After welcoming the inaugural class of the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine last week, Hofstra University joined an elite club of 135 educational institutions nationwide that offer MD programs. Perhaps even more noteworthy, Hofstra has now become one of only 66 universities in the United States with both accredited law and medical schools. Although this accomplishment is significant in its own right (it’s New York State’s first new allopathic medical school since 1963), I can’t help but wonder what this means for the value of my degree when I graduate from Hofstra next spring.
While this certainly won’t guarantee a job offer or financial success after graduation, I’ve realized that Hofstra’s effort to boost its national profile has also reinforced another dimension of my personal brand. While personal branding doesn’t necessarily define an individual, it does provide another opportunity to market one’s self, a particularly important skill in an increasingly competitive job market.
Personal branding is known as an essential career building process (it is a process), but what exactly does it consist of?
Hello, my name is Aaron, and I’m a gamer. Okay, I admit it; I don’t have the luxury of time other gamers have. On second thought, I really don’t play much at all compared to people that lock themselves in their parents’ basements to play massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Frankly, I’d rather go out on a hike or read a book, but hey, that’s just me—but I digress. Thanks to clever planning, a horde of gift cards and the benefits of Amazon’s black Friday sales of 2010, I was able to pick up a PlayStation 3 this past December for a killer price. And for those that don’t know the extent of my free time (or lack thereof), I wasn’t able to even open the box until February of this current year, but again, I digress.
