Sadly, our industry’s best and brightest often feel as if they have no other choice but to leave campus in search of professional development, career advancement, and in many cases, a decent salary.

In my time (and when did I get old enough to say that by the way?), phrases like “you’ve got to move over to move up” were the norm. Despite the fact that I worked full-time — plus “nights, overnights and weekends” as we liked to say in the business — my MBA advisor kept asking me when I was going to get a “real job.”

True — my colleagues and I had embraced the fleeting life of the young indentured servant (err…admissions counselor) with all of the gusto that a fresh undergrad degree, a new suit and a company car could inspire. But deep inside we knew that the culture of our industry all but dictated that ours was a temporary existence.

Sure, some would stay on and eventually improve their lot. But for the less patient of the group (myself included), it was onward and upward. And I worked at one of the good places.

It could just be the way of the world, but it’s puzzling coming from a culture of academics who value research so much — because research shows that investing in what I call “training and retaining” skilled employees translates to big savings. And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know higher ed could use any kind of financial leg up it can get.

Specifically, research shows four areas that are impacted most from investments in staff development and training:

1. Employee Retention:  An ASTD study showed that 41% of employees at organizations with inadequate training programs planned to leave within a year. They calculated that the cost of replacing just one skilled employee ranged from $75,000 to $450,000 (Source: American Society for Training & Development).

2. Revenue Generation/Profitability:  A study in HR Magazine showed that organizations in the top quarter in training expenditure per employee per year ($1,500 or more) average 24% higher profit margins than organizations that spend less. (Source: Susan J. Wells, HR Magazine)

3. Productivity/Performance Improvement:  A Merrill Lynch study showed that investing in knowledge and skills development yields a surprisingly big payoff. The study estimated that at Motorola, every dollar spent on training yielded $30 in productivity gains within three years. (Source: Merrill Lynch, “The Book of Knowledge.”)

4. Cost Reduction:  An IBM study concluded that training that produced an average productivity improvement of just three minutes per day per employee would save the company $360,000 annually.

Research is great, but I tend to be more of a “gut person” — so to me, this reads like a giant “no duh.” Invest in your people + train them well = they are happy and more productive = your operation is more efficient, stable and successful. Over-simplified? Absolutely. But does it have to be more complicated?

For those of you out there working for institutions that get this, good for you. Skip to the bottom and start planning your next opportunity to better yourself.

If you’re not that lucky, I’ll mention one more thing.

One of the biggest benefits of the shift from traditional advertising (push out) to content marketing (pull in) is the prevalence of free resources available to you. Vendors of all kinds are hosting webinars, posting blogs, running events, publishing e-books — all in the hopes that you’ll become aware of them and someday make a purchase (full disclosure, you are reading one of those attempts right now;)

So don’t miss out on all of the free professional development opportunities. You’ll need them as you shine up that resume.

For your reference, below is a list of some conferences and events we’re making the investment in over the next few months. Hope to see you there (no matter where you’re working).

TargetX Sponsored Events
Free on Friday Webcast Summer Lineup
Collegiate Information and Visitor Services Association (CIVSA)
Xpert Summit Las Vegas

Other places you’ll find TargetX:
New England Association for College Admission Counseling (NEACAC)
EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conference
North American Coalition for Christian Admissions Professionals (NACCAP)
Ohio Association of College Admission Counseling (OACAC)
UB Tech
Pennsylvania Association for College Admission Counseling (PACAC)
ACT Enrollment Planners Conference (EPC)
Campus Technology Summer 2012 Conference
Dreamforce
National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)

Over my career in higher education, I’ve attempted to bridge the divide between the undergraduate and graduate recruiting efforts — bringing the lessons learned recruiting an 18-year-old to the world of recruiting adults. However, I received pushback on a regular basis from the graduate professionals with claims of “we’re different” or “we don’t have the resources they have” or “we don’t have the same issues.”

Then came those pesky Millennials to their graduate program interview and campus tour with their parents in tow. And you all came running to us wanting to know what to do with them, why are they here, why do they think their child is so damn special.

Resisting the “I told you so” reaction, it was an opportunity to look beyond just the generational change occurring and help the world of graduate admissions become successful and more efficient in recruiting the next group of advanced-degree seekers.

The wonderful thing about college recruiting is that we can see at least 18 years in advance what is coming down the road to our campuses. Graduate programs get at least another four years to react. To those who are surprised that fewer students are graduating from high school than in prior years, shame on you.

In my presentation at NAGAP last week in Austin — “If I Ran the Zoo (and your admission office too)!” — I shared a number of Dr. Seuss quotes and lessons we can learn from them. One of my new favorites is:

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are easy.”

My recommendation to you: Don’t try to recreate the wheel and certainly don’t turn a blind eye to your undergraduate colleagues across campus. They’ve been through many of the battles you’re about to face. I’m astonished how many campuses I visit where you don’t even know each other!

There’s no time for silos in higher education — especially across the various recruiting and marketing functions. Buy your undergraduate office professionals a beer or a pizza (or both) and take advantage of their knowledge and experience. Don’t wait for someone else to make this happen — do it now. The answer is simple.

Download the slide deck from this year’s Dr. Seuss-themed NAGAP presentation.

In case you didn’t notice, that invite to a taping of “Shark Tank” is 140 characters long.  It’s a tweet from one of the few college presidents who regularly shares his thoughts via Twitter.  And Lauren Landry, who covers higher education for a Boston news site, can’t figure out why Schlesinger is the exception and not the rule.

“I’m able to follow students, professors, deans and student newspapers, gathering all that I need into 140-character snippets,” she writes.  “The one group missing? College presidents. I follow three on Twitter…. So, my question:  Where’s everyone else?”

Stereotypically speaking, says Landry, college presidents aren’t approachable.  Which is a shame because students, prospective students and their families “want a president who is engaged, encouraging and present.  The easiest way to be present?  Hopping on the social media train and getting actively involved on Twitter.”

Online journalist Amanda Walgrove agrees: “Twitter provides a viable platform on which to connect with students, colleagues, alumni, student-run groups, college offices and even prospective attendees.  Presidents of small or private institutions can use Twitter to build upon the intimate, individualized values of their educations, and presidents of major institutions can use the opportunity to provide a voice for their schools through personal pages.”

But what about those who would advise their presidents to avoid Twitter because of the growing number of fake presidential tweeters?  Like the pretend president of the University of New Hampshire who scolded students, “With the way you guys get excited about an 80 degree day, you make me wonder why the hell you didn’t go to school in Florida.”

All the more reason, say Landry and Walgrove, to establish a real Twitter account and offer your campus community the observations, insights and inspiration of your president.

Read Lauren Landry’s “Why More College Presidents Need To Be On Twitter.”

Read Amanda Walgrove’s “What College Presidents Can Gain From Tweeting.”

The Pew Research Center along with Elon University conducted a survey of over 1,000 Internet “experts” (with the majority coming from education and technology fields) asking respondents to select whether growing up constantly connected will be a positive or negative.

Fifty-five percent of respondents took an optimistic point of view. They felt that Internet use provides young people with a unique skill set, including knowing how to solve problems through cooperative work and knowing how to quickly and efficiently find information (and determine its value). In higher education, we’ve seen these traits already in prospective students. Their increased use of social sites and their ability to weed out what is not authentic. And a heightened sense of community before, during and after the college years.

However, 42 percent of respondents felt that younger generations lack the ability to retain information and deep-thinking capabilities. They believed they also have a dependence on the Internet and mobile devices that is unhealthy. All significant concerns for faculty and staff working with this generation. Colleges and universities will have to work harder to engage them not just online — but in person too. Which is a critical piece of the recruitment process.

According to an LA Times article that cites the survey, “Three percent of respondents couldn’t make up their minds one way or the other.”

One of our very own experts rides the fence on this one. TargetX CEO Brian Niles was asked to participate in the survey. His thoughts on whether this is a positive or negative? “It’s both,” says Niles. “The power of any new technology or evolution of such comes with its rewards (access to information to name one) and failures (my pet peeve — can’t communicate verbally). But society and cultures will adjust. Until the next big change comes along.”

Read the LA Times article “Pew study: Is the Internet ruining or improving today’s youth?” by Deborah Netburn.

Access the full report on the survey from Pew Research Center and Elon University “Generation Always On to benefit and suffer due to their hyperconnected lives.”

It’s an emotionally charged word in higher education, if not a dirty one.  And it’s been the war cry here at TargetX since day one.

When I joined the company back in 2005, I was quickly immersed into a culture of higher ed professionals trumpeting the need for industry change.  Defects from a world of cushy benefits and questionable accountability, they struck out on their own to become a voice of change in an industry sliding desperately into denial.

Together the team here wrote blog posts and email newsletters outlining how colleges needed to engage a new generation and operate more efficiently.   We spent years speaking at conferences about the impending shifts in technology, generations, demographics and more.  We even created our own events to educate our peers about the “perfect storm” of challenges we saw barreling straight for us.

Fast forward now to 2012.  It’s been seven years since I started here.  And we’re still talking about the same stuff.

This week, presidents and provosts from liberal arts schools across the country gathered on campus at Lafayette College to discuss the issues at hand.

Daniel H. Weiss, president of Lafayette, gave what Eric Hoover at The Chronicle called “a sobering talk about the challenges facing institutions.”  I won’t tell the whole story — trust me, Eric does a much better job of that — but I will point out that, yet again, we seem to be talking about the same old stuff.

Higher ed’s woes ring like a familiar chorus to me now: affordability, skepticism about the value of a college degree, changing demographics, and of course, how to deal with a generation that interacts with technology like the air that they breathe (plus how to deal with their parents).  Sounds exactly like what we’ve been speaking, writing, sharing, posting, tweeting, tagging, and generally yammering on about for the better part of a decade.

Make no mistake, this is not meant to say “I told you so” or point to TargetX as the only soothsayers in our midst.  After all, talking about these problems is an important first step towards fixing them.  Just seems to me that higher ed could use a little less conversation, a little more action.

I’m currently in the midst of planning TargetX’s Xpert Summit conference, our annual gathering of clients, friends, subscribers and some of the most innovative, thought-provoking industry minds around.

I hope you’ll consider joining us in Las Vegas for this unique event.  And yes, you can bet we’ll still be talking about the same old stuff.

Read Eric Hoover’s “A President Surveys the Future of Liberal-Arts Colleges“

View the complete schedule and register for TargetX’s Xpert Summit conference in Las Vegas, July 9-10.

Universities benefit by internationalizing their campus, enhancing their reputation and scoring higher in international rankings. International students also pay higher tuition fees, which is a welcome addition for cash-strapped institutions in today’s financial climate.

Traditional methods for recruiting international students include establishing strategic partnerships with other institutions, sending recruiters abroad to attend university fairs and hiring overseas agents.

The problem with these methods is that they are expensive and time-consuming. While the use of recruitment agents is a common practice in many countries, the issue is controversial in the United States and is currently being examined by a NACAC panel.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha, a renowned international higher education expert, recently wrote an article outlining the perils of using agents for international recruitment. He argues that if institutions focus on emerging recruitment solutions, such as social media, then the need for agents could be eliminated.

With social media, there is no risk of fraud, misrepresentation and bias like there is with agents. Universities don’t have to relinquish control to a third-party who might dilute their brand and compromise their reputation.

Social media is instant, authentic, interactive and free. Previously, only the biggest schools had the resources and expertise to recruit all over the world. Now the Internet has leveled the playing field between institutions. Even the smallest schools can expand their reach to the farthest corner of the globe through social media.

The future outlook is positive. It’s projected that the number of students studying abroad will rise to eight million by 2025 — nearly three times more than today. Most of that growth will come from developing countries, the same places where cheap smartphones and tablet devices are proliferating.

You might not be able to send a recruiter to the far reaches of the globe, but prospective students will be able to watch your videos on YouTube, find you on Facebook, and talk to you on Twitter.

Read “Are recruitment agents an express train without brakes?”

Read “Worldwide student numbers forecast to double by 2025″

I’ve been doing some research for an upcoming set of conference presentations called “If I ran the zoo (and your admissions office too)” based on the lessons we can learn from the wonderful Dr. Seuss books. My timing couldn’t have been better with the recent release of “The Lorax” in theaters. We had a free Sunday night with my daughter and so it was time to grab some overpriced popcorn and snacks and nestle into our seats for the show.

I left the theater an hour and a half later with my mind racing with ideas to share. But one in particular stuck in my head throughout the night.

If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, the point of the story is that there cannot be progress without risk. Reminded me of the numerous institutions I’ve visited where progress is just a leader away, but alas the place is stifling in the status quo, uninspired, generic and dull.

As Dave Kovacovich wrote about in his blog “Leadership Lessons from The Lorax” —  we “stick to process, hire safe and commoditize your workforce” and end up with an “unengaged workforce, turnover and lack of organizational development.”  Doesn’t sound like a recipe for success in an industry desperate for innovation and clarity of institutional authenticity.

Ted, in the story, had a motivating factor — he was trying to get the girl (always a good reason in my book). He had many reasons to give up — barriers put around him, experiences that were new and scary, people that didn’t believe in his idea. But he didn’t succumb to the naysayers. His gut (and his heart) told him he was right. JFK said (in so many words), “we choose to go to the Moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” Ted chose not to give up, even though it was hard. It was personal. And it was deliberate.

Unless you stop doing the same thing.
Unless you look beyond your institution.
Unless you look outside of higher education.
Unless you speak up with a new idea. (today!)
Unless you take risks and go with your gut.
Unless you embrace (even celebrate) failure.
Unless you see things differently.

There cannot be progress.  Unless.

Need more?

• Check out this week’s Seth Godin Post, “Confidence without guts”
• Get to know Peter Economides, author of Apple’s “Think Different” campaign.
• Read anything from Tom Peters since the 1994 book “Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations”

So the central New York campus is inviting students, faculty, staff and alums to submit photos for the new cover image that will dominate its Facebook page starting on March 30th. That’s the day the social goliath has set for its worldwide switch to “Timeline,” a redesigned interface that emphasizes photos, especially the one that spans the top of the page.

Many colleges have already converted to the new design, posting everything from breathtaking campus vistas, to inspirational taglines, to depictions of their athletic mascots. Others — like SUNY Cortland — have at least a strategy in place, if not an actual image. But there are surely some procrastinators who will be caught at the end of the month with their Pages down.

For those who want to see what their colleagues at other schools have done, check out the samples compiled by popular blogger and web editor Karine Joly.

And take a look at some of these wonderfully creative approaches from people who know how to have fun with Facebook and their fans.

Facebook is providing colleges with an opportunity and a challenge by mandating its March 30th facelift. The intent, says Facebook, is to visually tell your brand’s story. “We’ve found that people have a better experience viewing your Timeline when they see a cover that is as unique and individualized as you are.”

Showing people how unique your school is. That’s one of the most important things you can do as a recruiter or marketer. It can also be one of the most difficult.

Now Facebook is offering another way to accomplish it.

Read “Facebook Timeline for Brands — What’s Your Strategy?”

“The Beastie Boys Guide to Brand Storytelling” by Kimberly Bordonaro identifies seven elements that explain why their loyal following over the years didn’t happen because they got lucky. It happened through a unique blend of what the kids today would call “sick” rhymes, funky fresh beats, and for our purposes — excellent brand storytelling.

So here are a few of Bordonaro’s thoughts (and some of the most relevant for higher ed):

Be original. “Be true to yourself and find creative ways to make you and your story stand apart from others.” There’s a reason this is number one on the list and it can’t be stressed enough how important it is to stand out from the crowd.

Salute your past. “When telling your brand story, talk about your past and the journey of what has brought you to where you are today.” College by nature is rich with history; put it into context so students find their special place in that history.

Speak to your audience. “A good storyteller always finds a way to incorporate their audience into the story by playing to their emotions and inner-thoughts.” Colleges and universities have to speak directly to their best-fit students. This can be done through personalizing, segmenting and targeting messages to the appropriate audiences.

Emphasize your personality. “When telling your story, don’t forget to inject your personality into it.” The first point highlighted was “be original” and the last is cut from the same cloth. Don’t waste great opportunities to let students, faculty or staff be themselves in your marketing. Prospective students will appreciate your school’s brand of “ill communication.”

Read all seven elements in Kimberly Bordonaro’s “The Beastie Boys Guide to Brand Storytelling”

Why?  Everyone thinks they’re good at it!

All joking aside, it’s true. Everyone from your brother to your boss has got their own definition of what marketing is and what makes it great (or horrendous, or remarkable, or offensive, or inspired…)

So much so that it can make it quite difficult for someone in my shoes to be confident my team and I are hitting the mark.

If you’re feeling my pain, then don’t miss this list of “10 Companies with Insanely Great Marketing.”

Of course you’ll glean insights from legends like Apple, Nike and Geico (I confess, I can’t get enough of Maxwell, the pig who cries “weee weee weeeee” all the way home. Never gets old.)

But as much as we all have our favorites, I think we all know that great marketing is much more than catchy tag lines, cute characters and memorable 30-second spots.

So how then do we define this cryptic crusade we call “marketing?” Well, like everyone else, the author has an opinion.

He writes: “Marketing creates and promotes products and services customers will pay for. Great marketing does it consistently better than the competition.”

He goes on to caution “Everybody has an opinion, everybody wants to have a say and everybody thinks their ‘focus group of one’ is more important than the actual target audience.”

Sound like higher ed to you?

How many times have you been in a meeting discussing an email broadcast, event, website or brochure and wanted to scream “You’re not the target audience Mr. 65-year-old Archaeology Professor!” (All due respect to Archaeology Professors by the way. Love me some Indiana Jones).

My advice for higher ed, for what it’s worth: We need to focus more on our audience and make it more about them and less about us. We need to sound like human beings and connect with real people by sounding like a real person. And, above all, we’ve got to cut through the noise by keeping it simple.

Because however you define it, marketing won’t make them act if it doesn’t first make them care.

Read “10 Companies with Insanely Great Marketing”