Podcamp Philly is coming to Temple, brought to you by the Fox School of Business and Computer Services at Temple!  Please take a look at the information.  Whether you currently utilize new media, i.e. blogs, podcasts, twitter, social networking sites, or would be interested in finding out more, please join us on September 6th and 7th for this exciting event!  You will have the opportunity to build and develop relationships with others in the field and gain from their vast experience and expertise!  Please click on the podcamp header for more information or to register and if you have any questions please contact Jena at jbandini@temple.edu.

FAQs

What is Podcamp?

A PodCamp is a BarCamp-style community UnConference for podcasters and listeners, bloggers and readers, as well as anyone interested in New Media. First held in Boston, Massachusetts, Podcamp has spread across the United States and the world to bring people of all backgrounds and abilities together to teach and learn from each other. Recent events have included Pittsburgh, Toronto, New York City, Munich, Atlanta, San Antonio and Stockholm.

The purpose of PodCamp is to:

• Share information.
• Build & develop relationships
• Grow the new media community

You do NOT need to be a podcaster to attend a PodCamp. If you’re interested in podcasting, blogging, podsafe music, educational applications or just curious then please join us — and bring a friend or colleague.

What’s an “unConference?”

An unConference means that the participants are also the experts. We’re audio and video podcasters, enthusiasts, businesspeople, hobbyists, musicians, promoters, marketers, and people who generally want to understand more about the new media space. The power of an unConference is you get open access to ideas, thoughts, best practices, and the true “wisdom of crowds” simply by registering and attending.

This also means that we want to hear from YOU. This is not a “top-down” conference model where you get a glossy brochure and nod in agreement while listening to key notes and featured speakers. We encourage interactivity, Q&A’s and sessions that are dialogues versus monologues. The sessions are respectful of course, but be aware that participants value transparency, candor and value versus “pitch” talks that serve as thinly veiled PR babble.

So anyone can speak?

Yes. Just sign up to speak and as space allows, you’re in. The organizers will decide who speaks when and where, but any topic you want to talk about is valid as long as it’s got some focus on new media.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes! Please contact us and we’ll get you set up to help in an area you’re interested in.

Why Are You Charging a Registration Fee?

PodCamp’s goal is not to make money, but to share information, build relationships and cultivate the new media community. After 35 PodCamp events, we’ve found that a large number of “no shows” place a strain on our ability to deliver the type of high quality events and programming that our attendees deserve. Therefore, PodCamp Philly has decided to charge a $20 registration fee to discourage those that register for the event when their attendance is unlikely.

You’ll be happy to know that all proceeds from the Registration Fee will be donated to charity

When I was trying to decide what I wanted to write about today….I came across some, how do I say it…interesting looking cover letters sent in on FoxNet.  Now this does not mean, at all, that the content was bad, but that the formatting was wayyyy off.  Cover letters are much like any formal business letter, resume, or other business document in that the formatting is just as important as the message.  A sloppily formatted cover letter gives an employer the impression that you decided not to take the 10 minutes it would take to perfect, polish and proofread that document and I know that is not the impression you want to give, furthermore not the person you are.  So we are going back to basics here…

If you want to stand out from the crowd, your cover letter should cover two important points:

• What you can do for the company
• How you can fill the company’s needs.

Send your letter to an individual, not a company. Take the time to determine the name and title of the addressee. Do not guess gender when addressing a letter. Dear Sir or Madam or Dear Hiring Manager, are not acceptable salutations.

Be sure to include a return address and telephone number. Include your street address, city, state, zip code, and telephone number. Omit your e-mail address if you do not check e-mail daily.

Address your letter to a person who can hire you: Contact the company and obtain the name and title of the person to whom to address your letter. This shows initiative and resourcefulness. It may also impress the reader with the fact that you reached them directly.

Never use all caps and do not justify the right margin. Presentation is as important an element as content and organization. Strive at all times for a professional appearance.

Use the KISS theory. Keep it short, simple, and no longer than one page. Each of the three paragraphs should have four or fewer sentences. Vary the sentence length and try to avoid either a stream of short sentences or very long sentences.

Send original letters only. A vague letter that could be sent to any employer by merely replacing the company name is called a broadcast letter. It doesn’t fool anyone.

Please remember that not every position on FoxNet requires a cover letter.  You must only send one when the job description specifically asks for one.  When you are applying to a job or internship in ANY other manner: hand delivery, other internet job search sites (e.g. monster, wetfeet.com, etc.), or company websites, it behooves you to submit a cover letter.  Just a little insider information….most hiring managers will look at your cover letter AFTER looking at your resume, not before.  So keep that in mind, if they like what they see on your resume, they may take a look at that cover letter and see if it strengthens your case for an interview.  If you suspect that there will be any question about something on your resume, including gaps in employment and lack of experience, use your cover letter to explain it.  You are selling yourself, so make sure to write that way.  If you have any questions on how to write a cover letter, please stop in the CSPD office! 

Here is a Sample Cover Letter to take a look at!!!  Remember before you submit a cover letter, please make sure it looks like the one above and includes all the information that it should!!! The few extra minutes of work will help you ten-fold in the long run.

If anyone has had the opportunity to attend an Etiquette Dinner, hosted by the CSPD and Career Development Services, STHM, or even some of the SPO’s on campus, than you probably have met and listened to the great advice given by Lisa Richey. She was featured on Fox Business News and gave some great insight in the Three things that can make or break your job interview. Click on the picture to hear what she has to say!

There has been so much talk on Generation Y and the many many names that have been used to describe those born between 1978 and 1993. Most articles related to career news focus on the differences between the generation and that of many of their bosses or soon to be bosses from the baby boomer generation.  I always have found these articles to be interesting and although often times loaded with generalizations, insightful.  I may be biased since I am part of the beloved Generation Y as well.

Generation Y is a force of as many as 70 million, many of which have entered or will be entering the workforce in the coming years as companies are facing an aging workforce.  Sixty year olds are working besides 22 year olds.  Some of the things being said about Gen Y workers are that they have a high expectation of themselves.  They aim to work more efficiently than their peers.  They also have high expectations of their employers.  The day has come and gone where someone will be with the same company for 40 years and then retire.  Many Gen Yers will have 6 or 7 jobs before they retire.  Employers must work hard to keep Gen Yers engaged, excited, and motivated about their positions.  Generation Y also loves ongoing learning.  They seek out creative challenges and view colleagues as vast resources to gain knowledge.  They also want to make an immediate impact from day 1 and want small goals with tight deadlines to build up ownership of tasks from the get-go.  Now these things do not sound bad at all, but compared to the mindset of those in their 50’s and 60’s there are some vast differences.  Many of those in the baby boomer generation see the attitudes of the generation Y worker as feeling “priviledged” because of their education.  Many of these workers have been with the company and putting in their dues for many many years now and believe experience is what moves you up the ladder, not education.

I think the best advice to give to a generation Y worker is to Manage up!  Manage what your boss thinks of you, steer your boss’s plans for you, get your boss to supervise you in a way that works well for you.  All generations recognize that the next generation is not like theirs, but there are great strengths to each.  It is important to find these strenghts and learn from eachother.  If you make your priorities clear to your boss you will be able to use their many years of experience in the field to your benefit.  Use this person to help you with your project management and prioritization because they’ve seen it all before.  Investigate other skills you think your boss will be able to help you with, bring that list to your boss, and let them use their nurturing personalities to really help you obtain those new skills. 

How To Befriend The Boss On Facebook

There may come a time in your working life when you recieve a friend request from your boss on your social networking account. The above video lightheartedly shows you how to handle what could be a sticky situation IF the information on your account is questionnable (however if you read the earlier post by Jena Bandini, or read the WWW.YOU.COM On-the-Go brochure in the CSPD office or on the CSPD website, then you know that you really should not have anything on your site that could be embarassing for you professionally).

At this point it isn’t about first impressions, because you already have that great job or internship you were looking for. You should maintain the idea that your employer was just as right to choose you for the position as you were to have choosen to work for them. Remember it is a two way street that leads to employment bliss. OK maybe not bliss, but you should feel the position you have taken is a good fit for you and one that you would not want to loose because of a non-work related faux paus (like questionnable pictures or comments on your Facebook account) or work related one for that matter. Somewhere down the line you will be ready for the next step, either a full time offer after a successful internship or a promotion after your first post-grad job, and you should make sure that your image is protected and is reflective of the hard-working person that you are. You should also be thinking about what you can do on the job that will set you apart from your co-workers, but that is another blog for another time…

To read an article about how employers are using social networking sites to conduct background checks… click here!