Point, Click, Match

Posted By Samuel Richard on December 16th, 2008
Sometimes, people ask me what I do all day. I usually work quickly to change the subject because I don’t really have a good answer. But when these said people really get me backed into a corner, I say that in between searching for the latest YouTube craze and refreshing the New York Times website every fifteen (15) seconds, I try to get people to come study with me at the College of Public Programs.

I visit high schools, community colleges, world-changing organizations, and oh yeah, get paid to play on the Internet. Up until this week, I didn’t really have a believable answer as to why that last part was relevant to the job title, “Recruiter.” Well, now I do. Here you go, Naysayer:

The cumbersome college guidebook, with page after page of statistics-heavy summaries, is creaking under its own weight, and the glossy brochure is increasingly consigned to the wastepaper basket like so much junk mail.

Instead, more high school students are pointing and clicking their way through the college search, tapping into an array of new matchmaking websites that pair them with prospective schools based on their personal preferences. And colleges, no longer content to cede the digital terrain to the teenage set, are also turning to the Facebook-like pages in their recruiting efforts.

The shift is reshaping the admissions process, long dominated by mass mailings and college fairs, into a virtual, yet highly personal, courting process many liken to online dating.

The rest of the article can be found here at the reputable publication, The Boston Globe. Thank God for real journalists. What are we going to do when all these writers are baristas at Starbucks?

Happy Sam’s Last Final Day. It’s an official holiday. I decided.

Cheers,
Sam
“My name is Harvey Milk, and I’m here to recruit you.”
Harvey Milk
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Posted in Arizona State Univeristy

6 Responses to “Point, Click, Match”

Stephanie
December 16th, 2008 at 8:30 am

Now we know what you do! I started out in ASU’s public programs, but graduated an English major.

Anyway, happy Sam’s Final Finals Day to you!

Stephanie
December 16th, 2008 at 8:31 am

P.S. Nothing against COPP – I have good memories there. :)

Nick from Rail Life
December 16th, 2008 at 8:39 am

Now that finals are over, let me know when we can hang out and do “nothing” again some time.
We are both pretty good at that…

Aaron Stiner
December 16th, 2008 at 9:04 am

Sam, could you see blogs like yours evolving into “real” journalism? If it isn’t already…

The problem is, who pays the bills. I guess in your case ASU, the instituion. Interesting things to think about…

Your example is a microcosm. In short, in an online, wired world, how do we make money, how do we support ourselves, when so much of the content and access to products are “free”?

Let me know when you come up with an answer.

Justin Kiggins
December 16th, 2008 at 1:04 pm

@Aaron Stiner

I think that its about networking and (gag me! I can’t believe I’m about to say this) personal branding. Its about building legitimacy and authority.

I don’t know Sam really well, but I’ve met him a few times and I know a few people who speak highly of him. Still, I keep up on this blog periodically, so I know a bit about where Sam is passionate. And all of this while living as an expat in Cairo, Egypt, doing freelance work on my own trying to implement cool, world-changing projects (i.e. http://cli.gs/1Yj5m3).

Perhaps some time in the future, insha’allah, I’ll have a project which requires the expertise of someone like Sam, and I can send him an email and say, “Hey, Sam, would you be interested in X?”

Because, ultimately, the online world is simply one more way of interacting with the same world and the same people we have been interacting with for ages. The same rules still apply. If you are doing Quality work, someone will be paying the bills.

Aaron Stiner
December 16th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

@ Justin Kiggins

Well said, your concluding line is golden, I have to say!

Find your passion, find your niche, work hard, make friends who work hard, collaborate, create and you will be rewarded. Sounds like a pretty good system!

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