Recently in Sherry Category

The academic year has started with such a variety of students and alumni needing advice on career changes, as well as first time professional positions. I have reviewed a mountain of resumes and cover letters and referred people to a wide variety of job research sites. There are jobs out there, and Kelley School of Business Indianapolis has a uniquely skilled group of students.

 

Good luck to all of you this week as accounting recruiting begins, and to the rest of you as we negotiate the job market in these tough economic times.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

 

I recently spent the weekend with my husband, children, and grandchildren at a state park lodge. We had a wonderful time, and in the midst of the frivolity, I was struck by what a good example we all are of Perceivers. If you have done an MBTI evaluation, you should know that as Perceivers we are all spontaneous and open to change.

 

My son and grandson were tent camping, but the rest of us stayed in the lodge. Our original plan was to cook dinner at the campfire. We brought all the food with us in multiple coolers. When we got to the lodge and walked by the restaurant we changed our minds almost in unison. Of course, that meant that we had to eat dinner in shifts because the baby fell asleep for the night before we could eat. It's ok...we ate our camp food for dinner when we got home! I think my grandson is a budding planner. He slept most of the way home, poor little guy.

 

It's great to see theory in action. If you aren't familiar with MBTI, you must check it out. Take a look at www.typelogic.com.

 

BTW-Clifty Falls State Park has a new lodge and it is beautiful! It sits on the Ohio River just a little east of Madison, Indiana.

Recently, a temporary health issue rendered me blind for about 2 weeks. I was not able to drive, read, watch TV, or use the computer. Thankfully, my sight has nearly fully recovered, but there are many people not as lucky as I. This experience gave me a rare look at what it feels like in our society to have a disability.

 

Diversity is a term that we hear frequently. Mostly, we think of it as descriptive of the differences in people based on race or ethnicity, but there are many things that make us different. As a practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Assessment, I have come to realize that even the ways we perceive the world and make choices and judgments are diverse.

 

Not having the benefit of sight, even for just a little while, opened my eyes to how it must be to navigate with a disability.  The sudden inability to see presents difficulties which are obvious, but I was not expecting everything that happened. When people realized that I couldn't see, they began to treat me differently. They talked louder (nothing wrong with my hearing!) They discussed things about me without including me in the conversation (as though I wasn't there.) They spoke to me like I was a child instead of a well-educated adult. The effect of such treatment creates anger, resentment, and a feeling of defeat. I am ashamed to think that I may have been guilty of such insensitivity in the past.

 

And so, I have written this blog. Think about how you treat others. Be proud of who you are in all of your diverse ways, and allow others the same right.

As I counsel students, I am hearing more and more of them say that they want to do something that makes a difference. With that in mind, I attended the American Humanics conference held last month at the Marriott in downtown Indy.

What is American Humanics? To quote their website, "The American Humanics program is an innovative course of study that equips college and university students to become skilled professionals and leaders in America's nonprofit organizations." They have a program at IUPUI that enables interested students to prepare for a career in non-profits. This does not mean that you abandon your study of accounting or management. You take this program in conjunction with your major work to prepare you for non-profit work.

So why should you care about non-profits? Well, not only do non-profits employ about 10% of the American workforce (The Nonprofit Career Guide), by the time you are 25, you will have spent 1/3 or more of your time involved with non-profits. Think about it: hospitals, schools (including IUPUI) churches, clubs, sports organizations, symphonies, museums, and public TV or radio are all non-profits. If you want to make a difference, take a look at the non-profit sector.

If you are worried about money, consider that through donations, fees, and government grants, reporting non-profits in 2005 had total revenue of $1.6 trillion. Based on wages paid only, the sector surpasses the Netherlands as the 16th largest economy in the world (The Nonprofit Career Guide). Within the next 10 years (when boomers retire), there will be 640,000 senior level management positions available in non-profits (Bridgestar). These are well paid positions in every field of endeavor.

If you think you might be interested in the non-profit sector as you make your career plans, check out the that the CPO has provided on our website. The Nonprofit Career Guide is available in the CPO, BS 4090.