Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/470545
MARCH | APRIL 2015 BizEd 59 By developing their POPs, students are able to better identify their strengths. "I didn't think I'd have a lot to talk about, but that was hardly the case," says Salik Shariff, a management information systems major who completed the class last year. "It allowed me to open up. It basically forced the shyness out of me." Just as important, students also take to heart the need for them to create—and manage—their online presence. Caleb Ward, a finance major who completed the class last spring, learned that "first impressions no longer happen when you shake someone's hand, but when they Google your name to see if you may be a suitable applicant." There's no requirement for their sites to stay live after the class is over, but most students keep them up, Watson says. Stu- dents direct potential employers to their POPs with links from their LinkedIn and Facebook profiles; they include links to them on business cards, cover letters, and résumés, and even in their text messages. Watson believes that these professional presentations give employers "a 360-de- gree sense of contributions" that students could make as employees, beyond their credentials to their communication skills and comportment. "At the start of the assignment, stu- dents think it's just a website," Watson says. "As they work on it and see the potential value, they say, 'This matters because it's my name and my future.'" For other faculty interested in start- ing similar projects for their students, Watson offers two pieces of advice. First, because most students don't take Ad- vanced Business Communications until their junior or senior years, freshmen and sophomores "must be told loudly and often to keep their projects, spread- sheets, PowerPoints, and other materi- als from semester to semester, so they have material to feature on their POPs," says Watson. Otherwise, "many of them trash their files at the end of each semes- ter, which leaves them unable to feature their best work." Second, POPs must be graded with the mindset that they belong to the students, not the professor. "We want students to own their POPs and not treat the project like 'just another grade.' This requires giving students a lot of leeway with what they do on the site," says Watson. "We want them thinking like networking-minded professionals who are sharing their stories in the way they want to share them, not in the way the teacher wants them to be shared." That can make grading a tricky balance be- tween allowing students to express their personalities and assuring that their sites present them in a professional light. With hundreds of thousands of busi- ness students graduating each year, "if all you have is a GPA, résumé, and cover letter, you might get lucky," Watson says. "But you don't want to have to rely on getting lucky." Jeanne Spreier is a member of the PR/ Communications office at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. CAREERS IN THE CURRICULUM Career development is a cru- cial element in any business program, but it can be difficult to get students into the career services office to take advan- tage of the tools and guidance it has to offer. This can be especially true for schools that serve large, geographically dispersed student populations. That's why, in January, Webster University's Walker School of Business and Technology in St. Louis, Missouri, launched its Career Management Program for its more than 11,000 mas- ter's level students studying at any of its campuses in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Asia. Offered through global talent and workforce firm Right Management, the program will be delivered in two phases. In phase one, students will enroll in a required one-cred- it online course, "Career Success for the 21st Cen- tury," and work with a Right Management career coach. After completing the course, students have the option to complete phase two, which includes 12 months of person- alized career development, including one-on-one career coaching; creation of a career action plan; and concentrated work on their résumés, inter- viewing skills, and negotiation skills. Those who complete phase two will receive lifetime career and job search support through Right Management. SOCIAL MEDIA AND HIRING 91% of employers use social networking sites to screen prospects 76% check Facebook; 53%, Twitter; 48%, LinkedIn 69% say they have rejected a candidate based on what they saw on a social network 68% say they have hired a candidate based on what they saw on a social network Source: The Reppler Report, 2011