While another school year is in session, many graduating seniors are already looking to line up jobs following next spring’s commencement, with some underclassmen doing likewise part-time to help pay for their college costs. Whatever the scenario, it is important that students have their online portfolios polished up.

What to Look Out for

According to a number of different surveys, more and more employers are looking at a student’s social media profile as part of the hiring process, whether it is a full-time job or a part-time position to help them pay bills while still in school.

While most of the danger zones should be self-explanatory, here is a reminder of what to avoid:

• Posting risqué photos on your Facebook or Twitter pages, including too little clothing, drinking etc.;
• Making ill-informed comments about classmates, teachers, other individuals;
• Making racist or sexual comments. Potential employers will frown upon this given that you will likely work with a number of different individuals in your employment;
• Lamenting that fact that you are lazy and do not like working. If you’re looking to get shot down before you even get your foot in the door for an interview, this is one way

Take the Positive Road in Your Profile

While we have highlighted the negative ways a social media profile can hurt you, there are other means by which it can help you.

If you’re a college student about to graduate or just looking for part-time work, use your social media profile to:

• Highlight your education. This can be done by pointing any internships, special projects, travels etc. that would be of value to a potential employer;
• Highlight your interest in a particular employer or employers. This will show companies that you have a high level of interest in working for them, something that they definitely want to know.

With the job market being tight and the national unemployment rate still hovering around 9.1 percent, it behooves students searching for jobs to have as many factors as possible leaning in their favor.

If a student doesn’t want to completely remove a Facebook or Twitter page while job hunting, temporarily take it down, then republish it once the job is in hand. Keep in mind that while you can “lock up” pages, potential employers can find ways to get into the sites via friends and family.

While noting Facebook and Twitter to date, students are advised to create a LinkedIn page in order to come across as more professional to potential employers.

LinkedIn is a great business networking site that can be utilized by students even if they’ve only held part-time jobs and/or internships to date. Many employers will look at such a page as a student being professional, organized and caring about their outward image.

Lastly, it is a good idea when preparing to send out feelers and/or resumes to employers while still in school to “Google” oneself and see what comes up.

In the event there is a negative material floating around the Internet, an individual has the opportunity to do some damage control before it gets in the hands of potential employers.

The best approach to take when posting comments or pictures to a social media site is would you want your mom or dad to see this about you. If the answer is no, what’s it doing there in the first place?

Dave Thomas, who covers among other subjects vehicle insurance writes extensively for www.business.com an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

So, in high school, I bet you never thought the skills you learned making that poster board of your science project would actually help you in promoting your own business a few short years later.  Well, go back to that science fair and let’s look at this from a marketing perspective.  You had to research and create a science project that was unique, creative, and functioned properly in order to earn an “A.”  You had to create the poster describing and showcasing your project.  Then, once the fair came around, you had to repeat whatever the project was in front of judges or teachers, fingers crossed that it would work correctly each time.  Sound familiar?

As much as you may not want to admit it, your science teachers were on to something bigger.  Think of this in terms of your business.  As an entrepreneur, you developed a product or service that you were passionate about and/or thought had potential to become profitable to you.  You had to tweak and adjust this in order to deliver the best possible final product to your customers.  Once this was ready to go to market, you had to convince your potential customers that they needed your offering.  Are you earning an “A” in your real-life business science fair?

To ensure you get your well-deserved “A,” consider exhibiting at a local trade show.  Using the strategy described below, you can launch your business to exciting new levels through a hands-on, personal approach by incorporating effective trade show exhibiting into your business marketing plan.

Showcasing Your “Science Project”

Other marketing methods may describe or talk about your business, but having a trade show exhibit gives your customers the ability to experience and see for themselves the quality of your product.  This is your opportunity to stand out above your competition and reach potential customers that may have overlooked your product in the past.

Creating your “Poster”

To guarantee that your business is memorable to the hundreds or perhaps thousands of attendees, your exhibit must be creative, unique, and consistent.  Reinforce your company’s logo and colors throughout your display, marketing materials, and promotional items.  As is made clear in the articles throughout Dorm Room Biz’s ‘branding’ blog posts, branding and consistent imaging are critical components to a company’s success.

Earning your “A”

To maximize the profitability and ROI from your exhibit investment, you must follow the below guidelines.

• Your exhibit must be innovative, memorable, and represent your company and product.  Don’t skimp on the details, and take advantage of a local exhibit company to ensure your display is the best at the show.
• Give away something with your logo and contact information.  Make sure it’s something useful and won’t just get thrown away in the nearest trash can!
• Collect contact information!  Announce a give-away or contest at your booth, and collect personal information you can use to follow-up with the attendees after the event.
• Talk to each person who passes your exhibit.  Everyone is a potential customer and knows a whole network of potential customers, so be friendly and greet everyone.  Leave them with a positive impression and a good feeling!

Have you had recent experience with trade show exhibiting?  Or do you have questions on how to get started?  We’d be glad to help – just share your question or thoughts in the comments section below.

Let’s review a few parts of the process:

1. You need to figure out what you want your cards to look like.  What kind of card says, “This is MY business”?  Is it a glossy card printed and cut from an 8 x 10?  Is it something on vellum paper, with a crisp, old school flavor to it?  Is it a little more down to earth, maybe printed on watercolor paper?  Is it funky, and printed on thick plastic?  Your card says an awful lot about you… put some thought into what makes your card different from everybody else’s.

2. Are you going to design it yourself, or are you going to farm it out? You can save some cash, and just use a freeware art program (like the Gimp) to put together a design… but it might not be the best.  Or you can hire someone (are you cool with a good designer?), and get it done professionally… for a price.  It’s your choice, either way.

3. Where are you going to produce the actual cards?  You can go to an expensive print shop, a discount printing place, a web site that lets you print (or prints and sends you) your cards, or you can use your own printer.  Obviously, the best option for ease and high quality is going to be a professional shop – they do this for a living, after all.  And if you’ve got a decent printer, and did the design yourself, your only outlay may be a few bucks for some high-quality paper (or plastic, if you’re really funky).  But of course, there’s always the middle ground – you can get really sweet effects by designing it yourself, and then get it printed up glossy (and pretty cheap) at the photo kiosk in a drug store.  Sometimes there’s the pretty ghetto act of having to cut an 8 x 10 into a dozen business cards, but they still look good.

Inflated Posse – Get a group of 4-6 friends and take turns being the baller. Each night choose one guy and designate him as baller for the entire evening. Let him carry around all the money and purchase drinks throughout the night. Also you can hype his swagger by asking questions about his latest trip to Dubai or if he closed that multimillion dollar deal last week in London.

Empty Bank Account On Friday Night – Take out all the money from your bank account (literally, take all your money out) before hitting your first destination. Here’s the trick. Pay for each drink you order but don’t start a tab. This gives you the chance to pull out your extremely huge wad of cash for each drink purchase. Make sure you pull out this cash when ladies are nearby.

Getting A Car You Have no Business Driving – This was the inspiration to the story. Our customer wanted to get a sick Mercedes on the cheap. The secondary lease market (LeaseTrader.com) lets “faux ballers” get a Mercedes or even a Maserati for pennies on the dollar with little financial commitment.

Sharing Payments – Purchase that sweet condo or house with a group of friends (the same friends that serve as your club entourage). You’ll hopefully be making money on your investment and getting immediate satisfaction telling girls you bought the place as your vacation home when you’re not traveling around the world. Just make sure your buddies are staying at their parents’ place for the evening or sleeping in their car.

Fake Passport Locations – Nothing says “faux baller” like your faux passport. When you’re talking about running with the bulls in Spain, catching the Cannes Film Festival, or dropping in on Carnaval in Brazil, pull out your faux passport with proof of being in each country and this should seal the deal.

Thanks to the guys over at LeaseTrader.com for this great guest post submission! No go out there and get crunk with your pimp cup and entourage.

As you go out to join the workforce, you are also joining the millions of others who have lost their jobs over the last 6 months and are trying to find one to support themselves and their families. So, you’re going to do a couple things different. First, you’re going to have to be open to any and all positions that you come across. Now is not the time to be picky. Second, you’re going to have to make yourself stand out from the crowd and be more desirable then the other resumes within the stack and interviewees in line.

Here are 5 things that you should do to prepare yourself for after graduation and to be a successful.

1. Network with your professors and faculty - if you want to be successful after you graduate, then you need to start building you professional network. Your professors and other faculty members are great places to start doing so. Many of them will have known you the last four years of your life, know the kind of quality work you produce (hopefully!!) And be more than happy to speak on you behalf. You can also then tap them for their network and connections in different industries that are hiring. Professors and other faculty are always getting emails about job openings, so take advantage of them!
2. Google Yourself - Seriously, go into http://www.google.com and search for your name. See what comes up. Is it good stuff? Maybe it’s a newspaper article that you were featured in from your school. Or maybe its your Facebook page that is not protected and open to search engines showing pictures of you doing keg stands. Maybe there are posts from a message board where you were talking bad about a professor. Or maybe its a link to your website where you’re advertising your business or your resume. Whatever comes up, you want to make sure it is good stuff. And to get rid of the bad stuff, you need to create more good stuff. So, a couple things to do are to protect your Facebook and MySpace pages so that they do not come up in search engines as well as are only viewable by your friends. Then, start a website, write about your hobbys, put your resume out there, and be active in a helpful way on message boards that are related to your degree. If you do this a couple months before interviewing for a job, with any luck, the fresh content will pop up in the top results and push down any bad stuff.
3. In the same manner of cleaning up your Google results, clean up your online social networking profiles at Faceook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and anywhere else. All of these can be seen publicly unless you protect yourself and change your privacy settings. Even then, sometimes people with your “network” say the same city or school can see them. So be sure to change your settings so ONLY your FRIENDS can see them. This will help prevent a potential employer or lender checking for you on Facebook to see what kind of person you are (a crazy partying college student maybe?) If you don’t want to change your privacy settings, then clean up your Facebook wall to remove any ASCII drawings of penis’ from your friends or posts from friends like “Dude, that party last night was wild. Did you bang that chick?” Also, go through pictures that you are tagged in. If there is anything too crazy and wild that you think could hurt you if someone saw it, someone like a potential employer, then remove the tag or ask your friend to remove the picture completely.
4. Professionalize Your Cell Phone – That voice mail greeting that you have that says something like “Hey, its your boy Chris, don’t bother leaving a message because I’ll probably ignore it” is not a good idea and will not encourage a recruiter to leave a message. Also, get rid of the ring backs so when someone calls you they are not hearing “Low” by Flo Rida waiting for you to pick up. Make your voice mail simple and professional – give your name, your number, and ask them to leave a detailed messsage. That’s all you need.
5. Stay Up On Current Events – Many times when at an interview, career fair, or other networking event folks will make small talk about current events, sports, or anything going on in the news. Be aware of what’s happening in the world so that you can at least touch on a point. It’s okay to say that you didn’t follow something (say who won a tennis tournament) but you should know that Michael Phelps was caught smoking weed, AIG execs got outrageous bonuses, any other top stories. Be aware of your surroundings and be ready to make small talk with people, even the receptionists. Many times, more and more frequently, employers will “plant” someone to make small talk with you before an interview to see how you reacted, if you were able to keep conversation, or if you just kept to yourself. Another tactic I have seen is putting a newspaper or magazine next to a chair where you will be waiting and have someone watch to see if you pick it up and flip through it. Then when you get into your interview, the interviewer will ask you something about one of the headlines on the top of that newspaper or magazine. Watch out and be aware of little things like this.

PLUS…here are an additional 5 Money Makers and Time Savers for Graduating Seniors.

1. Savor the last few moments you have before entering the real world! Graduating college is a BIG deal. It’s an occasion you want to share with your friends, family, loved ones…but all those invites and thank you notes can eat up the precious little time you have left! (Not to mention the cost!) Thanks to SendOutCards.com, you can send a few hundred announcements and never have to hand address or sign a single one. The online website lets you upload your entire address book, personalize the cards, and click send. They’ll print, stuff, stamp and send your cards for you, and for CHEAP.
2. De-clutter your bookshelves. Because textbooks are reissued in new editions frequently, the last few weeks of a semester or quarter is the best time to sell your old books and get the most value back. Bookbyte.com is easy to use and gives college students the best bang for their buck. Best part: the site pays for your shipping and ensures you receive your payment within five business days.
3. Free Airfare Miles for making the family proud. Other than a grad check, what else can your academic transcripts get you? According to StudentScrooge.com, help with that trip to Greece (or anywhere else, for that matter). United Airlines offers graduating students a 10,000 Mileage Plus bonus, which is roughly 40% of the way to a free domestic flight. Just send in your transcript, email address, and United Mileage Plus account number, and they’ll immediately deposit the bonus miles.
4. Retire that lava lamp. Or any other dorm furniture that screams “undergrad.” Facebook and other social networking sites is a great way to sell your dorm furniture to underclassmen – simply utilize Facebook’s marketplace application to post your offer. Don’t forget to take advantage of status updates and designated groups to get the word out. You may just get enough cash to fund your next rite of passage into adulthood: You’re very own, personal health insurance policy, aren’t you so proud?!
5. Counteract Senioritis. Let’s be honest, no one wants to spend their LAST month of school sorting through a daunting pile of loose notes and indecipherable scribbling for upcoming exams.  With sites like MyNoteIt.com, users can organize and share notes and study tips with fellow classmates saving tons of time.  Disclaimer: MyNoteIt is merely tool created to save time and is not responsible for how ‘said’ extra time is applied, be it either constructive or destructive in nature.

The second half of this list (5 Money Makers and Time Savers) was graciously submitted by Jason Ellman of Barnett Ellman, which is a PR firm. He sent me a guest post and it just happened to be a day after I started writing this article and they fit together so well that we combined them!

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends or ReTweet It. I greatly appreciate it!!

Twitter. You know what it is right? You’re familiar with tweeting? I hope so…..if you’re not then you must be an advanced 4 year old who can navigate the internet but not type. If you are not on Twitter, you need to go and sign up for an account now.

Anyway, now that that is out of the way, you need to realize how powerful of a tool Twitter really is. With the chance to micro-blog, Twitter gives you the ability to quickly connect with your customers, interact with them, and seek out advice or comments. Not to mention all the networking that can come from it, the business relationships that you can build, and the fun you can have.

Twitter Is Instant Market Research

No matter what your product or service is, you can find someone out of 4+ million plus registered users on Twitter that would use it or have an opinion on it. Inviting people to try out your website and provide feedback is a great way to get first hand knowledge about your site. Sending free samples of your products to people you meet on Twitter is a great way to build buzz about your business as well as develop future customers. Ask a question on Twitter and you’ll get an answer. Find people with similar interests and use them as a research base. Whether you’re looking for someone to give feedback on your website, try a product, or just take a poll, Twitter is the perfect atmosphere to do it in and get the instant responses you need. This one alone could save you and your business hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Twitter Knows No Boundaries

One of the best things about Twitter is that it is on all the time, all day long everyday. So, no matter what you are doing or what time it is, Twitter is available and so are your friends/followers. There are so many applications that let you tweet from your phone, that you can always just be a couple clicks away from getting a response. In many cases, I have asked questions on Twitter via my Blackberry or before going to sleep and by the time I get to chance my responses a few hours later or the next morning, there are answers to what I was asking about. The chance to get such a variety of opinions and responses is something that every business person and entrepreneur needs to be utilizing.

Twitter Offers Business Opportunities

Twitteriffic, Splitweet, TwitAds, TwitterBerry, TweetDeck, TwitTip, the list continues. All these sites and services were developed off of Twitter. The opportunities that Twitter has opened up for entrepreneurs is incredibly vast and what is already out there is just the tip of the iceberg.

Social Media is the New Jesus

As students and entrepreneurs, I am sure that you are all on Facebook. By the way, connect with me via the Dorm Room Biz fan page. Anyway, you are also familiar with using social media sites besides Facebook like MySpace, YouTube, Digg, and more. So why are you not utilizing Twitter in the same manner? Whether you are using social media websites to connect with old friends, find clients, grow your business, or just have some fun, you need to add Twitter to the mix.

The Big Guys Are Using It

If for no other reason, you should be on Twitter because many of the major corporations in the world are using the service. Your location and industry does not matter. Everyone from Fox News, CNN, The New York Times, Zappos, Amazon, Northrop Grumman, Comcast, and so many more. Plus, it does not stop at just companies, many of the largest celebrities in the world are on Twitter including Barak Obama, Shaq, MC Hammer, Brittney Spears, and many more. Following some of these people and reading their tweets are interesting and fun.

Now, explain to me why you’re not on Twitter? If you ARE on Twitter, leave a link to your profile within the comments so everyone can follow each other.

You can follow me at @ChrisPund. If you’re interested in outdoor news, gear reviews, and my other website, TheGearHouse, then you can also follow me there @TheGearHouse.

As a student entrepreneur or student in general using Twitter, there are a few people that I think you should definitely be following and reading their tweets, to pick up great bits of advice or to be able to read articles that they may share. Here they are.

1. Ramit Sethi – @ramit of IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com and PBWiki.com – Ramit is a personal finance guru and shares lots of tips for saving your money, reworking your finances, and negotiating your bills. Following his site and twitter updates is a huge benefit for when you are out of school and into the “real world” with lots of bills to pay!
2. Guy Kawasaki – @guykawasaki of Alltop and HolyKaw.com – Guy is currently recognized as the creater of AllTop.com but is probably better know as the person who coined the word ‘evangilist’ within a company while at Apple. He is also the author of many top selling books and writes for many different blogs and websites about technology, entrepreneurship, and more.
3. Venutre Hacks – @venturehacks of Venturehacks.com – great site and twitter to follow for content relating to venture capital, entrepreneurship, and business.
4. Isabella Murphy – @nichelady of Staying Paid – “Nichelady” as she is known is someone you’d want to follow if your interested in copy writing, seo tatics, publishing, creating niche sites and content, or if you just need some inspiration from an incredily friendly person.
5. Toilet Paper Entrepreneur – @TPEntrepreneur of the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur -Get the crude and straight to the point business advice that you’re looking for by following the TPE and watching his videos! Also, be sure to check out his book.
6. Matt Wilson – @mattwilsontv of Under30CEO – Matt has put together a great social networking site with his partner to bring together CEO’s and entrepreneurs under 30. Another great service offered by Matt is a video chat through UStream every Tuesday night at 10 PM EST. Definitely check out Under30CEO if you haven’t before!
7. Ian Fernando – @ianternet of IanFernando.com – Ian is an “out of the box” affiliate marketing and PPC wiz. He tries to fly under the radar with his work but has been getting more well known in the AM world. Follow him and his site to learn more about affiliate marketing, PPC, CPC, and much more. He WILL help you make money online.
8. Dan Schawbel – @danschawbel of Personal Branding Blog – Follow Dan to learn all about personal branding, branding your business, and building your recognition. His site, Personal Branding Blog, is jam packed with great information for students and young entrepreneurs.
   

And, as a final bonus, student entrepreneurs should also be following me! Find me on Twitter and connect to spark up some conversation! I’d love to connect with more and more readers. From me you’ll get updates in a wide range of topics from business, entrepreneurship, college, life, and much more.

Also, leave a comment with a link to your Twitter profile so we can all connect!

Keep Tweeting!

Chris

If you are not following Michael Dunlop, then you flat out need to be! Michael is a great young entrepreneur from the U.K who is making big moves. His site RetireAt21.com is an amazing resource for young entrepreneurs and student entrepreneurs, as well as older entrepreneurs alike!

I had the chance to meet Michael while he was in Washington D.C. for Yanik Silver’s Underground 5 conference a couple weeks back. I’ve been following Michael’s journey for the last couple years so when the opportunity to meet up arose, I was happy to make the 45 minute drive!

Michael is a very dedicated and focused young entrepreneur who is really looking to help others be successful and then allowing success to come to him.

During our two hours of hanging out in the lobby, we conversed about blogging, making money online, traffic generation, new projects coming down the pipe, and much more. I also wanted to catch Michael on video, so here is a quick bio of himself as well as what his top suggestion for young entrepreneurs is! Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Also, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/retireat21!

Here’s a quick video I got of Michael sharing his tip for starting an interent business.

Here are some of the basic reasons you need to have a business card as a student.

1. Share your contact information – this is pretty basic. Without a business card, you find yourself writing your name and number or email address on any scrap paper found or a bar napkin. It is then likely to get thrown away because it looks like trash. With a business card, it is much more recognizable so it does not get tossed, and it looks much more professional.
2. Professionalism – going along with the above point, if you are trying to network with people within your university community or local business people, not having a card to give back to them after getting theirs does not look professional. Solve this whole dilemma by GETTING BUSINESS CARDS NOW!
3. Networking – if you are serious about making connections, then you need to have business cards. It happens to me and I am sure it happens to you all – after you meet someone and talk to them for a few minutes, you move on and start talking to someone else. Then after the night is over, you can not remember what the first person you talked to did. But, if you have their business card you can easily see their company name and probably a slogan on the card or you can look up their website to find out about them. The same thing goes for students. If your card is focused on use as a student, then you are likely to have your University/College name, your contact information, and your degree or program of study. This quickly gives someone a snapshot about you and helps refresh their memory about the conversation they had with you.
4. Personal Branding – as a student and soon to be college graduate, you need to brand yourself in a certain way. Whether that be in your area of interest, a certain discipline, a certain industry, or based on your own company. Personal branding plays a huge role in college and having business cards is a way to help you stand out among your fellow students.
5. Other “Partners” – college students like to party. So why not give out your business card when you are out at the bar, club, or party to give your information to prospective “partners”. I’ll leave it up to you which kind of partners you share your information with. I’m sure there are some who you do not want to have your number the next day.

Hopefully these tips help you out in deciding to get business cards printed up as a student.  Don’t think about whether you need them or not, think about what to put on them and how soon you can order them.

If you are looking for a good online printing company, I strongly recommend PrintPlace.com. They are a online printer that I have used many times and never had an issue with. The quality and range of products are great.

Best of luck,

Chris Pund

That means that they sell premium WordPress themes, and also offer membership into their themes club. Membership offers you the chance to have access to all of their themes over a 3 or 6 month period, whichever you prefer, rather than purchasing each theme separately. This is a great advantage to the designer/developer because you can sign up and download any current and future themes that come out during your membership period.

I’ve been looking for an effective way to redesign 3-5 WordPress sites of mine and WooThemes has come up to be the answer. Their current inventory features over 17 different themses that range the categories of business, personal, CMS, lifestream, news, and portfolio. With so many choices, this gives you the easy opportunity to try out a lot of different options – and I like options.

So, I signed up. Yupp, I did it. I joined the club. Adii, I hope you’re happy and are enjoying my money. So far I am enjoying the site, so lets keep it that way.

Here is what their subscription options look like:

The thing that I really liked was being able to easily have a wide range of themes to choose from and further customize to meet my needs. If you are an internet entrepreneur and have a lot of WordPress based websites or are looking to launch many, then you definitely need to check out WooThemes and consider signing up.

The sites I’ll be using themes on from the guys at WooThemes include the new ChrisPund.com, ProfessionalGFX, Dorm Room Biz, and more possibly. So, keep a look out for lots of changes coming about soon!

As I get closer to being finished with customizing some of the sites, I will start posting about it and giving some screenshots.