This might be an amateurish way to demonstrate how career schools and traditional colleges are going opposite directions, but for a quick blog post, I don’t think we have to be all scientific: in the last month, our staff has received an abundance of notices about career college real estate purchases and campus expansions while getting nada from traditional colleges.

In any situation, when we engage with others, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it and present it. This shapes how we are perceived and inherently builds our reputation both personally and professionally. In the career search, how you say it and present it verbally or in print makes the difference between success and failure.

As a recruiter and career coach, I interview at least 20 candidates a day. Many are academic leaders and at the Chief Information Officer level in the career college and higher education markets. I have noticed a few unfortunate common patterns with the “saying it and presenting it.”  This includes the following:

I am a journalist. I never thought I’d be so fortunate to say so. Since journalism was invented (this is an educated guess, based on the fact that reporters never change), the running joke in our field has been that the pay stinks, the hours are worse, but we wouldn’t give up our work for the world. If newspapers and magazines suddenly disappeared – a fate that once only seemed like fantasy – we’d find a way to keep telling stories even if it meant writing in our own private journals. And, with the field shrinking, that moment has arrived for many life-long journalists.

More than likely, you're as busy planning for the upcoming 2009 CCA Annual Convention & Exposition as we are. Now is as good a time as ever to provide you with an update regarding the progress of June's convention planning. We could also use your help in at least one regard.

Today, more than ever before, it's important that those who are in a position to benefit your career know who you are and what you’ve accomplished.  Successful professionals understand the importance both of being visible and letting others know about their achievements.  As importantly, they know how to reach this objective in an appropriate way that is not construed as bragging or conceit.

They’ll be back. That was my immediate reaction after reading the Rueters wire story summarizing yesterday’s market activity involving “for-profit” school stocks. The report noted that career colleges stumbled after President Barack Obama proposed shifting federal student loans into a “direct-loan program”. The program would be administered by the U.S. Department of Education.

Under Obama’s plan, students and parents would get Stafford and PLUS (parent) Loans directly through the department, rather than through private lenders participating in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).

Publishers across the country are standing on a ledge today looking down into the dark rectangle that will soon be the grave for print publications. The deaths of newspapers and magazines have been sudden ones – strokes as opposed to long bouts with cancer – with the final blows being rained on them from a struggling economy and a world of technology they were never able to fathom.

Are you selling your school either on your own or with a broker and are at the point where someone is interested. There are many next steps. Here are some, which of course vary depending on the situation and the professionals you have in involved. What are effective processes and where have the stumbling blocks been when you have sold your school or if you are currently in the process?

Letter of Intent (Be sure your attorney reviews it.)

Negotiate final acceptable terms of Letter of Intent.

Give the potential buyer the opportunity to complete and sign off with the due diligence.

My mother-in-law often asks each person seated at the dinner table on Thanksgiving to mention at least one thing they are thankful for before dinner begins. Given the size of my family and the size of holiday parties we had growing up, every year I am just thankful that I'm no longer still sitting with my knees crumpled under the children's table.

If there was ever a year to reflect on and then offer thanks for your good fortune - if that's been your luck - then it would be 2008. Here's a short list of thanks I'd like to offer in regard to my professional experiences this year.