Robert Pearl Starks

Robert Pearl Starks

Location: phoenix, arizona

About me

As Vice President of Product Development, I lead cross-functional teams of designers, developers, QA testers and product stakeholders to develop, launch, and improve products customers need and love. 

Previously, I've worked in a variety of leadership roles in education / learning & professional development. Through my experience, I've become accustomed to working across departmental silos and with various stakeholders (executives, end-users, faculty, staff, students / learners, alumni, parents, regulatory agencies, partners and employers) to facilitate collaboration and advance common goals. In my previous roles, I've advocated for student needs and driven organizational change that helped educators do their best work, students thrive in their careers, and employers connect with quality talent.

Despite different contexts, a common theme in my career journey has been to do work that contributes to a mission which improves people's lives. It's also always been important for me to work with an organization whose values align with my own. I'm a listener, empathizer, customer advocate, servant leader, and lifelong learner. I'm never satisfied with status quo, I constantly strive for "better," and I'm driven by genuine curiosity to solve complex problems.

“Work to become; not to acquire.” -Elbert Hubbard

Interests

social media, career development, training, higher education, web 2.0/3.0, career services, leadership, marketing

Skills

social media, marketing, training, consulting, management, strategic planning

Activity

Hello Steven - so glad you found the training to be helpful.  What training topic would you say is your number one interest currently?  

 

Thanks.

Discussion Comment

Mary, Does you school have any required programs or courses for students? Here is a small sample of some I'd like to toss out for everyone and hope to see the list of interventions grow: ● Required Career Preparation courses as part of core curriculum ● A series of required career services seminars ● Periodic portfolio and/or department chair/lead instructor panel reviews after so many credit hours have been completed as "career-readiness" checkpoints ● Student school-to-work transition programs that focus on career management skills or leadership programs ● Volunteer/service-learning programs or real-world community-based projects ● Networking programs ● Interdisciplinary projects… >>>

What methods/tools do you find most valuable in ensuring transfer of knowledge to performance in your employee development efforts?

Hello Allyson,

How long have you been in Admissions?  I was curious, from your experience, what do you feel are the most challenging aspects of an Admissions professional's job? How do you deal with those challenges?

Discussion Comment
Jennifer , Out of curiosity, what systems are you using for tracking? On the question of why measure blog traffic, what do you hope to achieve with the blog? What are your initial thoughts on how measuring blog traffic can be used to help you accomplish your objective(s)? Robert Starks Jr.

Cory,

So glad you enjoyed the training.  Which course did you take?  

Please share your own examples to help others see real-world usage of social media by other Career Centers. Here are some examples below. Career Services Facebook Fan Page primarily being used to take advantage of the enhanced reach social media offers for marketing: http://www.facebook.com/mycareerservices Career Services department using Pinterest to expand marketing reach: http://pinterest.com/princetoncareer/ Career Services Department Using SlideShare to increase exposure to learning from their PowerPoint presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/MTUCareerSvcs Career Services department using Youtube to share informational interviews from interns to have students teach other students from their experience. Social media scales this strategy to reach more people! http://www.youtube.com/user/unlvcareer08?feature=results_main Facebook… >>>

Discussion Comment

Jennifer , The strategy sample document in the "Resources" section provides an example of how one might measure. There are direct measurements one can do and measurements based on correlation. For example, if your office tracks how many resumes you review, how many students participate in events, how many students you serve monthly/quarterly/annually via face-to-face appointments, etc., you have some baseline measurements established. As an example, if your primary objective were to increase student participation in events and you were going to use a social media strategy to help with this goal, you could see if there is a correlation… >>>

Mary, Welcome! You'll definitely become aware of many different websites and tools but I challenge you not to think of social media as a means to search for jobs in the traditional ways one might think. If networking is the number one way people discover career opportunities, think of social networking as a means to enhance traditional networking. We have access to people we never had access to before and tools that allow us to engage with experts. The question is how do we leverage this access and the relationships/partnerships we are capable of developing if we just invest the… >>>

Hello Mary, Many schools have a Facebook Page because it is used for Lead Generation for Marketing. However, there are many schools who are still discovering that social media tools can be used to enhance student retention and career development/career services participation among many other purposes. Thus, what you describe in about your school having a FB page but Career Services not having one, is normal. Your reluctance is also normal. One thing, among many, this course will emphasize is the mindset and expectations you will have to have if you decide to leverage a social media strategy for your… >>>

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