College » Carol J. Carter

New College Grads: Standing Firm Against the Unsupportive

It’s summer and many new graduates are getting ready to make their first career move. Some grads are relocating to follow a dream or take an offered position. Others are searching locally or digitally for a career that will keep them close to home, while others are still brainstorming before making any decisions. Transitioning from school to life overnight can be stressful. All of a sudden new grads are faced with a new lifestyle full of adult freedoms, as well as adult pressures to hurry up and find a job. In addition to the new stresses of a transition, college grads may also face push-back from friends, family, bosses, and coworkers about how their choosing to approach the rest of their lives.
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Starting on the Career Path Before Graduation: Arming Students with Real-World Knowledge

Internships were originally intended for students in the medical field. Doctors knew medical students needed hands-on experience working with patients before they were qualified to work on their own patients. Today, internships have spread beyond the medical field and become an important part of many jobseekers’ resumes in education, technology, writing, marketing, and more.

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Is the Internship the New Mailroom?

We all have to start somewhere; and many of us have to start at the beginning.

Some of the world’s most famous tech billionaires started at the bottom of their entrepreneurial ladder, as a dishwasher (founder of Dell), technician (founder of Oracle), and a salesman (CEO of Microsoft).^1ÂIn the early 1980s, Martin Davis reinvented the company Gulf & Western “from ragtag agglutination of about 100 businesses to a thriving corporation.”^2ÂDavis started in the mailroom and worked his way up the company to CEO.

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Innovative Summer Learning: K-12 Schools Partner with University

For kids, the long summer days pose many opportunities for having fun with friends, relaxing, and watching TV. Unwinding from the stresses of the school year is an important use of summer time, but so is providing kids with learning opportunities to keep their brains engaged and ready to enter the next school year strong.
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The Dichotomy of Change: The Sadness and Excitement of College Graduation

The Class of 2012 has reason to celebrate. They’re among the 56% of college students who stuck it out and finished a college degree in under 6 years,¹Â they found their calling, and they are prepared to make an impact on the world. However, with rising student debt, a volatile job market, and an overall uncertain economic future, many students may also be leaving with anxiety about entering the workforce.
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The Value of Internships: Pros and Cons

Many college students are lining up internships for the summer months or the coming semester. Some college graduates are also getting internships to further their professional experience after college and possibly get their foot in theÂ door in careers and fields they have recently narrowed to match their interests and abilities.
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Earning Success: Why the Exceptional Get Results

It’s a harsh reality:Â average workers willÂ have a much harder time in today’s economic climate. The competition is heating up and those who are exceptional will have traction, gratification and fulfillment in theÂ workforce.

Average workers don’t put in the extra that sets them apart from other members of the team, whereas exceptional workersÂ draw energy from harnessingÂ Â their uniqueÂ abilities. It may sound like becoming an exceptional worker will be much more depleting than putting in average effort, but, in fact, it’s the opposite. People who feel “very successful” and “completely successful” at work are twice as likely to say they are happy than those who only feel “somewhat successful,” with their level of income making no difference in their levels of happiness, according to Arthur Brooks in the article “America and the Value of ‘Earned Success.'”¹ Exceptional people are driven to become exceptional for its intrinsic value (in happiness and fulfillment), not extrinsic value (in dollars and status).
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Launch Pad for College Grads: Skills for Entering the Digital and Global Workforce

The world of workÂ is ever-Â changing. However, new graduates will experience a heightened level of change over the span of their careers, as technology becomes more integrated and new software, tools, and gadgets make their work more efficient and far reaching.Â Â Add to that the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of todayâ€™s young people who will be launching many of the new businesses which will fuel our economic growth over the next several decades in areas that donâ€™t yet exist, and it could be hard to predict what the workforce will look like in 20, or even 10, years.
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Projections 2040: Looking Ahead by Looking Back

This Saturday, my oldest nephew, Carson, graduates from college. Twenty-eight years ago to the day, I graduated from the same university. As I think about the last twenty-eight years, I realize how many things have changed and how many ways life has improved, despite our challenges.
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Young College Grads Create Opportunity in a Challenging Economy

In past cycles of the U.S. economy, a college degree — or even a high school diploma — could be enough for a job seeker to land a well-paying position that afforded them staples of an American lifestyle, such as home and car ownership, leaving home as a teen or young adult, and starting a family. In the new economy, with high unemployment rates for teens and adults,Â neither a college degree or high school diploma comes with a job guarantee, and many young adults are reacting by living with their parents longer, delaying marriage and child birth and indefinitely postponing large purchases. ¹
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