It must become clear to every college leader that college students want and need good jobs when they graduate. In today’s job market, colleges that do not do everything possible to help students achieve that goal are failing their students.Students no longer attend college simply to obtain a good education. Those days are long gone. Today, students are going to college so they can land a good job, earn a good living and build a future for themselves and their families.Of course, college has always been expensive. However, today, with college loan debt outstripping credit card debt, students need a good paying job so they can live on their own and pay back their loans. When students are not able to land a job that pays well, they are usually forced to live at home with their parents and either defer their loan(s) which adds interest or put nearly everything they earn into their monthly loan payments. That is not a great way to live.Colleges may tell you that their job is to provide students with a good education. That is true but not totally correct. Their job is to serve the needs of their students. When landing a good job is a top priority for students, colleges must respond by making that need one of their top priorities. It does not make any sense to send well educated graduates out into the job market when they are unprepared to compete for the good paying jobs.All students need colleges to help them:- Learn how to conduct an effective job search
- Find out exactly what their target employers expect of them
- Create and follow a semester-by-semester employment plan
- Perform the activities and obtain the practical experiences that employers want
- Build a list of impressive accomplishments
- Identify employers with appropriate employment opportunities
- Learn how to build a network
- Develop an impressive resumé
- Practice their interview strategies
- Cultivate references… and much moreWithout substantial, ongoing job search preparation assistance throughout their entire college experience, too many good students will fall short of their employment goals. That means that their careers will get off on the wrong foot and they will have trouble paying back their college loans. That is not the way students and their parents want things to work out.When colleges show concern for the job search preparation needs of their students, they shift priorities, change the way they operate and provide the resources needed to address those needs. However, when colleges do not respond to important and legitimate student needs, they are sending a clear message that they do not care about those needs.Most colleges will tell you that their career services offices are doing everything possible to help their students prepare for their job search. However, colleges know perfectly well that their career services staff reaches only a small percentage of students in a given year and very few of those students will be fully prepared to conduct and effective job search. By using their current job search preparation systems, no college can thoroughly serve and prepare 100% of their students. To do that properly, things have to change.I can assure you that students do not enjoy entering the job market and trying to compete for the most attractive jobs knowing that they are unprepared. Fortunately, progressive and responsive colleges have begun to seek out and implement systems like The Job Identification Machine™ and The Job Search Preparation System™ because those systems will effectively serve and prepare nearly 100% of the students at their colleges.Does your college understand what students and parents want and need from them? Maybe not. If every student does not receive the full and comprehensive job search preparation assistance that they will need to land a desirable job in their own field of interest, there is much more that your college can do.
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Off-Market Properties: The Key to Real Estate Success
It was the “Wild-West” days of real estate! The market had just cratered, real estate agents were dropping like flies, and the implosion of “liar-loans” was decimating neighborhoods. Looking back, I sure picked one heck of a time to start!When you begin in and survive a market like this, buying properties at the right price becomes permanently stamped on your being. It is very similar to how many people who survived the Great Depression would always keep an overstocked pantry.So even though I have been a full-time real estate investor for seven years and the market is thriving, I still diligently seek out opportunities that will be financially sound in any market. In other words, I only buy really good deals!The key driver of my real estate success has been OFF-MARKET properties. Using proven systems, I have consistently generated exceptional opportunities often on properties I never would have known were even potentially available!So let’s look at three sources for off-market properties.The first is working directly with homeowners. This is generally my preferred method and this is where I focus my marketing machine. It takes a little more effort but this is where you find those “once in a lifetime” deals. If you have a great system, you will find exceptional opportunities routinely.The second is working with high-quality Wholesalers and Wholesale Brokerages. Here you have an entire group of people scouring the area looking for well-priced investor deals. Generally, they understand exactly what investors are looking for, how to estimate repairs, and what price an investor would pay for the property. So in addition to your own lead generation efforts, you have an opportunity to capitalize on the efforts of 10 or 20 other people as well.Lastly, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, real estate agents can be a great source for off-market properties. You will often hear these properties referred to as “Pocket Listings.” A property where the agent knows the owner has an interest in selling, but for whatever reason prefers the property not be listed “on the open market” yet. This is very common with commercial real estate. If you want to learn about these opportunities before they hit the market, you will definitely need to have developed a strong relationship with the agent.Off-market properties have incredible potential and can really accelerate your real estate investing success. They are going to take a little more effort but the payoff is definitely worth it. In today’s highly competitive property market, there is a tremendous advantage in being able to talk to potential sellers first!
Intermediaries in Global Currency Trading
The global currency trading market is on an upswing. There is tremendous growth. In the end of 2012, global daily trade in foreign currency rose to USD 4.7 trillion. This is more than 12 times the average daily turnover of the global equity markets. There was a volume decline trend in other asset classes like stocks and bonds over the past two years. currency trade clocked a strong growth in 2011. However, in the third quarter of 2012 it showed a decline. In the last quarter of 2012, global currency trade staged a strong comeback to end the year almost at par with 2011. Global currency has now been widely accepted as a legitimate asset class. UBS AG estimates the daily all currency trade will top USD 10 trillion by 2020.Forex currency is an intermediary led market. The top participants in the global currency market are commercial and investment banks, hedge funds, central banks, corporate players, traders and speculators. important currency trading is an old phenomenon. For 100 years till the 1970s the fate of most currencies was tied to gold. Speculation of global currency in an open market started in the end of 1970s. In the current market, trading in foreign currencies by speculators usually takes place through a dealer, who provides the trading platform to transact. Such trades occur in currency pairs, such as USD/EUR (United States Dollars/Euro). Global currency trade always involves currency pairs. One is sold and the other bought.Intermediaries have an important role to play in the best currency market. They are agents who facilitate trading between dealers and individuals. But intermediaries themselves do not play a role in the trading. They have a network of communication channels with all stakeholders. This real time communication helps intermediaries to be online with the market movements and sentiments. In the end intermediaries collect a commission. The advent of the internet has impacted the global currency market. The different partners in the currency trading chain are now open to being evaluated for their services. There are plenty of online forums available now to give customers enough input to make a correct choice. It is important to understand that currency market is a risky market with chances of huge gains and losses. Most participants will do proper due diligence before choosing an intermediary. There are enough options available to them now. Smart intermediaries believe in a win – win relationship with their clients.