Top Five Reasons to be a Grad Program Manager

What is a Program Manager?

A Kaplan Program Manager works for our Graduate Business, the business that helps students prep for the GREs, GMATs, LSATs & MCATs. It's a great position for those outgoing individuals who possess a knack for promoting brand awareness, relationship building and executing marketing campaigns. In this role you will use a grassroots marketing approach to build and nurture relationships with key administrators, student groups and other relevant organizations.

And the Top 5 Reasons to be a Program Manager are...

1. You love talking with people

2. The thought of working behind a desk ALL day makes you cringe

3. You love the idea of selling a brand that can change people's lives

4. You’re now spending many an afternoon on beautiful campuses and getting paid for it

5. Great coworkers! “The People” is always top of the list when asked “Why do you like working for Kaplan?”

To learn more about starting a career at Kaplan Test Prep please visit:www.kaplan.com/careers

Business on Top, PJ Party on Bottom! Remote Employee Goofs.

Working from home can be great. It provides the flexibility so often craved in our over scheduled society. It allows you to save money on gas, dry cleaning and, wait, who am I kidding, dry cleaning? There are numerous perks to being a remote employee but my two big positives are no commute and more time with family. Since I started working from home I’ve grown surprisingly comfortable with video conferencing and in this global economy that is a big plus.

Working from home provides employees with a unique perspective of workday goofs. While you might not witness the hilarity of your co-worker missing his chair there are other spectacles unique to the virtual workforce. Some of my witnessed video-call goofs are:

• Sleeping dog suddenly passes gas, with audible force. (It wasn’t me!)
• A forgotten dirty pile of laundry peaks into view. (Why did I readjust my camera?)
• Your mullet attire….buttoned up top, pajamas on bottom, accidentally revealed. (No more standing to get something!)
• Your roommate comes strolling into your office to ask you a question, sans shirt. (Must invest in locks!)
• It’s your turn to speak and the phone keeps ringing. In a panic, you can’t remember how to silence it! (#$@!#$$~!)
• You click answer instead of ignore. That visual check in the mirror you needed is now replaced with explaining why you look like you just removed your finger from an electrical socket.

We all need reasons to laugh and goofs like these are definitely worth a chuckle. They might not be ‘box office smash’ funny but if Will Farrell was the victim of these fails, they just might be!

Box. Me. Outside.

"Think Outside Of The Box"

Probably one of the more annoying corporate phrases around, definitely one of the most overused. Although, now that everyone is outside of the box it might be edgier to just think inside of the box. More room.

I blab about this because when it comes to hiring, you got it, we need to think outside of the box. Sigh. I apologize but I had no choice! Now there are the regular channels we think of when hiring and those include:

1. Posting Jobs
2. Career Fairs
3. Reviewing resumes on job boards and in databases
4. Candidate Depot (I joke but oh how I wish it existed!)

Then there are the unconventional ways to find talent and get people aware of job opportunities. As a manager you know the role for which you're hiring better than anyone. You might not have all of the tools you want but there are definitely ways for you to get out there and drum up more interest in your roles. 

How? Well, I am glad you asked! Below is a list of other, unconventional, ways to find talent:

Social Media 

You can find diamonds through social media. It takes some savvy research skillz and time but if you are equipped with both, go for it! I would start with your personal Facebook network. You might not like mixing work with pleasure but don't you want to help your friends (or friends of friends) find better job opportunities? It's a win/win for everyone and I always appreciate when my facebook friends share jobs. It's also true that I will always share the opportunity to someone I think might be interested, always.

Networking Events

Looking for a marketer? Attend some local marketing events where active professionals are hanging around mingling with one another. Replace marketer and marketing with any other industry name and repeat.

Dating Sites

I'm sure you might find a few people who are embellishing their jobs, but it's also great place to look for people who are openly promoting themselves. I would recommend finding names and then look for another way to actually contact this person. Your fiance might not appreciate you contacting "candidates" through OK Cupid and HR might be squeamish too. Definitely use only as a source of name generation.

Tap into Top Talent's Networks

What's that other saying that is overused? Birds of a Feather Flock Together? It's true. If you're looking for UX Designers, odds are they know other UX Designers. It's pretty simple logic, yet, we often forget to ask those superstars we already have working with us!

Align with Marketing

Marketing events for your company are targeted towards the customer, right? Why does the customer and a potential employee have to be different? They don't. In fact, a customer might be a perfect employee since they're already a brand advocate. 

The main point is, always be recruiting. If you're going to get the best talent out there then you have got to keep your eyes and ears open at all times. Most likely they're right there in front of you.