Introducing Me!

As I previously mentioned I have been fortunate to be offered a new position at North Carolina Central University as the Social Media & Marketing Coordinator. This is the beginning of a great position and I hope to grow the office so that it can benefit the Division of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management in the months and years to come.

One of the coolest things I had the pleasure of doing was writing my job description, you can read it here. The second thing about this position I would consider unique is that my position was created from the "top". When talking to colleagues I find that it is usually a grassroots lobbying effort to create a similar position and then selling the idea up the chain.

So while I am in the process of setting up my office, ordering supplies and meeting with 14 department directors and plotting my professional development, I have sketched out a few goals for this year:

1) Streamline social media efforts for service related departments to enhance our customer service efforts (admissions, fin aid, res life, etc.)
2) Conduct social media training for support departments in order to create a fluid look and feel
3) Work with ITS in launching a few web pages on the agenda
4) Hire & train 2 amazing student workers (web/graphic design & A/V)
5) Position the division to align the communications plan with the goals and missions of the University
6) Collaborate with other student affairs technology pros to create shareware/apps/tech tools
7) Prepare to present in 2012

As I go through the motions I will keep updating. Anyone looking for a mentee? I'm in the market.

New Job, Summer Conference wrap up & 2nd Masters start

Wow, it has been a while since I have blogged!

I've had a slight career change which has been awesome so far. I am now the new Social Media & Marketing Coordinator for the division of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management at North Carolina Central University. This is a big deal but not just for me but the institution as a whole. I am thankful for the opportunity to start and grow this area of the division at NCCU. I will expand on this position in a follow up post. If you have questions go ahead and comment and I will address them in that post. Thank you to all who have been supportive!

In June I attended the FREeLearning Conference hosted by the wonderful folks over at Appalachian State in Boone. This one day conference included wonderful talks/showcases from education pros about what is going on in education technology in NC. My favorite presentation was by a professor Shira Hedgepeth who is only  a few hours short of her JD talking about a Digital Imprint class she taught. It was amazing the amount of student development she obtained out of the course along with educating undergraduates on the importance of knowing your digital imprint and how to find information, computer forensic style. You can view her Prezi here. Teaching something like this is definitely on my radar.

This past weekend I attended #satechBOS hosted by the amazing NE folks at Boston University and Ed Cabellon. I also dropped in on the #edutweetup hosted which donated $1000 to the Kahn Academy from our entry fees. Yay! Ed was a fantastic moderator for the first Student Affairs unConference. I really enjoyed the organic flow of things and the amazing turnout including my fellow NC colleagues Tim Bounds from Duke and Kevin McClain of UNC-Greensboro. While I was in Boston I visited Harvard, MIT, Fenway, a cupcake shop and the Freedom Trail which were all essential to my technology immersion process. The major themes I gathered were social media examples & practices, accessibility of media and how to implement a media/communication strategy without the staff. It was eye opening for me to listen to what challenges the north east coast regions are facing in the areas of #satech. I look forward to meeting more folks at #NASPAtech in October.

Last but not least this fall I am excited to start my second masters at Texas A&M University-Commerce in Educational Technology and Leadership. Classes start August 29th so stay tuned...

Millennial effect on recruiting from within

The following was inspired by Cristina Gonzalez's article titled "Colleges Should Cultivate Leaders Within Their Own Ranks".

This is not based off of research but is a collection of my personal thoughts, speaking with my peers and observations. Basically my ramblings... sources will be sited as used.

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Professor Gonzalez discusses the desire to hire from within the college system to create stability and create a cohesion of ideas and projects among higher administration. I am not going to discuss whether this is a good idea or not but point out why this desire will become increasingly difficult.

As student affairs professionals we constantly look at the characteristics that make up the Millennial generation (our current students and new professionals). The ones I would like to highlight when looking at workplace longevity are: the need to collaborate, results and achievement oriented and more selectivity & loyalty (Sweeny, 2009).

The need to collaborate

As I start to delve into the culture of student affairs on a broader scale (i.e. twitter feeds, blogs, etc.) I am able to connect with like minded peers. It would make sense that eventually I would want to pull a King James and migrate to where these great minds are in order to collaborate on larger scale projects. I have found myself and peers making lists of where we want to work in our lifetimes and field relevant mentors we want to work with. 

As more of the Millennial generation enters the workforce I expect to see this shift in job searching and acceptance. After all networking and social media is becoming a driving force in job placement and recruitment.

Results and Achievement Oriented

Sweeny's study at The New Jersey Institute of Technology states: "Millennials are interested in processes and services that really work and really speed their interactions. They prefer merit systems to others (e.g. seniority)."

To me this says two things:

1) I would rather have an awesome diverse portfolio than wait in line to be department head, Dean or Chancellor at a single institution. (Especially when I can work with my hero, a diverse group of schools, get my Ph.D. and start my own business on the road there.)

2) I would like to create these process therefore I need to work for companies that can benefit from my skill set. Being content is not satisfactory. Especially not while I am waiting in line. It has been noted that Millennials must feel their work is meaningful and important on a professional and personal level (NAS, 2006).

Selectivity & Loyalty

"Perhaps the most important Millennial behavior is their expectation for more selectivity and options. They have grown up with a huge array of choices and they believe that it is their birthright... The converse is also true: they are most unhappy with limited choices." - Sweeny

I have constantly grown up with a fear of the cubicle and I have come to believe this is no coincidence. I spent a few moments chatting up my social networks to see how many positions those of us have held post college was an average of 4.25 , the number of moves was an average of 2.6, with the longest employment at one company being an average of 4 years. 

I would love to do this as a legitimate study... humm...

While unemployment is still high 51% of millennial do not expect job offers upon graduation (NAS) baby boomers are heading towards retirement and there is a demand for skilled workers.  Millennials are no stranger to technology and professional niches in order to help market themselves and create several options for employment. Added with the characteristic of "entitlement" there are now several options which creates selectivity on which employer Millennials will choose to work with. Especially in a competitive market for skilled workers in high demand fields.

"They expect to spend no more than 18 months to 2 years in their first job; expect constant 

practical training and useful skills; want office hours with flexible schedules; are more likely to be recruited online.  61% of CEOs say they have difficulty attracting and integrating younger workers."- Sweeny

When looking at the first two characteristics I discussed and combining them with the concept of loyalty it gets tricky. Retention is already an issue with older Millennials entering the workforce and will become a larger issue with each year. Money is not a solution to increase retention as noted by several researchers. The desire to satisfy personal and professional goals is always larger. (i.e. the key to retaining your best lab researcher is not going to be a salary increase but better support staff, access to new technology, recognition/ awards, a strong mentor, a customized career path and appreciation.- NAS) 

Wrap Up

Competition among universities is not new but in order to retain the new Millennial workforce some cultural shifts will have to occur. While the NAS document is not the most up-to-date it does maintain some good pointers about retention. 

Other thinking points:

• Will higher administration positions be plentiful as colleges re-structure?
• How will the Millennial generation effect traditional offerings in higher education such as tenure?

I don't have the answer to creating a stable higher administration staff for colleges but I know I'm not going to wait around to find out. I'm just a tweet away from working with my dream mentor and a kicking technology budget.