A WhyHire.me Profile Starts with a Pitch

Graduating Algonquin PR Students Using WhyHire.me

The first three classes of the WhyHire.me program focus on developing a positioning pitch which will set the tone and theme for a student’s WhyHire.me profile.  A few pitches from the Algonquin Public Relations class follow.

Ashlie Cormack: A willingness to embrace change and commitment to her values are what set Ashlie apart. She strives to be passionate not only for her work, but for the people she works with. Her skill comes from leadership roles in academic and athletic environments. Her ideal job isn’t restricted to the “9-5” but is integrated into every aspect of her life.

Mae McCrae: Mae McCrae is a compelling speaker with a passion for positively influencing lives. A former youth leader, she now manages a young marrieds group, drama, and music department for her church. Mae has a flare for giving a project a unique and recognizable stamp. Her way with words and great listening skills will be valuable to any organization.

Jessa Millar: Jessa is very passionate about the success of causes she works on. She has a lifelong history of involvement in her community. Delivering a constant out-pour of creative ideas, she makes connections and mobilizes action. Jessa’s problem-solving skills, personable nature and contagious enthusiasm make her a valued part of initiatives she engages in.

Once these students have created their pitches, they then work to develop their profiles using text, photos, blog posts, Twitter feeds to support and prove their pitch.  They will look at their school, volunteer, work placement projects, extra curricular, and part-time work to present rich experiences that are valuable to prospective employers.  I’m impressed with this bunch, they have a lot to offer their industry.

Right now their profiles are private but when they are ready, we’ll let you know.

Jessa’s very passionate about the success of causes she works on. She has a lifelong history of involvement in her community. Delivering a constant out-pour of creative ideas, she makes connections and mobilizes action. Jessa’s problem-solving skills, personable nature and contagious enthusiasm make her a valued part of initiatives she engages in.It’A

Algonquin Career Week – Innovation & Connections

Algonquin’s Career Week is underway.  I was fortunate enough to be a speaker yesterday along with many others.  My 45 min. presentation focused on Developing Your Online Personal Brand.  You can find the presentation on Slideshare and I will be presenting it again on Thursday at 2:30pm.  I digress…

I had hoped to attend the session The Future of Careers in Science, Technology & Engineering by Louis Lamontagne but I was called into a meeting and could not make it. While I was checking Twitter after my meeting, I found a link from the Algonquin Students Association of a video version of the presentation.  I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and was thrilled to see Algonquin being innovative in the use of new tools to share information and promote learning.

As I listened to his insights and words of advice there were many comments that struck a cord with me.  At several points in his presentation he noted the importance of ‘distinguishing’ yourself as a candidate for a position.  His words of advice included adapt and be flexible, be enthusiastic, ask questions, show interest, and get involved.  One of our key messages to our students is about showing initiative.

At the end of his presentation, he stressed the importance of revealing to employers that as a candidate you should be well-rounded. He then suggested getting involved in sports, pick up hobbies and doing volunteer work and overall all to ‘milk this place (the college)’ while you are there. Like Lamontage, we strongly believe that students should be extracting and seeking out experiences during their time at school.  In the end, your goal as a candidate is to distinguishing yourself from the crowd and it takes actions and commitment to do that.  I definitely connected with Lamontage’s view and hope to meet him in person one day soon.

Proud of My Community…

I have been in awe of this great community of ours. For the past several weeks, I have seen people drop what they are doing, lend a helping hand, offer up their profits, pass on their treasures, pass on a message, post a word of encouragement and help a complete stranger. Today’s Ottawa 67’s Family Fun Day for Rene Faucher was a real tribute to community – countless people came up to our table and offered up a signature and a donation to the Faucher Douglas trust fund.

Several were friends or former colleagues of Rene, but many were strangers. It felt great …I was completely touched by people’s generosity and outpouring of support. Patti and I wish to thanks the following organizations and people that contributed to its success:

• The Ottawa 67’s – Patrick Whalen, Sherly Hunt and Johanna Elgie and many others from the organization for making the event happen
• The media who help raise awareness and helped put buns in seats (Team 1200, CTV, CBC)
• Mark and Jill Emery at the Paper Sign Man for event signage
• The game volunteers: April Murphy, Tracey Everitt, Dimitri Pantazopoulos and his two daughters, Laurie Murphy-Pytura and Mike Pytura and their kids and finally, Patti Church and our kids. These people were instrumental to having additional funds being contributed to the Faucher Douglas trust fund.

Rene Faucher Family Fun Day Fundraiser – SUNDAY Feb 7th @ 2PM

Click HERE to buy a ticket for Sunday’s Ottawa 67s vs. Guelph Storm at 2PM. Andy and I hope you and many others will come out and support Rene and his family.

Half of the proceeds from online tickets sales will be donated to the Faucher Douglas trust fund that was recently established by the community. This event is being put on to help René and his wife Dianne Douglas with their financial responsibilities as well as pull the community together to support them. All those that want to participate must mention Rene’s name at the box office or jump to this special link to purchase tickets –>  https://www.ottawa67s.com/ssl/store/fundraiser.asp

We will be sharing pictures and messages with René and all his supporters during the game via Twitter. Please look for our tabletop in the concourse to get your photo taken and sign a get-well 67’s flag. Well wishers that cannot make the game are welcome to donate to the fund online or at Scotiabank.  For more information on how to donate to the family, please visit http://www.faucherdouglastrustfund.com/

All are welcome to Tweet Rene before, during and after the game by simply including #getwellrene in your Twitter message.

Kaplan Message – It’s your time…to simply remotely listen?

Faculty and students – what is your perspective on the Kaplan message?

The message states educators have failed you and that a new model of learning is in order. The actor and visuals suggest the solution is largely about remote distance learning – on a train, at home and in your jammies. I get that.

From our perspective, this message leaves 2/3 of the required changes off the table.

What changes?

• How about more open learning? Why not let students and faculty learn and share across classes, programs or heaven forbid different schools?
• How about offering students a voice such they can learn new ways to share and collaborate in a semi-private setting across their virtual class?
• Why note give students the means to link industry and external stakeholders to a classroom? This would facilitate alumni mentoring, project exchanges and downstream recruiting for those that reveal their potential in an open, more transparent way.

Many talented teachers are experimenting with all forms of new tools, methods and teaching practices aimed at stimulating creativity, innovation and new forms of learning. Early adopters of WhyHire.me were brave enough to move forward with our learning materials and supporting technology – we are all learning in an open and transparent way. Dave Donaldson, Jim Kyte and Wendy Threader from Algonquin College. Leighann Neilson from Carleton University. David Johnson and Michael Vourakes from Centennial College. Lyle Wetsch from Memorial University. Francis Gunn and David Martin from the Ted Rogers School of Business. All of these people stared down the traditional barriers to changing how students can learn and explore new forms of collaboration and communication using social media. Kudos to you all!

I went back to the Kaplan web site looking for a means to offer feedback on the video. I was fully expecting to read comments and learn other perspectives about learning 2.0. A basic search for the term blog rendered no results. I found all kinds of great looking material and the means to chat online with a recruiter…but no means to share, learn or discuss.

Since there is no venue for such a dialogue, let’s continue it here.

What do you think is missing in education?

How should it change?

What are the barriers to transforming how we learn?

Fun with conventional wisdom

DoGood has been getting some great traction in the blogsphere and press this past couple of weeks. Dogood provides web surfers a way to see selective advertising that is tied to green causes. Half of its profits are funneled back to green, philanthropic, health and wellness related causes.

When Faisal Sethi kicked off the project, I had every belief his story would challenge conventional norms within the online advertising world. What advertisers are going to put up with plummeting click through rates? I suggested he could become a new poster boy for Rupert Murdoch, given his views about free content and today’s online advertising models.

I noted Dogood recently posted a special note to publishers which clearly states DoGood does not strip away or block ads from their sites.

So there you have it – no piracy here. He is simply giving people choice when it comes to advertisers they want to browse while they surf. Does this mean causes are now the central linchpin in advertising buys? Does one pitch placement to the likes of DoGood instead of a media broker? Time will tell – it all depends on the depth and reach of such a movement.

To that end, I thought it best we start designing the t-shirt that started a movement called cause driven online advertising. Here is one I shopped up over the weekend. It is ripe for CafePress