Have you ever had one of those weeks where you think back and wonder, “What in the world did I do this week? Where did the week go?” That was my week.

I have been speaking nearly every day of the week at a different school or education organization.

Monday I started out at the Pittsburgh Council of Higher Education where I presented to a group of career counselors from Pittsburgh area colleges and universities on the Pittsburgh Technology Council. We talked extensively about what types of skills technology companies are looking for in college graduates. Some of those skills include: JAVA, ASP.NET, HTML, C++, C, and a few others. Software jobs are in great demeand here in the Pittsburgh region. One of the things I have been trying to emphasize to students and educators is the importance of communication skills in the workplace. Time and again recruiters emphasize to me how important it is for new graduates to have strong communication skills. A company can train someone to be a better programmer or engineer but it is hard to train them to write or speaker more effectively. It can be done but it takes longer.

On Tuesday I was part of a very large “Career Day” at a local school district. There we had four group of local high school student’s parade through to hear all about different careers from professionals around the Pittsburgh region. I was on a panel with a banker, a lawyer, someone from hospitality and tourism, and higher education. I had the chance to tell my popular “3-Pack-A-Day Rooster” story. It is a big hit with high school students.

Wednesday I was a vendor at the Robert Morris University job fair. I love attending job fairs. This is the fourth year in a row I have attended this fair. The student attendance was a little light but I would say that is true with ever fair I have been to this year. Are job fairs quickly fading away as a good way to find a job? How mayn of those companies were actually looking to hire the people who they met at the fair? Since the internet is so important for companies and recruiting why spend the money attending job fairs? I am not an expert but I am a thinker. (Thanks Glenn Beck)

Today, I spoke at Chatham College in Pittsburgh to a group of science students. The attendance was light but the interaction with the students was great. The major emphasis was on internships. The students who attended were mainly freshman or sophomores. I hope they were able to understand my passion for college students doing internships.  Thanks Monica for setting this up!

It has been a world-wind of a week which does not end yet. Tomorrow is the @pgh.cafe job and internship fair for college and universities students. This is a technology job fair here in the Pittsburgh region. We have 31 companies participating so I am putting the final touches on that event today. It is such a great job market right now. I have turned away nearly 10 companies because we are out of room. Our next event is in February which is poised to be a huge success.

Needless to say I am looking forward to the weekend but it has been a joy speaking at so many schools and affecting so many students these past several weeks.