Play now, pay later…

Every investment involves an element of risk, and borrowing to pay for college expenses is no exception. Borrowing remains a sound investment for most students, but many who borrow and then drop out appear to have lost the bet. Students who borrow money for college begin postsecondary education with more academic and financial risk than other groups. Some of these students, after borrowing and then dropping out of college, beat the odds and go on to productive careers. Perhaps their courses and experience help them succeed, even without a certificate or degree. Or perhaps they come from families sufficiently well off that the accumulated debt is not burdensome.

Yet, along with those who do not finish high school and those who stop with a high school diploma, many college dropouts fall into what has been called “the forgotten half” of our nation’s young adult population. The findings in this report, in providing a snapshot of students’ experiences, suggest that many borrowers who drop out of postsecondary education may be left behind in the nation’s economy.

The growing reliance on loans to finance rising college tuition has drawn widespread attention in the media and public policy debates. Much of the publicity and concern focuses on students who pursue a four-year degree and take on significant debt, averaging from $15,000 to $20,000 in debt by the time they graduate. Some college graduates have borrowed much larger amounts, and average debt burdens are especially high for low-income and minority students who complete their programs of study.2 However, most students who achieve their degrees reap sufficient economic benefits to pay off their loans.

For the first time, this study examines those who may be least well-served by our current system of financing higher education: students who invest in their own education by borrowing, but who do not complete their postsecondary programs. A recent report by the Education Trust warned that “hundreds of thousands of young people leave our higher education system unsuccessfully, burdened with large student loans that must be repaid, but without the benefit of the wages a college degree provides.” This report examines the dimensions of this problem and identifies ways to address it.

Read: Borrowers who drop out.

CollegeRecruiter.com Enables Employers to Reach Candidates Via Cell Phone Text Messaging (August 30, 2005 Press Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Minneapolis, Minnesota — August 30, 2005 — The first Internet job boards were bulletin board systems and existed before there was even a world wide web. With the subsequent incredible growth of the web in 1990′s came web-based job boards. Then job boards began to enable their employer-customers to reach candidates via targeted email campaigns, in which the job boards delivered an email on behalf of the employer to targeted groups of candidates. Now, CollegeRecruiter.com is taking the delivery of those messages a step further by enabling its employer-customers to reach more than 800,000 opt-in students, graduates, and other candidates via their cell phones via a service that is often referred to as mobile messaging.

“It is amazing how today’s college students do not view the Internet or web sites as being confined to their computers,” said Steven Rothberg, President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com. “They understand that job boards are sources of information about employment and that information can be delivered in a variety of ways. Almost since we went live in 1996, we’ve found that the students and graduates who use our site have been incredibly comfortable with using the web and email as integral components in their job searches. But as those students find new and better ways to communicate with each other, so must we. As incredible as it sounds, today’s students and graduates view email and instant messaging through computers as too slow, in part because they tend not to lug their computers around with them. But they do carry their cell phones and they do send a lot of text messages to each other.”

Indeed, college students and graduates have embraced mobile messaging, as seen by the 1,000 percent increase in the number of messages sent between 2002 and 2005. Demographics of the candidates who have opted in to receive mobile messages are:

• 57 percent 18-24 years old;
• 48 percent female, 49 percent male (gender data is unavailable for the other 3 percent); and
• 50 percent have downloaded a new ring tone

Studies show that the response rate is 20 times greater than web advertising and 10 times greater than advertising delivered via postal mail. And because CollegeRecruiter.com uses the same database for mobile messaging as it does for its targeted email service, employers can specify the types of candidates that they wish to target through the use of 700 data fields, including keywords, occupational fields, major, school, diversity, age, gender, language skills, income, education level, zip code, area code, and many more. Pricing for this powerful new media ranges from $6,250 to send a message to 18,116 candidates to $236,000 to send a message to 800,000 or more candidates.

About CollegeRecruiter.com

CollegeRecruiter.com is the highest traffic career site used by job hunting students and recent graduates and the employers who want to hire them. The CollegeRecruiter.com network of career sites is used by 5,000,000 visitors per month to find part-time positions, summer jobs, internships and career opportunities. CollegeRecruiter.com features tens of thousands of job openings and over 1,300 pages of employment-related articles and Ask the Experts questions and answers. Further information about CollegeRecruiter.com is available at http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com/pages/press-room.php.

CONTACT INFO:
CollegeRecruiter.com
Steven Rothberg
3109 W 50 St Ste 121
Minneapolis, MN 55410-2102
USA
Phone: 800-835-4989
Fax: 702-537-2227
Steven@CollegeRecruiter.com
http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com

PODCAST: David Teten, Author Of The Virtual Handshake

Why Social Networks Don’t Work!

Why Social Networks Don’t Work! (Or… The Linked In Manifesto)
by: Jim Stroud
(C) 2005 Jim Stroud

Unless you are new to the internet or, are a novice to its mysteries, you are no doubt familiar with social networks. For the uninitiated, social networks are online communities where people meet and exchange business information with one another. In the most perfect of scenarios, someone you meet in a social network will connect you to one of their trusted contacts and business will be consummated. There are several such networks in operation (among them Ecademy, Spoke and Ryze), but the most popular is Linked In of which I am an avid subscriber. To be fair, I have met quite a few people with Linked In and can sing some of its praises. However, there is a downside to using social networks of any kind. I suspect that it is this singular reason why many forsake social networks and dismiss them as a fad of the age. What is the leading detriment of social networks? Ironically, the issue is that many people do not know how to network offline and those habits are simply transferred to the online arenas of social networks.

As a member of Linked In, my profile is open for public review. As I have been fortunate enough to work with certain companies, I am often approached for leads into organizations I have been affiliated with. This results in a near avalanche of emails of which I offer no complaint. As I use Linked In as a recruiting vehicle (in addition to expanding my network), It is simply par for the course. My concern is the tone of the inquiries of which I will paraphrase, “Gimme, gimme, gimme and give it to me now.” Initially, I thought such encounters would prove only a minor annoyance. Unfortunately, I find myself battling a growing disdain for those who do not grasp the concept of quid pro quo nor, the fleeting art of courtship. If you are a fairly connected person with a “golden rolodex” of leads, why should I expect you to introduce your more coveted contacts to me upon request? Furthermore, how much assistance should I expect you to give a perfect stranger that you have only met virtually? Would it be illogical to assume that you are not so willing to risk your reputation with a trusted ally, by recommending an introduction to someone you barely know? I would not think it illogical, but such seems to be the faith of several who have reached out via social networks. The end result? Hundreds (or is it thousands?) of requests go unanswered or flatly refused, leaving the disillusioned to claim the ineffectiveness of social networks. This also has a rebounding effect on those proficient in networking who wonder how much longer they will continue to suffer countless requests made by virtual hands outstretched for whatever they can glean from their solicitations.

“The most annoying requests are those made by people who have not read my profile, but want to connect only for the sake of making a connection to their list, or selling a product said Steve Eisenberg, an E-Business professional and a faithful user of Linked In.

It is my good fortune however, to report that there is a solution that benefits all concerned. I have crafted a guideline of conduct for social networks and would share it with you now, dear reader. I call it “The Linked In Manifesto” after my favorite social networking service. (Despite the actions of some, Linked In still remains on my short list of necessary web sites.) Please consider the following suggestions mandatory when you next decide to engage someone via a social network.

1. When approaching someone for the first time, do not ask for anything! Instead, offer a gift to encourage them to correspond with you. I would suggest that your offering be presented in one of three ways.

OFFER AN IDEA: Consider the profile of the person you want to connect to and imagine a way to make their business life easier; then share it with them. For example, “I notice from your profile that you are a veterinarian with a focus on Cats. I checked and the domains CatDoctor.com and PurrfectPractitioner.com are not taken. Just a thought, but maybe you should consider snapping these up. If you would like to discuss Veterinarian Science or Cats in general, drop me an email.”

OFFER INFORMATION: Perhaps you could visit an online news source, browse stories and share insight into an event that would prove of interest to your intended connection. For example,

Posted in General |

Streaming Faith in the Workplace!

What happens when you couple a course and set of principles with your career? What possible goals can you obtain in the workplace by allowing God to direct your course? The course of your career depends on how you apply the superior principle…faith, to any given situation in the workplace. Faith in the workplace changes the course that others set before you. Faith allows your path in the workplace to be directed by the word of God. Faith trusts the unseen, but not the unknown.

READ: Streaming Faith in the Workplace!

10 Biggest Causes of Workplace Stress

10 Biggest Causes of Workplace Stress

by Dale Collie

According to CNN-Money.com, Americans spent more than $17 billion for
anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs in 2002, up 10% from the year before
and nearly 30% over a two year period. The Institute for Management Excellence
reports that American industry spends more than $26 billion each year for
medical bills and disability payments with another $10 billion for executive’s
lost workdays, hospitalization, and early death. While these trends might
be caused by some who are simply intolerant to stressful situations, it should
also be recognized that properly managed circumstances can reduce stress,
maximize employee productivity, and improve the living conditions of everyone.
Out of control stress also costs companies through increased absenteeism,
lack of enthusiasm for the job, poor performance, and bad attitudes. Improvements
in each of these areas can bring improved productivity and increased profits.

To find out what is most stressful to employees, Bill Wilkerson, CEO of The
Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health, conducted
a survey and reported the ten top sources. As you’ll see, all ten of these
stress causing situations are related to leadership communications. The names
Wilkerson gave each of these causes are in quotation marks.

10. “The treadmill syndrome”

Employees who consistently have too much or too little to do creates a lot
of stress. Some employees are highly stressed because they simply have too
many responsibilities. Others work around the clock, not necessarily on the
clock, but throughout the day and at home. These are generally the employees
who have too much to do and too many responsibilities.

Solution: You can control stress caused by the treadmill syndrome
by making sure work is evenly divided and properly prioritized. Sometimes
you can save money by hiring additional employees and reducing the additional
costs of excessive stress.

9. “Random interruptions”

Interruptions keep employees from getting their work done – telephones, walk-in
visits, supervisor’s demands.

Solution: You can control this type stress by encouraging proper time
management, delegation of responsibilities, and clarification of expectations.

8. “Pervasive uncertainty”

Uncertainty is created by constant, unsatisfactorily explained or unannounced
change.

Solution: Keeping everyone well informed can reduce stress and improve
productivity. Take time to meet with people and put the details in a written
memo so they can review the facts after the emotions cool down.

7. “Mistrust, unfairness, and office politics”

These situations keep everyone on edge and uncertain about the future. Management
of trust and fairness is just as important as any other management tool.
If people cannot trust management, performance goes down. And, everyone is
affected if even one employee is treated unfairly.

Solution: You have to make sure everyone is treated fairly – in fact
and in perception. Word spreads quickly, and everyone sympathizes with the
“victim,” as they see it. They feel they will be treated the same way.

Unfairness can also be seen in management’s acceptance of those who thrive
on office politics.

Solution: Do not reward office politics in any way. Verbally reprimand
those who are negative about others or those who spread rumors. If their
statement isn’t uplifting, don’t let them make the comment about others.

If you fail to take action, morale goes down and stress goes up.

6. “Unclear policies and no sense of direction”

Lack of focus causes additional uncertainty and undermines confidence in
management.

Solution: Clear communication of policies and company goals is required,
and it must go beyond the management level.

Not all middle managers are good at communicating these important subjects,
so top management must communicate in a such a way that everyone is clear
on where the company is going and what company policies are enforced.

Use memos, articles, personal meetings, small groups, announcements and anything
else that reinforces your policy. Repetition is important. Actions consistent
with policy are more important as the words.

5. “Career and job ambiguity”

If people are uncertain about their jobs and careers, there is a feeling
of helplessness and of being out of control. This goes beyond the job description
and annual performance review.

Solution: People want to know that their job is secure and know what
is expected of them. Many employees also want to know about career progression
and what they must do to advance.

Keep people informed of business situations, threats, and obstacles that
must be overcome. They’ll find out through the grape vine if you don’t tell
them. There is no such thing as a secret, so be right up front with everyone.

You don’t want to be an alarmist, but these people have families to take
care of. Some of them are applying for mortgages, loans, and other financial
commitments that they might not make if they are as fully informed as you
are.

4. “No feedback – good or bad.”

People want to know how they are doing, and whether they are meeting
expectations. If you don’t communicate your thoughts on their performance,
they are stressed about how well they are doing.

Solution: Daily or weekly confirmation can help reduce stress
significantly. Managers who wait until year end to explain job performance
are about 51 weeks too late.

3. “No appreciation.”

Failure to show appreciation for employee participation generates stress
that endangers future efforts.

Solution: Daily, weekly, and monthly appreciation will help reduce
stress and increase profits.

2. “Lack of communications”

Poor communication up and down the chain of command leads to decreased
performance and increased stress.

Solution: Just as it is important to keep people advised of company
policies and changes they can expect, management needs to listen to employees.
Improved communications up the chain of command can give people a chance
to pass along ideas, suggestions, and complaints, reducing stress and helping
achieve more.

1. The greatest stressor in the workplace is “lack of control.”

Employees are highly stressed when they feel like they have no control over
their participation or the outcome of their work.

Solution: Savvy managers know the value of employee suggestions, comments,
and input on the business as they participate. Very few managers know as
much about the individual jobs as those doing the work day after day.

Stress control is a leadership responsibility. Those who ignore prevailing
stress levels are negligent in their duties. Grasping the concepts and reducing
stress one step at a time can have an amazing impact on the bottom line and
on the lives of those who do the heavy work.

Subscribe to “Stress Management -Timely Tips” at
http://www.couragebuilders.com

Copyright 2005 – Dale Collie

Dale Collie – Professional Speaker & former US Army Ranger, CEO, and
University Professor. Advising business leaders on corporate stress control,
improving productivity, and increasing profits. Author of “Winning Under
Fire: Turn Stress into Success the US Army Way” (McGraw-Hill)

Brother, can you spare a gallon?

The search for affordable housing has pushed many north suburban workers to the outer reaches of the New York City metropolitan area in pursuit of the American Dream.

It’s not unusual to find workers commuting from southern Dutchess and Orange counties to business centers in Rockland, White Plains, Tarrytown, Armonk and, of course, Manhattan.

Depending on their destination, that means traveling distances of 50, 60 or 70 miles or more to get to work, often times by car.

Traditionally, workers have been willing to foot the additional expense, frustration and time lost in commuting to earn the higher wages Manhattan and its immediate environs pay while benefiting from the lower costs of living in far-flung communities.

But the recent increase in the cost of filling the tank means workers, especially those at the lower end of the pay scale, are doling out a lot more to get to work.

READ: Rising gas prices worry workers, employers

NAS Recruitment Communications and CollegeRecruiter.com Jointly Release White Paper on 15 Best Practices for Corporate Employment Sites (August 18, 2005 Press Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Minneapolis, Minnesota — August 18, 2005 — Since the commercialization of the Internet in the mid-1990′s, employers have struggled with how they can best use this new media to improve the quantity and quality of their hires. NAS Recruitment Communications and CollegeRecruiter.com announced today that they have jointly released a white paper to help these employers.

The white paper, “Best Practices for Corporate Employment Sites: The 15 Features Necessary to Maximize the Quantity and Quality of Candidates Sourced Through Your Website,” communicates to employers the experiences of the staff of CollegeRecruiter.com and NAS with respect to the best practices for corporate employment web sites. Written by Steven Rothberg, Founder and President of CollegeRecruiter.com, the document describes, explains the importance of, and gives examples of 15 of the most important website features. “The Best Practices for Corporate Employment Sites” white paper is an unbiased, non-sales document.

“A good employment site is often your first point of contact with a candidate,” said Steven Rothberg, President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com. “It creates lasting first impressions about your company and its opportunities. Optimal employment site design encourages applications from highly qualified candidates and discourages applications from less-qualified job seekers. Yet most employment sites fail to achieve this objective. Why? The majority of sites focus too much on presenting the preferences and requirements of the employer while forcing applicants to jump through hoops to submit an application. Employers are often heard to say that such hoops are desirable because they discourage applications from candidates with little interest. Yet candidates with little interest are often highly qualified passive candidates and it is these candidates that employers most want to hire. If your site forces such candidates to jump through hoops and fails to speak to the needs and wants of the best candidates, then your site will actually discourage applications from highly qualified candidates and encourage applications from less-qualified job seekers, which is exactly the opposite effect you want.”

“After hearing some of Steven’s ideas on the topic, we felt that we could help our clients and other employers who struggle with these issues,” said Patty Van Leer, Central Region Vice President of NAS Recruitment Communications. “Partnering with CollegeRecruiter.com was a great experience as they were able to bring to the project information that they’ve gleaned from talking with hundreds of employers and thousands of candidates. We were able to bring to the project the talent of our design team, who did a fantastic job in putting together a document that is short, easy to read, and yet packed full of great information.”

Copies of “The Best Practices for Corporate Employment Sites” are available at no charge from the NAS Recruitment Communications website at http://www.nasrecruitment.com or by sending an email to Steven@CollegeRecruiter.com.

About NAS Recruitment Communications

Cleveland-based NAS Recruitment Communications has 36 offices in North America serving over 6,000 clients annually. NAS is an agency of the McCann Worldgroup, a Fortune 500 global communications firm. NAS is a recognized leader in the specialized field of human resource communications. As a McCann Worldgroup agency, NAS offers a 36-office network providing best-of-class service delivery with global, national and local market expertise. NAS client partners experience a distinct competitive advantage through the utilization of the NAS Demand Chain (TM), a proprietary process map designed to deliver customized talent management solutions and maximize recruitment strategy ROI.

About CollegeRecruiter.com

CollegeRecruiter.com is the highest traffic career site used by job hunting students and recent graduates and the employers who want to hire them. The CollegeRecruiter.com network of career sites is used by 5,000,000 visitors per month to find part-time positions, summer jobs, internships and career opportunities. CollegeRecruiter.com features tens of thousands of job openings and over 1,300 pages of employment-related articles and Ask the Experts questions and answers. Further information about CollegeRecruiter.com is available at http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com/pages/press-room.php.

CONTACT INFO:
CollegeRecruiter.com
Steven Rothberg
3109 W 50 St Ste 121
Minneapolis, MN 55410-2102
USA
Phone: 800-835-4989
Fax: 702-537-2227
Steven@CollegeRecruiter.com
http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com

CollegeRecruiter.com Founder Invited to Speak at Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers Annual Conference (August 10, 2005 Press Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT INFO:
CollegeRecruiter.com
Steven Rothberg
3109 W 50 St Ste 121
Minneapolis, MN 55410-2102
USA
Phone: 800-835-4989
Fax: 702-537-2227
Steven@CollegeRecruiter.com
http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com

Minneapolis, Minnesota — August 10, 2005 — CollegeRecruiter.com, the highest traffic career site used by job hunting students and recent graduates and the employers who want to hire them, announced today that Steven Rothberg, its President and Founder, has been invited to speak at the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers (MPACE) annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona this December.

“We’re looking forward to working with Steven and to hearing his forward looking ideas on how to engage today’s candidates,” said Diane Ward, Co-Op & Career Counselor Director of Career Development at the University of Utah and a member of the MPACE Programs Committee. “His reputation as a speaker and message should prove to be a perfect fit for the career service and human resource professionals who will attend the conference.”

“I’m thrilled to be part of the first MPACE conference,” said Rothberg. “The other speakers, the venue, the organizers, they’re all first rate and I hope that this will just be the first of many opportunities to work with MPACE.”

During his presentation, Rothberg will discuss how career service offices and employers can best engage today’s candidates through a highly interactive discussion about the best practices for the design of employment-related web sites. The discussion will first address how, in less than ten years, the Internet has evolved from being a curiosity to one of the most critical elements for career service offices and employers alike. Yet many career service offices use overworked staff or students to create their web sites and many employers spend a ton of time and money buying job postings and resume searching from job boards and virtually neglect their own sites. According to Rothberg, “career service and corporate employment web sites are occasionally fantastic, sometimes good, and usually in need of a serious upgrade.”

Rothberg will then discuss why it is important to take corporate employment web sites from merely allowing candidates to view opportunities and perhaps learn about organizations to sites which educate, engage and inspire candidates. He’ll look at real-life examples of fantastic sites and discuss what features make them fantastic, which of those features can be easily and inexpensively replicated, and why those features are important to candidates and need to be just as important to the organizations.

About CollegeRecruiter.com

CollegeRecruiter.com is the highest traffic career site used by job hunting students and recent graduates and the employers who want to hire them. The CollegeRecruiter.com network of career sites is used by 5,000,000 visitors per month to find part-time positions, summer jobs, internships and career opportunities. CollegeRecruiter.com features tens of thousands of job openings and over 1,300 pages of employment-related articles and Ask the Experts questions and answers. Further information about CollegeRecruiter.com is available at http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com/pages/press-room.php.

About MPACE

The Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers first annual conference will be held from December 7 through 9, 2005, at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, go to http://www.mpace.org.

I RECOMMEND: PageBites

I had the good fortune of interviewing Ralph Harik, CEO and Founder of PageBites, Inc. In my opinion, this is a company that recruiters and job seekers will want to keep a close eye on. Expect more from these trailblazers in the near future.

Q: What was the inspiration behind PageBites?

We wanted to create a product that would improve the lives of our siblings, our relatives and our friends. After considering many ideas, we decided that matching people to jobs is a difficult and challenging problem that needs to be addressed.

Q: How long has it been in existence?

We have been thinking about semi-structured search for some time now, but we have been working on this specific project for only a few months.

Q: What is your vision for PageBites?

PageBites offers both resume and job search. We are a destination for both employers and job seekers.

For employers, PageBites offers a single website to search for qualified candidates. Employers can also contact us to have their job openings included in our job index.

For job seekers, PageBites offers high exposure for their resumes (we do not charge employers any fees to use our site). PageBites also offers job seekers the ability to search for job openings that are aggregated from a variety of job boards.

PageBites is a vertical search company. Our goal is to build products that will improve people’s lives. At the moment we are concentrating on job and resume search because it is a problem that is important to many people.

Q: PageBites seems to be funded by advertising so far. Will it always be free?

Searching for resumes and for jobs on PageBites will always be free. Posting your resume will also always be free.

The current business model, where employers must pay to search for resumes, is broken. There is no reason why employers should be paying hundreds of dollars to access a database of people who are looking for work. Smaller companies might not have the resources to pay these expensive fees. Free access to qualified candidates should be available to all employers.

Q: What is the advantage of using PageBites as a recruiter?

Unlike many other career sites, our service is free. We do not charge recruiters any money to search for resumes, and we do not require users to login before searching the site.

In addition, PageBites enables recruiters to easily find the candidates that best match the requirements of a job opening. A recruiter can restrict the resume search results to a particular location. Recruiters can also restrict search results to a specific skill or a particular degree. For example, you can search for people who attended Stanford and know C++ by typing “skills:C++ education:Stanford“.

Q: What are the advantages to a job seeker for using PageBites?

PageBites aggregates job listings from a number of boards. Job seekers can, with one search, find a greater number of job openings.

We also allow job seekers to post their resume on PageBites. Each user is given a directory on PageBites with 10 MB of space to post resumes, cover letters, portfolios, etc.

Posting is made easy through the use of a rich text editor. This provides users with a familiar interface to input their resumes. The rich text editor also offers users the freedom to design and format their resumes without needing to know any HTML. In addition, users that already have a resume online are able to submit the URL of their online resume to PageBites.

Q: Is your website still in beta? When can users expect a big promotional push?

PageBites is still in Beta. We will be releasing more useful features in the coming months. We are continuously improving the site and we are always testing out new ideas.

Q: What have you not told me about PageBites?

We are really interested in receiving feedback from users.
We would love to hear from both recruiters and job seekers.