5 Sites That Help Student's Find Jobs

With a freshly printed degree in hands students walk off the podium in full gown and begin to capitalize on that degree as soon as possible. Their hopes and dreams are associated with providing a better life for themselves and the people they support. Reality hits when they have to find gainful employment but don't know where to use their new skills.

College often focuses on the skills needed to obtain employment but doesn't help student necessarily know where those jobs are or what they will need to apply. Sometimes students lack of employment prospects could be a direct result of not knowing where to apply. Schools that help students understand the job market may also benefit from better ratings.

Of course finding a job isn't only about the university and knowledge. It is necessary for student's to also have the motivation to apply for those jobs, communication skills, be ready for employment, and have something to sell on the market. Yet getting them in the right place to start looking can make a big difference if they are inclined to maximize their degree. 

5 Sites to Help Students Find Jobs:

http://www.indeed.com

http://www.simplyhired.com/

http://www.monster.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/

https://www.usajobs.gov/

The Problem of International Online Students and Local Adjuncts

Colleges adopted online platforms throughout the higher education institutions to enhance their current models. Traditional colleges are hiring local professors for online adjuncting work while not fully considering the benefits of diverse geographical hiring online education offers.  Moving beyond the traditional hiring model can help in creating an enhance educational experience.

Using local professors is great but doesn't really open the students mind to new places, ideas, and peoples. Local cultures have different values and these values are based on the way they see the world. Culture seeps through everything they do, think about, and say.

You can look around the adjunct job boards and find that many traditional universities don't post out adjunct work. Some of this is due to the influx of applications they receive but many others are a result of not yet fully understanding the online economy. They are relying on their land oriented models.

The risk is that they don't fully embrace the online economy and the potential advantages it offers. Colleges have always been slow to adapt. Very qualified adjunct, or full-time professors, are not included in their applicant pool simply because they are unaware of the opportunities. At the end of the day, the student and the university suffer from a lack of perspective.

Is Delayed Gratification the Key to Financial Success?

Your standing in a store and there in front of your eyes is a brand new watch at the bargain price of $250. Looks great on your watch and people will notice the next time you sit in a meeting. Do you buy it then or do you wait a few days to think before purchasing it? The way in which you answer that question will likely determine your overall financial success in life.

Many of the purchases we make are based on impulse. We see something that attracts us and our mind starts thinking about all the positive things the item offers. Sometimes this is about its utility and at other times it is more about how we perceive the item in relation to ourselves.

Positive images in our heads leads to positive feelings which increases our impulses to buy the product. We evaluate cost in terms of money and then decide on a purchase. If the item really has us salivating the money seems so much less important.

Those who can plan their purchases, save for items, and cut back spending on unnecessary items are likely to be successful because they can put their money into savings and investments. The more they can delay gratification for unnecessary things and focus on their long term goals the more successful they will be. A few tips below:

-Wait a few days to buy a product.
-Plan large purchases through savings.
-Understand what you need and what you don't need.
-Avoid using credit cards and debt.
-Put away money each paycheck.
-Cut back on fixed expenses and budget discretionary income.
-Rethink the first impulse.
-Evaluate the cost of items in terms of work hours.

Creating the "Can Do" Attitude In Your Workplace

The "Can Do" attitude can do wonders for your business and its bottom line. Human Resource managers are generally stumped about how to create an atmosphere that encourages performance. The complex nature of motivation is based upon many different factors some of which are the way in which think about the purpose of their actions, the resources needed to act on goals and how they view themselves in relation to others.

Purpose is important because without purpose there is no reason to act. If a goal has a purpose and has value to the people within an organization they are more likely to take positive actions toward that goal but also sustain necessary actions over a longer period time. When goals don't have a deep purpose they are often discarded quickly.

It is also important for a person to have resources to act on achieving a goal. If someone doesn't have the education, motivation, ability, or other resources to act they will likely not act. Each person makes an evaluation of alternatives and decides that acting is something they want to do and can do.

The "Can Do" attitude is social by nature. Self-efficacy and self-esteem are internalized social constructions. How we view ourselves is based on how other people interact with us and the cues they give us. Leadership and followership dynamics are based on how people view themselves within their social networks. Those who believe in themselves also believe in their ability to get things done.

Human Resource professionals and managers should create a purpose, ensure the necessary resources, and foster the belief they can get things done. The "Can Do" attitude is largely individualized but based upon the cues and resources of the organization. Positive attitudes are culturally based and organization leaders should do what they can to create the right environment.

Investing in Firm Specific or General Human Capital Development

Learning new skills is an additive process that begets more complex skill. Organizations are faced with trying to develop either firm-specific or general human capital capacities to create competitive advantages. Knowing whether to invest training resources into firm specific or general skills helps to create stronger competitive advantages. Where to invest in training depends on the type business and its products.

The discussion should first start with understanding the nature of broad versus firm-specific skills. Broad skills as contained within a degree like engineering that can be applied across many different businesses and industries.  It is a general battery of knowledge that is necessary to create a foundation of specific knowledge. 

Firm-specific skills are more focused on that which directly benefits the firm and applies to the unique nature of that company. Specific skills, like using a proprietary tools,  are generally not seen as transferable to other businesses. They are often taught in job specific training and practice. 

It is believed that there is a current global underinvestment in firm-specific human capital that creates competitive abilities (Coff & Raffiee, 2015). This is because of the transient nature of employment, a long term recession that limited training dollars, and a general migration to relying on formal higher education. 

Investing in firm specific skills is beneficial when the firm has a unique service/product that requires specialized firm-specific knowledge to maintain. Such firms may hire for general knowledge but use that knowledge to create specific skills needed within their proprietary environment. At its core, all learning, even on the micro level, can be applied to other places due to the additive process of learning. Investing in firm-specific or general knowledge will depend on the competitive offerings of each firm to determine its return on investment value.

Coff, R. & Raffiee, J. (2015). Toward a theory of perceived firm-specific human capital. Academy of Management Perspectives, 29 (3). 

Friends Influence Your Studying Habits and Chances of Completing College

Friends are an important part of having a healthy college life but it also influences the overall likelihood of getting good grades and completing college. College is a new experience and people are open to meeting all types of new people. Your friends will influence how you view school and your purpose for being in school. A few tips can help you stay on track.

When entering college for the first time you may not have a large friendship network and are naturally motivated to meet new people. This makes you open to new relationships and this is great! Make sure you evaluate the quality of those friends before moving from acquaintance to friend status.

It is important to find people who have an interest in completing college and have goals in their lives. Such friends will spend their time studying, socializing with others, and enjoying the college experience. They have a solid balance between work and play but always keep their eyes on their goals.

Your friends will also influence where you live, the things you do for fun, and the type of people you meet. Putting a positive spin on your college experience also means ensuring that you are hanging around with people who support you and enjoy similar activities. Good friends will help you stay focused on your studies and keep you out of problems.

Your friends will influence how much time you spend studying, class attendance rate, and the activities you will be completing. Making sure you got the right friends from the start will make a big impact on your whole college experience and potentially influence your graduation rate. Do yourself a favor and get in with the right friends right away to give yourself the extra support you need.

Researchers Say People are Dying from Not Finishing Their Degrees!

Will getting a degree help you live longer? According to a study publish in PLOS ONE Journal people who have obtained a higher education live longer. Annual deaths association with education are 145,243 not having a high school diploma, 110,068 for people who have only some college, and 554,525 for all people who don't have a BA degree. Who thought not reading would kill you?

It seems almost ridiculous that attending courses and reading books somehow translates into saving hundreds of thousands of lives but this is exactly what is happening. The reasons why this is the case will make a little more sense after you understand all the confounding variables in the study. It isn't necessarily the education but the lifestyle choices.

Higher education is a pathway to understanding and processing information. It impacts everything from our social networks to how we feel about ourselves. If we don't have the right connections, ability to handle our complex world, understand nutrition, motivation, healthcare access, etc... then we are limiting our potential. We die from an inability to navigate our environment or make proper choices.

Our lifestyle determines how long we will live. Higher education helps us increase our lifestyle and handle situations as they occur. We make better choices and understand the consequences of those choices. In the end, all of these small choices add or detract from our life expectancy. Life appears to be a bunch of baby steps that add up to some end. Higher education isn't only about books but also about our lifestyle!

Kruger, et. al. (2015). Mortality attributable to low levels of education in the U.S.. PLOS ONE http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0131809#abstract0