Dr. Ronda Mariani offers common sense tips on how to make your online image work to your advantage when you’re looking for a job.

“There is no branch of detective science which is so important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps.”
– Sherlock Holmes

These days, you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes, bent at the waist, peering down at the ground, and puffing on a pipe to track footprints.

You don’t need a deerstalker cap or a magnifying glass.

And you don’t need to be a deductive genius.

If you’re looking for some hard numbers to back up what you feel is true, check out the highlights from two recent studies.

More than a quarter of adults plan to return to school someday, but with rising tuition costs over the past several years, is it really worth it to get your degree?

According to 2014 Pew Research Center and Federal Reserve Bank of New York studies, it is worth it.

In fact, the Federal Reserve Bank study, “Do the Benefits of College Still Outweigh the Costs,”  concludes that, “investing in a college degree may be more important than ever before because those who fail to do so are falling further and further behind.”

Tap into one of the most powerful business tools on the planet by joining the Center for Online Learning’s Career Services group on LinkedIn.

Social media use for hiring is at an all-time high.

According to Jobvite’s 2014 Job Seeker Nation Report, 93 percent of recruiters are likely to look at a candidate’s social profile.

Their social media channel of choice?

Hands down, recruiters prefer LinkedIn.

When searching for job candidates, 94 percent of recruiters use the business-oriented social networking service that has attracted more than 300 million members.

Are you preparing for a career in human resources or marketing and want to find out how to land that first job?

If you’re a student enrolled in either Saint Leo University’s online or on-ground human resources management or business-marketing degree programs, take note. You can get the inside track on careers if you register now for one of the upcoming sessions in the Leaders in the Industry webinar series.

Launched earlier this year by the Center for Online Learning’s Student Services Department, the webinar series offers students the opportunity to better understand what companies are looking for in new hires by hearing directly from professionals in the industry.

Here’s the schedule for these next two sessions:

“What are employers looking for in today’s college grads?”

“What’s it really like to work in human resources, law enforcement, health care, marketing, or any particular field?”

Chances are if you’re a college student with your sights set on gainful employment in the not-too-distant future, you won’t find the answers to common questions such as these in a textbook – or even online.

Sometimes you just need to consult an expert – someone with experience in your intended field.

Maybe you’re a traditional student at University Campus getting ready to graduate in the spring and you’re looking for your first job.

Or perhaps you’re an adult student studying online or at one of the university’s education centers. You already have a full-time job, but your goal is to change career fields as soon as you finish your degree program.

Whether you’re a first-year student or an alumnus, you can benefit from LionsLINK, the university’s new career services management system, specially tailored to serve the needs of the Saint Leo University community.

LionsLINK includes a host of services and capabilities such as employment postings for internships and permanent positions, customized job searches, alert notifications for job search matches, online storage of sensitive employment documents and access to a wide variety of career planning resources.

A good work ethic is more than logging long hours on the job. It involves an attitude and actions that reflect integrity.

If you won $10 million in the lottery, would you continue to work or would you quit?

Silly question?

Not really.

You might be surprised to learn that according to a recent Gallup survey, two-thirds of American workers say they would continue working even if they won $10 million in the lottery.

Video resumes are increasing in popularity among job candidates looking to stand out from the crowd.

You’re not trying to delude yourself. You know you’re not the next Daniel Day-Lewis or Julia Roberts.

And you don’t want to be.

What you do want is to land an interview for what sounds like a great job. The problem is so do several hundred other people.