by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Apr 1, 2011 | Doctoral Study, Higher Education, Job Search, job search tools, Podcast
I’ve been thinking a lot about for-profit education lately, and where it fits into the big picture. This was the result of a few events:
- An ongoing conversation in a LinkedIn group about how online degrees (particularly doctorates) are perceived in hiring at Brick and Mortar Schools;
- The recent report released by the University of Southern California about the need to expand private higher education in order to avoid a workforce crisis; and
- Contacts from a particularly persistent publicist about getting me to interview someone from Devry about their new Career Advisory Board and career services they are offering their students and alumni.
We’ve covered other issues related to For-Profit Higher Education before, and honestly, I’ve learned a lot. Here are some takeaways I’ve drawn from the above:
- From the LinkedIn group discussion:
- There are vested interests on both sides, and very strong feelings about the worth of degrees from for-profit schools. For those who have chosen the for-profit route, they come down to improving themselves without sacrificing their families, or fitting further education into their busy lives. For those on the Brick-and-Mortar: defending the perceived differences in the quality of scholarship between online and B & M programs.
- There are legitimate concerns on both sides. For on-line pr iogram graduates, a desire to be taken seriously, and to have access to opportunities to contribute to discussions, associations and even teaching opportunities. For B & M graduates, a desire to protect the legitimacy of their scholarship and their degrees, by insisting that programs meet existing standards and accreditation models.
- From the USC Report:
- The demand for degrees and for an educated workforce is high, and public institutions are increasingly unable to meet this demand, in the face of funding cuts.
- There is an emerging public interest in creating common standards about basic courses that would ensure their transferability between institutions, regardless of their public/private status.
- Online education will increasingly be a part of the picture, especially for introductory courses.
- From my interactions with the publicist and the interview that resulted:
- There are for-profit institutions that are trying to serve their students and graduates and make sure their investment results in good jobs that will provide a good return on their investment.
- There are some really nice people in the for-profit world, and despite the controversies surrounding for-profit education, their intentions are good, and should not be discounted out of hand, by people who are just more comfortable with the way things have always been.
I share a few more thoughts in today’s BlogTalkRadio podcast, which was pre-recorded, and think that Devry is making efforts worth noting. Please listen and share your comments.
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Mar 28, 2011 | My Coach's ToolBox, Podcast, Site News, Who-Dos
As I’ve been building my business over the last year, I’ve had to learn a lot about blogging, marketing and business. Some of what I have learned has been from free sources, some from a great network of higher education professionals, most notably those in the #sachat (Student Affairs Chat) community. But easily, the most practical and actionable business advice I have received has been from one place. It’s called the Third Tribe.
Third Tribe is a membership site, created through a partnership between some of the best minds in social media marketing, including Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, Sonia Simone and Chris Garrett. They believe there is a “third way” between traditional hard-sell marketing and wishy-washy soft-sell marketing, which comes across as apologetic, or doesn’t seem like marketing at all. It’s built on efforts to create strong relationships with your customers based on authenticity and trust, coupled with a strong desire to offer products and services that they need.
It’s been a great place to study the tactics that these guys use to make marketing and business-building seem effortless, and to see the truth behind their businesses…hard work; dedication to the idea that building a business means selling your ideas, not selling your soul; and the ability to learn lessons from their mistakes and to teach others how to avoid them. There’s so much good stuff there, that my only real struggle has been choosing what to implement. If you like this blog, it’s because of Third Tribe. If you find it annoying or scattered, well…that’s all me. Which is why I joined Third Tribe, and why I stay a member. When it comes to non-annoying marketing, I am clearly a work in progress.
Joining a membership site is not for everyone, and if you know for a fact that you wouldn’t benefit from being a member of this kind of a place, then stop reading now! If you want to know what I’ve gotten out of it, read on, because I have some good news and some bad news for you, as well as some perspectives that might make it worth your while to consider joining Third Tribe.
What I’ve gotten out of it:
- Early looks at upcoming sites, programs, products and services from Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, Chris Garrett, Lewis Howes, Laura Roeder, and many more.
- Connections with other, lesser known, but equally engaging members, like Mike Davenport of Stick Figure Simple (who drew the great stick drawing above for his guest post) Dennis Charles of Build Your Career with Passion, Dr. Susan Giurleo, fitness expert Lisa Johnson, Shane Ketterman of TCGeeks.Com (formerly ipaddaily.com) and Hashim Warren (Career Greenlight). All of these are people that have helped me, and that I have made personal connections with and given advice and perspectives. In short, I’ve become part of a closer network and support group of like-minded business people, who want to both make money and be decent, genuine people. I’ve been able to both hear and share successes, failures, stresses, and to ask for support and ideas.
- Regular members-only seminars where great business minds of the social media era like Johnny B. Truant, Naomi Dunford, Pamela Slim (Escape from Cubicle Nation), Dave Navarro (The Launch Coach), and Mark McGuinness (Lateral Action) share how they built their sites, their businesses and their credibility. Some of these seminars also come with great discounts for Third Tribe members on their programs.
- Great guest bloggers and guests for my podcast, and invitations to guest post on other sites, including Darren Rowse’s FeelGooder.Com
- Answers to my questions or concerns in the forums and on regular Q & A calls with the founders. I don’t know what Chris Brogan charges to answer client questions beyond this pay wall, but I’m sure it’s more than my entire investment in my membership. And he’s answered several of my individual questions, and countless I had but others asked first. When I ask a question of any of the founders, I get an answer.
- I’d tell you that you can’t pay for access like that, but truthfully, you can. That’s the good news.
But…here it comes…
The Bad News
Third Tribe is closing its doors to new members on April 1st. The announcement that open enrollment was coming came as kind of a surprise to me, but with it, some other news that was probably a long time coming… a re-format and even better features are coming soon, and the price is going up. I’m still waiting for details, but have a few educated guesses that I will keep to myself for now. But since the site is run by CopyBlogger media and has great partners in Darren Rowse of ProBlogger and Chris Brogan, I know it’s going to be awesome.
So if you are entrepreneurial and struggle with marketing your business, or if you love social media and would like regular access to some of the best minds in that realm, it’s a great time to get in and get access.
Join Third Tribe Now
All of the above Third Tribe Links are affiliate links, which means that I will earn a commission for each lead resulting in a sale.
There is also a great deal going on at DailySuccessDeals.Com where you can get a month of membership at Third Tribe, plus other good stuff worth almost $1000 extra from UnMarketing, Laura Roeder, Michael Port and others. Check it out by clicking the banner below. (I am also an affiliate of this program.)
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Nov 11, 2010 | Higher Education, Podcast, Student Affairs, Who-Dos
This Friday on the Higher Ed Life and Careers Show, Life and Career Coach Sean Cook will be joined by special guest Andrew Henck who is tweeting ideas & thoughts on leadership, nonprofits, higher ed, politics, social media from a Gen Y perspective as @MillennialTweet and blogs about them on http://themillennialjourney.wordpress.com We’ll be talking about a variety of college transition issues, his blog, and the importance of the “bookends” of the college experience…transitioning to college from high school, and out to the wider world upon graduation.
I’ll also be talking a little about mind-mapping and revisiting last week’s episode with Mark Dykeman of the ThoughtWrestling blog. Earlier this week, I announced a mind-map-your-job-search contest to get your ideas on how you could use mind-mapping to plan your job search or your long-term career plan. I’ve decided to extend the contest due to low participation so far. You can sketch out your plan on a napkin and scan it in, do a Prezi, do a document, or something else. Do it your way, and send me the document or a link to wherever you have it posted on the web. I’m looking forward to seeing what ideas people have out there, and giving away a copy of Mark’s excellent e-book: Unstuck, Focused and Organized (affiliate link.)
I also plan to do a little catch up. I had chosen people to honor in September and October for my “Who-Do” awards, to recognize them for doing great things for higher ed and student affairs. But I never got around to announcing the names of the people I had selected or tell you why. So I am going to do so on the show. I am sure you are all on the edge of your seats!
Lastly, I am going to discuss a little about where the blogs and coaching programs are heading in the next few months, and how I am hoping to tweak my business model so that I can offer better content, more services, and keep costs for paid services in line with demand. I have a few ideas that I think are pretty interesting, and I’d love to get your thoughts.
Please listen in from the episode page or click on the episode badge below. You can call in to ask questions or make comments to (347) 989-0055 or via Skype click-to-talk by pressing the Blue Skype “S” logo once the show is on the air.
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Nov 5, 2010 | Career Skills, Job Search, Podcast
The hardest part of doing anything is just getting started.
If you are considering a job search this year, you probably all too aware that the hardest part of doing anything is just getting started. This can be especially true for projects that involve putting yourself out there in the public sphere and being judged.
As an academic job seeker, your job search may follow the academic cycle, with a majority of positions being posted by March, followed by interview periods from April to August, and start dates in August or September. So it’s important to a avoid stumbling out of the gate.
Mark Dykeman, creator of the Unstuck, Focused and Organized System
Mark Dykeman, my guest this morning at 11:00 a.m. on the Higher Ed Career Coach Show on BlogTalkRadio, has a good method for getting your plan together: mind-mapping. Mark is the creator of the blogs Thoughtwrestling and the Broadcasting Brain. I met him through Third Tribe (affiliate link), a membership site put together by Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan and Sonia Simone and dedicated to helping small business owners authentically market their products and businesses.
Mark is a well-known and well-connected social media entrepreneur, and a really nice guy. He’s known for helping people get unstuck, focused and organized, and he’s a strong proponent of the idea of mind-mapping to clear out your mental clutter, unlock your creativity, and move forward with new ideas and plans.
I recently bought his new product, Unstuck, Focused and Organized, because I’ve been looking for ways to get more organized and stay on task. I’ve been getting much busier lately, and needed some fresh perspectives on how to organize my ideas and thoughts. I liked it so much that I joined his affiliate program, and invited him to talk about how job seekers can use mind-mapping to move forward in their search.
In today’s BlogTalkRadio show, Mark and I will talk about using Mind-Mapping to et unstuck in your job search and plan your way forward. I was able to ask Mark a few initial questions ahead of time about his program and ways that job seekers could use his approach.
Unstuck, Focused and Organized: Mind-Mapping for Higher Ed Job Seekers
(Questions are in bold, Mark’s answers are inset and italicized.)
How could someone use mind-mapping to plan their career?
Mind mapping could be used in a number of different ways. For example, if there are different stages of your intended career and different milestones, you could use the mind map to examine each stage. Here’s a simple example: have major categories or branches of the mind map to correspond to different levels of corporate hierarchy:
- consultant/team member
- team leader
- manager
- director
- vice-president
You could explore each role in detail, including key education requirements, work experience, networking, mentors, and so on. This would be a useful first step in coming up with a plan. You could also do something similar with the type of companies that you would want to work at as well, focusing on both functional experience and industry segment experience.
If you were planning a job search during the next year, how could mind-mapping help you focus your efforts?
There’s several different ways that you could plan your job search. You could conduct a SWOT analysis using a separate branch for each aspect. You could use a mind map to compare your skills and experience to different types of jobs about there: the mind map could help you find key skills to emphasize in your job search as well as important gaps or shortfalls to consider.
You could also use the mind map to explore all possible ways to network and search for the job, which is much better than firing resumes into the ether and hoping for the best.
What’s the best way to start?
The best way to start mind mapping, if you’ve never done it before, is to use a pencil and a huge piece of paper. Write your central or core idea that you want to explore in the center of the paper. Then start writing down every thought or idea that you can think of around the center of the paper. When you’ve gotten everything out that you can think of, take a few minutes and look at it. Look for connections between things. See if you can group similar things together into major categories. Draw lines between things that could be connected. Doodle and draw on it, if you feel like it, in ways that would be meaningful. Look for holes – things that are missing.
The reason for using a pencil? Because you’ll probably want to redraw the mind map after this first try!
We’ll discuss the features and benefits of Mark’s UFO program and different ways to use mind-mapping to plan your job search and your career in general. He’ll also announce a special promotion he’s running next week.
Please join us at 11 a.m. today (Friday, November 5) for the podcast, and call in with your questions and comments to (347) 989-0055 or via Skype click-to-talk.
on Blog Talk Radio
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Oct 15, 2010 | Podcast
Today’s episode of the Higher Ed Life and Careers Show will center on the ever-elusive idea of maintaining work/life balance. It’s a rough topic for many in higher ed, especially in Student Affairs, where work doesn’t just follow you home. Work is home. And home is work.
So where do you fit in a “life” when the lines are blurred?
I’ll be discussing this with my friend and periodic co-host Bryan Koval, who has been juggling a new job at Carnegie Mellon University, a doctoral program with a distance education component, and for now, living away from his partner, Jessica, who still works at Penn State. We’ll talk about our personal experiences, share tips and ideas, and take calls.
Please tune in today at 11 am. EDT and call in with your questions, thoughts and ideas!
Click on the logo below to go to the episode page.
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Oct 8, 2010 | Higher Education, Job Search, Podcast, Who-Dos
Things have been really busy lately and so today we did not have a podcast. I will try to return next week and start getting on a more regular schedule again. I am looking for guests, but have a few tentative topics lined up. Here are a few quick updates on some things worth checking out in the meantime. Thanks for visiting!
- I found a great new web service called paper.li that lets you enter your Twitter username or a hashtag or a Twitter list and it automagically makes an online “newspaper” out of the links shared on those streams. I set one up for my @hiedcareercoach account, and for the hashtags #sachat and #saplacement. Check them out.
- I never announced that I did choose LeaderShape for recognition for the August Who-DO award. I am going to finally get my act together in the next week to post a “who-do” award page and to actually send out the awards to the recipients so far. I plan to announce the September Who-Do next week. There won’t be a poll this time, because I have already chosen who to recognize. Polls will continue in the near future.
- I am planning another hybrid coaching program to begin soon, and go through the placement season. I’m collecting information on people who might be interested through a new list. If you are interested in learning more, sign up here.
- Look for more information about webinars on resumes, networking and job interviewing soon.
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