November is National Career Development Month!  The Capella University Career Center invites you to take charge of your career management and explore the following resources:

• Explore the expanded Connecting with Others section, including the new Online Social Networking resources.
• Register for an Online Career Seminar.
• Practice your responses to typical interview questions using your webcam and InterviewStream.
• If you are re-entering civilian life from the Armed Forces, check out the Military to Civilian Career Transition.
• If you are seeking work and are 40 years or older, make use of the Job Search for the Mature Worker resources.
• If you have limited experience, but an advanced degree, read our new Career Doctor article.

We wish you the best in your professional and academic pursuits.

 Awards & Accreditations 

2009 Summer Commencement

One of the goals of the new school is to unite three closely-related fields: Public Safety, Health Care, and Public Administration under one common umbrella.

Because the public service world is changing and evolving before our eyes, it’s great to see our learners, faculty, and alumni taking advantage of the multidisciplinary approach offered at the new school. Here’s a small taste of what’s been happening:

This may be a question you hear from your boss, colleagues, or family and friends. Now, you have the chance to show them that you’re getting a career-relevant education at Capella.

• Because Capella’s courses are built to be relevant to your career, you can start applying what you learn in the courseroom right away.
• By viewing CapellaResults.com, your employer can see exactly which skills your program is designed to deliver.
• You and your employer can be confident that your program outcomes are based on the knowledge and competencies needed to excel in your field.
• Exploring CapellaResults.com could even help persuade your employer to consider offering tuition assistance or entering into an educational partnership with Capella.
• Seeing what our alumni have achieved professionally can help you make more informed decisions about your education and career path.

• "I didn’t realize how often I say "um" when responding to questions"
• "My answers weren’t as focused as I thought they would be, I definitely would need to practice more if I had an interview coming up"
• "It was valuable to see my facial expressions when answering a question, although it is kind of weird watching myself on screen!"

Whether you just want to check on how a paper is flowing or really feel unsure on how to organize your thoughts, consider using the free Smarthinking service, a professional assistance group with which Capella has a business arrangement.

Smarthinking offers two ways of getting help: online chats and feedback. The chats, available Sundays through Thursdays 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET, are for short questions. The feedback is for papers, which will get a thorough analysis within 24 to 48 hours. (Smarthinking also provides subject-matter tutoring.)

Leslie Olsen, Capella’s writing center coordinator, says it’s a great service for all learners, as long as they know what to expect. “They’re not editors, they’re not going to fix it all for you,” she says. But they will check on all the areas that you’ve identified as ones you’d like assistance on, as well as others you might not have realized needed help.

Capella learners are somewhat ahead of their peers in acknowledging their need for writing assistance: 21 percent used Smarthinking last year, compared to a national average of 10 percent. But Olsen thinks the university could safely bump up that percentage—more of us need to rewrite than we like to admit.

Make Smarthinking work for you

• Use the chat line early in the process to get feedback on an outline. If you’re not sure about your organization for an upcoming paper, run it by Smartthinking’s staff and get it straight before you get in too deep.

• Don’t be afraid to submit your work. “What you’re getting is a neutral reader who’s not grading or evaluating you, but telling you what they understand from what you have written,” Olsen says.

• Build in time to revise your work after receiving feedback. Don’t submit a massive paper for review a few days before it’s due. Plan on spending some time reworking your paper based on what Smarthinking tells you.

With unemployment climbing over 8%, today’s job market is drastically different than a couple of years ago. Consequently, some recent Capella graduates find they’re entering a different world than when they started their programs. It’s important to recognize the reality of the economy without getting discouraged. Here are some specific ways you can do that, courtesy of the Capella Career Center.

It’s a detour, not a roadblock

Be patient. The need for good work and good workers hasn’t gone away. Those who make substantial contributions now are appreciated—and when new opportunities come along those contributions will be remembered. Focus on the work in front of you and do your best, even if you were expecting to be working on something more challenging and exciting by now. As you build a reputation as a “can-do” person, you encourage colleagues and supervisors to consider you for additional responsibility down the road.

Build new skills You can develop new skills and strengthen your resume without changing your job title. Say, for example, you want to move into management and need budgeting experience. Volunteer for an activity—an event at work, a nonprofit board—that requires some financial decision-making. When a management position opens up later, you can highlight that work to demonstrate your capacity.

Similarly, you may find opportunities to supervise others, teach, or provide consulting services in a way that’s substantial enough to position you now for roles later.

Connect with people No question—networking involves work, and not all of us are comfortable with it in the beginning. Now is the time to strengthen and expand your network and connect with people who have similar interests and backgrounds.

As you enter a new field or look for new opportunities in your current profession, other people will be your best guides. They know what other organizations are like, who’s good to work with, what skills are in great demand right now, and who else you should get to know.

But keep in mind that you’re a good source of information, too. If you’re willing to share what you know with another person, you both stand to gain.

Learn from others Two other points about connecting with other people: They know what is required for different jobs and they know where those jobs are.

A more experienced person in your field can help you identify the skill sets you’ll need. This will help you prioritize what growth and enrichment opportunities to take on as you wait for new jobs to open.

As unemployment rises, organizations become more reluctant to advertise openings because they’ll be flooded with applications. Even before the current downturn, only 1 in 5 job openings was advertised. Now it’s likely less than that.

So knowing people in the field becomes increasingly important to know who’s hiring, what they’re looking for, and how to give them what they need.

Comments? Share some of your strategies for planning and growth.

No doubt about it—networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Gather are hot. They’re a great way to reconnect with old friends and colleagues and meet people with common interests.  You also have a chance to let people know the real story of Capella and your experience here. 

While these sites initially attracted a young crowd, the fastest-growing demographic for Facebook is the 25 and up segment. More than 150 million people are now registered on Facebook.

Capella has recently launched its own Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Capella-University/79435985640), with dedicated sections for K-12, Higher Education, and Mental Health communities. . (You need to join Facebook to see Capella’s page; it’s free and simple.) Once you’re registered, you can use Capella’s Facebook to post your thoughts and successes on Capella’s Wall and meet new Capella people.

Like Facebook, social networking sites such as MySpace, LinkedIn, Bebo, and Gather let you set up a free profile quickly and begin connecting with others who share your interests. Many of these sites provide you an opportunity to talk about your education, and you’re in a good position to provide useful answers about Capella.

Another effective way to connect is to join one or more of the countless online groups that exist for everything from MBA students to marathon runners. Groups exist not only on Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites, but also on Google and Yahoo. You can easily search these sites for groups that focus on higher education or your specific field of study. These are great forums to meet others who have similar professional interests while sharing your experiences with Capella.

Capella has also joined Twitter, a popular Web service in which users stay connected by answering one simple question: What are you doing right now? Our Twitter feed gives you the latest news, announcements, podcasts and other Capella updates, delivered to your computer or cell phone.

When posting a message to a group or social networking site, include a link back to Capella’s Web site (http://www.capella.edu) when appropriate so people can learn more for themselves about Capella.

Comments?

What kind of interesting and useful experiences have you had on social networking sites?