Month: May 2019

Professional Development - Technology KG

4 Simple Reasons to Register for the SoACE Technology Boot Camp

May 31, 2019 by 0 Comments

by Danielle Golinski, Elon University & SoACE Technology Boot Camp Chair

The third annual SoACE Technology Boot Camp is quickly approaching! On Wednesday July 24 and Thursday July 25, SoACE members will connect virtually to learn how colleagues are exploring marketing techniques and utilizing technology trends in their respective spaces. We have so much to learn from each other! So, put on your comfiest of clothes, grab a cup of joe, your techiest way to take notes, and learn something new from your colleagues!

Now, why should you register for sessions of interest? Read on:

  1. It’s free! Yes, really! SoACE provides so many fantastic, fun and free opportunities to continue the learning for everyone at every stage in their professional development. This is just another great option to spice up your month.
  2. It’s convenient! Attend every 1-hour session (8 total) to fill up your afternoons or pick and choose a topic that catches your attention. And, if the dates don’t work for you, the sessions will be recorded so you can watch them on your own time. At the airport, on the beach, or at home the opportunities to watch are literally endless. Yay!
  3. Learn something new! If you have “Learner” in your Top 5 Strengths like I do, then you know how I feel about learning something new. I’m a total geek when it comes to the process of learning something new. I get excited and I get energized. Don’t you? Even if you don’t have Learner in your Top 5 you are still encouraged to stretch outside of your initial learning bubble and consider the “what if” option. If you can’t benefit directly from the content, maybe on of your colleagues at your institution or across your state would benefit. Here’s your line: “Hey Sam! I just learned some really unique program ideas at a virtual technology boot camp offered through SoACE. It was so helpful! I know that you’ve got a lot going on this summer, so let me treat to you a cup of coffee next week so that I can share with you everything I learned as I think the project that you’re working on with Joseph would greatly benefit from this new information.” You’re welcome!
  4. Support your fellow colleagues! Show your colleagues (whether you’ve met them or not) some virtual love. Let’s show up in the masses, and interact with them. Send them questions through the platform and follow up with them after to continue the conversation offline. The community of SoACE is strong and mighty, let’s continue this incredible trend! No pressure!

I’ve thought of at least 4. If you could add one more, what would it be? Technology Boot Camp registration coming soon! Keep an eye out in your email!

Questions about the boot camp? Contact Danielle Golinski (dgolinski@elon.edu). Can’t wait to “see” you there!

Advice

A Fist of Fury

May 17, 2019 by 0 Comments

by Danielle Golinski, Elon University

Let’s play a game between you and an imaginary partner. I want you to close your fist as hard as you can in your right hand. Squeeze it. Keep squeezing. Squeeze it even tighter. Your partner’s job is to now try to open your fist in any means possible. You have 45 seconds. Go!

Using your imagination, what do you think would happen? Would your partner use their strength and power to try to open your hand? Would they try to tickle you to see if you would budge? Would they try to claw one finger at a time away from your palm? Would they give up after 15 seconds and realize that it’s impossible and an awkward game?

Now, in this scenario, what is one thing that didn’t happen? What is one thing that may not have come to your mind right away, just like it didn’t come to my mind for the first time that I did this activity with a stranger at a conference. (Yes, it was really awkward!) Did you consider asking the other person to open their hand? Asking for help was something that never even crossed my mind in the heat of the game. Interesting.

Especially in new situations, it is easy to get caught up and maybe a little asking-for-help-shy. We’ve all been there. When starting a new role – job, internship, or a new group project – it’s important to think outside the box, and use your voice to gain clarification, understand instructions better, or to ask for help. It’s okay to ask for help, I promise! Ask for feedback, ask for support, ask early so that you don’t have to re-do a project all over again. Ask your supervisor or manager, ask a colleague, ask a mentor, ask a career advisor, ask a friend.

In closing, think about a specific recent situation where you’ve fought over and over to open up a hypothetical fist. Bring it into focus really clearly. Now, if you are to do this experience again, how could – or can you – open your options, and simply ask for the issue to open its hand. Now, apply it. Make it happen and use your beautiful voice to ask for a bit of help. It’s okay, I promise!

__________

As the Assistant Director of Career Services for the Love School of Business at Elon University (Elon, North Carolina), Danielle meets with students to support their professional and career goals. She enjoys getting to know students as a well-rounded, talented individuals while exploring their interests, strengths, and values. Danielle collaborates with faculty and staff throughout the business school to provide career-related programs and presentations.

As an advisor she works with students from all majors to help them set and reach their career goals. She supports students through conversations revolving around resume and cover letter development, networking and personal branding, creating strategies for the job and internship search, interview assistance, and professional and dining etiquette.

Outside of Elon, Danielle loves running, teaching group fitness classes, trying new and unique recipes, listening to country music, and spending as much time outside as possible.

Award Recipients

Paige Hellman, 2018 New Professional Award Recipient

May 10, 2019 by 0 Comments

The New Professional Award may be presented to SoACE members with no more than five years of experience in the profession who have demonstrated significant contributions to career services and/or recruitment. It is meant to recognize “future leaders” within the association.  Contribution may be to the association, a state association, NACE, or through direct activities as a part of their normal employment.  These activities must show innovation, reflect foresight, and display promise that the individual has the unique quality of future leadership. Paige Hellman, Senior Career Coordinator at the Texas A&M University Career Center, was presented with this award at the 2018 Annual Conference in Atlanta.

Paige was nominated by Dr. Michael Shehane, Director of Campus Programs at the Texas A&M Career Center. His nomination described her as follows:

“Leadership, innovation, foresight…these words barely scratch the surface for the accomplishments she has achieved so early in her career.

Soon after joining the Texas A&M Career Center as the Career Coordinator for First and Second Year Students, Paige lead both regional and national initiatives to bring early engagement in career advising to the forefront…by developing the First and Second Year Career Advising Consortium, a collection of career services professionals from across the nation dedicated to serving first and second year students, representing more than 25 institutions from coast to coast, large to small, and public to private.

She also organized a collaborative panel for the 2017 SoACE conference titled “First and Second Year Students: Building a Bridge to Early Career Engagement,” and launched the “First and Second Year Initiatives Career Advising Focus Area” currently serving as the coordinator through SoACE. This focus area hosted the “Summer Sharing Series,” a three-part webinar that focused on early engagement and best practices for sophomore and freshman programming.

And, perhaps best stated by students she has assisted through her primary role as Career Coordinator in the Texas A&M Career Center, “Everything she does is for the betterment of the students she serves.  She has dedicated herself to helping others learn and develop and is so loved by her students for being the catalyst that she is.”  Another student shared, “She impacted my college experience by first and foremost helping me to understand what it meant to be persistent and work toward my dreams.”

Dr. Shehane ends his nomination by stating, “It is one thing to come to work every day and give back to your students and your institution.  It is another to recognize an opportunity to so drastically impact your industry—change the landscape by starting an absolutely necessary conversation—and seize the moment to make a long-lasting difference.”

Paige Hellman serves as a Senior Career Coordinator within the Career Center at Texas A&M University. Paige primarily works with first and second-year students, developing campus relationships and programs aiming to engage students in career planning and exploration as early as possible. Her goal is to aid students in selecting majors and careers based on their values. Paige also serves as the advisor for Aggie Career Team, the Career Center’s career peer educator program. Paige earned a B.A. in Communication from Texas A&M University in 2015 and an M.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs from the University of South Carolina in 2017. She will begin pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University in Fall 2019.