Going the Distance

Taking care of business Taking care of business Taking care of business As the designing calling tries to build up a hearty, assorted workforce, one classification of future architects speaks to an alluring yet in danger asset. Consistently, a large number of understudies take a crack at two-year building related projects at junior colleges, specialized schools, and professional projects, numerous with the purpose to move into a four-year B.S. program. About half never make it to the end goal, not on the grounds that they dont need to, but since they frequently face higher money related, scholarly, and social obstacles than their kindred students. At the point when an understudy who in any case has the capabilities to be an incredible architect forsakes any expectations of a further extent, its something other than an individual hard-karma story. Every misfortune speaks to a difficulty to the callings capacity to meet societys future needs. Building teachers are investigating various methodologies planned for holding full-and low maintenance two-year students from other schools. Pilot examines appear, whenever given the correct mix of budgetary and scholastic help, a considerable lot of these understudies prevail as well as eclipse peers who have taken an increasingly conventional scholarly way to a baccalaureate. The Need Junior colleges, professional projects, and word related schools serve practically 50% of all the college understudies in the U.S., granting in excess of a half-million partners degrees every year, as per the U.S. Division of Education. Alongside getting ready understudies to move into a four-year school, these foundations extend noncredit courses and train employment opportunity searchers in workforce improvement and key abilities. In light of 20052006 government insights, ladies spoke to 63% of new partners certificate graduates while understudies from under-spoke to minority bunches represented at any rate 30%. Almost 10% of these understudies communicated an enthusiasm for building and innovation fields. As far as growing and differentiating the future designing pipeline, these understudies speak to probably the most reduced hanging organic product. Contrasted with undergrad populace in general, students from other schools will in general have the best money related need. They get less money related assistance from their families and are bound to fit the bill for government monetary guide. Be that as it may, the expense of school isnt their lone obstruction to a lone rangers degree. Studies show numerous understudies face trouble moving enough program-explicit scholarly attributes from their two-year schools to enter as third-year understudies. To them, that implies a more drawn out way to all day business and additional time in school re-taking courses theyve frequently as of now passed. What's more, albeit all designing understudies need scholarly encouraging and backing to flourish, many students from other schools require exceptional intercessions to fabricate their scholastic abilities and explore the prerequisites of their new school. One Bridge to a Bachelors In 2008, a workforce group at the Rochester Institute of Technology drove by Surendra Vinnie Gupta, teacher of mechanical building, propelled an undertaking for holding two-year students from other schools that has yielded promising outcomes. RIT understudies nearby. Picture source: RIT.edu With an almost $600,000 National Science Foundation grant award, Guptas pilot projectnamed the Engineering and Technology Transfer (ET2) Scholars program, has been fruitful in enrolling, holding, and graduating promising students from other schools. Whats more, they found that with appropriate help, students from other schools can stand head to head with different understudies both scholastically and in true work settings. Gupta says the task objectives were to graduate 25 extra exchange designing understudies every year over the award time frame. Taking part scholastic units included 11 ABET-authorize degree programs in RITs branches of structural designing innovation/natural administration and wellbeing, fabricating and mechanical building innovation and bundling science, mechanical building, electrical and microelectronics building, and electrical, PC and media communications innovation. Gupta says the gathering mentioned $8,000 in NSF grant support for each ET2 researcher, to be expanded by other RIT money related guide programs and a $50,000 college responsibility of progressing support after the award time frame. The ET2 program tends to a national worry by assisting with growing and expand the building/innovation workforce of things to come, says Gupta. In structuring the program for designing and building innovation (EET) students from other schools, we expected to address the accompanying three inquiries: Is the monetary guide satisfactory to draw in and hold moves from two-year schools; do our projects have curricular adaptability to grant move credits for most or all of credit-bearing coursework at two-year-schools; and do we have the framework and assets to illuminate, prompt and bolster moves from two-year schools. Gupta clarifies the arrangement consolidates budgetary guide with focused enlistment of students from other schools through regular postal mail, face to face personnel visits to zone junior colleges and nearby open houses. Albeit every certified understudy are qualified for NSF grant support, an objective of the enrollment exertion is to manufacture familiarity with the program among ladies and minority candidates. The issue of moving scholastic credits from two-year projects to RIT is tended to through verbalization concurrences with around 20 two-year schools. These understandings are audited occasionally to guarantee they are in sync with current prescribed procedures. Employees audit transcripts and exhort the confirmations office in the wake of assessing every understudies program-explicit credits. As a rule, Gupta says, RIT attempts to build up these concurrences with the objective of moving sufficient credits so an understudy starts at or as close as conceivable to the third-year level. When a student from another school is selected, RITs challenge is to keep them there. Students from other schools are doled out a workforce counsel who can guide them to assets in the event that they need scholarly assistance. Then again, care is taken to extol champion researchers through composed interchanges planned for keeping them on target. Building a feeling of network among students from other schools is additionally part of the undertaking, and casual occasions over lunch bring understudies with comparable interests and foundations along with their personnel consultants. Through committed workforce exhorting and mediation, the one-year consistency standard for students from other schools piles up well against the universitys in general execution. Students from other schools are graduating at a higher rate than green beans understudies in building and designing innovation programs, Gupta says. We are trusting this venture will fill in as a model for other specific colleges to furnish students from other schools with access to the baccalaureate. Michael MacRae is an autonomous author. Students from other schools are graduating at a higher rate than green beans understudies in designing and building innovation programs.Surendra Gupta, teacher of mechanical building, RIT

3 burning questions your CV must answer - Hays Viewpoint Viewpoint careers advice blog

3 burning questions your CV must answer - Hays Viewpoint Many job adverts can attract hundreds of applications. So, what is it that makes your CV stand out from all the rest? The answer is simple â€" its ability to succinctly answer these three key questions: Why are you interested in this job, company, and industry? What value can you bring to the organisation? What is your current and future potential? Your CV is your living, breathing personal marketing pitch Think of your CV as your own living, breathing personal marketing pitch â€" a pitch that succinctly answers all those burning questions your audience (i.e. recruiters and hiring managers) have about you. And, the degree to which CV can answer their questions well, will have a huge bearing on whether you are invited to interview. So, you must ensure your answers are strong, clear, tailored and relevant. The three questions your CV must answer: 1. Why are you interested in this job, company, and industry? Above all, the reader wants to know that you are genuinely interested in this job. And, when reading your CV, they are essentially seeking assurance of this in the language and words you use. They are looking for signals that indicate genuine interest, and if they don’t get them, they will likely assume that you have just submitted a blanket application. So, before tailoring your CV for a specific application, think back to what it was about this job that made you want to apply in the first place, and why do you think you are such a good fit? Was there a specific part of the role that excited you? Does the company’s mission particularly resonate? Research the company and industry may help you articulate this. Once you are clear on your reasons for applying, work on updating your personal statement (and your cover letter). Look back at some of the research you’ve done, and weave this in. Demonstrating that you’ve made the effort to do your homework at this early stage will only be a positive thing in the recruiter’s mind 2. What value you can you bring to the organisation? Jobs are advertised because there is a need for a problem to be solved or help to be provided. Therefore, when reading your CV, the recruiter or hiring manager will be looking for clear evidence of the value you would bring to the specific role and organisation. A great way to focus the reader in on this is to update the employment history section of your CV. When doing so, ensure you focus on the value you added in each role, rather than simply listing what your duties were. This section of your CV shouldn’t read like a list of job descriptions, instead, it should tell the story of your unique strengths and accomplishments. A good way to do this is to think about what your biggest standout achievement was for each role, no matter how big or small and focus in on that. Remember, the reader wants to know what you can do and needs to see concrete evidence for this. And, when updating each entry in your employment history, focus on communicating the quantifiable value you added during that time. A great way to help bolster your perceived value in the reader’s mind is to use action verbs â€" using these verbs will force you to focus in on what you achieved and the results you saw during each role. 3. What is your current and future potential? As the world of work evolves, potential is becoming a more common gauge or indicator than years of experience when assessing the suitability of a candidate. So, the first step here is to clearly evidence your current potential â€" what are you good at now, and would you be able to do the job in question? The recruiter or hiring manager needs to have come to the end of your CV with absolutely no doubt in their mind that you would be able to do the job and do the job well. Obviously, tailoring your employment history, as I’ve mentioned above, to focus on the value you can bring will help towards doing this. However, there are other things you can do: Try mirroring the language and keywords used on your CV with those on the job description â€" this subtle change will increase your chances that the reader will see you as a good current fit. Don’t neglect the skills section of your CV â€" include both technical (e.g. digital literacy) and soft skills (e.g. creativity) as this will give the reader a more well-rounded perception of your current potential. Also, try to mirror these to those outlined in the job description (where relevant). This blog provides more advice on which skills to highlight on your CV to generate the most impact. Add links to your LinkedIn profile and online portfolios of work â€" these will help the reader build a better picture of your current competencies. But recruiters and hiring managers don’t just want to know what you are capable of now. They want to know that you have potential to do great things in the future. A fantastic way to do this is to demonstrate to the reader via your CV that you are ambitious and have an upwardly mobile career plan. There are a few ways you can do this: Articulate your ambition and future plans in your personal statement, linking back to the job in question and opportunities you feel you would gain from it. Within each entry in your employment history, demonstrate how you have got better and better over time. For instance, each achievement you add to each entry in your employment history, if you can, make the next better, and remember to quantify them. Evidence your commitment to continuous upskilling by tailoring the skills section of your CV’s, weaving these skills into your employment history. Also, ensure your qualifications are up-to-date and include dates of completion so you can clearly demonstrate your commitment over time. Don’t try to gloss over any career breaks you’ve had. Instead, outline how you used that time to generate value in different areas of your life and build your skillset. By doing the above, you are essentially indicating to the reader that you would be a good investment both now and in the future. Your CV must be error-free In this blog, I hope I’ve highlighted for you just how important it is that you ensure your CV is as relevant to the reader as possible, and that it’s absolutely imperative that quickly and succinctly answers the three main questions they will have about you. However, this hard work will be lost if your CV is littered with errors. By making a concerted effort to ensure your CV is 100% error-free, you are providing another signal to the reader that you could be the right person for the job. Above all, checking for errors will build the perception in the reader’s mind that you have a proactive and committed attitude. When competition is so high, the fact of the matter is that a simple typo could mean your CV is rejected, regardless of how well you have answered the above questions. As you would with any document, whether it be an email or a PowerPoint presentation, when writing your CV think about who your audience is, and what information is most important to them. And remember, the questions each reader will have in their minds may well be the same, but the answers they’re looking for will be different. So, take the time to tailor your CV to each role you apply for and ensure you answer each of the above questions in a way that will really resonate. Updating your CV? Our  CV writing tips and advice  will help you get started: The CV clichés to avoid at all costs Showcase these skills to make your CV shine 3 quick and easy ways to refresh your CV Whats more important when job searching, your CV or your LinkedIn profile?

The end of Work Choices

The finish of Work Choices The finish of Work ChoicesPosted October 13, 2011, by Helen Isbister Julia Gillard has presented Labors new mechanical connection laws to parliament spelling the finish of the Howard Governments Work Choices. Business has reprimanded the laws saying they give an excessive amount of capacity to associations, while the associations and Ms Gillard state the laws will reestablish the level of influence among bosses and workers. The bill incorporates a wellbeing net of 10 least conditions, known as National Employment Standards, for all laborers. They incorporate fundamental necessities for leave, long periods of week after week work, open occasions, notice and repetition. Guardians will currently reserve the privilege to take as long as a time of unpaid leave each, while representatives working for an organization with less than 100 representatives will presently have the option to guarantee for uncalled for excusal. Necessary bartering is a foundation of the new enactment. Regardless of whether a business won't deal with laborers, they will be compelled to do as such if a dominant part of the laborers needs to deal on the whole. A compensation umpire, Fair Work Australia, will direct specialists rights and survey least compensation every year. Grant compensation wont apply to those acquiring more than $100 000 every year. The Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the Workplace Authority, the Workplace Ombudsman and the Fair Pay Commission will all be rejected. Ms Gillard told parliament that Work Choices had destroyed the center Australian estimations of mateship and a reasonable go. The way of thinking that supported Work Choices stated, basically: make your own specific manner on the planet; without the solace of mateship; without the insurances managed by a humane society; against the chances purposely stacked against you. No security net. No rights at work. No participation in the work environment to take the country forward, she said. The administration expects to have the laws completely operational by 2010 satisfying a key political decision guarantee. ResourcesMy first resumeCover letter for my first jobCareer Insider StoriesShelley Lask - Body Positive Health and FitnessInterested in turning out to be a?Human Resources OfficerGeneral ManagerBusiness ManagerAccountantOffice Administrator CoursesBachelor of Social WorkEnquire Online Enquire OnlineCertificate III in Health AdministrationEnquire Online Enquire OnlineBachelor of Criminal JusticeEnquire Online Enquire OnlineCertificate III in Allied Health AssistanceEnquire Online Enquire OnlineHelen IsbisterRelated ArticlesBrowse moreWORKFORCE TRENDSBarack Obama rouses change for the betterWhen Barack Obama turned into the 44th President of the United States, he introduced a period that guarantees uncommon and persuasive change.BusinessEvent Management24-Hour Party People: How To Become An Events ManagerIf you love individuals, have vitality to save and have wonderful authoritative abilities, being an occasions director could be your fantasy work. All things considered, who doesn't cherish an extraordinary occasion and helping other people to have a decent time?Employment trendsFuture trendsAI: Does it Mean Boom or Doom for Your Career?The times they are a changing, however is it for the better? What would it be advisable for you to contemplate future-confirmation your abilities and what do the headways in man-made reasoning mean for your profession?

Is the Cost of College Really Worth It

Is the Cost of College Really Worth It Is the Cost of College Really Worth It? I’m sure you’ll read what I’m about to write with varying degrees of passion. I’m guessing the parents who temporarily foreclosed on their lives and the successful, self-taught entrepreneurs might have their doubts. There might be those non-scholarship-going Ivy League graduates chipping away at a pile of debt working for companies who would never consider any employee sans a top-university degree. Surely this latter bunch must question my sanity for even considering a topic open to debate. On this rare occasion (alright, for first time ever) I will withhold my opinion. Rather, I’ll offer some (predominantly) economic realities to help you draw your own conclusion. Why? Worth is the value someone places on a thing, idea, or whatever. It’s perceived more than absolute. This makes determining the value of someone’s college degree as tricky as evaluating the price tags of the abstract art that adorns the walls of my home. Since I’m in the perception business, I’ll give it go. First, I enjoyed my years attending a large university. I spent many grueling hours studying (most in a campus bar) to attain a (now very rusty) Bachelors of Science Degree in Electric Engineering (for a life I never pursued). I have fond memories and friendships that I still nurture thirty years later even though the only recollection I have of Ohm’s Law is that it resembles a horseshoe. I wouldn’t trade those years away for anything because, well, I don’t believe in trading away or regretting time you’ve already spent. What’s done is done. Before you (or more likely your child) pursue that precious piece of paper, consider this. You can perceive it however you’d like… Statistically, data suggests that the education-wage gap has grown over time. In recent years, individuals twenty-five to thirty-two years old with a college degree earned an average of $17,500 more annually than their peers with solely a high school diploma. In 1979, this gap was $9,690 (The Rising Costs of Not Going to College 2014). Over the course of their careers, bachelor degree holders earn an average of approximately one million dollars more than high school diploma holders. This is all nonsense for so many reasons including no one has any clue what will happen over the course of an individual’s life. Let’s have some fun anyway. There are a number of ways to look at this. One can argue that you could take the $250,000 it would cost to attend a premier college and invest it today (assuming you don’t have to borrow it). Over a forty-five year career, that investment would grow to $945,000 if you achieved a mere 3% annual return and $2,246,252 (yowza!) if you scratched out a 5% annual return. Those are not unrealistic investment scenarios considering that modest rate of return. Of course, this one-million-dollar differential doesn’t account for any compensation one can earn during the four years not attending college. Of course, you can go to a much lower cost college. The College Board indicates that the “moderate” college budget for an in-state public college for 2014-2105 costs $23,410. (If you took the four-year grand total of $93,640 and invested it over the life of an average career at 5% annual return that yields $841,000.) None of these scenarios include any debt repayment that depletes your one-million-dollar “college bonus” as you faithfully repay your student loan and its ridiculous annual interest of 5-8%. The United States currently has forty-three self-made billionaires. Ten of them do not hold college degrees. You can view the list here. Thirty-two percent of theworld’s top one hundred billionaires didn’t earn college degrees. You can Google this topic. There are dozens of articles related to this. Trying to keep pace with the rising cost of college is futile. According to College Board, during the thirty-year span between 1984-2014, the average published tuitionof private four-year institutions rose a whopping 146% when adjusted for inflation. The increase for in-state students at public institutions during that same period rose a staggering 225%. In 1984, according to the Social Security Administration, the national average annual wage was $16,135. This is the equivalent of $36,763 in 2014 wages (Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI Inflation Calculator). In 2013, the average wage was $44,888 (2014 statistics are yet unavailable). That translates to a wage increase of 22% or 1/10 the relative increase in public institution costs over the same period. I’m not sure who should be flogged for this. But that’s just dollars and no sense. Moving right along… Those statistical economic “facts” aside, let’s toss in a few observations from my professional life. As an executive search firm, my organization milewalk recruits white-collar employees for our customers (hiring companies). Currently, we have twenty active clients seeking professionals of varying seniority levels across a range of business functions. These functions include sales, marketing, product development, project management, technology, finance, accounting, human resources, recruiting, and a number of others. The clients range from small, privately held companies to large Fortune 500 publicly held organizations. Of those twenty clients, not one single company requires a college degree if the job candidate is the right fit, skill level, and so forth. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Granted, there are exceptions, but their overwhelming sentiment is that experience trumps education. There is absolutely no doubt that many companies will require their professionals to be appropriately educated and certified. This number, however, is significantly smaller than you might imagine. Another important, related note is that according to our salary statistics for the “experienced” individuals we help our clients secure, there is no wage difference. If you have the experience, you earn what the position pays. I will grant that this is a small sampling size relative to the entire world. Even so, in the history of my company, we have served one hundred twenty clients and only six of them have required college degrees for their positions. That’s a mere 5%. I’m certainly not claiming it’s better to not have a degree. I’m simply sharing what we see daily and have observed over the last eleven years. Shifting gears a bit… There are obviously many benefits of achieving a degree that go well beyond the economics. For starters, there is one wonderful certainty. Once you achieve that degree, no one can ever take it away from you. It will always be yours. The reason a college degree’s worth is so difficult to evaluate is due to all the non-economic factors and benefits one gains through the actual experience. There are many including the life lessons of living on your own (if you go away to school), the wonderful networking opportunities, the friendships, the sense of accomplishment, and so on. I’m not sure what all this means other than the cost of a higher education has skyrocketed over the last three decades. This precipitous rise, which in many cases is tenfold that of wages, has forced people to look more closely at whether the intangible benefits are truly worth it. If you enjoyed this article, you can find other wonderful tips and tricks related to life and work via the usual social spots at LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. As always, I give away a complimentary Interview Intervention eBook if you sign up for the milewalk newsletter on the front page of the milewalk Website! In other exciting news, The Hiring Prophecies: Psychology behind Recruiting Successful Employees is now for sale!

Job Search_Five Ways to Fail

Job Search_Five Ways to Fail There are many ways to tweak your job search to make your results more accurate and to catch the attention of hiring influencers for desirable jobs. I often focus my advice on the positive, try this, do thatbut as an Executive Career Coach and professional Resume Writer, I see so many smart, capable executives who make simple mistakes that causes them to fail a job search. These are the five that hurt to see, as they are so simple to fix: Resume fails. Using outdated formats. You must have a format that fits the current technology. When your resume doesnt fit the format expected by the software (Applicant Tracking System), that software cannot read it, find the search terms, and discards it. Even a recruiter or HR professional who is searching for a candidate who has your exact qualifications wont find you if your resume was discarded as unusable. Not sure if your format works? A professional resume writer or career coach can help you put together a resume that is scannable, searchable, and catches the eyes of the right people! Etiquette fails. Manners matter. Submitting a resume late, arriving late, failing to be prepared, all of these are red flags to prospective employers. If you cant be bothered to display your manners and your best effort when you are pursuing the job, hiring influencers have to wonder how you will perform once youve won the position. Your job search etiquette speaks volumes about you. Matching fails. Im shocked to see LinkedIn and other social media profiles which dont match a candidates resume. Hiring influencers often search a candidates name to get a more complete picture of a prospective employee. Which one is right? Are they mistakes, or is the candidate dishonest? The employer wont know, and hiring influencers are likely to keep looking for someone who knows their own job history and is trying to be as available as possible. The hour it takes to ensure you are presenting a cohesive personal brand is worthwhile. Networking fails. Ive seen graduates from world-renowned b-schools who havent used their alumni directory, the college career centre, or reached out friends and colleagues in their industry. This fabulous network is at the tips of their fingers, and yet job seekers dismiss networking as awkward, or too time-consuming. Why leave a great resource for your search untouched? Customization fails. Each hiring influencer is searching for a candidate who is a great fit, but how can you display great fit when you dont customize your resume and cover letter to each job you desire? There are candidates who use the same resume, elevator pitch, and interview questions for every job opening. Hiring influencers talk to many candidates, they can tell when you havent prepared. Do a quick internet search on the company, the position, and your interviewer if you know the name. Present a customized resume, targeted elevator pitch, and ask insightful questions that show you made the effort to learn about the interviewer and the company. Demonstrating a good fit is crucial to the hiring process, so do your homework!