Month: April 2018

Kudos

SoACE Kudos: April 2018 Edition

April 27, 2018 by 0 Comments

Auburn University Career Center Crew
Kudos to the AU Career Center crew for sticking together and managing this time of transition with grace and enthusiasm. I am honored to be a part of this team. Keep up the great work; you rock!

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Career Services Team
Congratulations to the ERAU Career Services team for successfully launching Handshake this semester! Special thanks to Ommy Pearson and Valerie Mandel for ensuring things went as smoothly as possible.

LSU Olinde Career Center Team
What a year! You’ve handled the BIG changes (expected and unexpected) with grace, professionalism and most importantly, a student-centered approach. THANK YOU and GEAUX TIGERS!

Nancy Bernard, Auburn University Career Center
Huge thank you to Nancy Bernard for her 37 years of dedicated service to the Auburn University Career Center. Your impact cannot be understated and we wish you luck on your new adventure in retirement!

Torey Palmer, Auburn University Career Center
Thank you to Torey Palmer for stepping up to be the interim director for our office after Nancy’s retirement and during a major transition. Keep your crown held high!

Kristin Walker, Clemson University
Congratulations for receiving the NACE/Spelman Johnson Rising Star Award! It is a well-deserved honor. You inspire me (and many others) with your talent, enthusiasm, knowledge, work ethic, and authenticity. We are lucky to have you in the Career Services profession.

Ommy Pearson, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Career Services
Kudos to Ommy for going above and beyond in helping get our new career management platform ready for employers, students and alumni! Her attention to detail helped make everyone’s lives easier!

Teri-Anne Brennan, Enterprise Holdings
Congratulations to Teri-Anne Brennan for chairing a successful inaugural FloridaACE Virtual Career Fair! It was a great event and we are thankful for your efforts to work with Career Eco to get it off the ground and make it happen!

Sonia Gonzalez, Florida International University
You are an amazing co-worker! Always working hard to support your team, creating great content and support our hair-brain ideas. Thank you!

Nelly Leon, Florida International University
I just recently told someone, if I could clone you, I would! You are so professional, a collaborator, and so driven! Thank you for working hard and being a great team member. It doesn’t go unnoticed.

Carolyn Meeker, Florida International University
Congratulations Carolyn! You are now Dr. Meeker! We are so proud of you here at FIU.

Kayla Kucharchuk, LSU Olinde Career Center
Thanks for being our fearless leader in the Handshake transition! You’ve been organized, proactive, and resourceful!

Kyle O’Neal, LSU Olinde Career Center
You have elevated our employer relations strategy and brought new energy to the team! Thank you for your enthusiasm and flexibility in this first year.

Daniel Morgan, Mississippi State University
(This Kudos should be read to the tune of the Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials.) Here’s to you, Mr. Calm, Cool, and Collected. When faced with the opportunity to host our first ever joint career fair with another institution, you say, “Bring it on.” Even though the name badges wouldn’t print, you didn’t blow your top. What’s that? The sawhorse didn’t get delivered? No problem; it’s all good. So pop open an ice cold bottle of Dasani and turn on your favorite Jam of the Day, Mr. Cool Under Fire. You’ve earned it!

Niemah Butler, Nova Southeastern University
Kudos to Niemah Butler and the entire Employer Relations team for putting on another successful NSU Career & Internship Expo!

Bethany Farrell, Texas A&M Commerce
I’d like to recognize Bethany for her work as Co-Chair of the SoACE ER Summit (for the second year), as well as for her work as President of a very active MAC3 (The Metroplex [Dallas-Fort Worth] Area Consortium of Career Centers). Her generosity in her time and effort and leadership with these organizations bring great value to both and are very much appreciated by so many!

David Earnhardt, UNC Asheville
David worked tirelessly on our Career Fair for Spring 2018 and his strong work paid off. We had the most employers UNC Asheville has ever had at a Career Fair. Thank you, David, great work!

Brittany Kusniar, UNCG Employer Relations
Brittany’s abilities far exceed her “time in the game”. She brings a fabulous attitude, deep care for students and professionalism to work each day, and prioritizes relationships inside and outside of the office. She is a joy to work with and has done remarkable things in her first year. Congrats Brittany! You are appreciated!

Lindsey Martin, UNCG Employer Relations
Lindsey has the tremendous charge of creating thoughtfully designed recruiting events to support hundreds of employer relationships and thousands of students. Lindsey’s eye for detail and commitment to the highest quality make her an incredible asset to our team. Thank you, Lindsey, for a fantastic year!

Megan Walters, UNCG Career Development Team
Megan has been with us for just over a year, and what a difference a year makes! Her constant positivity and professionalism has pushed our organization to accomplish exceptional things this year. Megan’s leadership is valued and we are lucky to have her!

Kaitlyn Vann Bean, University of South Carolina Career Center
Kaitlyn has been a rock star for the past several months, stepping up to take on a number of additional roles due to staff shortages/extended absences. THANK YOU KAITLYN!!

Meagon Bean, UT Chattanooga University Career Services
Meagon joined our team as a Career Counselor in December and has already made a great impact on the department and campus as a whole. She is making connections with key campus partners, and has a wonderful ability to engage students. Meagon is very relational and people enjoy interacting with her. We are so glad to have her as part of our team.

Heidi Thuesen, Virginia Tech
Kudos to all of your hard work in organizing the 2018 SoACE Scholarship process. Thank you so much for your commitment of time and energy to this important project.

ER Summit Updates - Professional Development

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About The Upcoming Employer Relations Summit

April 20, 2018 by 0 Comments

by Dia Buchanan, Belmont University, SoACE ER Summit Co-Chair

Join the conversation with the Employer Relations Knowledge Group and others at the Annual SoACE Employer Relations Summit on June 20-22, 2018! Our mission is to present a program that helps employer relations professionals invest in networking, accelerate learning and drive home results from the beautiful city of Charlotte.

Who doesn’t like professional development? Take registration off of your to-do list. Don’t delay, members and non-members can register today. The Summit will be held at the Sheraton Charlotte Hotel. The hotel is ideally located in Uptown, near many dining, shopping, and entertainment options. Below are details to encourage your participation:

CONFERENCE WELCOME:

On Wednesday, we will open our Summit with a welcome from Charlotte’s workforce aligner and convener. Charlotte Works is providing opportunities that prepare people for education and available careers while connecting businesses to skilled workers within the region.

ROUNDTABLES:

During these mini-networking sessions, participants will dip quickly into topics in an open environment for idea sharing, benchmarking and guided discussions. Hosts are prepared to facilitate and provide expert opinions on these topics:

  • Academic Partner Collaboration, University of Tennessee, Danny Pape
  • Cut it – What would you do instead?, UNC Charlotte, Partick Madsen
  • Diversifying your Employer Base, University of Tennessee, Mary Beth Browder
  • Driving Better Results, Vanderbilt University, Jennie Marchal
  • Embedding Employer Relations into the Curriculum, Clayton State University, Charles Howard
  • Employer Advisory Boards, Virginia Tech, Jim Henderson
  • Fun with Fairs, Clemson University, Lisa Bundrick
  • Incorporating Inclusion & Equity Practices into Strategy, University of Georgia, Kelvin Rutledge
  • Partnerships that Produce, Birmingham Business Alliance, Brittney Smith
  • Services and Development, Oklahoma State University Career Services, Roberta Douglas and Kelsie Miner
  • Student Peers as Paraprofessionals, Belmont University, Dia Buchanan

KEYNOTE:

We are pleased to welcome Raven Solomon as our Keynote speaker on Thursday. She will share her powerful story and unique presentation related to the conference theme: Invest. Accelerate. Drive.

EMPLOYER PANEL:

Lunch on Thursday includes a panel discussion with recruiters and human resource professionals within top industries.

AvidXchange

Why AvidXchange? By trade we are a technology company, but if you ask anyone that works here they’ll tell you we are a people company. We pride ourselves on creating a work environment that facilitates personal growth, inspires innovation, and results in the leading payment automation solution for the mid-market.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States, supplying and delivering electricity to approximately 7.4 million U.S. customers. We have approximately 52,700 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Carolinas, the Midwest and Florida – and natural gas distribution services serving more than 1.5 million customers in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Our commercial business owns and operates diverse power generation assets in North America, including a portfolio of renewable energy assets.

Red Ventures

Red Ventures is a leading digital consumer choice platform based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Through deeply integrated brand partnerships and consumer-facing assets, Red Ventures connects online customers with products and services across high-growth industries including home services, financial services, and healthcare. Founded in 2000, Red Ventures has more than 3,600 employees in offices across the US, in London, UK, and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS:

Session One Options:

Thank you! An Innovative Event to Appreciate our Employer Partners
Erin Stapleton, Kennesaw State University
Learn about one event to show employers appreciation for recruiting students at your school.

Collaboration on a Decentralized Campus
Alison Hogue, University of South Carolina
Explore tips and strategies for best practices in building campus partnerships, and synthesize them for use on their own campuses.

Session Two Options:

Diversity Matters: Building Professional and Career Relationships
Dana Hutchens and Lori Sykes, Wake Forest University
Learn how to create a program that connects organizations seeking diverse applicants with students from a variety of backgrounds.

Go to Market: Leveraging Alumni for Employer Relations Success
Jamie Stamey, Davidson College
Learn how to leverage relationships with on-campus partners to deepen alumni engagement.

Session Three Options:

Transformational Field Trips: How to Launch & Build a Career Treks Program
Jessie Simonik, UNC Charlotte
Learn best practices for building a Treks program on a college campus

From the Front Lines: Employers Hiring Priorities, Preferences and Prerequisites
Emily Lawson, American Staffing Association
Learn checklist of the things that top hiring managers look for to find top talent

SITE VISIT:

Belk, Inc

On Friday we will visit Belk, Inc., a private department store company based in Charlotte, N.C.. It is where Southern customers shop for their perfect Sunday dress, the Saturday night outfit, and where family and community matter most. But Belk is more than shopping – it’s where you find your own unique way to express who you are. It’s where Southern style lives.

At Belk they believe that Southern isn’t just a place, it’s an attitude, a state of mind and a way of doing business that has made our company and associates so successful over the years. It´s what makes them unique; it´s what makes them Belk.

Above all else, there you’ll find opportunities to make huge impact. It´s the result of dynamic initiatives, financial and structural support, and strong investments in the areas that are taking Belk to new heights.

OPTIONAL EVENTS:

Form new relationships and strengthen existing ones through networking at our optional events. We will begin our experience with a pre-conference tour of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. On Thursday evening we will connect and mingle over food, music and drinks at Flight.

Invest in yourself and drive (or fly) to the SoACE ER Summit 2018. We look forward to seeing you in Charlotte! Questions? Reach out to the Summit Committee Co-Chairs Bethany Ferrall or Dia Buchanan.

__________

Dia Buchanan is the Recruitment Coordinator in the Office of Career & Professional Development at Belmont University. She presently serves within SoACE as co-chair of the Employer Relations Summit and Assistant Program Coordinator of Tweet Chats and Social Media for the Employer Relations Knowledge Group (ERKG). Connect with her on LinkedIn for collaboration.

 

 

 

Award Recipients

Stephanie Bird, 2017 Imaginative Spirit Award Recipient

April 13, 2018 by 1 Comment

The Imaginative Spirit Award may be presented to a college or employer member to recognize their contributions towards the implementation of a unique and creative approach relevant to student/alumni programming, advising, employer/university relations, recruiting and/or training.  The purpose for this award is to uphold high standards of excellence in support of student/alumni/employer/ university engagement, to encourage and reward creativity in our profession and to recognize and share best practices. Stephanie Bird, Senior Assistant Director for Career Branding at UNC Charlotte, was our most recent recipient at the 2017 Annual Conference in San Antonio.

Stephanie was nominated by Patrick Madsen, University Career Center Director at UNC Charlotte, who wrote:

Stephanie was tasked with bringing the NACE Career Competencies to life at our university. A new product and way of thinking about career development and branding will integrate their resource into the academic experience educating students on career branding and the connection between their higher education experience and the next steps in their career maturity. The future will see a redesign of job postings enabling employers to communicate in each job and internship they post what competencies they are seeking for their job function—helping students translate their unique experiences to each job they apply to. The administration and university as a whole have also come on board and are having intensive discussions as the career center moves forward with this great initiative which came from a challenge to think big – dream big.

Stephanie serves as Senior Assistant Director for Career Branding at UNC Charlotte, assisting freshmen and sophomores in their career development. She works closely with the Career Development team in exploring the career development process for students to ensure their career success.

Prior to joining the University Career Center team, Stephanie worked at Georgia Southern University as the Career Development Specialist for the College of Engineering & Information Technology and the College of Science and Mathematics. Stephanie received her Master of Science in Counselor Education with an emphasis in Student Affairs from Radford University and her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Virginia Tech.

Stephanie has been involved with SoACE since 2009 and has been involved in a variety of ways, including being a member of the conference committee and marketing committee. Additionally, Stephanie served as Chair of the 2017 Annual Conference in San Antonio.