Improving your career through National Association of Colleges and Employers

May 29, 2012 at 8:00 am | Posted in NACE Conference | 1 Comment
Tags: NACE annual conferece, national association of colleges and employers, speakers, workshops

Susan Sandberg

During the school year, you focus all your energy on helping your students advance their careers through internships, jobs, workshops, speakers, and more. Now that it’s nearly summer, why not think about your own career advancement? To network among your colleagues from other campuses and to meet employers who have internships, consider attending the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) annual conference. Held at Paris Las Vegas, the 2012 Conference & Expo is scheduled for June 12-15. For detailed information, go to the NACE Web site. The following general information may convince you that it’s an important event for your own career advancement:

• Speakers:  Sir Ken Robinson, sponsored by Lockheed Martin, will speak on “Leading a Culture of Innovation.”  In his keynote address on Wednesday, Sir Robinson, who has worked with some of the world’s leading organizations, argues for radical changes in how we educate students to meet the extraordinary challenges of living and working in the 21^st century.  On Thursday Shama Kabani, sponsored by BP, will speak on “The Zen of Social Media Marketing.”  Shaman Kabani has been dubbed an “online marketing shaman and a master millennial of the universe.”  She is also the author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing.
• Workshops:  You can choose your workshops by interest/track as well as by level, too:  new to the profession, intermediate, or advanced. Workshops include Assessment/Accountability/Metrics, Branding and Marketing, Coaching and Counseling, Internship and Early Identification, Program Management and Delivery, University Relations and Recruiting Tactics, Advamced Level Workshops. The workshops also offer different formats, depending on your teacher/student style.
• Exhibitors:  The Exhibit Hall offers hundreds of booths representing a wide range of organizations, ranging from CareerBeam (an internships.com company) to Walt Disney, Going Global, Transportation Security Administration, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Lockheed Martin, and more. You can purchase a ticket to attend the Exhibit Hall if you don’t have time for the other events.  You could do a lot of networking with people at the booths.
• Pre-Conference Workshops:  Take advantage of special programs to enhance your skills. The Management Leadership Institute Master Class focuses on developing solutions to some of the key strategic issues facing career center professionals today.  Another option is Leading and Managing During Change, which will examine how to navigate personal, institutional, and external issues to create successful outcomes for career centers and staff.  Another workshop is Designing Staff Development to Build Strong Teams. Topics will cover how staff development activities impact workplace culture and employee satisfaction.
• Global Campus Recruitment Symposium: Held June 11-12 at Paris Las Vegas, this networking and learning event offers market intelligence for countries you’re targeting, teaches best practices of recruiting effectively, and helps you tap in a community of experts.