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

Lesli, Many schools have Facebook accounts and most Career Services offices, according to a NACE survey, have their own Facebook account. The goals of each are different. Whereas your school may be using social media as a lead generation tool and an engagement tool for retention purposes, Career Services has unique goals. It sounds like your office currently is not leveraging social media for Career Services goals since you do not have a Career Services account. As a Career Services Director, I had to convince others to let Career Services have their own page and I had to explain why.… >>>

Discussion Comment

Lesli, Have you considered how monitoring social media can provide insight on student interests and behaviors and how their interests can be leveraged in your communication strategies with them to help them get back on track? You mention calls, emails, and letters as tools used to reach out to students to "comply with the school." What if you changed your approach to use student-preferred communication tools (Social Media) not to get them to "comply with the school," but to build close relationships and trust over time? How might they respond differently if the relationship is improved? Moreover, how might improved… >>>

Discussion Comment

Lesli, Engagement is involvement and centers around building long-term relationships. Graduation and employment information are part of required disclosures so nothing makes this information particularly strategic to share on social media platforms for the purpose of driving community development and engagement. Lesli, can you please explain your social media strategy and what goals you are hoping it will achieve? Furthermore, can you please explain your strategy for why you have chosen to use required disclosures as part of your engagement strategy and what feedback from users demonstrates that this content is "engaging?" Do you use Facebook Insights or any of… >>>

 

WHY DO PEOPLE ENGAGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA?

When I think of the people on social media platforms with whom I engage, the first universal factor that keeps me engaged is that I love the content they publish.  I love the content they publish because it is valuable, helpful, and relevant to me, therefor they are a resource for me.  How does your career center act as a resource to employers beyond their hiring needs?

 

FIND OUT WHAT INTERESTS YOUR EMPLOYER PARTNERS

Employers have challenges beyond hiring talent.  How else is an employer's relationship with you valuable to them?… >>>

Discussion Comment

Glenn, When you say you meet with students one-on-one - What challenge(s) do you use this intervention to overcome? If one-on-one meetings with students is important to their success, how might you use social media to increase the one-on-one meetings you have? You say you "maintain" a network of industry professionals - how do you maintain your relationships and keep employers engaged with you and the school? How will you use social media to enhance your employer outreach strategy as well as your employer engagement strategy? Often times career professionals talk about outreach without talking about engagement. Advisory boards are… >>>

 

USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A JOB BOARD MISSES THE POINT

Social media is about relationships and the only way to build relationships is to engage in meaningful interaction. Maybe using social media to post jobs is analogous to using a 3rd generation 64GB 4G iPad for nothing more than reading an e-book. In reality, a job board, whether it is on Facebook, a blog, or a wiki space, is no more valuable than a piece of paper with jobs on it yet many career services professionals who start to use social media as part of their career center strategy… >>>

 

SOCIAL MEDIA BACKGROUND CHECKS ON THE RISE

The rise of social media has already had numerous implications for career professionals both in the way they provide service to constituents and in the way constituents go about their job search.  One of the hottest legal issues centers around the social media background check.  The social media background check grew in attention when the company, Social Intelligence Corp was given the green light by the FTC to scan and collect user profile information to be used in social media background checks as a service for employers.  Employment Screening Resources (ESR) named… >>>

Hello Joseph - I was wondering if you could break down to those in the Lounge what you mean by "mind reprogramming."  I love the term BTW.  Thanks for contributing to the learning in the Lounge.

Glen, Job postings represent one form of content that can be shared on a network for a career services page but have you considered other strategic communications for some of the purposes discussed in the course? For instance, how could your Career Services page publish content that contributes to student career-readiness by being a central part of a student's PLN? What type of content might that be? What ways would you use a Facebook platform not as a job board, but as a tool to build affinity with your office and increase student participation? You may get more ideas as… >>>

Glenn, Relationship building is key and as a social media user yourself, I can already tell you understand the importance of leveraging any resources possible to improve student relationships. You said you have a "school" page but do you have a Career Services page? If so, how might a career services page be differentiated from your school page to help you achieve your career center's goals which likely differ from a school page which may focus on retention and lead generation? Robert Starks Jr.

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