5 Traits of Authentic Leadership

Authentic leadership with its ability to create positive work outcomes and improve performance in the workplace has been shown in research to be a leadership style that can enhance job satisfaction for direct reports.

“Urgent! You Need to Show Your Work!”

Early in my time at USF Sarasota-Manatee’s Career Services, it was revealed that I studied, read, and wrote poetry fairly extensively ever since I was in my early twenties. My then-supervisor bought me a very thoughtful gift soon thereafter: a book that grounded many work-related philosophies I held and taught me several new ones that I practice every day.

UWF Sees Positive Results with the “College Liaison Model”

Jennifer Hill M.P.A. M.Ed., University of West Florida

Career Services at the University of West Florida has utilized its College Liaison Model in a unique way this year.  Each Liaison has planned and executed a “Career Road Trip” to a local employer related to the majors in their college. These trips take approximately 25 students to a local employer and consist of a behind-the-scenes tour, talks on what a typical day looks like, career advice for students, and conclude with a networking session.

The students sign-up to attend the free event and complete an online learning module that includes developing a One-Minute Commercial to assist them with networking at the event. Students are provided lunch by either Career Services or the Employer and provided transportation to the event by Career Services.

All UWF students/alumni are invited to attend the event, however seats are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.  A waitlist is also available when the available seats are filled and empty seats are offered to those on the waitlist through the morning of the event itself (in the case of no-shows).

Locations included:

• Enterprise Rent-a-Car (College of Business)
• Pensacola Blue Wahoos Stadium (College of Education and Professional Studies)
• Navy Federal Credit Union (Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering)
• Andrew’s Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine (Usha Kundu, MD College of Health)
• Pensacola Museum of Art (College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities)

At the conclusion of each trip, the employers and students are asked to complete a follow-up survey seeking feedback related to their experience.

The students are also asked about their confidence levels in their ability to effectively communicate with a potential employer prior to the event and then again at the conclusion of the event.

In addition, 100% of students indicated they would recommend the Career Road Trips to other students and had the following to say about their experiences:

“The PMA road trip was a very eye opening experience. By seeing the behind the scenes of the museum, I learned that it takes an extensive collaborative effort to keep the institution afloat. This trip showed me that I would enjoy working in a museum type atmosphere. The networking opportunities were a tremendous help as well, it allowed me to gain valuable volunteer and internship experience to add to my resume.”-Pensacola Museum of Art Career Road Trip Attendee

“The Career Road Trip to the PMA provided me the opportunity to get an in depth, behind the scenes look at gallery studies and what it’s like to work in an art gallery. Although I am studying to be a practicing artist rather than an art historian, this opportunity opened my eyes to what a career in this particular field entails and gave me the opportunity to build relationships with influential community figures and potential mentors.”- Pensacola Museum of Art Career Road Trip Attendee

Employers also had very positive things to say about their experiences with the Road Trips:

“We feel that the road trip was a positive experience for both the students and the staff. The students were professional and motivated. We look forward to having those students take an active role in the museum and our relationship with future career service road trips.” –Pensacola Museum of Art

“Working to coordinate this event with Tim was seamless, and our employees were eager and willing to take time out of their day to speak with UWF undergraduate students. Our employees had great feedback from being involved with the event and are looking forward to the next opportunity.” –Andrew’s Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine

For more information on the Career Road Trips or our College Liaison Model, please feel free to contact me at jhill2@uwf.edu 

 

Just Another Day in the Life!

by Ben Heins, M.F.A. Internship Coordinator, Career Services, USF Sarasota-Manatee

The semester has been crazy busy but also crazy good. We launched a ton of new, fun initiatives – the most notable of which would be our very own version of USF Tampa’s leadership series (featured at FloridaACE 2016) wherein students are paid for completing a series of sessions presented by executive leadership at a prominent organization. Also, our employer outreach has been in overdrive lately thanks to our Career Advising team getting into a groove and working closer with the rest of Career Services. And the students! Goodness, they never cease to amaze me.  🙂  Just met a young gun who “retired” from playing chess at 18 because he won a national championship and “got bored.” Ha!

Picture of Ben and student Katie Ciemniecki taken on site at her internship with Gasparilla Inn & Club on Boca Grande.

Three Ways to Take the Headache Out of Creating Your Fair Floor Plan

David Nicol, Co-Founder, Career Fair Plus

Do you dread assigning your employers a table at your Career Fair? Do you worry about leaving someone out or not putting them in the right place? What about making changes at the last minute? And after all that… will your attendees know how to use it?

We see several hundred floor plans and table assignments at Career Fair Plus each year. Here are some of our favorite ways to keep it all straight and make it work for students.

1. Plan for for overflow

The last thing you want to be doing right before your event  is moving tables around. Plan your table layout to use the space you have and allow for some extra tables in case you have last-minute sign ups. That way you don’t have to squeeze in extra tables on the map or shift them around at the last minute.

2. Number your tables logically

Many layouts have rows in the middle and a perimeter of tables on the outside. Try to keep consecutive numbers as close as possible to each other. This will help you understand who might be next to each other at the planning stage and help your students find each booth.

3. Use a spreadsheet to assign booths

When it’s time to assign booths, start with your list of registered employers in a spreadsheet. Typically, you already have a list of employers in your registration system, so the best thing to do is create a new column for your booths and assign them directly in the spreadsheet. We have seen countless errors crop up when people try to assign the booths using a list that is not based on their registration data. The most common mistakes we see are typos, missing companies, and duplicate companies and these can cause a lot of frustration and confusion right before the big event.

We believe that if you follow these three guidelines, you will have a more successful and satisfying career fair with significantly less frustration for both you and your attendees. I hope you found this useful and invite you to check out Career Fair Plus (www.careerfairplus.com). We give you the power to put all of the necessary career fair information directly in the hands of your students.