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

Website

https://www.careerprepped.com

Activity

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Social Media Trends

Stacey, I hope some of the content in the course can help enhance your case for the importance of a social media strategy that align with your goals. It is definitely a challenge that can be difficult to overcome. Do you happen to know why the sites are blocked? Have all the reasons been articulated? Robert Starks Jr.

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Social Media Trends

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Tell the group about yourself here. What do you hope to learn?

Hello Stacey, Thanks so much for introducing yourself. As you progress in the course, if you have specific questions about anything, I encourage you to reach out and post your own discussion topics in the forums. I think social media will prove to be a valuable approach to designing a strategy to help you overcome your obstacles.

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Social Media Use

Stacey, I shared these 10 tips in forum 3 but since you mentioned LinkedIn, I thought I'd share them with you in case any of them might be helpful to you when discussing some basics on optimizing a LinkedIn profile: 1. Build a 100% complete profile and create a vanity URL for your profile. To create a vanity URL, instructions are in my blog post: http://bit.ly/u7iH0k 2. Use a professional-looking head shot photo consistent across all social media platforms you use (This is brand consistency) 3. Optimize key words in your profile that align with target industry/job since profiles become… >>>

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Social Media Trends

Hello Stacey, That does sound very challenging. What you bring up actually is very interesting to me. What do you believe to be the reasons why the sites are blocked? I'm wondering how you would describe the benefits and if you believe others see the benefits as you see them. Can you share your thoughts?

Robert Pearl Starks

Blog

Digital Darwinism And The Impact On The Career Coaching Profession

Digital Darwinism

Brian Solis, new media expert and best selling author, has observed what he refers to as Digital Darwinism, when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to adapt. Certainly, businesses are struggling to adapt but what about Career Professionals?

Social Media has Changed Everything

Web 2.0, social media, mobile technologies, and the ability to analyze massive amounts of new data to discover new correlations, patterns, and insights have fundamentally changed business. Certainly, these examples have had a huge impact on society as evidenced by the growing amount of people who have access to the internet, engage… >>>

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Social Media Management

Hello Katya, I share your passion for education. I agree that the one-on-one, individualized approach has a great impact on how one learns. If you imagine how social media has basically digitized peoples' lives, intimate aspects of their lives such as their travel patterns, the events they are attending, the articles they are reading, the brands they "like" on Facebook, the people in their circles of influence, and even their relationship status and purchasing behaviors are all recorded data. What is fascinating to me is that innovators are considering how a similar model of data collection could be used in… >>>

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Measurement

Hello Dina, I noticed you focused on comments, likes and shares as well as the acquisition of new fans/friends. Are you using both a Facebook profile and a Facebook fan page? What overall goals are you using Facebook for? The reason I ask is because reviewing comments, likes, and shares is a good way to measure engagement which tells you how to modify the way you keep your audience engaged but I am wondering how you are measuring whether or not your Facebook strategy is resulting in an improvement in your Career Center goals. For instance, if you were to… >>>

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Social Media Management

Hello Katya, I appreciate you providing your perspective. Social media has disrupted so many aspects of our lives, it can definitely seem as if the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know much. The rate of change is phenomenal which is what makes the topic so confusing to many, yet at the same time, exciting. This is why I personally love being a continual student of disruptive technologies and how they are changing human interaction, business models, business protocols, culture, etc. You raise a point made in the course which emphasizes the need to be an early… >>>

Robert Pearl Starks

Discussion Comment

Tell the group about yourself here. What do you hope to learn?

Social media is a broad topic with many implications. This course focuses on developing a strategy for one's career services department. There is so much more to learn beyond the course content by tapping into the collective knowledge of the group. However, this is completely dependent upon you and if you choose to interact to collaborate by teaching and learning from one another. Introduce yourself and explain what you hope to learn in this course. I encourage you to read the posts from others in every forum. If you see something you can help someone with, something that you want… >>>

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