Career Development

The Dream Act puts education within reach even for the Golden State's illegal immigrants. While weighing 50 education bills yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Dream Act into law Saturday, opening the state's purse of financial aid to even those who don't have official documentation. Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/10/09/california-passes-dream-act-allowing-aid-for-undocumented-students/#ixzz1aURp5Vq3

"For many job seekers, finding the right fit could be one of the biggest hurdles in the search. After all, finding an appealing job that you'll enjoy is a big decision. You don't want to regret your choice after a week - and you certainly don't want to feel like you've wasted ten years of your life when you finally realize it's not the right fit."

More and more career advisers are bemoaning the practice of revising one's resume to death. Leave it alone once you're happy with it, we advise. That can be a Catch 22 for those of you who are never happy with your resume. The point is some of you are putting too much effort in perfecting your resume and not enough at seeing the whole picture.

Whether you call them CAR (challenge, action, result), STAR (situation, task, action, result), PAR (problem, action, result) or OAR (opportunity, action, result) stories, these stories are a critical component in your resume, leadership addendum, positioning statement and other marketing collateral, as well as in your interview.

first job as a professor was at an Ivy League university. The students were happy to be taught, and we, their teachers, were happy to be teaching them. Whatever portion of their time and energy was being eaten up by social commitments-which may have been huge, but about which I was ignorant-they seemed earnestly and unproblematically engaged with the academic experience. If I was naïve about this, they were gracious enough not to disabuse me. None of us ever questioned the importance of what we were doing.

A debate over priorities at California's community colleges is heating up, as the system considers putting more emphasis on first-time students who are working toward a credential or transferring to a four-year institution. The debate has deep national relevance, as the "completion agenda" may hinge on the 2.6 million students who attend the state's community colleges.

The last 40 years have seen dramatic changes in the hours worked at jobs by full-time undergraduates -- with notable increases until 2000, and then a period of relative stability until a sharp drop in 2009, according to research (abstract available here) released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/01/17/study-explores-increases-and-declines-student-work-hours#ixzz1jjSJWQB8 Inside Higher Ed

"A few years ago I was - like some of you reading this - overextended, overworked, and deeply unhappy about it. I was a young psychology professor desperately seeking tenure, with two toddlers at home and a husband whose work kept him away for days at a time. I exercised once a week on a good week, rarely saw my friends or extended family, and couldn't remember the last time I'd read a book that wasn't about statistics. It was just too much. Something had to give. And it did. I left my job, not knowing exactly what I was going to do next. It was the toughest decision I've ever made, but it was also one of the best."

"The United States today faces unprecedented demand for globally competent citizens and professionals. Although 9/11 brought broad public and political attention to global integration and national security needs, the Federal government has long recognized this need. To this end, U.S. Department of Education (ED) Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs form the vital infrastructure of the Federal government's investment in the international service pipeline. These programs' support for foreign language, area, and international studies infrastructure- building at U.S. colleges and universities ensures a steady supply of graduates with expertise in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs), world areas, and transnational trends. Title VI primarily provides domestically-based language and area training, research, and outreach while Fulbright-Hays supports on-site opportunities to develop these skills."

To change perceptions about your employment status, start with the way you network. When you have been out of work for a while, people in your network may feel guilty because they are employed and you are not, says Lavie Margolin, a career coach in New York City and author of "Lion Cub Job Search." You don't want them to feel sorry for you or to see you as defeated, so make sure you have something to offer them, whether it's sharing an article in a trade magazine, talking about an industry blog or mentioning a professional opportunity they may not know about, he says.

"The average number of applications submitted per job opening fell to 118 in the fourth quarter, from 187 during the same period in 2010, according to new research from the Corporate Executive Board."

"he Obama administration is drawing attention to the hemorrhage of low-income and minority students out of the educational pipeline as a current national problem heading toward a future national crisis. On target are government efforts to expand federal financial aid and community college. These strategies should result in more students with the means and academic support to pay for college and graduate."

"WASHINGTON -- If getting into a college's teacher preparation program were as difficult as gaining admission to its law school or medical school, would that college's graduates be more effective teachers?"

" Preview: Obama's 2013 Budget February 13, 2012 - 3:00am By Libby A. Nelson WASHINGTON -- President Obama today will propose spending $8 billion on job training programs at community colleges over the next three years, part of a budget for the 2013 fiscal year that also would increase spending on Education Department programs and some scientific research. The president will outline the job-training proposal in more detail in a speech at Northern Virginia Community College this morning. But unlike past calls to spend more on community colleges, this plan is aimed squarely at an election-year message of "jobs, jobs, jobs" rather than the administration's goal of increasing the number of Americans with college degrees. The proposal, as outlined by Education Department officials Sunday evening, builds on job training programs already in existence -- especially the Trade Act Assistance Community College Career Training Program, which began making grants to community colleges in September. If approved by Congress, the president's proposal would provide $1.3 billion each per year to the Education and Labor Departments, on top of the trade act grants. While it's unclear whether the money would create new federal programs or build up existing ones, the funds would be spent at community colleges that train workers for jobs in high-demand fields, according to materials released by the Education Department. Programs that are especially successful at finding jobs for their graduates, or at placing those who traditionally have difficulty finding work, would be eligible for additional money. The grants would also be used to encourage partnerships between businesses, states, local governments and community colleges, and to create an online course to encourage entrepreneurs. The money would also support paid internships for low-income college students. But the plan would shut out for-profit colleges, which would not be eligible for the additional funds -- a move alm

"Invisible Transfer Students February 28, 2012 - 3:00am By Mitch Smith Enrollment managers have long spoken about the mobility of students, citing the high number of credits transferred in and out of their colleges and grumbling that federal graduation rate calculations fail to account for those transient degree-seekers. Data released today by the National Student Clearinghouse back those assertions, showing that a third of those who were first-time college students in 2006 had attended at least one other institution by summer 2011. The study followed 2.8 million full- and part-time students of all ages at every type of institution. Students were counted as transfers if they enrolled at a second institution before earning a degree. Thus, students who moved to a four-year institution after earning an associate degree were not counted, but university students who took a community college class over the summer were. High school students who enrolled in concurrent enrollment courses were not counted as transfers. The Clearinghouse researchers found that a quarter of those who transferred did so more than once and that the greatest number of moves, 37 percent, took place in a student's second year. It also found that 43 percent of transfers were to public two-year institutions, making them the most common transfer destination for students from every type of institution except other public two-year colleges. This study, unique in including part-time students and in following students who might transfer several times, joins a small but growing body of research on the mobility of students. The findings don't surprise Clifford Adelman, a senior associate with the Institute for Higher Education Policy whose research agenda includes national transfer patterns. Loyalties to a particular institution or location, which can discourage transferring, have long been eroding, Adelman said. He calls the phenomenon "geomobility" and said it has called attention to ineffi

2011-12 Winter MNYCCPOA Post

"In 2012, creativity and adaptability will be key to landing and keeping a job for many workers, as staff levels remain lean and employees are expected to respond to a wide variety of demands, experts say."

According to a survey from LinkedIn, 63% of professionals worldwide are "happy" or "very happy" in their current jobs. In the U.S., 66% are happy. The professional networking site surveyed 12,000 LinkedIn members in 16 countries who have agreed to be contacted for research purposes.

"In an effort to school senior executives in technology, social media and the latest workplace trends, many businesses are pairing upper management with younger employees in a practice known as reverse mentoring. The trend is taking off at a range of companies, from tech to advertising. "