How important is it to create and have a career portfolio? In my past jobs I worked in human resources and we never looked at career portfolios. Sure we glimpsed at them, but all we cared about was the cover letter, resume, and if it was a sales position their brag book. Of course have more is better.

I have been finding it extremely difficult to get in touch with some unplaced grads via phone, email, and FB. Has anyone found other strategies to get in touch with older grads? Thanks

Social media is a broad topic with many implications. This course focuses on developing a strategy for one's career services department. There is so much more to learn beyond the course content by tapping into the collective knowledge of the group. However, this is completely dependent upon you and if you choose to interact to collaborate by teaching and learning from one another. Introduce yourself and explain what you hope to learn in this course. I encourage you to read the posts from others in every forum. If you see something you can help someone with, something that you want to comment on, or perhaps you want to further a discussion - respond to each other and engage in dialogue. Social media is about connecting and collaborating so I encourage all of you to model this as we learn together in this course.

You've learned about the importance of purposefully constructing your own personal learning networks (PLNs) for professional development and you know the concept of influencers. Who influences you on social media? If you aren't currently a heavy user of social media, explain how you will now go about constructing your personalized PLN. I'll provide you a short list of some of my favorite people to follow on Twitter from who I learn a great deal: @heatherhuhman - Career expert who focuses on advice for Gen Y and for those seeking entry-level jobs @JohnSumser - Editor of HR Examiner who is always on the cutting edge of HR trends. @jaybaer - social media expert with the number one blog on social media, convinceandconvert.com. He is a great presenter who explains social media's significance both powerfully and simply. @briansolis - social media expert who focuses on the sociology of social media and its influence on human behavior. Brian focuses on research and studies making keen observations about the implications of social media. He focuses on business but his insight is universal. @DanSchawbel - Expert on personal branding for your career. Dan focuses on social media and personal branding strategies to help people build their careers. That's my short recommendation list and I think you can learn a great deal from these people. I'd love to see who you recommend, who you plan to start incorporating into your PLN architecture, and/or what you think about some of my recommendations.

Some people think social media is merely a fad merely representing a new tool for communicating. Just 10 years ago, the idea of collaboratively created directories of people that mapped their achievements, relationships, experience, skills, and interests sounded a little crazy but today we call it social media. So, if someone told you social media is just a fad or is not as important as everyone is claiming, what would you tell them?

Social media isn't simply technology that facilitates human interaction. The technology has changed human interaction and relationship-building. Consider social networks for dating and group activities and that people are now getting married after having met online. If social networks influence how we build rapport, trust, and form strong relationships, social media has a great impact on career advising. It doesn't stop at relationship-building however. Career Advisors have much more data at their disposal to identify behavior patterns, circles of influence, and common interests from the information constituents disclose on social media platforms. This information offers insight that can be transformed to strategic engagement in one's approach to relationship-building and communication. If we identify some of the ways social media has altered human behavior and practices in career development, we see social media background checks as a trend, social job search, social recruiting, enhanced personal online branding, social media used for interviewing candidates, and emerging forms of career marketing collateral from infographic resumes to video resumes and QR codes on resumes. Social media has altered the way recruiters source and review resumes from mobile applications to social media platforms. These are but a few of the relevant ways social media has changed the profession. Just a few years ago, career advisors did not have to coach students on cleaning up their social profiles, how to respond if an employer asks them for their Facebook password, how to draft a keyword-rich LinkedIn profile for search optimization, or how to look for jobs and research companies on Twitter. These are but a few more ways social media has influenced the career advising profession and has more relevance than many realize. Given this background, in what ways is social media most relevant to you personally in your role?

We have a difficult time getting employers and students to complete and return the surveys that we send. Can anyone give us ideas on ways to improve the response rate for our survey program?

for the phlebotomy and medical assistant students its really hard to find jobs. because the employers required them to have at least 6 months of working experience. any ideas?

I know that networking is very important for the department, but sometimes is very hard to talk to the doctors or supervisors because they are always busy.

We are thinking of adding informational interviews to our Career Service homework list. Has anyone required student to attend information interview to help them prepare for their job search. We think that hearing suggestions from a professional other than a school employee would help them.

Unfortunately, we have found that students are relying on our Career Service department to do all of their job searching. Can anyone give us ideas on how to make the students take more of an active role in their job search?

It has been very difficult to motivate student to come to activities that are sponsored by the Career Service department. We have tried many ways including giving prizes, offering food, and giving extra credit from their instructors. We feel bad having area business people give up time during their day to come and do presentation when student do not attend. Does anyone have additional ideas that may help use with this problem?

I started using our facebook as an alumni/professional development/job board tool. Most of our students are on facebook so I will post information about jobs as they are available but never the company name or application specifics making them email or call so that way we can track who is applying where and not giving leads away to grads from other schools. I also utilize this site to post helpful articles and tips on resumes/cover letters, dos and don'ts of interviewing, networking etc. It has been a great resource to keep in contact with our graduates and get the word out for those who are looking for work!

What kinds of challenges might students encounter during their jobs/internships, and how can you help them to address those challenges effectively?

Why are The Five Keys to Work Success important for students to understand?

How can developing effective interview skills also help students to succeed in the workplace?

As an instructor, how do you help students to prepare (mentally and physically) for an interview?

How will you help keep students from becoming exhausted, getting discouraged, or giving up on their job search altogether?

As an instructor, how do you help students to develop powerful, engaging, and professional resumes and cover letters?

How might you encourage students to utilize their personal and professional network to find a job?