Robert Pearl Starks

Hi Vanessa, Thank you for sharing your experience! This is a great "case-study" for others who may want to implement similar strategies. My own experience is very similar to the process you described. In my experience, faculty were a bit more territorial and had lots of resistance with exception of a few. I partnered with the DOE and requested to conduct training for our faculty at in-services. I still remember the first time I delivered a training - light bulbs came on and they had the "aha" moment and saw that what we conveyed to them (which is what we… >>>

Hi Jennifer, I think many people feel Twitter is a social network only to be used for personal reasons. However, I would challenge this idea. Twitter has many professional development benefits. For instance, following experts allows one to build what is known as a PLN (Personal Learning Network). Learning from the content that other experts are producing and sharing allows an individual to engage in informal learning about topics of interest. Given the fact that recruiters use Twitter to recruit and companies use Twitter for branding, customer engagement, and to attract talent, Twitter has yet another professional use of engaging… >>>

Hi Jennifer, I appreciate your emphasis on personalizing one’s career-marketing collateral. You said it best – “…A cover letter specifically written to each individual employer is more professional.” Of course, the same is true for resumes, as they too should be tailored for specific positions. This raises an interesting question about the purpose of the summary or objective section of a resume and how it should be used…with or without a cover letter. But before we dive into that question, consider this: - Cover letters were “invented” years ago when resumes were not so easy to adapt because they were… >>>

Hi Jennifer, Lack of any previous work experience can be quite the challenge. This is a reminder of the importance of early intervention to discuss how to address this issue so that students can develop a plan to gain experience necessary to compete. I am a big advocate of volunteering to create your own experience using relevant skills. The site, www.volunteermatch.org is a great resource to look for opportunities that I have instructed students to use. However, students can target organizations and see if they can volunteer vs. looking for advertised opportunities. Apprenticeships, internships, service learning, and many other types… >>>