Jean Eason (Chair), Diane Collier, Larry Hamerman, Don Herres, Carl Hussey, Rachel Krepps, Tarek Lahdhiri, Margaret Lyon, Murty Polavarapu, Staff: Scott Grayson &Helen Hall.

(Eason)

Diane Collier drafted an article regarding How to Survive a Layoff.  Diane will send the article out to the committee for their review during the week of 23 November 2009.

(GRAYSON)

Scott Grayson reviewed the career and member services dashboard.

IEEE Career Services & Professional Activities Developments

Jean Eason noted that, IEEE-USA, PSPB, and MGA are the three partners that compose the IEEE Career Services Committee. The committee has operated in a very collaborative fashion. The IEEE Job Site has been improved by adding career articles, a new job search widget, and streaming videos.  The IEEE Job Site will be starting a new virtual job fair.  There is a possibility that the IEEE-USA Annual meeting may collaborate with the IEEE Job Site to conduct a virtual career fair at the March 2010 IEEE-USA Annual Meeting.

Additionally, this committee would like to get involved in the process of developing new products, services, and programs while applying a standardized product development process.

IEEE Globalization of Professional Activities  (1.4Mb)(GRAYSON)

Scott Grayson reported that both MGA and IEEE-USA applied for new initiative funding to Globalize Professional Activities. It was clear from the work done that Regions 7-10 truly desire professional activities.  Scott noted that the Board will have to approve the recommendations in order to implement such a program. He will report back to the committee about the status at the next meeting.

(2.5Mb) (GRAYSON)

Scott Grayson noted a committee of the IEEE-USA Vice Presidents and IEEE-USA Members-at-Large was formed at the start of 2009 to study how best to address the needs of our at risk or unemployed members.  After a year of work the committee decided that IEEE-USA was doing as much as it could to meet the needs of members and recommended that the ECS continue doing what they have been doing.

Don Herres (Region 1) and Rachel Krepps (Region 2 GOLD) both conducted a focus group in their respective regions.  Jean Eason and Rachel Krepps also conducted one at the Annual Meeting.

Regions 2,3,5 and 6 sent the survey link to their sections chairs in some cases and in others directly to their members. The committee is not sure whether the survey link actually reached IEEE U.S. members.  The recommendation for now is to leave the survey open until the end of November. At the start of 2010 the committee will consider sending out the survey through the corporate email system to ensure that we have contacted all members who have email.

The majority of the committee believes that the best timeframe to conduct webinars is between 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. It was recommended that we try to convert the archived webinar format to a format that can be downloaded onto the iPod or other mp3 players. Additionally, it was recommended that the webinar running time be added to the website

2010 Annual Meeting & Beyond:

The theme of the 2010 IEEE-USA Annual Meeting will be STEM and the follow up on Rising of the Gathering Storm report.

Career & Employment Session:  Tarek has agreed to conduct a workshop at the Annual Meeting on Job Interviewing Skills and Resume Writing. It will include tips on business etiquette.

Jean Eason announced that she is exploring with the IEEE Job Site staff conducting a virtual career fair at the Annual Meeting.

Tarek Lahdhiri will provide an Employment and Career Services booth. Scott will order more ECS magnets to be distributed at the Annual Meeting
 

Region 2 Report (Polavarapu)

Murty noted that Defense and Aerospace is going to experience a decline in employment since the U.S. government cannot sustain level of spending. The DC/NOVA/Baltimore area will most likely experience layoffs over the 6-12 months.

Murty held workshops at the Region 2 meeting and one at the Johnstown Section.  He also conducted an event in the DC area. Parviz from Region 2 provided a workshop in West Virginia.

Murty noted that he is the Region 2 Coordinator for IEEE-USA and coordinates the activities of the PACE, ECS, and Government Relations representatives to IEEE-USA. He noted that they all work together very closely.

1.  Products & Services for 2010 (ALL)

The committee reveiwed their 2009 goals:

• Marketing getting the word out
• Focus Groups - lead to new products
• Training: Webinars/Ebooks/Workshops
• Globalization Employer Focus

It was agreed that these goals were not met.

ACTIONS:

The committee agreed that immediately following this committee meeting it would focus on:

Getting feedback from the short 5 question survey that Region Coordinators sent out. 

Assisting with preparing for a workshop to be held at the Annual Meeting

Diane Collier agreed that she would send the committee the article that she had been working on regarding tips for the job search by the week of 23 November.

The committee discussed ideas for webinars and will need to flesh out the webinar and find appropriate speakers for the following topics:

What to do if you are laid off
Where is the profession going?
How to use the Employment Navigator
Effective online job search
Contract vs. Permanent Employment
Changing Careers Phase II
Increase awareness of what is needed to succeed in a small or large company

The committee decided that a goal of each Region Coordinator would be to conduct at least one employment/career workshop in their region for 2010. It was recommended that they coordinate this with their Region GOLD Representative.

Marketing:

The message is not getting out to the members. The Committee needs an enhanced marketing effort for 2010.

The committee decided that it wanted to provide members with an employment assistance package.  This would include 3 eBooks, 3 Archived Webinars, and other employment assistance related material. This might be packaged on a memory stick or other means.  The committee also discussed converting some of the archived webinars in an MP3 format to be played on iPods or MP3 players.

ACTION: Scott Grayson will send the committee links to the eBook and webinar website. The Committee will send Scott their selection of 3 eBooks and 3 archived webinars by Wednesday 18 November.  The Committee will schedule a telecon during the week of 23 November.

2. Committee makeup for 2010 and beyond (EASON)

Jean Eason led a discussion about the best make up of the committee for the future. Should it be Region Coordinators, should it be people who have an expertise in specific areas or should it be a combination of both. There was no resolution of these issues.