Higher Ed Career Coach: The Year in Review-2010

This has been a very interesting year. Student Affairs professionals have embraced social media in many new and different ways, and it’s been exciting to be a part of the changing higher ed webscape. Along the way,  Higher Ed Career Coach  has grown and developed as a resource for higher ed job seekers.  On this last day of the year, let’s take a look back at some of the highlights of 2010.

In January, my post “personal branding in your job search” gave five quick links to articles on the topic. In January we began a series of articles related to the “placement” season in higher education. This began with a couple of articles on preparing for and conquering the placement conference.

In February,  Shannon Healy became a regular guest blogger  during the placement season. Her #jobhunt  posts eventually became an 11–part series, chronicling her job search, her experiences at placement conferences,  and the interviews (and rejection) that followed. She joined me on my blog talk radio show to discuss handling rejection and starting over, and was joined by her friend and mentor, Stacy Oliver, who introduced us to the concept of “parking lot pep talks.” But we eventually shared her joy at becoming a new staff member at, and joining Mickey Fitch and Beck Fick on the show to discuss getting started in the new position.

Also in February, Brian Koval beginners series of guest posts on the doctoral experience. Koval, who is also a periodic co-host for the podcast, and and a former staff member of mine at Penn State, shared his thoughts on applying to, being accepted by, and beginning a doctoral program with a distance education component. He has since begun a new position at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

In March, Mickey Fitch became a regular contributor to the blog, sharing tips on ways to make the job search entertaining, prepping your references, and how to deal with the pressures that come with negotiating and accepting a job offer.

We’ve also been lucky to have guest posters write about their perspectives  on higher education through my periodic guest blogger series, entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback,” including a four article series entitled “What higher education needs to learn.”

In the spring, I joined the membership site Third Tribe and began learning about effective ways to run and market my business and to grow the readership of my blogs. Since that time, I’ve been fortunate to connect with other members of this community, who have appeared on my radio show and written guest posts for Higher Ed Career Coach.

In May,  I offered my first hybrid short course, “8 Weeks to August,” which was geared toward helping job seekers who were “stuck”  in their  job search processes,  and help them get back on track.

In July,  I introduced new logos and word marks as part of a branding campaign, geared toward creating a unified brand image across all sites  owned and operated by my company, Cook Coaching and Consulting.  July also brought several guest posts and the highest traffic the site had experienced to date.

August and September, however, brought some disappointment as readership dropped during the traditional staff training and new student orientation period, and my podcasting efforts became less regular, as I began a part-time position at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.  I began to concentrate more of my efforts on creating programs including webinars and my upcoming placement partner coaching program, and a multi-part  e-course  on planning your career in higher education, which is free to subscribers of my mailing list.

October, November, and December sped by in a blur. As we come to the end of the year, I am looking forward to ramping up the production of useful and relevant content that will assist job seekers during the busy spring semester and the 2011 placement season.   Readers will also likely begin to see some changes in the format of this site, as I seek to re-position  it to include more career resources site, with less emphasis on the blog.  This change should happen gradually, as I seek to find the right balance between offering practical resources and tools, and sharing perspectives on what it means to work in higher education.

I will continue to network with others that can provide useful and informative content to our readers. Some of this may include reaching out to former guest contributors for additional content,  as well as creating opportunities for new voices to share their perspectives.

As I look back upon the year, I am grateful for the many opportunities the year has brought me to connect with others, and to help job seekers move forward in their careers. My thanks go out to my loyal readers, my guest bloggers, my guests and cohosts for the podcasts, and to everyone else out there who is trying to create a supportive and caring environment or  higher ed  job seekers.

Thanks for reading! See you in the new year.