It’s easy for us to count off, probably on more than one hand, the programs we’ve been a part of this year. Those that stand out in our minds probably gave us the greatest challenge, taught us something about ourselves, allowed us to see that “A-Ha” spark of engagement, or provided us an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues in departments outside of our own. But, what programs had the greatest impact on our special or unique populations?

On this Memorial Day, one unique student population comes to mind: our veterans. Having worked at an institution that was less than 10 miles from an air force base, currently working at an institution with a significant percentage of students serving or recently transitioning back to life as a civilian, and coming from a family of proud military men and women, this group is always in the forefront of my mind.

If you were to assess your campus programs and services right now, could you explicitly list the transition services offered at your institution to men and women returning from deployment? Did you host a roundtable to hear what your veteran students need from your department? Have you done all you can to help these students transition from a battle mindset to your campus grind? Have you opened the dialogue to discuss how your institution can do more?

Like many of the veteran students on my campus, I care a lot about action and less about words. It’s easy to make services for unique populations a checkbox on an ever growing list of tasks, and a greater challenge to create a relationship with these students. Building relationships is the key. We know that human beings like to laugh, especially those who are returning from high stress situations like the battlefield, so why not extend a personal invitation to a veteran to attend the comedy show your program board is hosting? Military men and women have received many hours of leadership training; are you looking at the future facilitators of a workshop in your leadership portfolio series? If your residence hall floor is looking for a service project, how about becoming pen pals for deployed servicemen and women? Opportunities are endless and reaching out to a unique population can be incorporated into programs and activities you’re already offering.

Your campus is not alone if this unique population hasn’t been in the spotlight. Admittedly, my campus is in the beginning phases of having organized transition services for students going to or returning from deployment. However, together we face this challenge: instead of flowery words, truly honor the service of the many men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice –extend a hand and build a relationship with your veteran students.

Happy Memorial Day.

Much has been said lately about the value of social media to job seekers. Since you’re reading a blog post about it, which you probably learned about from a post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or BrazenCareerist, the value of social media should be obvious. It is likely what brought you here.

So let’s cut to the chase: You know social networking can be valuable, but you just aren’t sure how to do it the right way. Here are 5 great posts that can help you figure some of this out.

Take 5:

• How to Use Social Media in Your Job Search: Using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to Job Search by Rachel Levy gives a great overview of ways to use these tools, and your blog.
• 7 Secrets to Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media by Dan Schawbel gives some unique ways to use search engines, bl ogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Video Resumes and your blog/rss subscriptions to stay on task, monitor your personal brand, an d get connected during your job search.
• This article about a panel presentation by the Sacramento Social Media Club about using Facebook and Twitter for your job search gives some simple but good advice from panelists. I also like the idea of social media clubs. If you have one in your area, this could be a great place to find people who could help you understand ways to use social media to enhance your job search and career.
• The Social Media Commando offers 10 tips on using Social Media in your job search
  
• Alison Doyle offers a good overview of networking sites at her About.Com page. Alison is a great person to follow, and her articles on About.Com are very much resource-packed. I visit often and always learn something.

And listen in the morning:

I am doing a BlogTalkRadio show on using social media in your job search tomorrow (Friday) at 11 a.m. My guest host will be Mallory Bower, Assistant Director of Career Services at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Mallory writes periodically for my other site, HigherEdLifeCoach.Com, and will have some articles on this site soon, as well. Our guests will include some of Mallory’s colleagues at UNCP, including Mike Severy, Director of Student Involvement and Leadership, and newly hired Assistant Director Becca Fick. Twitter was integral to posting the job, getting candidates and to Fick’s eventual hiring. Mike and Becca wrote great posts on their perspectives on using Twitter in the job search. Mike’s post, on the Student Affairs Collaborative Blog, can be found here, and Becca’s guest post at On the Go with Ed Cabellon can be found here.

We’ll also revisit last week’s discussion on “purpose” and what it means to people working in higher education. Plus news, events and perspectives of note in the higher ed/student affairs world. Show is scheduled for 90 minutes to allow call-ins, discussion, etc., but may end after an hour or so.

You can listen to the show by following this link. And you can call in live to ask questions during the interview to (347) 989-005 or via Skype from the show page. (I’ve never really done that, but it is supposedly possible. Someone should give it a try, and let me know how it works!) Please listen in and share your questions and comments. After the show, you can call in and record your comments to my GoogleVoice comment line, 706-352-9467. (352-WINS) and I may play them on the air in a future episode.

So please check out these links, think about how you might use social media to advance your job search and career, and call me in the morning.

Related posts:

1. Take 5: Social Media Resources for Higher Ed Pros
2. Today on BlogTalkRadio: Using RSS in Your Job Search
3. Take 5: Five Resources for Your Student Affairs Job Search

Thanks to everyone who participated in today’s #SAchat focusing on Managing Digital Identities. This week, our chats produced over 750 comments from over 50 student affairs professionals,  graduate students and undergraduates interested or working in the Student Affairs field!

In case you missed it, below is a quick recap. If you haven’t yet participated in an #sachat, learn more here.

Full Transcripts
(Feel free to add your own comments if you missed the entire chat, a few questions, or comments today!)

DAYTIME:  View as a Google Document

Today’s Top Contributors

<Data Unavailable>

Here’s to another successful set of #sachats!  What are some other topics you would like to see us cover?  Please let us know your ideas and feedback to keep #sachat growing strong.

Until we next week, (if you haven’t already done so) please make sure to LIKE our growing Facebook Page, currently over 2,800 and adding new #studentaffairs friends every day!  Thanks for your continued support!

If you cannot view this poll click here.

And here are the results from the last poll.

Conducting a successful student affairs job search requires patience, networking, and technology. That’s right, technology. One particular tech tool that is extremely useful for conducting a search is RSS. Job postings delivered to your feed reader via RSS means that new job announcements are efficiently delivered to your virtual doorstep.

If you aren’t familiar with using RSS, please watch this video for more information:

If you need an RSS feed reader, I would highly recommend using Google Reader:

There are a few student affairs websites that offer job postings via RSS feeds, including:

• ASCA
• HigherEdJobs.com
• Inside Higher Ed
• NAFSA
• NACAS
• NACUBO

Remember to look for the RSS symbol – – or for a link to RSS data. Ideally, all student affairs job sites will offer RSS feeds in the near future as this makes conducting a search ultra-convenient.

An alternative to RSS feeds for job postings is the “Email Alert.” Several sites offer email alerts based on a variety of search queries. ACPA, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Placement Exchange, and the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium all offer student affairs job search updates via email alerts.

In addition to the RSS and Email solutions mentioned above, most student affairs associations / higher education news sites offer job listings on their websites. Here are direct links to the student affairs job listings for the following associations / resource sites.

Student Affairs jobs via professional associations:

• American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO)
• American College Personnel Association (ACPA)
• Association of College Unions International (ACUI)
• Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA)
• Consortium of Higher Education Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Professionals
• National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)
• National Academic Advising Association (NACADA)
• National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS)
• National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
• NAFSA: Association of International Educators
• National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA)
• The Placement Exchange (NASPA, ACUHO-I, NACA, NODA, ASCA and AFA)

Student Affairs jobs via higher education publications / job sites:

• The Chronicle of Higher Education
• HigherEdJobs.com
• Higher Education Recruitment Consortium
• Inside Higher Ed
• The Spelman & Johnson Group (SPG)
• StudentAffairs.com

Last weekend I attended Ungeeked Elite in Milwaukee. Some have called it the South by Southwest of the Midwest, but I think it was more like TED. Each day, 9 or 10 speakers gave a 15 minute presentation followed by about 30 minutes of Q&A and discussion. This led to lots of great ideas for many of the attendees, including me. One of the speakers suggested we give away ideas for free to promote good karma, so here’s your free idea: campus brand ambassadors.

Many university communication departments hire an outside marketing firm to brand their campus experience (At UWM we’re “Awesome and Affordable“). Unfortunately, this brand doesn’t always mesh with the way students experience the university, especially if you consider how different an experience could be from the perspective of a new first-year student, transfer student, adult student, or remedial student. What if you gave a bunch of students a chance to experience their own 15 minutes of fame by being a brand ambassador?

Here’s how it would work:

• Put out a call for participants. Just tell them they’ll be famous on the internet, and I’m sure you’ll get plenty of responses (maybe from some bloggers that already have current and prospective students as readers)
• From all your volunteers, choose 10-15 that represent different parts of your student population (academic progress, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, hometown/state/country, GPA, etc)
• Give these students a cheap video recorder and access to a collaborative blog.  Provide quick training on how to upload/publish their content
• Don’t give them too much direction, but let them know what topics aren’t appropriate (underage drinking, nudity, etc)
• Advertise the site that hosts all their content soon after students start to publish

It would take guts to do this, but what are some possible outcomes?

• Increase the involvement of your brand ambassadors on campus
• Attract prospective students that already have an idea of what the campus experience is like, perhaps increasing retention because they already know it’s a good fit
• Discover what your university’s brand looks like from a students’ perspective

Some universities do a version of this, like MIT’s admissions bloggers, and the Alverno College Your Power campaign. Have you heard of a comprehensive program like this? Do you think it could work? Would anyone have enough guts to implement a program where students control their branding?

I’d like to give credit to Jun Loayza, who gave the talk that inspired this idea.

If you cannot view this poll click here.

The Pomodoro Technique™ was created by Francesco Cirillo in 1980s after a long search to improve his own study habits. While attending college in Rome, he had a difficult time staying focused and concentrating on his work. He grabbed the familiar kitchen timer in the shape of a tomato (a pomodoro in Italian) and used it to set short term deadlines for himself. Essentially, he would set the timer and work without interruption until it went off.

The Pomodoro Technique™ is deeper than just setting a timer and going to work. The whole purpose is to change your mindset about time and work. It’s not just a silly idea,
but it’s synthesis of concepts proposed by Steve McConnell, Tony Buzan, Hans-George Gademer and Tony Gilb in a variety of areas and disciplines.

It’s built around three basic assumptions:

First, that you will come to see time differently. It’s not the enemy. By changing your view of time from “becoming” (the abstract, dimensional use of time), you eliminate the
anxiety associated with working under a deadline.

Second, that better use of the mind results in a higher level of consciousness, clarity of thought, and more effective learning.

Finally, that using simple tool like a timer reduces the complexity of applying the technique and makes it more effective and efficient.

Of course, there is a website that explains it all. And, while there is a book, you can download it free.

You might think that it would be difficult to apply this in your own office, as it calls for working uninterrupted in 25 minute cycles. There are, however, ways to interrupt and to
keep track of those interruptions. And now — during the Summer when students are fewer and farther between — it might be a useful method of getting through that endless “To-Do” list we all face.

Thanks to everyone who participated in today’s #SAchat focusing on Technology Tools and Competencies. This week, our chats produced over 750 comments from over 50 student affairs professionals,  graduate students and undergraduates interested or working in the Student Affairs field!

In case you missed it, below is a quick recap. If you haven’t yet participated in an #sachat, learn more here.

Full Transcripts
(Feel free to add your own comments if you missed the entire chat, a few questions, or comments today!)

DAYTIME:  View as a Google Document

Today’s Top Contributors

@sarahhcraddock
@AndreaHart
@mikesevery
@JeannetteMarie
@chellrene
@Kathy_Petras
@JenniferLPrince
@PetePereira
@MikeBreitner

Here’s to another successful set of #sachats!  What are some other topics you would like to see us cover?  Please let us know your ideas and feedback to keep #sachat growing strong.

Until we next week, (if you haven’t already done so) please make sure to LIKE our growing Facebook Page, currently over 2,800 and adding new #studentaffairs friends every day!  Thanks for your continued support!