Health and Human Services Professional Development

What’s YOUR Plan? by   Jill Bowers   on   August 22, 2013   Are you planning for tomorrow? Next week? Next semester? Next Year? All are vital to your career. No plan = no productivity = no job. Begin by thinking about your long-term goals and then, the shorter-term goals. Then, plan out the weekly, daily, and monthly activities that help you to reach your goals. Below is a sample plan for someone who wants to become an administrator in a domestic violence agency (as an example).    Long-term goal: Become an administrator at a domestic violence agency within 8 years. Intermediate goals: Finish bachelor’s degree in human services program administration , human development and family studies, or program that trains you in family services (4 years on average). Receive a Master’s degree in human services program administration, HDFS, business administration, or other field that will train you for an administrator role (1.5 – 3 years, depen...

Employer-Proofing Your Social Media Profiles by   Jill Bowers   on   November 23, 2013   The number of online articles about personal social media accounts and the research your potential employers are likely doing continues to grow. It seems inevitable that a potential employer is going to attempt to gather information about what you are NOT telling them, so what kind of impression are you making with your online profiles or tweets? True or false? You are generally safe with venting via Twitter because less than half of your followers actually read your tweets, and the chances that your hashtags will go viral are slim.   FALSE  – at least the first part. If you doubt this, ask the high school senior who attended a campus information day in Brunswick, Maine and proceeded to post negative or derogatory comments about others while she was there (see  They Loved Your G.P.A. Then They saw Your Tweets. – NY Times ). Remember that employers can...