Robert Pearl Starks

Hi Vanessa, Good questions. Great marketing collateral can always help set a candidate apart including cover letters. We see they are still requested and they have been a long-time practice, thus, are not likely to just vanish any time soon. Rather than think in absolutes such as (Don't use cover letters because they are outdated OR Use cover letters because they are better at differentiating candidates than resumes) - I think we need to focus more on teaching students strategy and the importance of research to tailor their marketing package to the audience. We must also help students understand that… >>>

Hi Vanessa, Certainly, some trends are more prevalent in specific industries but I think it is a bit more accurate that online presence is a trend more so than to characterize a trend of the use of "LinkedIn." When you think about the impact of online presence alone, we really see multiple trends including social media background checks, new ways to research companies to tailor resumes and prepare for interviews, new ways to network, new ways to learn from experts, new ways to contribute and/or show expertise in a given field, etc. All of these trends stem from online presence… >>>

Hi Vanessa, My observation was that faculty were often giving contradictory (and outdated) advice and guidance to students. Additionally, faculty were not current on the importance of a professional online presence. Thus, I specifically requested to have 30 minutes of time to address the faculty during an in-service. My DOE was very open to this and was actually appreciative that I proactively wanted to train them on current career marketing trends. My presentation goal was to get the faculty to understand that recruiting practices have changed; thus, job search and career marketing has also dramatically changed so that they could… >>>

Hi Vanessa, Thank you for sharing your experience! This is a great "case-study" for others who may want to implement similar strategies. My own experience is very similar to the process you described. In my experience, faculty were a bit more territorial and had lots of resistance with exception of a few. I partnered with the DOE and requested to conduct training for our faculty at in-services. I still remember the first time I delivered a training - light bulbs came on and they had the "aha" moment and saw that what we conveyed to them (which is what we… >>>

Hi Jennifer, I think many people feel Twitter is a social network only to be used for personal reasons. However, I would challenge this idea. Twitter has many professional development benefits. For instance, following experts allows one to build what is known as a PLN (Personal Learning Network). Learning from the content that other experts are producing and sharing allows an individual to engage in informal learning about topics of interest. Given the fact that recruiters use Twitter to recruit and companies use Twitter for branding, customer engagement, and to attract talent, Twitter has yet another professional use of engaging… >>>

Hi Jennifer, I appreciate your emphasis on personalizing one’s career-marketing collateral. You said it best – “…A cover letter specifically written to each individual employer is more professional.” Of course, the same is true for resumes, as they too should be tailored for specific positions. This raises an interesting question about the purpose of the summary or objective section of a resume and how it should be used…with or without a cover letter. But before we dive into that question, consider this: - Cover letters were “invented” years ago when resumes were not so easy to adapt because they were… >>>