1. “A must-have document for every Career Center!”
– Jill Marshall, Director of Career Services at Bryant & Stratton College
THE CAREER CENTER MARKETING BLUEPRINT:
6 Steps To Increase Student Awareness, Student Participation,
and Overall Support For Your Career Center!
Written by Pete Leibman, President of Idealize Enterprises and Creator of The Dream Job College Tour
(www.IdealizeNow.com)
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2. Notice of Copyright:
The Career Center Marketing Blueprint is copyrighted, 2011, by Pete
Leibman. All rights reserved. This electronic version is for individual use
only. No part of this electronic report may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval
system, without the written permission of Idealize Enterprises, LLC or its
President, Pete Leibman.
Material from this report can be used in newsletters with proper citation of
Pete Leibman and Idealize Enterprises, LLC. Readers are NOT permitted to
post this report online, nor to distribute to other individuals via email. If you
know someone else who could benefit from this report, please ask them to
send an email to Pete@DreamJobAcademy.com to request a copy. For
more information, please email Pete Leibman at
Pete@DreamJobAcademy.com.
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3. About The Author, Pete Leibman
Pete Leibman has spoken in-person to audiences as large as 4,000+, and he is the creator of both
The Dream Job College Tour and The Washington Wizards’ Sports Careers Day, events attended by
thousands of students and high school/college faculty since 2004.
Despite being told it would be “impossible,” Pete networked his way into his dream job to work for a
pro sports franchise after graduating from college in 2003.
Less than 2 years later, he was promoted into management for the NBA’s Washington Wizards (at the
age of 23). He then managed and trained entry-level staff, while being ranked as the franchise’s #1
Salesperson of the Year for 3 straight seasons.
As President of Idealize Enterprises, Pete has been invited to share his career advice at some of the
world's finest academic institutions, including Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University.
Pete’s mission is to help students and young professionals to get their dream jobs. His first book (titled
“I Got My Dream Job And So Can You: 7 Steps Towards Creating Your Ideal Career After College”) will
be published in spring 2012 through The American Management Association.
You can learn more about Pete’s work at www.PeteLeibman.com.
You can connect with Pete on LinkedIn at www.LinkedIn.com/in/peteleibman.
You can reach Pete directly at Pete@DreamJobAcademy.com.
Pete Leibman (back row, 2nd from right) with students and faculty from Bridgewater College
(before Pete’s presentation to 300+ students that night on how to get your dream job after college)
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4. The Dream Job College Tour is a nationwide campaign created by Pete Leibman to increase awareness,
participation, and support for Career Centers, while motivating students to be more proactive in pursuing and
getting their dream jobs! Through this initiative, colleges hire Pete Leibman to speak to groups about
overcoming obstacles to land his dream job in the NBA (in 2003 at the age of 21). Pete’s presentations also
teach students and young professionals how they can land their dream jobs, even in today’s economic climate.
After attending a Dream Job College Tour event:
• Over 95% of students surveyed say they feel “more confident” about the future of their careers!
• Over 91% of students surveyed say they are “more likely to visit their Career Center!”
Email Pete@DreamJobAcademy.com before September 1, 2011 to learn how
your college can participate in The 2011-2012 Dream Job College Tour!
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5. TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 6
METHODOLOGY 7
STEP 1: BE STRATEGIC 8
STEP 2: BUILD SOCIAL PROOF 14
STEP 3: STAND-OUT AT HIGH-TRAFFIC LOCATIONS 19
STEP 4: CREATE COOL EVENTS 22
STEP 5: CONNECT WITH EMPLOYERS THE RIGHT WAY 28
STEP 6: EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIA 31
SUMMARY 39
FREE CAREER ADVICE LIBRARY FOR YOUR CAREER CENTER 40
THANK YOU 41
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6. INTRODUCTION
The transition into the “real-world” should be one of the most exciting times of a young adult’s life, but recent
and soon-to-be grads are unfortunately confronted by some alarming realities:
1. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) called 2010 “one of the worst years to graduate college or high
school since at least 1983 and possibly the worst since World War II.”
2. A 2010 report from the International Labor Organization (ILO) stated that the world is “in danger of
having a lost generation” of young people since global youth unemployment has hit unprecedented
levels.
3. Nationwide unemployment in the United States is twice as high as it was before the recession began in
2008, and many experts believe it may get even worse.
4. A 2010 Conference Board survey showed that job dissatisfaction has reached an all-time high, with
workers below the age of 25 being found to be the unhappiest of all age groups.
Given these frightening statistics, it’s more important than ever for students to prioritize career planning as early
as possible, and Career Centers will continue to play an integral role in helping today’s youth become tomorrow’s
leaders.
However, if your Career Center is like most, you have 2 major challenges:
1. Many of your students are unmotivated when it comes to career planning.
2. Given economic factors, your Career Center is probably being asked to do more with less (i.e. less staff,
less resources, less financial support, and so on).
The solution for both of these widespread problems is to improve the way your Career Center markets itself to
students, parents, employers, and other on-campus and off-campus partners.
You probably didn’t pursue a career in a Career Center because of a passion or talent for sales and marketing. If
you work in a Career Center, it’s because of a passion and talent for helping students start their careers.
Unfortunately, there’s a catch. If your students are not aware of your programs and services, or, if they are not
participating in your programs and services, then you cannot help them!
The objective of this report is to help you increase student awareness, student participation, and overall support
for your Career Center… SO THAT… you can help more students!
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7. METHODOLOGY
The majority of the concepts in this report are based on sales and marketing best-practices that I have learned
and developed over the last 10 years. The strategies highlighted in this report are used by major organizations to
generate millions of dollars in revenue each year, and they can also be applied to your Career Center’s marketing
plan.
My current mission (and my company’s mission) is to help students and young professionals to get their dream
jobs after college, even in today’s economic climate. As a result of this aim, my company works with Career
Centers and other like-minded organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
In order to write this report, I reviewed all the conversations I had with Career Centers over the last year, and I
also embarked on a comprehensive research project by interviewing nearly 100 college/university Career Center
leaders.
I sought out the leaders of career development associations, while also contacting individuals who were
recommended to me as being leaders in Career Center marketing. I also made sure that I interviewed a broad
spectrum of schools.
More specifically, this included representatives from some of the best schools in the world and representatives
from schools ranked much lower. This also included representatives from some of the biggest schools in the
world (i.e. 50,000+ students) and representatives from much smaller institutions (i.e. less than 1,000 students). I
also targeted schools in urban settings, suburban settings, and rural settings. During these interviews with Career
Center leaders, we discussed major challenges and key objectives for the next 1-2 years. We also discussed 3
specific areas:
1. How to increase student awareness and participation in Career Center programs and services
2. How to build bigger and better relationships with employers
3. How to leverage social media platforms to communicate with students, alumni, and employers
While this report is written as a “blueprint,” your Career Center will ultimately have to take the ideas and
concepts and apply them to your particular setting. A 25-employee Career Center clearly has different needs and
resources than a 1-employee Career Center. A Career Center located in New York City clearly has different needs
and resources than a Career Center located 200 miles away from any major cities. A Career Center for a top 10
college clearly has different needs and resources than a college ranked much lower.
Having said that, after integrating all of my research and marketing/sales expertise, I identified 6 steps ANY
college or university could take to increase student awareness, student participation, and overall support for its
Career Center. Let’s get started!
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8. STEP 1: BE STRATEGIC
Great marketing starts with a great strategy. If you were to run around in a circle for an hour, you would be
exhausted, but you would not have gone anywhere. This is also true when marketing. Certain activities will take
you much further than others. A great strategy will save you time in the end, give you a sense of control, give you
greater focus, and ultimately result in better performance.
Understand Your Audience
Unlike a business that can choose who it wants to serve, a Career Center has to work with the audience it has
been given. Before designing your marketing plan, you have to understand your target market for your programs
and services.
Most Career Centers serve Generation Y populations (teenagers and twenty-somethings), so let’s start with a
description/refresher of this audience. (I refer to Gen Y as “we” since I am part of this generation.) Here are 6
traits which broadly characterize Gen Y:
1. Tech-savvy: We have grown up with the Internet and technology, so we understand it much better than
older generations.
2. Cause-oriented: We want to be part of something meaningful. We want to have a significant impact.
We want to change the world because we believe we can. As a result, we don’t always like to do menial
tasks or dirty work. We aren’t lazy. We’ll work hard if we believe in the importance of what you want us
to do.
3. Opinionated: We want you to ask for our opinions. We don’t want to be talked at; we want to be
conversed with. The Internet has given us a forum to express ourselves, and we expect you to hear us
out. If we like something, we’ll tell everyone we know. If we don’t like something, we’ll tell everyone we
know.
4. Impatient: We have been conditioned to expect fast responses and immediate results because we have
grown up in a fast-paced, technologically advanced society. As a result, we want what we want and we
want it NOW. It’s not our fault. Technology has made us the way we are.
5. Easily distracted/bored: Because we are impatient, you better cut to the chase, or you will lose our
attention very quickly. We don’t want to be lectured. If you want to keep our attention, you better
involve us in any presentations or conversations, and you have to make everything fun and interactive.
6. Skeptical of older generations: We really value what our peers have to say, and we don’t always like to
listen to older generations. (If you have kids who are part of Gen Y, you really know this to be true!) It’s
worth noting that this characteristic is not unique to Gen Y; it’s part of the reality of growing into
adulthood. Every generation before us was the same way during their teens and twenties as well.
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9. When you look at these traits, you should not see anything that surprises you. You work with students every day.
However, if your Career Center is like most, you are NOT designing your marketing outreach with your audience in
mind.
Don’t get frustrated about some of Generation Y’s negative traits (i.e. impatient and easily distracted/bored) and
don’t try to change us, because you can’t. Embrace who your audience is, accept their negative traits, celebrate
their positive traits, and design your programs and outreach for your audience.
You Have to Change Their Thoughts Before You Can Change Their Lives
People know what they should do, but that does not mean they will actually do it.
Being overweight or obese significantly increases your chances for developing heart disease, dementia,
Alzheimer’s disease, and a host of other mental and physical disorders as you age, and nearly 80% of all colon,
breast, and prostate cancers are linked to diet and lifestyle factors. These statistics clearly illustrate the
importance of a healthy lifestyle. As a result, you would expect that everyone would be certain to eat the right
way and to exercise consistently.
However, over 70% of the U.S. is overweight or obese!
Is this because overweight/obese people are not aware of the importance of eating healthy and exercising? Of
course not.
Instead, most people are overweight for 2 main reasons. First of all, it’s because they have chosen (usually
subconsciously) to ignore the long-term, negative consequences of repeating behaviors that feel good in the
short-term (i.e. eating junk food or watching tv on the couch). Secondly, most people are out of shape because
they don’t believe they can get into better shape. As a result, they don’t bother trying.
Our motivations (and subsequent actions) develop as a result of our associations and thought processes, most of
which we are not aware of. In brief, if you avoid something, it’s because you have subconsciously or consciously
linked it to more pain than pleasure. On the other hand, if you pursue something, it’s because you have
subconsciously or consciously linked it to more pleasure than pain.
Students who are not participating in your programs and services are falling victim to the same self-sabotaging
thought processes as unmotivated exercisers. It may sound strange, but most students are not using your Career
Center because they are linking your Career Center to more pain than pleasure (again, either subconsciously or
consciously). More specifically, when they think of your Career Center, they are thinking the thoughts on the left
side of Figure 1. Your marketing needs to get them to think the thoughts on the right side of Figure 1.
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10. WHAT MOST STUDENTS THINK WHAT YOU WANT STUDENTS TO THINK
WHEN THEY THINK OF THE CAREER CENTER: WHEN THEY THINK OF THE CAREER CENTER:
“I’ll think about my career at the end of my “I didn’t realize how much of my
senior year or after I graduate. I don’t need success/happiness after college would be
to do anything now.” connected to what I do in college.
Thank you for the wake-up call.”
“This Career Center program looks boring. “This Career Center program looks fun! I’m in!”
I’ve got a lot of other things I’d much rather
be doing.”
“This Career Center program looks irrelevant “This Career Center program is EXACTLY what I
to me and was clearly sent to the entire need! This looks like it was created just for me.”
campus.”
“There is no hope for someone like me. Why “Wow, other people like me have succeeded.
should I even bother thinking about my Maybe I can, too! I should visit the Career
career and visiting the Career Center?” Center.”
“No one else goes to the Career Center’s “All of my friends will be there. I should go, too!”
events. Why should I go?”
“This looks really complicated and “This actually looks pretty simple. I can do this!”
overwhelming. Doesn’t the Career Center
realize how busy I am?”
“This looks like a waste of time. Why do I “I didn’t know a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ could help me
need a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ anyway?” get my dream job. This looks like it would
definitely be worth my time!”
“I’ve already got enough people giving me “The Career Center actually seems pretty friendly
unwanted career advice and lecturing me on and supportive. I should check them out!”
what I should be doing. I’ll pass on the
Career Center.
“I don’t want to admit it, but I’m afraid of life “I didn’t realize how amazing my life could be
after college. I’d rather not think about it by AFTER college. I’m excited about working with
going to the Career Center.” the Career Center to take control of my future!”
Figure 1. Thought processes of your students.
Before your programs and services can change students’ lives, your marketing has to change their thoughts!
Keep reading to learn how.
Sell Benefits
Great marketers sell benefits; poor marketers sell services and features.
Like any customer, students don’t care about what programs or services you offer (your features); they care about
the results they can achieve by participating in your programs and services (their benefits). Most Career Centers
make the mistake of talking only about their services and the features of what they offer, and they fail to highlight
what positive benefits their customers (i.e. your students) could experience by using their services.
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11. Paint the picture on what you can help students achieve if they work with you. Don’t tell them that you can help
them write a better resume (your services/features). Instead, show them what they can achieve if you help them
write a better resume (their benefits).
This may sound like a small distinction, but it makes a HUGE difference. If you don’t tell people the benefits of
your programs/services, they won’t take the time to identify them on their own.
Let me illustrate this with a health and fitness example again. Would you be more excited about attending a
nutrition seminar on “how to design a healthy meal plan” (feature/service), or a nutrition seminar on “how you
can easily eat your way to a 6-pack and a healthier, longer life (benefits)?”
It’s a no-brainer! Stop selling features and services. Start selling benefits.
Create Interest and Urgency With Calls-To-Action
You never want to force people to do something against their will, but you must have a call-to-action for every
marketing touch-point with your customers (i.e. your students). A call-to-action is when you tell your customers
what you want them to do next. If you have given your customers great value, but fail to tell them what to do
next, you are actually doing them a disservice by not having a call-to-action!
There are 3 universal ingredients to an effective call-to-action. First of all, your call-to-action must be clear. If
people don’t know what you want them to do, they will do nothing. Give people too many options, and they will
select none of them. This is one reason why you should not be sending emails to your students listing 17 different
programs they could participate in. Secondly, your call-to-action must be easy. If it looks like a lot of work,
people will do nothing. Lastly, your call-to-action must be compelling. If people don’t see the benefit of taking
action, they won’t.
Here are 4 ways to create effective calls-to-actions with students:
1. Use prizes and food to increase participation. When I worked in the NBA for the Washington Wizards, it
always amazed me how excited people would get during timeouts at our home games. The mascot and
dance team would come on the court and throw rally towels and t-shirts into the crowd, and people
would go absolutely crazy. We had customers sitting courtside that were spending $1,000 per ticket per
game and making millions of dollars a year, and these men and women would practically knock each
other over to try to win a $2 t-shirt! The moral of the story? People love to win prizes, and the prizes do
not have to be very valuable. That’s especially true with students, so use prizes in all of your
programming and marketing.
As for food, you can provide pizza, bagels, candy, chocolate, coffee, whatever! It doesn’t matter. Feed
them, and they will come. Angela Doty, Associate Director of Career Services at George Fox University,
told me that her office sends emails to students the week before their birthdays inviting them to the
Career Center for their free “birthday muffin.” She said the response has been great, and the muffins only
cost 50 cents each from Costco.
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12. Note: companies will often provide prizes and food for you in exchange for the opportunity to get in front
of your students. As a result, you don’t have to pay for the food and prizes out of your budget in many
cases. Don’t just target employer partners for this. Local businesses are often very interested in building
their brand with your students, and many are happy to donate gift certificates or other items for your
events. Have you reached out to them?
2. Use contests to increase participation. We’ll discuss social media later on, but I’d like to highlight now
that you should be using prizes and contests for social media as much as possible. That’s one of the best
ways to build excitement around participating on those platforms. For example, Matthew Brink, Director
of the Career Services Center at University of Delaware, told me about a video contest they did where
students were asked to film a creative video testimonial for the Career Center. The winner(s) got a cash
prize, which was donated by one of the Career Center’s sponsors. Delaware could also use the
testimonials in their marketing efforts, which we’ll discuss later on. That’s really great marketing, and a
promotion that many businesses could actually learn from. Very cool and very effective!
3. Use deadlines to increase participation. You can also tie this in to prizes. It’s great that you are there for
students whenever they need you, but there is no urgency. You should include deadlines for signing-up
for programs and/or give prizes to the first “x” number of students who participate, or for students
signing up by a certain date. Just don’t expect students to register too far in advance.
4. Set limits to increase participation. Value is all about supply and demand. If supply is low and demand is
high, value goes through the roof. In other words, people value programs more when participation is
limited. You should set limits for your programs to make them look more valuable. If more students want
to participate after you reach the limit you set, then just open up another program(s)!
You might think that some of these tactics are unnecessary, but they get results. Again, the more students who
work with you, the more students you can help!
Segment Your Students And Email Them Accordingly
Another key component of being strategic is to tailor your messaging and segment your students into different
categories. Pat Mullane, Executive Director of the Career Center at Dickinson College, credits targeted email
marketing as one of the most effective ways his Career Center raises student awareness and student
participation. This is a fundamental marketing strategy that is effective for any organization.
You should be segmenting your students into categories and communicating with them differently based on
factors such as the following:
1. Class year: For example, seniors should be receiving different messages from the Career Center than
freshmen.
2. Major: For example, history majors should be receiving different messages from the Career Center than
business majors.
3. Prior participation: For example, a senior who has visited your office 4 times should be receiving different
messages from the Career Center than a senior who has never visited your office. You must treat existing
customers different than potential customers. Julie Willoz, Executive Consultant of Willoz Consulting (and
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13. formerly with Tulane University), highlighted the effectiveness of this segmentation strategy for Career
Centers.
Segmenting your database is a big challenge for many businesses that lack extensive data on their customers.
However, you have an advantage at a college because your school probably already has a lot of data on the
people you serve. You don’t need 172 different categories for your students, but this is an area that is definitely
worth exploring.
Put yourself in a student’s shoes for a second. Wouldn’t you be more likely to participate in a program or respond
to an email that looked like it was just for you, instead of a message that was clearly email-blasted to the entire
student population?
Make sure to use enticing subject lines for emails sent to students as well. Great subject lines lead to much
better open rates for email marketing campaigns. For example, an email entitled “Career Center Newsletter” is
obviously much less likely to be opened or read than an email entitled “Stop by the Career Center for a chance to
win an Ipod.”
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14. STEP 2: BUILD SOCIAL PROOF
Your best marketing will not come from your Career Center; your best marketing will come from your satisfied
customers and from other individuals and groups who see the value in what you do. The principle of social proof
states that when people are unsure what to think of a product or service, they look to the opinions of others to
form their conclusions. Word-of-mouth advertising happens when you do great work, but you need to take some
actions to cultivate it as well.
Utilize Testimonials and Success Stories
After having viewed hundreds of Career Center web sites, I can say that very few schools prominently feature
student/alumni testimonials on their web sites and marketing materials. Not doing so is a HUGE mistake. Success
stories should be front-and-center in every marketing touch-point you have (i.e. web site, fliers, social media sites,
and so on). Success stories sell!
When you use compelling testimonials from students/alumni you have helped, you prove that your programs and
services work. However, all testimonials are NOT created equal. Here are 5 secrets for tapping into the power of
student/alumni testimonials to build positive social proof for your Career Center:
1. Use benefit-driven testimonials. Generic testimonials, such as “The Career Center is great” are not
effective. Use testimonials that highlight the benefits others have experienced through working with your
Career Center. For example, consider the power of a testimonial like:
“The Career Center helped me connect with an alumnus from ABC College, and that connection
ultimately helped me get my dream job to work for XYZ Company. Visit the Career Center today to
learn how they can help you get your dream job as well!”
2. Use testimonials to overcome common objections. Great testimonials overcome common objections
(i.e. the thought processes listed on the left of Figure 1 on page 8). Testimonials that speak to your
audience’s thoughts processes and concerns are insanely effective. For example, consider the power of a
testimonial like the following:
“I was pretty nervous about life after college, so I avoided the Career Center during my first 3 years
because I didn’t want to think about having to get a job. However, one of my friends finally
convinced me to check out the Career Center, and I immediately wished I had visited them sooner.
They helped me be more confident, and they helped me develop a plan for getting the job of my
dreams! Don’t wait like I did. Make sure you visit the Career Center today!”
3. Use testimonials to promote specific programs or services. Collect specific testimonials for every
program or service you offer, and then use those testimonials when promoting each individual program
or service. If you are promoting an upcoming Career Fair, for example, consider the power of a
testimonial like the following:
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15. “The Career Center helped me prepare for the Career Fair, and it was well worth it. I met a
recruiter from ABC company at the Fair, and I knew exactly what to say because of the coaching I
got from the Career Center. As a result, I just got a great offer to work for ABC Company starting
in June. Make sure you visit the Career Center and check out the Career Fair as well!”
4. Use video testimonials. Students love watching video, and video testimonials are much more compelling
than text testimonials because they include body language and tone.
5. Broadcast your testimonials everywhere. You should be using strategic testimonials in every marketing
touch-point you have, whether that’s a flier, your web site, your social media platforms, your email
newsletters, and so on.
Powerful testimonials and endorsements from satisfied students and alumni are the best marketing “weapons” a
Career Center has. Get your “happy customers” to brag for you, so you can focus on what you do best: counseling
and helping students succeed!
Identify Student Influencers
On every campus, there are certain students who have influence. These are the students who seem to know
everyone. Other students look up to these influencers, and they will follow their recommendations. Identify the
student influencers on your campus, and form partnerships with them. Here are 4 great sources:
1. Leaders of student clubs (i.e. greek organizations, honor societies, service groups)
2. Student-athletes
3. Student media (i.e. newspaper writers, bloggers, hosts of campus radio shows, etc.)
4. Resident advisors
Try to convert these students to ambassadors for your office even if you don’t formalize the relationship by hiring
them as student workers. You can do this by helping them raise awareness and support for their own
organizations/missions, and by incentivizing them (i.e. with prizes, contests, etc.) for promoting your programs
and services.
By getting support from 3 carefully selected student leaders, one small college in Illinois (with a total enrollment
under 1,500 students) got over 200 students to attend a keynote presentation I made on their campus in 2010.
That would not have happened if the Career Center Director marketed the event by herself.
Hire the Right Student Ambassadors and Peer Career Advisors
Many schools credit student ambassador and peer career advisor programs as being among the most effective
ways to increase student awareness and student participation in Career Center programs and services. If you
want to have a successful student ambassador or peer career advisor program, you first have to hire the right
students. Here are 5 traits that were repeated by colleges with great success in this area:
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16. 1. Well-connected: Hire students who have influence on-campus (see page 13). Look for students who are
tomorrow’s networking superstars. Relationship-building and connecting is in their DNA. You want the
students who know everyone, the ones who other students will listen to and follow.
2. Self-motivated: This is a trait any employer should seek. There is nothing worse than an employee who is
lazy. Hire students who work hard.
3. Passionate: Hire students who are very enthusiastic about career development and the mission of your
Career Center. Employees who believe in the mission of their employer are much more self-motivated
than employees just looking for a paycheck.
4. Good public speakers and communicators: Hire students who enjoy speaking in public. You should be
using these students to represent you in various settings on-campus, so they better be comfortable
speaking in front of groups.
5. Savvy with social media: Hire students who are active in the major social media platforms and who have
an interest in marketing your center through them. Your Career Center must have a strong presence and
understanding of how to leverage these platforms in today’s economy. More to come on this later.
When you hire the right people, these programs will run much more smoothly. Not every student worker needs
to have each of the above traits, but a well-rounded staff should.
Motivate Student Workers Like a Sales Staff
Hiring the right people is just the first step. Then, YOU have to you keep them excited and focused.
I was highly motivated when I worked for the NBA’s Washington Wizards. Part of it was due to my innate desire
to be my best and the fact that I had gotten my dream job. However, my motivation was fueled further because
of how I was managed. Here are 4 tactics that you should use to get the most out of your employees as well:
1. Establish clear, reasonable goals. When I worked in sales for the Wizards, we had very quantifiable,
achievable goals for every month of the year and for the entire season. We all knew exactly what was
expected of us and how our performance was being measured. Our VP even had a huge board outside of
his office that was updated daily to list everyone’s sales number for the year.
2. Offer performance-based incentives. We had rewards for hitting our monthly and annual goals, including
financial bonuses and all sorts of other cool prizes. Management would also throw in an occasional daily
or weekly sales contest to ramp up excitement even further. During my time with the team, my
performance won me Courtside tickets to games, a trip with the team to an away game, a free lunch with
the GM, and some sizeable financial payouts. While your Career Center probably can’t offer the perks
that an NBA franchise could, you don’t need to! Free food and small prizes will work just fine for a college
student. This is important. Rewards will produce results.
3. Include student workers in decision-making. Treat student employees with respect by asking for their
opinions and incorporating their suggestions into your programs. My generation HATES to be micro-
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17. managed, so give your student workers some freedom. (If this concerns you, you didn’t hire the right
people!) Employees work much harder to support programs they have helped to create.
4. Appreciate and recognize performance AND effort. No matter what anyone says, we all like to be
appreciated and recognized in front of our peers in a positive way. When I worked for the Wizards, I
always said I didn’t like recognition. Guess what? I was lying! I LOVED collecting monthly and annual
Salesperson of The Year Awards in front of my colleagues. Everyone wants to be appreciated and held in
high regard, and this is especially true during your teenage years and your twenties when status is really
important. Recognize performance AND effort for your employees every chance you get. This is the
most powerful management strategy of all.
In summary, motivate your employees like a sales staff, and they will run through brick walls for you, regardless of
how old they are.
7 Secrets for Building Affiliate Partnerships
Affiliate marketing is an advanced marketing strategy used by many of the world’s best marketers, and you can
tap into its power as well. In short, affiliate marketing is when you look for complementary people/groups who
have relationships with and influence over the audience you want to reach. Then, you offer them incentives to
endorse you to their audience.
Who already has the ear of your students? Many Career Centers mentioned to me that they struggle to get as
much support as they would like from other departments on-campus. However, here are 7 themes that surfaced
among Career Centers getting great support from affiliate partners:
1. Prioritize: You can’t build a deep relationship with every faculty person on-campus, so spend your time
connecting with the ones with the broadest, deepest influence on your students. Here are some of the
best sources for affiliate partnerships:
a. Academic advisors, full-time professors, and adjunct professors
b. Athletic departments/coaches
c. Student Activities/Student Affairs
d. Greek Life Advisors
e. Orientation Committees
f. Parents
2. Customize: If you try to build relationships through mass communication efforts, you will not be met with
warm responses. When a faculty member gets an email that was sent to the entire staff, diffusion of
responsibility sets in, as each person assumes that someone else will respond. Relationships can only be
built one at a time. Attend meetings as often as possible where you can get “face-time” with key
stakeholders. Adjust your messaging based on who you are talking to. For example, the athletic director
should hear a different message from the Career Center than a history professor should.
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18. 3. Clarify: Most people on your campus (and most parents) probably have no idea what the Career Center
really does, where it is located on-campus, or what programs/services you have to offer. You have to
educate your affiliate partners. Be very clear about what you do (and what you don’t do), and be clear
about how you can help other departments, and how they can help you. Take the lead, but encourage
other departments to share their ideas as well on how you can join forces to help students.
4. Simplify: Don’t bombard partners with 57 different ways to work together. Keep it simple, and be easy
to work with.
5. Quantify: Use data to illustrate the effectiveness of your office. Whether you track student satisfaction,
actual job placement, student retention, or other metrics, use numbers as much as possible. Highlight
different statistics based on who you are speaking to.
6. Brag: Show success stories and testimonials from your students and alumni. Again, personalize this based
on who you are talking to. For example, if you’re talking to the athletic director, share stories of results
you have achieved with student-athletes.
7. Reward: Show your affiliate partners what’s in it for them by teaming up with your office. How can you
make their lives/jobs easier, and how can you help them achieve the results they seek?
Approach potential affiliate partners the right way, and they will be much more likely to provide marketing
support (and financial support) for your Career Center’s programs.
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19. STEP 3: STAND-OUT AT HIGH-TRAFFIC LOCATIONS
In 2010, I attended a seminar with one of the best Internet marketers in the world, Tom Antion, and he said
something that really resonated with me. He said that if you want to drive Internet traffic, you should not try to
bring the traffic to you. Instead, you should go and “stand” where the traffic already is. This is true for a Career
Center as well! How strong a presence does your Career Center have at the high-traffic locations on your
campus?
Speak at Classes and Group Meetings
When I first started my research for this report, I was asking Career Center leaders for their “most effective” way
to drive traffic to their Career Center. One of the most common responses was “classroom presentations.”
(Note: I changed my question after some initial research and started asking for the “most creative” ways schools
were driving traffic.)
Many schools also spoke about success in driving traffic through presentations at meetings for major student
groups on campus (i.e. fraternities, sororities, Business clubs, honor societies, and so on).
These are pretty obvious strategies. However, Kathy Pykkonen, Director of Career Services for UW-Superior, had
an interesting twist on teaming up with professors and classes. She actually creates career assignments (i.e. a
mock interview assignment or a resume writing assignment) and has selected professors assign the projects to
students. Then, Kathy has one of her trained assistants grade the projects for the professors. This is a great
example of partnering with faculty to help students achieve greater career success. It is also a great example of
being easy to work with; she isn’t creating extra work for the professors since her office grades the projects.
Make sure you are being proactive about getting into as many classrooms and group meetings as possible. Do not
wait for faculty or student leaders to come to you, and make sure you give them plenty of notice so they can plan
their calendars accordingly. You should be reaching out to faculty before the semester starts.
Another common best-practice is the “don’t cancel your class” promotion where career center staff are “on-call”
to serve as substitute teachers if/when a professor is unable to teach class. You can also partner with professors
to give students “extra credit” for participating in Career Center programs.
Whenever you speak in classes or at group meetings, make sure your presentation is very interactive, and always
end with a clear, easy, compelling call-to-action to continue your dialogue with students.
Use Career Carts at Other High-Traffic Locations
Another great idea suggested by many colleges is to create a “Career Cart” and to wheel it around campus to
various high-traffic locations (i.e. cafeterias, student lounges, recreation centers, and so on). Entice students to
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20. visit the cart by offering prizes and/or food, and staff these carts with your student ambassadors because
students will be much more likely to come over and talk to their peers. As always, make sure you have a call-to-
action for anyone visiting the cart.
Open Dialogues at Orientation
I got mixed reviews from schools about participating in Orientation. Some schools thought it was too early to
market the Career Center, and some schools were worried they would not be able to handle student traffic if a lot
of students visited their offices after Orientation. (If you have concerns about student traffic, your call-to-action
could just be for students to “like” your Facebook fan page. More to come on that later.)
I believe it’s a huge mistake not to have some sort of presence during Orientation. Career Centers who
participate in Orientation raved about the results. When else will you have the opportunity to market your office
to all of your new students and many of their parents?
Make sure you keep it very casual when you participate in Orientation. Students are already overwhelmed with
everything else going on, and they don’t want to be bombarded with career advice yet. You should definitely use
your student ambassadors as the face of your office at these events since peers will be much less intimidating to
new students.
Stand Out In Stalls
This was one of the most creative marketing ideas I heard. Pat Mullane, Executive Director of The Career Center
at Dickinson College, told me that his office has a bi-weekly, 1-page newsletter called The Toilet Paper that is
posted inside every stall on campus twice a month. When students are surveyed on how they heard about The
Career Center, this is always one of the top responses.
It’s not sophisticated, but it gets the job done. Several other schools also mentioned great success with a similar
idea. It’s hard to miss!
Figure 2. The Toilet Paper is posted inside of stalls at Dickinson College each month.
Become a High-Traffic Location
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21. How easy is your office to find? I spoke to several schools that recently moved their Career Center office
because students had trouble finding it. What about moving your office to a location that already gets a lot of
student traffic?
Andrea Lipack, Associate Director of Employer Relations at Stony Brook University, also shared a great
branding idea that increases student awareness and traffic. Stony Brook branded their Career Center with a
“zebra” theme, and they have a student who wears a zebra costume around campus and to Career Center
events. The Career Center also painted a walkway leading up to their office with zebra colors (see below).
When Stony Brook markets the Career Center to students, they tell them to follow the “Zebra Path” to get to
their office. The “Zebra Path” also creates intrigue for anyone walking around campus.
Figure 3. “The Zebra Path” to the Career Center at Stony Brook University in New York
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22. STEP 4: CREATE COOL EVENTS
Many Career Centers are confused about why students don’t attend their events. However, if you really think
about it for a second, it is pretty easy to understand why this happens.
I want you to pretend you are a student for a second:
You are somewhat overwhelmed with a schedule full of classes, homework, and projects. You probably
also have an awful part-time job (or 2 or 3) that you absolutely hate.
The Career Center keeps emailing you about attending one of their events in your (limited) free time. None
of your friends go to the Career Center’s events, and you don’t understand why it’s important for you to be
thinking about your career, since you aren’t graduating for what seems like an eternity.
Without realizing it, you ask yourself what else you could be doing instead of attending the Career Center’s
next presentation on “Effective Elevator Pitches.” You subconsciously think about how you could be
hanging out with friends in your dorm room, going to a sporting event on campus, surfing the Internet,
updating your page on Facebook for the 11h time of the day, watching the latest episode of The Jersey
Shore, or checking out another event on campus that simply looks a lot more fun (i.e. a hypnotist,
magician, or musician). This time, you opt for the episode of The Jersey Shore. Apparently, Snooki (a
character from the show) gets punched in the face in this episode, and it sounds really funny!
Be honest, Career Center employee. What would YOU do if you were presented with all of those options and only
able to select one?
You have to understand what your Career Center programs are competing against. Being surprised that students
don’t want to attend a “resume workshop” is like a nutritionist being surprised that a “sweet tooth” would rather
eat ice cream, chocolate, or cheesecake instead of a bowl of spinach! Even “sweet tooths” know that spinach is
better for them in the long-term than ice cream, chocolate, or cheesecake. However, that doesn’t mean they are
going to choose the spinach.
The people who need to eat spinach the most are the people least likely to eat it. Same goes for students
attending your programs…
You won’t get most students excited about their careers by offering “resume workshops” or “cover letter”
seminars. You can only get them excited by inviting them to events that look cool. (You also have to market the
events the right way, i.e. follow steps 1-3).
Make it sound fun, and they will come!
I recently read a discussion in LinkedIn where a Career Center director said she changed the title of a program,
and she tripled the attendance of her event the next year without making any other marketing changes!
7 creative ways to make your events cool
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23. 1. Tie in with pop culture: Tie your events in with TV shows, blockbuster movies, celebrities, and so on.
Billie Streufert, Director of Enrollment Management at University of Sioux Falls, wrote a phenomenal
article for the National Career Development Association (NCDA) on this topic. You can read it at:
http://www.associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/5418/_PARENT/layout_details/false
Here are some other ideas. Instead of having an “Interview Workshop,” what about a program around
The Apprentice with someone dressed up as Donald Trump where students do mock interviews and
compete to be hired or fired? (You could also just dress as Donald Trump and stand outside of your office
as Dave Broza, Interim Director of Career Services at Bethel University, once did!) Instead of having a
“Job Search Seminar,” what about doing a program around The Jersey Shore entitled “What’s the
Situation With Your Job Search?” (Note: If you don’t watch The Jersey Shore, you won’t get that joke. I
promise that will be my last Jersey Shore reference in this report!) Instead of doing a presentation
entitled “Effective Elevator Pitches,” what about doing a program spoofing The Shark Tank where
students could practice elevator pitches to alumni serving as the “sharks?” You get the idea. These types
of programs will be 10 times more enticing and inviting than the traditional programs most schools are
offering. Note: you don’t have to know what’s “hip” in pop culture to create these programs. Just ask
your student workers.
2. Tie in with sports: While working for the Washington Wizards, I created an annual event called The
Washington Wizards’ Sports Careers Day. The event was hosted at the Verizon Center in Washington,
D.C. (where the Washington Wizards play). Students and faculty would come to the arena on a Friday
afternoon and listen to me and several other executives from the team as we talked about careers in
sports.
After our presentation, students would participate in other fun activities, and then they would get to
watch a Wizards’ game that night. In our 5th year running this program, we had almost 5,000 students
attend, many of whom came from more than 200 miles away for the event! And, it wasn’t free. Every
person in attendance needed to buy a $30 ticket to get access to all of the day’s events.
How did we get so many students to attend? We just did everything in this report! We created an event
that was cool/fun, we included prizes and food, we used great speakers, we recognized groups who
participated, we cultivated peer evangelists (using selected student leaders), we built affiliate
partnerships with key faculty at schools and organizations in Maryland, DC, and Virginia, and we created
urgency to register and participate through contests, incentives, deadlines, and limited availability.
You might not be able to create an event as exciting as a Career Day at a pro sports arena. However, why
not do something similar on your campus (or in your area) by teaming up with affiliate partners or other
organizations to include your Career Center in a sporting or social event that students would be excited to
attend?
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24. Figure 4. NBA Star, Antonio Daniels, is shown here, as he talks to a group of
5,000 students and faculty at the 2007 Washington Wizards’ Sports Careers Day.
Even if you don’t create a special event, you can still tie in with sports for your standard programs. Art
Taguding, Executive Director of Career Services at Stevenson University, told me about programming he
ran last spring around March Madness and the Final 4 where the Career Center had brackets for their
programs to coincide with the NCAA Basketball Tournament in March and April. You could also do events
around The Super Bowl, The World Series, The Kentucky Derby, The Indy 500, or whatever is big in your
area or on your campus.
3. Tie in with holidays. What about creating programs based around certain holidays, like Halloween,
Valentine’s Day, and so on? Carmen Croonquist, who works in Internship Development for University of
Wisconsin-River Falls, mentioned that one school did a Mardi Gras theme entitled “Flash Your Resume,
Get Some Beads!” Doesn’t that sound much more fun than a “Resume Workshop?”
4. Tie in with fashion: Instead of a “Dress For Success” event or an “Etiquette Dinner,” what about doing a
fashion show with students? Huntingdon College in Alabama got such an event sponsored by Banana
Republic, and 100-200 students attended (through their own choice) from a campus of less than 1,500
students. Again, students came because it was FUN. Stevenson University also did a “Fashion On Trial”
event where they had an executive from Jos. A. Bank serve as a “prosecutor” on what to wear and what
not to wear. The event was setup like a courtroom setting to make it more entertaining.
5. Host Speed Networking Nights. Many schools are doing speed networking nights for students where
they bring back local alumni in a specific field or from various fields. Students love the interaction, and it
often results in job/internship opportunities.
6. Create Industry Weeks: Mike Schaub, Executive Director of The Career Education Center at Georgetown
University said he’s gotten great participation from students through Georgetown’s “Industry Weeks.”
They have several “Industry Weeks” each year based on career trends and based on student feedback.
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25. Through these programs, they have 1-2 programs a day for an entire week. For example, you could do a
“Journalism Week” or a “Sports Marketing Week” or a “Fashion Week.”
7. Develop Entrepreneurship programs: Several schools have recently started Entrepreneurship programs.
University of Miami won an award from NACE for their work. Samara Reynolds, Career Advisor at Duke
University, also told me about a program that Duke is starting for aspiring entrepreneurs. You probably
have lots of students interested in starting their own businesses. Are you catering to them as well? You
probably also have lots of alumni entrepreneurs who would love to talk to students about their journeys
and businesses. Again, what about a spoof of The Shark Tank where your students could pitch ideas to
alumni entrepreneurs who would serve as the “sharks?”
The bottom line: make it fun, and they will come! Again, you don’t have to figure out what’s “hip” on your own.
Your student workers can tell you.
4 Secrets for Bringing in the Right Speakers for Your Events
Many schools increase student participation for their events by bringing in speakers from off-campus. It’s nothing
personal against your Career Center, but career advice sounds different from someone who students don’t have
access to at all times. Here are 4 musts in selecting speakers from off-campus for your events:
1. Speakers MUST be dynamic. Speaking effectively in public is a skill that very few people have, and an
activity that scares most people to death. Just because someone is a highly successful alum, an HR
director of a great company, or has even written a career advice book does not mean he/she will be
engaging in front of a live audience, especially one as easily distracted as college students. Many of the
world’s most brilliant people could also be listed among the world’s most boring speakers! Make sure you
view a video clip of a speaker before you invite him/her to speak on your campus. If you are bored
watching the clip, you better believe your students will be bored watching the person live. One boring
speaker could be very damaging to the “brand” of your office; on the other hand, one amazing speaker
could be great for the “brand” of your office.
2. Speakers MUST be/look young. Students are much more likely to connect with and be open to advice
from speakers who look/seem like them rather than speakers who remind them of their parents or
grandparents! As discussed, Gen Y really values recommendations made by peers and is skeptical of
advice from older generations.
3. Speakers MUST have marketable professional backgrounds. Students are much more likely to attend
programs by speakers currently/previously affiliated with popular international brands than they are to
attend programs by speakers from companies without major name recognition. Wouldn’t you be? This is
why most schools struggle to get students to attend events where the main attraction is an HR
representative from a local business that students have never heard of.
4. Speakers MUST have a great story. Stories sell. Stories are memorable and impactful. In today’s
economy, students need and want to hear from speakers who have overcome obstacles to achieve career
success. Job search do’s and don’ts are definitely important, but inspiration is lacking in most career
development presentations. Give your students hope for a better future by bringing in people who have
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26. succeeded against difficult odds! Remember: you have to change their thoughts before you can change
their lives.
4 Ways to Get Funding for Professional Speakers
Many Career Centers would love to hire a professional keynote speaker for an event, and they think they lack the
budget to do so. Even though my point of contact for a speaking engagement on a college campus is usually the
Career Center, it’s pretty rare that the Career Center covers the investment associated with my programs.
Instead, Career Centers usually “sell” the value of my program to affiliate partners who actually sponsor most or
all of the event. Here are 4 of the most popular sources of funding that Career Centers use to invest in my
programs and those of other professional speakers:
1. Corporate partners/sponsors
2. Alumni/donors
3. Other departments on campus (i.e. athletics, student affairs, student activities, academic departments)
4. Student groups (i.e. Greek organizations, honor societies, business clubs)
Many entities on your campus have budgets for bringing in entertainers (i.e. comedians, hypnotists, or musicians)
or budgets for speakers on more serious topics like sexuality/relationships, drug and alcohol awareness, and so
on. Why not tap into their budgets for a career development event?
3 Tricks to Build Momentum Before and After Events With Speakers
When you work with a speaker from off-campus, it’s important to build momentum before AND after the event.
Here are 3 tricks to help you have a bigger impact at and after your events:
1. Include a personal touch from the speaker. Have the speaker(s) connect with key students and faculty
BEFORE they come to campus. This personal touch goes a long way in encouraging key students and
faculty to advertise the event and was very instrumental in how I set an NBA record by getting 5,000
students to attend my Washington Wizards’ Sports Careers Day event in 2007. For example, I reached out
to one student leader directly, offered him some perks for advertising the event, and promised individual
recognition for him and his organization before and during the event. The result? He ended up rallying
over 1,000 students from his organization to attend (again, at $30 per person)!
2. Get endorsed publicly. Have the speaker(s) highlight the value of your Career Center’s programs and
services during their presentation. When an outside source recommends your services, you get a
compelling testimonial that builds social proof for your office.
3. End with a call-to-action. Speakers should end their presentations with a call-to-action connected to your
Career Center (i.e. telling students to “like” the Career Center on Facebook or to schedule an appointment
with the Career Center, etc.) As always, make the call-to-action clear, easy, and compelling.
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27. These have always seemed obvious to me, but very few schools implement these 3 steps when bringing in
speakers from off-campus. If “nothing happens” after a program with a speaker, it’s probably because your event
was missing 1 or more of these 3 components…
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28. STEP 5: CONNECT WITH EMPLOYERS THE RIGHT WAY
Another key component of raising support for your office is to have more partnerships with employers and better
partnerships with employers. This can lead to more job/internship offers for your students, more networking
opportunities for your students, and more financial support for your office.
If you work for a college that lacks major name recognition among college recruiters, if your student population is
small, and/or if you are located in a remote area, it can be especially challenging to connect with employers.
I interviewed several top recruiters from major companies like Ernst & Young and PWC, and I also interviewed
leaders in the employer relations space as well. There were 2 major best-practices that surfaced from this part of
my research.
Approach employers like a job-seeker SHOULD
Many Career Centers are ironically making the same mistakes reaching out to employers that inexperienced job-
seekers do. Avoid 6 of the biggest “job search mistakes,” and your employer outreach efforts will improve
significantly:
1. Focus first. The “shotgun” or mass-mailing approach doesn’t work for job-seekers, and it won’t work for
Career Centers either. Just like a job-seeker should a start a job search by identifying a target list of ideal
employers, your Career Center should have its own target list based on the types of companies that are the
best fits for your students. Start with a target list, and then focus on building relationships with those
companies. This was cited as a reason for success by many colleges with great employer partnerships.
2. Be a solution. Most job-seekers are only concerned about how employers can help them, and they fail to
focus on how they can help employers. Is your Career Center making this mistake also? Don’t focus on how
employers can help you. Identify what your ideal employer partners need. Then, show them how your
students can solve their problems. Recruiters often complain to me that colleges try to jam students down
their throat who are not good candidates for the problems they are trying to solve.
3. Personalize. As discussed throughout this report, any type of marketing, relationship-building strategy is
much more effective if it is personalized. Reach out to employer partners 1 at a time, and make sure to
adjust your message based on the company you are talking to. One of the biggest turn-offs to employers is
when Career Centers (or job-seekers) don’t really understand what they do.
4. Take action. When I speak to groups of students about how to get your dream job after college, one of my
key messages is that you shouldn’t expect an employer to come to you and hand you your dream job. It
doesn’t happen, no matter how talented you are. Instead, if you want your dream job, you have to go out
and get it. (That’s how I got my dream job in the NBA at the age of 21!) It’s the same principle for Career
Centers. If you want bigger and better employer partners, you have to go out and get them. The schools
with the best employer relationships are all very proactive in pursuing and developing these relationships.
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29. If you don’t have the sorts of relationships with companies that you’d like, you need to take more of the
right actions.
5. Use your connections to get “in.” Most job-seekers also fail to leverage their existing connections and
affiliations during their job searches. Is your Career Center making this same mistake? The best way to get
“in” with an employer partner is through the people who you already have relationships with, such as
alumni, donors, parents, professors, and the other affiliate partners highlighted in step 2.
6. Meet in-person. Another huge job-seeker mistake is spending too much time in front of a computer screen
and not nearly enough time with people who could help you get the job you want. How much time does
your Career Center devote to meeting employers in-person? It’s hard to build trust and rapport (2 keys to
any professional relationship) without meeting with people face-to-face. Participate in professional
associations that are comprised of employers you want to connect with. Some examples include NACE (and
its state/regional chapters), local SHRM chapters, chambers of commerce, and other associations for
industries relevant to your students.
There is an association for everything you could imagine. Identify the associations that make the most
sense for your students to be involved in, and make sure your Career Center has a presence in those
organizations. Even better, get someone in your Career Center to take on a leadership position in these
organizations to increase the visibility of your office.
You can also invite a targeted association to host one of their events on your campus. Jennifer Wilson-
Spataro, Director of Career Services at Shenandoah University, said this has been a great way for her to get
quality face-time with potential employer partners without her having to go off-campus. Offer meeting
space on your campus for free, and associations will love you. You can also join networking groups on
LinkedIn for relevant associations.
Treat employers like VIP Customers
Other than the fundamental courtesy of returning emails and voicemails promptly and being very pleasant and
easy to work with, here are 2 advanced customer-service strategies I learned from my time in the NBA. These
tactics will take your employer partnerships to an even higher level:
1. “Touch” your employer partners the right way. The sales department for the Washington Wizards had a
“touch-point management strategy” for the entire season so that we could “touch” our customers throughout
the year. We didn’t want them to feel like we only contacted them when their bills were due, so we had a
system in place to connect with them all season long in a variety of relationship-building ways. We sent
holiday cards and birthday cards, we visited them at home games to say hello in-person, we invited them to
private events at the arena and at other venues, we brought prizes to their offices, and so on. The process
changed based on the value of the customer (i.e. we treated a company spending $100,000 a year differently
than a company spending $2,000 per year), but the goal was always the same. We wanted every single
customer to know how much we appreciated them and their business, and I have all sorts of stories of how
effective this was. Treat your employer partners like friends, and make sure you aren’t just reaching out to
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30. them when you need something. This sounds basic, but it’s easy to take existing relationships for granted,
especially when you are understaffed and busier than ever, as you probably are right now!
2. “Slam-dunk” your best employer partners every year. We also had a customer service strategy called “slam-
dunk moments” where we would have 1-2 actions each year that were highly personalized steps where we
went above and beyond to show our best customers how much we appreciated their business. For example, I
once brought a 3-foot tall bobble-head (signed by one of our All-Stars) to one of my VIP customer’s offices. It
actually looked a little creepy, but you should have seen the reaction I got from him and his staff when I rolled
it into his office lobby! It was like I had dropped off a box of gold. (The reactions I got on the train ride to his
office were also pretty memorable.) You don’t need to spend a lot of money to show people how much you
care. Most of our “slam-dunk” moments cost us nothing or very little, but they were tremendous for
strengthening relationships with our customers (and getting them to spend even more money).
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31. STEP 6: EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIA
I asked the schools I interviewed which social media platforms they were using and what impact these tools were
having on their ability communicate with students, alumni, and employers.
In general, very few schools said that they were achieving great results with social media. However, most schools
also admitted that their lack of success was due to a lack of understanding on how to utilize these tools.
Social media is so new and evolving so rapidly that most Career Centers are completely baffled by how to
integrate them into their marketing. Heck, many major companies don’t really understand how to use these
platforms!
It’s understandable if your Career Center has concerns about social media or is unsure how to utilize it. However,
if you do not tap into the unlimited power of social media now, you and your students will fall WAY behind the
Career Centers who are.
Get Sold on Going Social
If your Career Center is not sold on social media, here are 5 amazing stats that should change your mind:
1. According to social media experts, Lewis Howes and Sean Malarkey (creators of the “500 Milllion
Strong” social media system), 96% of Generation Y members have an account on at least 1 social media
web site!
2. Howes and Malarkey also report that 80% of companies use social media for recruitment!
3. According to Facebook’s Press Room, Facebook has over 500 million active users worldwide: if
Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s 3rd largest (behind China and India)!
4. The average Facebook user spends almost an hour on the site every day!
5. According to LinkedIn’s Press Room, over 100 million people have profiles on LinkedIn, and a new
member joins the site every second of every day, on average!
Here are 3 qualitative reasons why your Career Center MUST embrace social media NOW:
1. Communication. Millions of people use Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs, and Twitter every single day,
and this includes your students, your alumni, and your current/potential employer partners. Social media
platforms allow you to initiate and continue conversations in ways that have previously not been possible.
2. Research. The amount of information publicly available on employers and industries through these
platforms is simply amazing.
3. Price. While many social media platforms offer premium (i.e. paid) membership options, Career Centers
can benefit from free memberships on all of the major sites. In a time when budgets are tight, a free
communication/advertising tool is a beautiful thing!
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32. 11 Universal Social Media Best Practices for Career Centers
Books could be written (and have been written) on how to use each of the major social media platforms. The
purpose of this section is to give you a “crash-course” on how to utilize these tools to improve your Career
Center’s performance. There are plenty of social media tricks that will not be covered in the next 5-10 pages.
However, if your school follows these 11 best-practices (and the bonus tips included for each of the big 5
platforms), you will be WAY ahead of the curve. Like any tool, if social media sites are not used correctly and
consistently, they will not work. Most Career Centers don’t have the foundation right on social media, and that’s
why most are not getting great results. Here’s how your Career Center can achieve social media success:
1. Start smart. Before your Career Center begins using any social media platform, you should determine
what your goals are, how you will measure your performance, who your target audiences are, how you
want to brand your Career Center, and who will oversee/update your account. Don’t let this scare you
off; you don’t need to spend 6 months creating your social media strategy, and you can’t map out
everything before you start. However, if you have some direction first, you will have much more success.
2. Make participation enticing. If students are not “liking” your fan page on Facebook or commenting on
your blog posts, for example, it’s because you haven’t given them a compelling enough reason to do so.
Unfortunately, students aren’t going to like your fan page or follow you on Twitter, etc., just because they
can get great resume tips or job updates there. As we have discussed, people don’t always want what
they know is good for them. Like anything else, you have to entice people to participate in anything your
office does. Refer back to the rest of this report for ideas on how to do that!
3. Keep it casual. If you come across as too stiff, you will lose students very easily on these sites. Other than
LinkedIn, the #1 professional networking site, keep your social media accounts casual. Schools (and
companies) who have great social media engagement with students are those who make it really fun!
4. Rely on students. Let your student workers help you set up these sites, let them help you develop
content, and let them help you market your accounts to other students. You don’t have to give up all
control, but you do have to step back more than you usually do. Students will tell you how they want to
be communicated with on these sites, and they will do a MUCH better job marketing them to their friends
than your counselors can.
5. Communicate at the right frequency. You wouldn’t send 10 emails to your students in 1 week, but some
Career Centers are taking this approach through social media. For example, one Career Center (who shall
remain anonymous) recently made 10 Facebook fan page posts in the span of 1 hour to promote 10
different Career Center events! That’s a great way to overwhelm and irritate your followers. In general,
communicating with your followers one time per day is the maximum frequency you should use. (Twitter
might be an exception.)
6. Foster conversations and participation. These tools work best when they encourage discussion,
participation, sharing, and so on. If you talk AT students, you will lose them; get them to contribute and
participate through prizes, contests, by asking questions, by asking for their opinions, etc.
7. Integrate efforts. When using multiple platforms, make sure all of your sites are part of a master social
media plan. In other words, your sites should complement each other and not compete with each other.
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33. Gary Miller, Assistant Director for Social Media and Innovation for University Career Services at University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also recommends Career Centers check out www.hootsuite.com for
managing and updating multiple platforms from one web site.
8. Follow others. Check out Facebook fan pages, LinkedIn groups, Twitter accounts, and so on for other
Career Centers (and other non-profits or major companies) to see how they are using their accounts. You
don’t need to figure it all out by yourself; just watch your peers and incorporate what you like into your
efforts as well. Most information is publicly available to anyone on these sites, so you can actually see
social media campaigns and strategies being used by other organizations. Personally, I follow many
individuals and organizations just to see how they are using social media for their marketing.
9. Focus on Facebook. While a Career Center can benefit from each of the big 5 platforms (Facebook,
LinkedIn, You-Tube, Blogs, and Twitter), you should definitely focus on Facebook. Since the number of
students using Facebook is significantly higher than any other social media platform, you’ll get the biggest
“bang for your buck” on that site. As discussed earlier, if you have too many calls-to-action (i.e. “Hey
students, make sure you like us on Facebook, join our LinkedIn group, follow us on Twitter, read our blog,
AND watch us on You-Tube”), students will be overwhelmed, and they will ignore you altogether.
Dominate Facebook first, and gradually add in other platforms as you go. If you try to be a social media
“jack-of-all-trades,” you will be a master of none. Many Career Centers are diluting their results because
they are unsuccessfully trying to have success with too many platforms at 1 time. In the recently
released, best-selling book, The New Rules of Marketing &PR by David Meerman Scott, even the author
(one of the world’s best social media experts) admits that he does not use some of the major social media
platforms for this very reason.
10. Don’t fall into the black hole. Social media participation can become a huge waste of time IF you let it.
Use your time very carefully. I actually keep a stopwatch on my desk and time all of my activities with
social media. As one of my mentors Mark LeBlanc says, “work shorter and sharper.” Keeping your social
media accounts open on your computer all day long will destroy your productivity for everything else you
are trying to do. Do NOT do that. While we are on the subject, don’t keep your Outlook inbox open all
day long either! Just check it every hour or at several predetermined times each day, and watch your
productivity go through the roof.
11. Stick to it, and be realistic. Just like the January fitness enthusiast who stops working out after not losing
20 lbs. in a month, most people give up on social media sites before they have had a chance to be
effective. Give them a chance, and results will follow.
In summary, your Career Center will have success with social media if you follow the recommendations from the
rest of this report! In other words, be strategic, make it fun and interactive, get students and affiliate partners to
help you with marketing, and so on.
7 Facebook Tricks for Enhancing the Performance of Your Career Center
Facebook should be the foundation of your social media strategy. Here are 7 ways to have greater success
through this site:
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34. 1. Set up a fan page. There are 3 ways to create free accounts on Facebook: as an actual person, as a “group”
that people can join, or as a “fan page” that people can “like.” Some Career Centers have set up accounts as
actual people, which students would then have to become “friends” with. This is actually against Facebook
rules, and one Career Center Director told me Facebook made them shut down their account for doing this.
(Students probably don’t want to be “friends” with the Career Center anyway. Sorry to break it to you!)
Make sure not to set up your account as a “group” either. If you set it up as a “group,” you can send
messages to the Facebook inboxes of everyone in the group (which you cannot do with a fan page), but your
status updates will not show up in the news feeds of people in your group. If I lost you, here is the bottom
line: groups are much less interactive than fan pages, which is the opposite of what you should be aiming for
with your presence on Facebook.
2. Provide incentives for “liking” your page and participating. Many schools do contests (i.e. fan of the week)
and offer prizes to students for “liking” the page and for participating in the activity of the page.
3. Get a vanity URL for your page. Go to www.facebook.com/username, and create a personalized URL for your
Career Center’s page. Many Career Centers don’t realize they can personalize their URL for their fan page
rather than keeping the really long URL’s Facebook assigns automatically when you set up your page. If you
are using the URL Facebook gives you, you can’t give students the exact address for your page, which creates
an extra step for them to find you on Facebook. Get a vanity URL (the easier to remember, the better… and
the shorter, the better), and then you can mention the exact address for people to find you. For example, the
URL for your fan page could be www.facebook.com/XYZCareerCenter. You just need 25 fans to do this.
4. Post pictures and videos from your events and/or of your students and alumni. It’s much more fun than just
posting status updates that are 100% text. You can also “tag” the people in these pictures and videos.
5. Promote your events through Facebook. Student ambassadors can come in handy here to invite their friends,
and this often leads to better results since students get the invitation from their peers rather than from the
Career Center. Another great perk of promoting an event on Facebook, if you marketed the event correctly, is
that students can see which of their friends are attending.
6. Use your fan page for your calls-to-action. You can drive students to your page when you meet with them
individually or in groups, and you can also drive them to your fan page in all of your other marketing
materials, i.e. your fliers, email newsletters, and so on. It’s easier to do this when you have a vanity URL as
mentioned above.
7. Advertise on Facebook. You can also pay for very targeted advertising on Facebook to promote your fan page
and/or your events. The targeting on Facebook is really slick because you can have your ads appear only on
the pages of your current students or alumni of certain ages. Several schools told me they were pleased with
the results from this advertising, and it’s very cheap to test it out. It’s not as good as getting your peer
evangelists to spread the word for you, but it will help you connect with some people you might not
otherwise reach. Check out www.Facebook.com/advertising to learn more.
You can also visit www.facebook.com/nonprofits and www.facebook.com/facebookpages for more tips.
2.5 LinkedIn Tricks for Enhancing the Performance of Your Career Center
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35. LinkedIn has its limits for interactive communication, but it is unrivaled in terms of facilitating alumni and
employer connections and doing research on employers, industries, and other Career Centers. Here are 2.5 ways
to have greater success through this site:
1. Participate in LinkedIn groups. You can join groups on LinkedIn that other Career Center professionals and
leaders in career development will be involved in. Most are free and open for anyone to join. By joining
these groups, you can receive daily or weekly updates on content-rich discussions that are already happening
on many topics relevant to your Career Center. You can also post questions for others career center leaders
to respond to.
For example, if you want to know how other schools are getting their students to “like” their fan pages on
Facebook, you could just post a question on one of the discussion boards for a relevant LinkedIn group.
Another trick I occasionally use is to search through the archives of prior discussions to see if my question
might already have been covered in a prior discussion. There are thousands of groups in LinkedIn, so do some
searches to see what other groups make sense for you. If you are part of a professional association, they
probably already have a group in LinkedIn that you could be participating in for free. There are also informal
groups as well that are run by individuals rather than associations. Here are 7 of the most relevant, largest,
and most active LinkedIn groups for Career Center professionals:
(a) “Career Services Professionals”
(b) “Career Counselor Technology Forum”
(c) “EACE”
(d) “Midwest Association of Colleges and Employers”
(e) “ National Association of Colleges and Employers”
(f) “National Career Development Association”
(g) “Southern Association of Colleges and Employers”
2. Conduct targeted employer research. As discussed in Step 5, one of the best ways to build employer
partnerships is through your existing connections (i.e. your alumni). LinkedIn can really come in handy here.
For example, let’s say I worked in the Johns Hopkins University Career Center, and I wanted to establish a
relationship with National Geographic. I could do a search for people currently employed by National
Geographic who attended Johns Hopkins University (see below). I actually did this search and found 24 JHU
alums currently working for Nat Geo, so I would have 24 “in’s” to the company. (Note: this is also a
phenomenal strategy for job-seekers, and one of the many social media tricks that will be covered in my
job/career advice book due out in early 2012!)
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36. Figure 5. A “screen-shot” for a LinkedIn search for JHU alumni working for Nat Geo.
You might be wondering why this is necessary, and why I wouldn’t just ask the JHU Alumni Office which alums
work for Nat Geo. However, check this out. Figure 6 shows a screen-shot from an email I got from LinkedIn in
January 2011. Apparently, 210 of my LinkedIn Connections (I had about 1,000 connections at the time) changed
jobs in 2010 alone.
Do you think those 210 people actually told their alumni offices or Career Centers that they changed jobs? No
way! However, they did take the time to update their information on their LinkedIn account. Bottom line: your
alumni office has NO IDEA where most of your alumni work right now. You probably have some “in’s” to
companies that you and your alumni office don’t even know you do. You can find them through LinkedIn…
Figure 6. A “screen-shot” of an email I received from LinkedIn in January 2011.
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37. 2.5 Bypass Some of LinkedIn’s New Privacy Features. You may have noticed some of the new privacy features
LinkedIn recently added to their site for people who just have free accounts, rather than premium (paid)
accounts. In particular, when searching through LinkedIn with a free account, you can’t always see the last name
for people coming up in your searches. You also cannot reach out to some people directly through LinkedIn, and
this is an obstacle.
The loophole is www.Jigsaw.com. It’s a free web site where you can use “points” accrued on the site to “buy”
contact information for millions of professionals worldwide. Very cool web site. Check it out. It’s also a great tool
for a job-seeker!
Last point on LinkedIn… Even though your alumni office has no idea where most of your alumni work, you should
still partner with your Alumni Office on anything you do with LinkedIn. They may already have some efforts in
place, and you don’t want to double up efforts unnecessarily or have them feeling that you are going around
them.
3 You-Tube Tricks for Enhancing the Performance of Your Career Center
Very few Career Centers are utilizing online video sites, such as You-Tube, in their marketing and programming,
but those who are RAVED about its impact. This should not be surprising. Students love to watch TV. Here are 3
ways to have greater success through this site:
1. Use You-Tube for student/alumni testimonials. Film your students/alumni talking about the positive
benefits they have received from using the Career Center, and then post these videos onto You-Tube, and
link to them on your web site and your other social media accounts.
2. Use You-Tube for student contests. As mentioned earlier, University of Delaware had a contest where
students could film creative videos talking about the benefits of the Career Center. Other colleges have also
utilized this creative promotion.
Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlLT4cbhagg&feature=related for a hilarious (and effective) video
entry submitted by some of Delaware’s students.
3. Use You-Tube videos in presentations to students. Videos break up a presentation, and make it more fun.
It’s really easy to embed an entertaining You-Tube video into PowerPoint. Just google “how to embed a you-
tube video into powerpoint” and you’ll get a series of videos and articles on how to do it. Remember that
you will need Internet connection where you are speaking, or the video will not play. As a result, you should
test it out in the room you are speaking in before your presentation.
6 Blogging Tricks for Enhancing the Performance of Your Career Center
There were not many schools singing the praises of blogs during my research, but they are pretty easy to set-up,
and they can be promoted through your other platforms (i.e. Facebook and Twitter). Here are 6 ways to have
greater success through blogs (i.e. Wordpress):
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38. 1. Let students write about their experiences. Students are much more interested in reading blogs about peer
experiences than they are in reading career advice from much older counselors.
2. Ask readers to participate. Readers will not assume you want them to comment on or share your blog
entries unless you tell them. Be direct.
3. Use images and videos. Blogs that are 100% text remind students of their textbooks. Not a good thing.
Make your blog entries more reader-friendly by including pictures and videos.
4. Be concise. Readers go to blogs for short entries, not for pages and pages of content. Keep blog entries
under 500 words as much as possible.
5. Use bullets, lists, and catchy titles. This makes the blog much more reader-friendly and makes the reader
curious. People judge books by their titles, and they do the same thing with blog posts. For example, even if
the content is identical, a blog entry entitled “7 Ways LinkedIn Can Help You Get Your Dream Job” will get a
lot more interest than a blog entry entitled “Using LinkedIn to Get a Job.” You can also create a title by using
a question and list together, i.e. “Are You Making These 7 Deadly Networking Mistakes?” Wouldn’t you want
to read that?
6. Include a call-to-action as a P.S. You have the reader’s attention. Why not try to get him/her to take the next
step by using a clear, easy, compelling call-to-action at the end of each blog entry (i.e. “P.S. Like us on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/xyzCareerCenter for a chance to win a weekly prize).
2 Twitter Tricks for Enhancing the Performance of Your Career Center
There were not many schools who gave glowing endorsements about Twitter either. However, here are 2 ways
you can have greater success through the site:
1. Follow like a job-seeker. Use Twitter to follow your target employers, relevant associations, and thought
leaders on career development and social media. Twitter is a phenomenal research tool for a Career Center
(and for job-seekers). Just beware of your follower-to-following ratio. If you are following a lot more people
than you are being followed by, your account appears to be of lower value.
2. Make each character count. You only get 140 characters per tweet. Make sure to shorten your URLs any
time you link to a web site in a tweet. Not sure how to do that? Just google “shorten a URL,” and you will get
a series of results on how to do it. You can also just visit bit.ly to shorten a URL. Make sure your tweets also
contain value!
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39. SUMMARY
In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever for Career Centers to get their students to prioritize career
planning as early as possible. However, this is not an easy task, with many students lacking motivation, and with
Career Centers being asked to do more with less.
You probably didn’t pursue a career in a Career Center because of a passion or talent for sales and marketing.
However, better marketing will increase student awareness, student participation, and overall support for your
Career Center. In other words, better marketing will enable you to help more students!
The 6 steps in this report serve as your Career Center’s Marketing Blueprint!
Step 1: Be Strategic. Understand your audience and design your marketing with your audience in mind.
Step 2: Build Social Proof. Use success stories and testimonials, along with endorsements from peer evangelists
and affiliate partners.
Step 3: Stand-Out At High-Traffic Locations. Just like an Internet marketer, the best way to drive traffic for your
Career Center is to go where the traffic already is.
Step 4: Create Cool Events. Make your programs sound fun, and students will come!
Step 5: Connect With Employers The Right Way. Approach employers like a job-seeker should, and treat
employers like VIP customers.
Step 6: Embrace Social Media. Social media has permanently changed the way we communicate and build
relationships. Embrace these platforms NOW, or be prepared for your Career Center and your students to fall
way behind the Career Centers who do.
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