,000 on average as an online advertising manger – without having to sit through stuffy college lectures about branding and keyword ad placement – then why fork over the almost $120,000 it costs to earn that advertising marketing degree when research is showing you have a great chance of landing that job anyways?
Because unless you are the Steve Jobs’s or Mark Zuckerberg’s of the world, you may have a hard time proving your worth with no education to back it.
Interestingly enough, I was out to dinner with a few friends the other night and this very topic about whether college is paramount for success came up. In the interest of full disclose, I should note that one of my friends who was part of the discussion is a teacher and I am the daughter of a teacher. Here was a point that was argued.
Following high school graduation, if an 18-year-old can get offered an incredible starting job at a software development company he has lusted after for the better part of his life without ever stepping into an Organization of Programming Languages class, who is to say he shouldn’t go for it? Especially, if he can manage to make $30,000 a year as a starting salary. You do the math; in the four years it takes his friends to graduate, he has already earned what it costs most college kids to finish school.
Here’s the problem: At a certain point that individual will most likely hit a cross roads, when either his lack of education keeps him from becoming truly credible or when his lack of education handicaps his potential earnings. Don’t believe me? Then consider the following.
The average American worker with a four-year degree will make approximately $1 million more during his or her career, according to CareerCast.com. Moreover, Bureau of Labor Statistics data demonstrates that the average starting salary for someone with a college degree is $51,000, while a job for which no degree is required starts out at about $28,350.
So, do you take the college route and hope that huge upfront investment will pay off? Or do you dive right into the entrepreneurial swimming pool and trust that street/people smarts is more important than book smarts.
I honestly think it’s up the individual. For some, attending college right after high school means “guessing” at which major will give you success and opting for that path; it has little to do with actual interest or passions. Perhaps for these kids, a dose of the real world might be the better route first. Let these teens experience internships, abroad opportunities and apprenticeships to see where their strengths lie, with the intention of going back to college soon.
And for others, college may simply never be the right route to take. Just look at Mark Zuckerberg who created a billion dollar empire.
My advice is simple: take the route that will ultimately help you reach your dreams, keeping in mind that a college education has been, and always will be, paramount in today’s economy. It is never too late to go back to school and the team-oriented, challenging environment will prepare you for the real world in ways you can never imagine.
Give college, in some fashion, a chance at some point if you can; the road to learning is long and should never end.
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Well, bad news for you current college grads and underclassmen: a recent CBS report stated that half of recent college graduates cannot land full time jobs. Even worse, a study by Rutgers University found more than a quarter of recent grads (27 percent) said their jobs have them working below the level of their education. And, if I didn’t depress you enough already, the median salary for recession-era grads in their first job is $27,000, about $3,000 less than those who graduated before the recession began.
But there is no reason to start pounding back bottles of wine or crying to your parents that their tuition dollars will be for naught, because you are capable of being in that other 50 percent – the 50 percent who are gainfully employed upon graduating. And I’ll tell you how.
It all starts with a killer internship. I am not talking about Wall Street (though if you can get it, go for it). I am just talking about an internship that will allow you to sink your teeth into lots of tasks, wear a lot of different hats, and build up a real relationship with your boss or CEO (so that they know more about you than just the fact that you are working for free at their company). With the economy still reeling, businesses everywhere are dying for free (or cheap) labor, so internships are plentiful and you are the prime candidate.
Set your eyes on the place you want and dive in head first. Send your resume, reach out to those already working at the company, and get ready for a 9 to 5 summer that doesn’t involve tanning during the weekdays. And, if you are really smart, you will choose something in the technology, architecture, accounting or computer science fields because apparently that’s where the jobs will be after graduation.
According to that same survey cited by CBS, employers are reportedly more likely to hire graduates with engineering (69 percent), business (63 percent), accounting (53 percent) or computer science degrees (49 percent). Why, you might ask? Because technology is booming, especially as companies look to cut corners and realize cost savings. (And because business and accounting majors will always be in hot demand since capitalism isn’t going anywhere).
Now is the time for all college grads and underclassmen to try something out of their comfort zone, or go for their dream job/internship if it is a possibility. Pad that resume with some real life experience, give 150 percent to the job, and network the hell out of the experience while you are there. I can’t promise you that you will be employed days after graduating, but your hard work and hands on experience will give you enough confidence and direction to shoot for the stars.
Here’s a shameless plug: Come join our TMCnet team this summer. We can promise you unparalleled experience, kind faces, and a supervisor who will know more than just your name .
]]>Well, college campuses today have a contagious cheating epidemic that is quickly spreading, and is only exacerbated by the availability of smartphones and other technologies in class. In fact, according to a recent infographic produced by onlinecollegecourse.com, 75 percent of coeds admit to cheating at least once during their undergraduate career; 90 percent believe that cheaters won’t get caught; and 85 percent say cheating is necessary to getting ahead.
So how are students making all of this cheating possible? It’s all thanks to their good ol’ trusty iPhones and BlackBerrys, of course. Some of the main ways college students use these devices to cheat are: by texting someone in or outside the class for answers; looking up answers on the phones during bathroom breaks; using a cell phone to take a photo of the test for others; and whipping out their cell phone during the test to check notes saved on the device. Students are also saving notes and formulas on their graphing calculators and being so sneaky as to write notes on the inside brim of baseball caps, have other students take the exam in their place and scribbling down cheat sheets on the inside label of water or soda bottles. Seems like a lot of work when you could just opt to learn the calculus equations yourself, right?
And as students remain glued to their smartphones, teachers need to become a little bit savvier when it comes to catching cheaters, from creating different exams for each student to requesting photo IDs for test takers in large seminar classes, to using software that can detect plagiarism on written essays.
As much as teachers want to crack down on cheaters – and as much as cheaters should be ashamed about their ways– ultimately, the only person a cheater is harming is him or herself. For every time a student skimps on completing a reading assignment for his major or asks his buddy to write his thesis paper instead of choosing to articulate his thoughts himself, he is only limiting the scope of what he will learn before he enters the real world.
And newsflash to all your students out there; the real world doesn’t tolerate cheaters. The real world won’t stand for you BS-ing your way through your work assignments or giving 50 percent to your tasks. So better to abandon those cheating tendencies now. I guarantee your co-worker won’t be so willing to finish that sales report for you in exchange for something else.
]]>While I am certainly not here to give you advice on the first two (mostly because I know you will, without a doubt, make sure to play your last game of Flip Cup before summer), I will – as an older and wiser college graduate – shed some light on how to nail your finals.
The end of the school year is tough, no doubt. The weather is finally warming up, the prospect of seeing all your high school buddies is exhilarating and that feeling of “well I won’t see these people for three months” justifies all your actions those last few weeks. After all, college is one big slumber party and the parents never come home.
But you must be careful to not forget about those few tests that creep up at the end of the semester, along with your excessive hangovers – your finals. Although the thought of spending hours cooped up in the library, or worse your un-air-conditioned off campus house, might seem like a nightmare, these critical hours can really be life changing.
Let’s face it, if you are a senior who got a 3.7 first semester and has already secured a job after graduation, you might be thinking, “Who really cares if I bomb my finals?” Well, for starters, your future grad school might. I cannot tell you how many of my peers slacked off those last few days of college, tanked their finals, and paid for it a few years later when they tried to apply to grad school and their senior year GPA was much lower than their underclassmen GPAs. And for all you underclassmen, don’t think that a place you hope to secure an internship with will look favorably on your less than stellar grades.
So, to my struggling, partying-addicted college friends, here are a few tips to get you through these next few days.
Just Say No to Facebook
Facebook is perhaps your biggest adversary these final days as you are probably much more excited about the party invite you just got for the Cinco de Mayo bash then you are about cramming for Chem. So, do yourself a favor. Limit your Facebook time.
Don’t have the self discipline? Then try Facebook Limiter, a site that helps you block Facebook for a period of time for free. You can block Facebook for specific time durations or control your access on a daily basis. It may sound extreme, but no one will judge you for doing it, especially since they are Facebook abusers just as much as you.
Refrain from Twitterville
Twitter is just as bad if not worse for you than Facebook during this critical juncture of time in your college career as it appears less offensive so you are more apt to frequent the site. You will certainly feel less guilty about quickly checking your Twitter feed every few minutes to see who has updated, because it is less interactive and time-consuming as Facebook.
But what about your friends who Tweet that they are meeting at your local pub for burger night? Or what about current explosion on Twitter surrounding Jessica Simpson’s birth? – yes, she finally gave birth. Simply put, the Twitter world can wait. If anything is truly earth shattering, I assure you someone will contact you in person.
Hide Your Cell Phone
As strong as you might be to say no to Facebook and Twitter for a few days, none of that does you any good when you have the apps available right on your smartphone. From instant messaging apps to email notifications to games, your cell phone is one of the nosiest distracters of all –with its constant pings, chimes and bells.
Of course a college coed feels totally lost without his/her cell phone so I am by no means advising you to “lose” your phone or ask a friend to babysit it for the time being. Rather, I am asking you to devote a few hours of your day to your studies and put your phone in another room. The “freeness” you feel will truly be liberating.
So students; happy studying! You will thank me when you get those A’s and I guarantee that you can still find time for that rousing game of Flip Cup after your finals.
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For some of you (and for the lucky ones), summer will mean a time in which you can throw dodge balls, compete in Color War games and chaperone camp socials, as you are still young enough where it is not totally frowned upon to spend the glorious summer days outside, basking in the sun as a camp counselor. (I must put a plug in here, however, that it is never too early to start grabbing summer internships because then what type of seasoned college graduate would I be?)
And, for a good majority of you twenty-somethings, the start of summer will mean a cold hard introduction to a season filled with mindless tasks such as filing, coffee runs and administrative work –the glorified life of an unpaid college intern.
But for the few of you who can now legally drink, you are hopefully embarking on a season full of job searches, interviews or, if you are lucky, real work as you say goodbye to your familiar college quads and hello to the post grad life. And while the post grad life has a lot to offer – your first real pay check, a sense of accomplishment and a cushy living situation at Mom and Dad’s – it should also serve as a wakeup call asking if you are ready to compete in this Real World.
I recently came across a great article from U.S. News that was targeted at recent college grads and included five critical steps they should take to make sure their online reputation is in order, particularly as they dive head first into the job application pool. It’s a post worthy of sharing and examining.
The five steps, according to the post, are to Google yourself (to see what comes up); claim your domain name and build a personal website (mostly so no other John Smith’s can steal your domain); set up profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (and not just to share your thoughts of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” but to promote some of your best work); do some basic search engine optimization (link all your online content together); and sign up for alerts (so you know when others are talking about you).
“Job-seekers who take charge of their own online reputations will benefit in the long run,” Miriam Salpeter, a job search and social media consultant, career coach, author, speaker, resume writer, and owner of Keppie Careers, explains in the post.
College grads, I want to draw your attention to Salpeter’s second point of claim your domain name as this is perhaps one of the most crucial steps you can do. By buying a personal URL such as johnsmith.com, which can cost as low as $10 a year, not only are you ensuring that no one else can buy it and scam you, but you are also giving yourself the motivation to do something positive with your personal brand. Use that site to put up your most recent photography work. Use it to host a blog about your thoughts on the debt crisis if you want to ultimately get into economics. Or use it to display pictures from your latest architecture project. Your personal URL will become your new resume in this technologically advanced world and increase your chances of being scouted or recruited.
It’s a simple step, as are the others, but purchasing your own domain will ensure that when a prospective employer types your name into Google, your personal website displaying your latest and best work shows up. And after all that hard work, who wouldn’t want to hire you?
]]>The Virginia Tech massacre, a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007 on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va., was perhaps one of the most harrowing and disturbing events that has taken place in recent years. That day, Seung-Hui Cho, a senior English major at Virginia Tech, fired on students and faculty all over campus, killing 32 and wounding 25 in two separate attacks approximately two hours apart, before ultimately committing suicide. Cho, who prior to this shooting had been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder, was responsible for the second-deadliest act of mass murder at a school campus, behind the Bath School bombing of 1927, according to reports.
As the fifth anniversary of the massacre came yesterday, school officials decided to hold classes for the first time on that day to honor the memories of those lost that day. For some, however, the day greatly tugged at heartstrings.
“It was really hard, but we got through it," freshman Jessie McNamara, who wasn't on campus at the time but lost two older high school friends in the shooting, said, fighting back tears according to a recent article.
At midnight, Virginia Tech marked the five-year anniversary with the lighting of a ceremonial candle that remained lit for 24 hours. Members of the university's Corps of Cadets stood guard at the candle for 32 minutes to honor the 32 who were killed. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was also scheduled to speak at a commemoration and candlelight vigil on Monday night.
Although the massacre at Virginia Tech brought little more than heartache, tragedy and confusion that day, it also served to shed light on the importance of looking for warning signs, or any possible clues, that travesties such as these are about to occur.
With the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., there are countless opportunities for individuals to gain insight into the thought processes of their peers – from the silly musings to the wise sentiments to the confusing, even worrisome posts.
Almost two years ago, for example, we saw Tyler Clementi announce to his social networking world via Facebook that he was heading to the George Washington bridge to take his own life, after allegedly being the victim of cyberbullying at the hands of Dharun Ravi, his college roommate. Evidence later showed that Ravi had frequented Twitter a few times before Tyler’s death to lament about Tyler’s dalliances with another man, something which could have tipped others off to the fact that perhaps Tyler might be upset.
Along those lines, recently Facebook announced that if you see one of your friends or another user post a suicidal comment or status update on his/her Facebook page, you can click a “report” button next to the posting and then answer a series of questions about whether the post was violent, harassing, hate speech or harmful behavior. In the event that harmful behavior is clicked, Facebook’s user safety team reviews the post, determines whether it is legitimate, and sends an email to the user with a phone number to a hotline and a link to start a confidential chat session.
“One of the big goals here is to get the person in distress into the right help as soon as possible,” said Fred Wolens, Facebook’s public policy manager, said in a recent article.
Whether it’s someone taking to the Web to discuss how miserable he/she is or someone choosing to disparage others or post concerning comments about others’ safety, it is our duty as consumers of the social stratosphere to pay attention to these messages and do something. Even if it’s just telling someone else, do not be a bystander when abnormal social networking activity surfaces.
While there is no evidence that suggests that Cho had shared his intentions to commit harm at Virginia Tech beforehand, there could be others who might choose to voice their plans, or convolutedly hint at them.
Your job is simple, students; as you try to balance homework, job interviews and social commitments at school, make sure you are never brushing off what seems to be an off the cusp tweet or status update. Pay attention to these messages and read between the lines. Some tragedies certainly don’t come with warning signs, but anything you can do to make your school life safer is a step in the right direction.
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But if you majored in journalism, or even more specifically magazine or newspaper, you might find yourself pounding back glasses of wine as you nervously notice a trend; there are scarcely any jobs for print publications out there even though you just spent four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars learning about how to create a killer FOB (front-of-the-book for all you non-magazine majors) and in-depth above-the-fold feature story.
What you are noticing instead is the plethora of job listings for positions such as “Social Media Manager,” “Social Media Consultant” and “Social Media Assistant.” You might be thinking ‘Is this for real?’ ‘Can I really make big bucks tweeting and Facebooking all day long?’ And the answer is yes.
In fact, Business Insider recently released the top seven social media jobs that currently exist as companies are calling for everyone from a Social Media Strategist to a Content Curator to a Community Manager – and the salaries are pretty cushy.
So why the need for social media managers all of a sudden?
Because businesses cannot survive without a social media presence. Even if you dislike Facebook and Twitter for what they have done to the individual – allowing them to hone his/her voyeuristic tendencies, stalk freely and unabashedly post inane thoughts – these sites have done wonders for business. Social networking sites have allowed startup companies to become million-dollar companies in months at substantially lower costs and have allowed established companies to attract new markets.
Perhaps most importantly, though, social media sites have given companies the green light to join the conversation. As opposed to companies sitting back and hoping that their consumers are saying pleasant things about them, brands can now actively monitor the Web and ensure that each customer is given one-on-one attention.
With companies forced to turn to social networking – or else forced to take a back seat to competitors –it is only natural that a Social Media Manager position has been given just as much weight as the IT guy.
As a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, I had to check in with my alma matter to see if it offers a Social Media major, for surely my school must understand the importance of giving kids this competitive edge in the marketplace. I was shocked to see that this major does not yet exist. While I do commend my school for amending the “newspaper” major to “newspaper and online journalism” and for offering other majors such as “broadcast and digital journalism,” a forward-thinking school like Newhouse needs to stay ahead of the curve and offer a social media major.
For slowly in the education world, the idea of a social media major is creeping up and pretty soon many schools will see the value in offering this line of study. So, my advice to all you students out there is to ask your advisor what social media classes exist at your school. Find out if you can secure an internship within the social media field. And for all you soon-to-be college students, if you are interested in the subject, search for schools that are one step ahead and already offer this innovative major.
The jobs are out there and the businesses need you. And then you can get to brag to your friends “Yeah I tweet for a living.”
]]>Of course, there is Apple who probably has way more clout than that varsity basketball player or president of Greek life as the empire paved the way for tablets in school and introduced Siri whose job, amongst other things, is to coordinate “Thirsty Thursday” plans. Then, of course, there is Amazon which made it easy to buy coveted school supplies, eReaders and, perhaps most importantly, provided an alternative way to purchase college textbooks to save a few bucks for those beers.
This week, I have to give credit where credit is due and draw your attention to quiet kid in the backseat of your class – you know the one who is frequently overlooked because of boisterous iPhone, BlackBerry and SparkNotes? So, students, say hello to AT&T – that kid in class that deserves a high five or at least a cursory hello.
Recently AT&T announced that it is launching a quarter-billion dollar campaign to help more students receive their high school diplomas, head off to college, and situate America in a better spot to meet rising global competition. The AT&T Aspire campaign, already amongst the most significant U.S. corporate educational initiatives with more than $100 million invested since 2008, identifies high school students at risk of dropping out and encourages them to stay by employing a “socially innovative” approach. Simply put, AT&T will couple traditional campaign efforts with social media and technology innovation to help keep kids in school.
To date, the Aspire effort has already helped more than one million U.S. high school students and prepared them for success in the workplace and college.
"AT&T Aspire works toward an America where every student graduates high school equipped with the knowledge and skills to strengthen the nation's workforce," AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said during a recent keynote address.
The telecommunications company’s latest effort is worthy of praise. With so many technological innovators today are inadvertently (and intentionally) paving the way for kids to underachieve, it is nice to see one take a stance against dropping out of school. Whether its app developers spearheading a cheating app, Spark Notes creating a site so that kids don’t have to do the reading, or Apple unintentionally equipping students with iPads in class – which although has countless benefits – to makes it easier for coeds to play Words with Friends instead of listening to their sociology lecture.
In fact, some kids become so adroit at using technology that by age 17 they would rather go and work for a tech giant as opposed to attend college; after all, if Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg balked at college, why can’t they?
But students ought to go to college. Even if it’s not right away, students should find a way to enroll at a university as college presents a myriad of opportunities for students to learn about themselves, challenge their belief systems and learn to work in teams and independently.
So kudos AT&T for recognizing that although some of the best minds in the space have been school dropouts, high school education is paramount in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace. I’d save you a seat at the lunch table.
]]>First there’s the “Extroverted, Every Day” user. C’mon, we all know this user. You know, that person who isn’t afraid to share his/her every thought to the world – even if that includes posts lamenting the fact that he/she bombed that business presentation or social studies test – and is often the first to “like,” “join,” “share,” and “tag” on the social networking site.
Then, of course, there’s the “Passive, Occasional” user – that person who has a Facebook account and posts about two or three times a week, from the inane to the useful posts. (Note to readers: I like to think that I fall into this category and that my posts err on the side of useful as opposed to inane, but that’s probably just wishful thinking!). This person won’t actively seek out people to “friend” on Facebook or pages to like, but is receptive to suggestions from friends and enjoys reading other’s status updates occasionally, provided that those status updates don’t inundate that person’s newsfeed.
Finally there’s the “I’m Only On Because (Insert Name) Made Me Do It.” This are people who have Facebook accounts but have either forgotten their password, don’t understand the point of the social networking site, and/or are silently harboring ill will towards the individuals that tricked them into joining years ago.
However, there exists a small subset of Facebook users in the inconspicuous fourth group – the “I’m Going to Build My Brand Starting on Facebook” user. And that’s the user we should all be striving to emulate.
In today’s competitive job market, economic recession and surplus of Gen Y and laid off Baby Boomers searching for work, many have decided to go the way of the entrepreneur. After all, social media is mostly free, so what better time than now to launch that dream business you first thought of when you were 13 and when the World Wide Web is waiting to be your best friend? And when it comes to the entrepreneurial route, perhaps no group is hopping aboard that bandwagon quicker than generations Y and Z, the recent college grads and the current college and high school students. Case and point: Mark Zuckerberg eight years ago in a Harvard dorm room.
As stated in a recent blog post, “For businesses starting up, social media can be a valuable tool in order to gain exposure in a cost-effective manner, as well as potentially gain funding through online sources. Platforms such as Kickstarter. This platform has become one of the main ways students can apply for the backing they need for a product or service, and is only one of the many online services designed with today’s startup in mind.”
While high school students and college coeds might be perceptive enough to see the obvious benefits of social media for helping ramp up a business quickly, these two groups are also the most susceptible to making cardinal social media mistakes.
Although it may be hard to argue that a college student who spends his free time updating his statuses about “Thirsty Thursdays” and “Beer Pong,” and liking pages with titles such as “Girls Gone Wild,” will 100 percent never see his entrepreneurial business take off, why take the gamble?
Students: You are at a pivotal place in your life right now. You have a host of social networking sites at your fingertips and your minds are nimble, fresh – not tainted by having heard many times, “I’m sorry but we’ve gone with someone else.” Your optimism is still there; your innovation is brimming.
So don’t abuse your social networking sites. Don’t be a part of any of the first three groups I mentioned because whether you want to believe it or not every single time you create a social networking account or you choose to ignore it’s power, you are building up your brand, for better or worse.
It might be hard to think about monitoring your sites so closely now when you are five years away from wanting to launch your dream company. But every time you post a status update or Tweet, the Internet search engines are indexing you, meaning that investors five years down the line might not look favorably on the fact that most of your college years were characterized by excessive, mind-numbing posts and tweets (even if you cleaned up your social networking act the past year).
So join group four now. Assume that you will hit it big one day. And don’t be afraid to turn your Facebook password over to that investor if need be.
For more on this topic and others, follow me on Twitter.
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Last year, 20 students from Long Island were slapped with felony charges after accepting as much as $3,600 to take SAT and ACT tests, acts that quickly resulted in one of the most “conspicuous cheating scandals to date,” according to experts. The job was simple. A lackluster, or perhaps lazy, student (let’s call him John) would approach his peer (let’s call him Bob) and ask Bob to sit in his place during the SAT exam. Bob, the SAT stand-in, would move through the test swiftly, giving John a fighting chance of attending his dream school and himself the chance to make some quick cash.
In fact, one SAT stand-in was accused of taking tests for at least 15 people over three years and obtaining scores for them between 2,170 and 2,200 on the SAT (out of 2,400) and as high 33 out of 36 on the ACT (out of 36).
You might ask how this is possible because don’t test proctors require photo IDs at each testing station? While each testing station accepts different items, in the case of the Long Island operation a fake ID seemed to do the trick.
But now, CollegeBoard has set out to change that as students taking college entrance exams this fall will have to submit photo IDs with their applications, a direct response to the 20 current or former high school students that were accused of the cheating scam, a prosecutor and testing official announced today. The new testing requirements rely on technological advances made over the years as students are expected to upload or scan a photograph of themselves when they register for the SAT or ACT. Those unable to upload a photo will be permitted to mail in a photo, which will be scanned by the testing agency. After the photo is received, an admission ticket into the testing site, containing the scanned photo, will be mailed to the student.
If that wasn’t enough, the photo will not only be printed on the admission ticket, but on the test site roster as well so it can be checked against the photo ID a student provides at the test center, according to officials. That photo will be attached to students' scores as they are reported to high schools and colleges.
While I certainly cannot imagine needing such a rigorous application process to take a standardized test, I also took the SAT at a time when smartphones didn’t exist (and many kids didn’t even have a cell phone yet) and the coolest thing on the Internet was AOL, not Wikipedia. And this was the case just nine years ago!
In today’s environment, though, kids are holding their moms’ cell phones before they can even talk, students are learning how to lift papers online as opposed to searching for hours for their older sis’s handwritten paper and the Ti-83 is being used for cheating as opposed to calculus. And if that’s really the case then of course it’s finally time for CollegeBoard to use technology to try to keep students honest.
But as someone who is almost a decade removed from the SAT, I had to defer to my colleague Rich Steeves, who is also a current SAT tutor and practice test proctor, to weigh in on the subject.
“It is part of the challenge of the company responsible for the SAT to keep ahead of cheaters,” he told me. “Sometimes the cheaters use technology to their advantage – like programming formulas into their calculators, trying to sneak their smartphones in, or hiding tiny cameras in their mechanical pencils. As a result, proctors are forced to tighten the reins by not allowing mechanical pencils, phones, tablets or laptops during the exam.”
“But now, ETS seems to be using technology as the solution,” he said. “In the wake of the Long Island cheating scandal, they are getting tougher with photo IDs. Now students must submit a picture ahead of time and that picture will be attached to their admission ticket. Their photo ID better match up to that picture, and their own face should, too, when they start the test and when they come back from the bathroom!”
Well said Rich. And now onto more important matters; I call dibs on the movie rights to the Lifetime movie.
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Likely, according to recent reports.
In fact, according to a CNBC report, you better take a few seconds (or hours at this point, thanks to Facebook’s new timeline) to go through past pictures, posts, and likes to make sure you have rescinded your “liking” of “Binge Drinking, I'll drink to that!” and deleted pictures from spring break senior year of college. I mean, even your friends shouldn’t have to see you in that inebriated, half-clothed state. And don’t forget about that video of you singing karaoke at the frat house, donning Mardi Gras beads and a cowboy hat (which you still don’t know where it came from).
Your concerns that these pictures and videos that you thought were safely protected could be used against you are founded as many employers and colleges are demanding full access to your Facebook and Twitter accounts if you want to be considered for employment or school acceptance. This is particularly true for student athletes.
Specifically, the Maryland Department of Corrections has been asking applicants during interviews to log into their accounts and show their wall posts, friends, photos and other items behind Facebook's privacy wall. And if you think that is something you would never do, consider that fact that almost all job seekers give in to this request because they are hoping to get the job, according to Maryland ACLU legislative director Melissa Coretz Goemann.
When it comes to students -- particularly athletes -- they are not let off the hook either. Nowadays, college athletes are being requested to “friend” a coach or compliance officer so that the coach can have access to the applicant’s most private information. This practice isn’t voluntary, MSNBC reported. In fact, many schools are buying software packages from social media monitoring companies to take a behind-the-scenes look into the private lives of student athletes.
Thankfully, some government officials are realizing just how illegal these requests seem as Washington, D.C. lawyer Bradley Shear and other critics are contending that schools and employers have no such right and are violating the First Amendment by demanding access to private social media content.
While I would caution every individual – from those who are 15 to 55 – to be careful about what they are putting on social networking sites, because you are virtually creating a lasting legacy about yourself, some schools and employers are simply going too far.
What you glean from a Facebook or Twitter page is only a snapshot of a person’s life, and most likely not the part of the person’s life that they will take to the workplace or school with them. In my opinion, you will gather more about a person’s character and work ethic during a 30-minute interview then you could sifting through old wall posts and pictures that don’t mean anything to the applicant in question anymore.
Of course there are exceptions to this. For example, how can you really detect that your potential employee has a substance abuse problem if they choose to show up to your interview sober? And perhaps, in that case, sorting through Facebook pictures that constantly display beer and liquor bottles could have forewarned you.
But that’s part of the gamble of life. You never really know what you are going to get out of a student you accept or an employee you hire but that’s the best part. You could be taking a chance and end up with the best employee your company has seen in decades. Or you could take a chance on that lackluster student who ends up finding his drive at college and becomes the next Bill Gates.
The bottom line is that what we put on our social networking sites is often the result of us attempting to escape from the “real world,” whether that is work or school, depending on your age. It does not represent what we typically bring to the “real world.”
Years ago employers and schools never had this tool at their disposal and they did just fine with hirings and admissions. Let’s leave Facebook and Twitter for social venting and building business brand awareness and stick with the traditional few rounds of interviews.
For more on this topic and others, follow me on Twitter.
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Whatever your innovation is, we at TMC want to know about it.
In just a few days, on Thursday, Feb. 2, the highly anticipated Startup Camp 5 will kick off at ITEXPO East 2012, taking place this week from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3 in Miami, Fla. The goal is simple – find the next big shot tech leader. Given five minutes to wow a panel of judges, early-stage entrepreneurs and innovators in communication technology are asked to pitch their products or services to a panel of potential investors, media, bloggers and industry influencers in the hopes that they receive funding.
The event is nothing short of awesome. Some of the youngest, brightest minds in the tech space get the chance to give video presentations of their companies and innovations; a group of judges throws some tough curve balls to participants to see if they are ready for their companies to really take off, and then audience members vote on which company deserves the funding. The event is priceless as these creative minds have 300 seconds to get as much information out as they can as audience members sit there wide-eyed, wondering if they have just witnessed the Next Big Thing in tech.
So I’m putting out a call to all college students now. Get your company in place in the next few months so you can participate in our next Startup Camp.
The chance is priceless. You will have a captive audience, a bevy of investors a few feet away from you and feedback that will warmly be dispensed. So start hitting the labs. We hope to see you at the next Startup Camp in Austin, Texas, this September.
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