College admission should not be the ultimate goal of education reform.

The Opportunities Project and eBranding Me announce Solutions for Change in Education, a series of white papers that reveal the shortcomings of higher education’s lack of focus on career development initiatives and highlight potential solutions.

Download the first paper TODAY!

In 2011, new college graduates are facing multiple obstacles in their efforts to launch their first careers, including record student loan debt, prolonged unemployment, and growing employer dissatisfaction with their abilities. Because of expanded job searches coupled with large loan payments, most new graduates will not break even on their investment in their bachelor’s degree more than a decade after they graduate.

In “The Economic Achievement Gap: No End in Sight,” the first white paper in this series, authors Tracy Brisson, Keith Petri and Justin Mathews summarize alarming economic data that illustrates the true scope of the problems our students face in today’s economy and pose questions about whether college career centers can play a role in improving economic outcomes for new graduates. Continue Reading »

In early October, Brazen Careerist, an online network of young professionals, launched a unique function: Network Roulette.

The plug-in, aimed at helping users build and manage their network, is described by Brazen as “online speed dating that’s actually useful!”

The concept is simple, combine a real life networking event – elevator pitches and all – with online networking, add a touch of speed dating, and the result: Network Roulette. Each of the 400 participants logged on to the BETA session and answered two simple questions in less than 140-characters:

1. What are you looking for?
2. What are you providing?

Continue Reading »

The current job market is very poor. Career Coaches and industry experts have been throwing around statistics stating there are anywhere from 5-8 qualified individuals applying for each open position. The last thing a job seeker needs is a social media blunder to ruin his chance of securing employment.

eBranding Me released its Reputation Index as a fun, and social, tool to determine how compelling an individual’s social media presence is. The results of a query returned three results:

1. Enrollability: College admissions staff likes to see evidence of initiative, passion, and drive in pursuing your goals. Our algorithm works hard to find initiative and positive thinking in your online presence, since we know how big a difference those make to your college admission chances!
2. Hireability: Because employers value initiative, positive thinking, and hard work, that’s exactly what we track. eBranding Me’s algorithm automatically determines positive (and negative) sentiment, popularity, and passion. We try and figure out if a lot of people are impressed (or not!) with what you’ve accomplished online, and weight that by how frequently people talk about you. The more passionate people you have talking about you, the higher your score!
3. Dateability: We know the first thing some people do these days is Google (or Facebook) the name of their prospective amour. We have tried to simplify that search into our Dateability score, which tracks whether or not a person has a good reputation and a loyal group of friends. We figure that people who have those attributes will be better to date – so the higher your score, the more attractive your online reputation!

However, the team over at MyWebCareer has built a tool that has practical applications and actually reads your personal Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles to determine Your Career Score! With research showing a staggering 83% of recruiters turning to social media websites and online search engines to research job candidates in 2011, it is more important than ever to control the information published about you online!

“Your Career Score provides insight into how colleagues and employers perceive and evaluate your professional competencies and achievements. It is refreshed each month, and you are notified of any changes and actions you should take to maintain a strong and positive career brand.” Continue Reading »

Dan Schawbel is managing partner at Millenial Branding LLC, author of “Me 2.0” and founder of the Student Branding Blog. Dan Schawbel, a personal branding expert, was recently named to the prestigious Inc Magazine 30 Under 30 list. His quarterly magazine, Personal Branding Magazine, always highlights the importance of establishing a strong personal brand by interviewing some of our societies most recognized individuals.

eBranding Me is pleased to announce the release of the most recent issue, Volume 4 Issue 3, of the Personal Branding Magazine starring Chamillionaire, Julia Allison, Tay Zonday, Judson Laipply, Brian Solis, Amy Martin, and Brian Clark. Continue Reading »

Heather Huhman, an eBranding Me Speaker and Founder of ComeRecommended, has just released a free eBook about the 9 steps to becoming an expert marketer and getting hired in today’s digital world. The 53-page resource is your guide to successfully securing gainful employment through new age networking tools.

Stop making excuses! It is 2011 and half the work is already done for you. Follow these simple steps to own your personal brand online:

1. Analyze Your Online Presence
2. Get Your Marketing Documents in Shape
3. Join & Engage in Professional & Social Networking Communities
4. Create an Online Portfolio
5. Start a Blog
6. Get Found on Google
7. Become an Expert
8. Convert “Prospects” into “Leads”
9. Convert “Leads” into “Customers”

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