Pinterest isn’t just an awesome social media place for craft ideas, fashion, makeup and hair tips, recipes, birthday party themes, and home design ideas (they’re fueling my dream of having a custom master bedroom closet). If you’re on Pinterest, and if you can tear yourself away from repining those things to your boards, you’ll notice that one of the categories on Pinterest is education.

A lot of the items posted on the education boards are related to children, but some are more adult-friendly and could encourage you to go back to college or pursue a new degree.

Also, if you’re a “pinaholic,” think about how much time you spend browsing other boards, such as photography, hair and beauty, fitness, science and nature, technology, and history. Your passion for one of those subjects may be clear, and it could lead you to start researching career paths in those areas that have captured your interest for a long time.

Here are some of the latest things we’ve seen pinned that can inform you about potential new careers or degrees or inspire you as an adult learner. Our links take you to the actual webpage, so that those who don’t have Pinterest accounts can see them, too.

The Bachelor’s Job Market
A social media professor (sounds like a cool job) at Syracuse University posted this insightful infographic, created by Rasmussen College, that shows the need for more bachelor’s degree holders and reasons why people don’t pursue their degree.

I’m So Much More Than Just a Teacher poster
If you’re considering going into education, whether to work as a teacher’s assistant at your child’s school or to teach in another grade level, this poster’s message may be the push that you need to head into that direction.

Albert Einstein Quotes
The inspirational sayings on Pinterest range from sassy to sappy, but if you sort through, you can find some that may be worth putting your computer, phone, or near study central for you. The ones by Albert Einstein often pop up, joining others by authors, book characters, and even created by Pinterest members themselves.

Oh, and don’t forget to check us out on Pinterest. Our Boards are a mixture of smart (College-related Infographics and A+ College Stuff) and fun (Because Bacon Makes You Smarter).

Are you on Pinterest? Tell us what you’ve learned so far. Happy pinning!

-Lori Johnston

Which college degrees provide better job security?

A new study from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce implies that your degree choice can have a big impact on keeping a job. According to the findings, risk of unemployment for recent graduates varies considerably depending on their major.

You can check out the full report, Hard Times, College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings: Not All College Degrees Are Created Equal, but here are some of the takeaways we’ve gleaned from it:

- Specializing is great, but develop skills that can be applicable in a number of ways. Case in point: The highest unemployment rate in the study was for architecture graduates (13.9 percent), a direct reflection of the struggling real estate market, and there’s little work outside of that industry. On the other hand, those with financial or computer expertise can transfer those skills to work for most any corporation or organization.

- Now might be a good time to get that advanced degree you’ve been mulling over. The overall unemployment rate for people with graduate degrees is just 3 percent.

- Look for ties to strong industries. Recent graduates in Engineering, the Sciences, Education, or Healthcare are tied to stable or growing sectors, and therefore, offer opportunities with the most staying power (with just a 5.4% unemployment rate).

On the bright side, any degree is still better than not having one at all. Recent bachelor’s degree earners have an 8.9 percent unemployment rate, while job seekers with just a high school diploma are at 22.9 percent, and high school dropouts are at 31.5 percent.

-Dawn Papandrea

The holiday frenzy may be over, but the new year often rings in an organizing frenzy that can eat up free time. Organizing strategies and tips that are meant for your pantry, closets, laundry room, storage spaces, and other areas also can be perfect when searching for a new career.

Here are three ways you can organize your search for a new profession (and after you’re done, go ahead, use them in your home, too).

1. Do it in intervals.
Plunging into a search for a new career can be overwhelming – just like trying to organize a year’s worth of photos, children’s art projects, or receipts for your taxes. Make time to research career options and the type of education programs you’ll want to pursue by returning to school, but don’t expect to do it all in one day. Spending a couple of hours at a time can keep you energized throughout the process.

2. Get help.
Bounce ideas of someone you trust and who will support you in your career endeavors. Whether it’s a spouse, parent, best friend, or colleague, having someone to help you during the process can motivate you, especially if you ever want to give up your search.

3. Tackle one area at a time.
In your home, you don’t want to jump from one area, like the kitchen, to the bedroom closet to the garage or the kids’ playroom, until you’re done with the other one. That just leads to chaos. To avoid a chaotic career search, start off by focusing on your passions and the types of occupations that fit with those passions (you can also take career assessments to help you with this part of the process), then go onto researching salary and job potential, then degree programs. As you tackle these decisions, set up a system by creating folders on your computer, smartphone, tablet, or in your paper files, to make sure that you lose any valuable research.

Taking these steps can help you keep focused on your career search and finding the profession of your dreams.

-Lori Johnston

When searching for a community college, you want to select a school that cares about students being successful with the coursework and after graduation, in finding well-paying jobs.

The Aspen Institute

Part of your research should include the honors that schools have received, and here’s a new one we wanted to bring to your attention. The Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence was launched in 2011, and as more people look to commercial colleges for affordability and convenience, it is great to see these schools receiving the spotlight.

The award recognized community colleges with strong results in student learning, completion, equity, and post-college employment and earnings.

The winner was … Florida’s Valencia College. The Orlando school has some pretty impressive numbers, with more than half of its full-time students either graduating or transferring within three years of entering college. And 30 percent of the students who enter Valencia transfer to a four-year college.

Here’s an incredible story from the writeup about Valencia College that shows how the school (which received a $600,000 award) has been a source for local employers, helping connect students with job openings.

“Jim Lipscomb, a Northrop Grumman manager in Orlando, used to spend half the year on the road, looking for workers qualified to help make laser sights for military hardware. Competition was fierce—a good candidate had five or ten job offers to choose from—and those he hired often left Florida in months, homesick for Texas or Idaho or Iowa.

Now, Lipscomb doesn’t need to leave town. Over the last several years, he has hired nearly every laser technician who has come out of Valencia, which created a program in response to growing industry demand. Valencia is doing its part to fill a national shortage of laser technicians while linking local residents to well-paying jobs for local residents.”

Here are the nine finalists for the Aspen Prize, which also are partnering with businesses and creating innovative programs for their community college students. You can read each of the finalists’ stories, too, to see what those schools are doing to stand out.

• Lake Area Technical Institute (South Dakota)

• Miami Dade College (Florida)

• Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

• Mott Community College (Michigan)

• Northeast Iowa Community College-Calmar

• Santa Barbara City College (California)

• Southwest Texas Junior College

• Valencia College (Florida)

• Walla Walla Community College (Washington)

• West Kentucky Community and Technical College

Former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, who co-chaired the jury that selected the winners, made these comments in connection with the award:”Community colleges for too long have been under-appreciated. By 2018, more than 60 percent of American jobs will require some kind of post-secondary qualification, and community colleges are uniquely poised to answer the needs of both employers and students looking for economic security.”

If you’re attending any of these schools or planning on starting there soon, definitely check out how you can benefit from their initiatives that are worthy of the spotlight!

-Lori Johnston

If you’re at a career crossroads, or simply need to make a change (hey, resolution time is right around the corner!), a new book can help you gain some perspective and get you on the road to change. Justin Ahrens’ “Life Kerning: Creative Ways to Fine Tune Your Perspective on Career and Life,” makes for a great stocking stuffer for yourself, the recent grad, or career changer in your life.

CollegeSurfing.com had the chance to chat with Ahrens for some further insight… read on.

CS: Tell me a bit about your background and schooling.
JA: I attended Illinois Wesleyan University, a small liberal arts University in central Illinois. Sort of hard to believe now because my view of the world has changed so much. But it was perfect for me because I was challenged by my peers and that is when I realized it was up to me to make my life and experiences what they could be. I think I always knew that, but college really drove it home. So I took extra classes and had four internships to do what I could to be prepared.

CS: How did you come up with the idea for the book?
JA: I moved around a lot when I was a kid. I went to a new school every year, except maybe one until I got to High School. All of that school readjustment really made me conscious of social environments. I think this book is a group of life observations to this point. I came up with the idea originally as a talk for a conference based on a bunch of notes I had taken from people who asked me many of the same questions. And the name just came from thinking about ways to call slight adjustments — kerning seemed just perfect, plus I liked that it was unique.

CS: I love the idea of creating space for yourself. I think most people do this around New Year’s resolution time. Can you talk about why it’s important to not limit this activity to just once a year? And what doing so can accomplish?
JA: How many resolutions have we made and not fallen through on? And is your peace and happiness a constant goal, or will a once a year realignment do the trick? I think the most important part of consistent check in is being conscious or aware of yourself on a regular basis. A once a year “check up” or realignment is not going to have a lasting effect.

CS: You talk about the importance of learning someone’s name and handwritten thank-yous in the book. Any other little things we should all be doing to help shape and develop our careers?
JA: The main power behind those points is to be purposeful. Second it’s to be aware of the world around us. How can you do that? Learning someone’s name or writing a thank you causes you to slow down and pay attention. Apply that concept across the board, especially in those areas of your life that keep you most egocentric or lacking in satisfaction. Be purposeful, be present, and you can make some headway.

CS: How do find the fine line of how much time to devote to social media without becoming overloaded?
JA: That really varies per person. But for me it’s when I’m not getting my stuff done consistently or if I’m using that as the majority of my “social” interaction.

CS: The section on evolving in which you say to think of yourself as a lifelong student is very in line with our blog’s theme. Can you talk a bit about that idea?
JA: We have to understand, and be OK with (because we really have no choice), that as we live our lives, we are constantly changing. We can’t do anything about it. Life of course parallels that. The world, the weather, all things around us, are in constant flux. It’s a very American thing to strive to be comfortable, and work to reach or be at that “finished” state. The reality is that the happiest we will ever be is when we are actively living our life. I think that is a result of being engaged with the world around you and the larger world. Studying what makes you tick, brings you joy, tears your heart apart, is all incredibly important. These items are what motivates you and limits you. Knowing these will help you expand or contract those areas of your life.

CS: Most of our readers are career changers, or people just starting out and heading back to school to decide what they want to do. Any specific advice for them in how to find the right career fit?
JA: We spend the majority of our life at work… I know that can be a depressing thought. So the question to ask is what role do you want work to play in your life. Is it just a means to an end? Is it part of what feeds your soul? Neither are more right or more wrong, but we should do something that brings us some level of satisfaction. I believe a lot of that starts with how you look at your job. Having an honest understanding of its role and its purpose to you is question one. The second is to find a job that helps fit that perspective and designing your life to work within that construct. Maybe it’s working on a cause so you may need to take a pay cut. Maybe it’s taking on a little debt going back to school to do what you wish you had done. Whatever the reason, be honest with what it’s role is and why you are doing it. This will help in your decision making processes and your overall enjoyment.

-Dawn Papandrea

Take a look at the college degree held by Ginni Rometty, who will take over as IBM’s first-ever female CEO and president on Jan. 2, 2012, and you’ll see someone who committed in college to a career in technology. She earned her bachelor’s of science degree with high honors in computer science and electrical engineering from Northwestern University.

Technology is a job sector where more women are needed, and Rometty’s promotion reflects that companies are seeking female leaders with technical experience.

If you’re interested in working in the technology industry, don’t be intimidated by pursuing fields such as computer science while browsing college websites and course catalogs. While the technology field needs people in all types of roles, from human resources to public relations, leaders like Rometty reveal that focusing on science and technology from the onset can be rewarding.

But females are discouraged from technical education pursuits, Caroline Simard, vice president of research at the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, recently told the New York Times. She said:

“Research shows that the majority of people have an implicit bias that associates science and technology with gender, so from a very young age, girls are not encouraged to pursue these careers. Women like Ginni Rometty are a powerful antidote against the stereotype.”

While IBM is a top global company, there are small- and mid-sized technology firms in your own town that need leaders, and by focusing on a technical education in computer science, software engineering, or other tech fields, you could position yourself to take on a leadership role and further help break the glass ceiling.

-Lori Johnston

Sorry, Penelope Trunk, We Disagree

Let me preface this post by saying that I think Penelope Trunk is pretty cool. She’s the founder of Brazen Careerist and two other startups, and her career advice is always fresh and fun – if not a bit irreverent. But in one of her recent posts, she basically says that graduate degrees in the humanities are useless. Here’s why she’s wrong:

>> Employers still look for graduate degrees when hiring.
Even if a graduate degree is not required for entry into a particular field, many employers still say that, given the choice between a candidate with a master’s degree and one without, they’ll hire the one with the degree. A recent New York Times article confirms this notion, calling the master’s degree a “sorting mechanism.” Plus, plenty of non-science professions (e.g., teaching, clergy, psychology) do require graduate degrees just to get in the door, and that trend will continue. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, careers that require first professional or master’s degrees are expected to grow by about 18 percent each; those that only require on-the-job training are expected to grow by 8 percent each.

>> Graduate degrees can get you promoted.
Trunk’s post seems to be directed at students who have never worked a day in the real world, but one doesn’t need to get a graduate degree in a vacuum. Many students go to grad school while they’re working – with the blessing (and even the tuition assistance) of their employer. When grad school is directly applicable to your field and can help you do better on the job, everyone benefits. Workers who are committed to self-improvement will always be in greater demand than those who are resting on the laurels of old accomplishments.

>> You can make more money with a graduate degree.
In a conversation about making a living with graduate education, it would be shortsighted not to mention the salary potential of advanced degrees. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2008, the median annual earnings of young adults with a master’s degree or higher was $55,000. That’s 20 percent more than bachelor’s degree holders earned ($46,000). And for those who say you have to take grad school debt into account, remember that there are lots of ways to do grad school on the cheap (fellowships, scholarships, teacher assistantships, etc.).

>> You do need a graduate degree in order to teach.
Teaching jobs may not be easy to come by these days – especially at the college level – but they are out there. And you can’t get in without an advanced degree. Maximize your employability by choosing your school and program wisely, and making good connections once you’re there. Given a choice between two grad schools, go with the one that has the best reputation in your field, one with a high employment rate for graduates of your program.

>> Education is never a waste of time.
Even if none of the above points were true, and grad school didn’t enhance career prospects, I’d still make the case that education is valuable for its own sake. Grad school gives you an opportunity to focus your attention and delve deeply into a topic, to do research and consider new possibilities, and to gain philosophical understanding. Not only are these kinds of activities helpful in your career, they make a difference in your life as a whole. And we are whole people, not career robots. Anything you can do to challenge yourself and broaden your perspective – including grad school – is inherently worthwhile.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to grad school. While there are certainly “wrong” reasons to go to grad school, there are plenty of “right” reasons, too. Be selective in your search, and you’ll be amazed at the doors that a graduate degree can open.

-Robyn Tellefsen

Hope everyone’s summer is off to a great start! We wanted to let you know about the “traveling” that the CS Insider has been doing lately. OK, not traveling exactly, but we’ve guest blogged for a couple of really terrific sites as of late, and we didn’t want you to miss out.

First, head over to Bad Ballet. The site is for women who are taking the leap onto the next stage of their lives — get it? Much like you, many of the Bad Ballerinas are making big changes in their lives, and sometimes that involves a new career or educational journey. We share our tips on how to decide if going back to school is the right move.

Next, we’re over at RamenRentResumes.com, the destination for students fresh out of college who are newly on the job hunt, and struggling with the beginnings of adulthood. There, we chimed in about the 5 Things Every Graduate Needs to Know.

Happy reading!

With the “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games” series over, let’s face it, we all know enough about vampires and postapocalyptic worlds and can focus on some career reading this summer.

Slip one of these books into your beach bag this long holiday weekend, and get inspired about your career or furthering your education.

These authors make it easy to soak up both the rays and important information about earning a first-time degree or advanced degree to move up the ladder professionally. Just imagine what were to happen if Katniss was to combine her Hunger Games experience with a college education – she would be even more unstoppable!

How to Get Any Job: Life Launch and Re-Launch for Everyone Under 30 (Or How to Avoid Living in Your Parents’ Basement) by Donald Asher (Ten Speed Press)

Asher, a career consultant who is author of several books, encourages people to think about their “top five issues in this world” as part of considering a career path and gives the low-down on education options, recognizing that career paths can change over time. Plus, there’s a special chapter on summer jobs.

Bossypants by Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur Books)

It’s your typical career book, but Fey’s hilarious memoir shows what it’s like to succeed in a male-dominated industry, working at SNL and having her own Emmy Award-winning show, “30 Rock,” and how she balances being a mom in show business. You get all that, and be prepared to hide under your oversized beach hat because you may be embarrassed at how much Fey’s essays are making you laugh.

The MBA Reality Check by Evan Forester & David Thomas (Prentice Hall Press)

If you’re considering earning your MBA, you probably need a summer vacation from all of that research. This book presents the MBA pursuit from the mindset of how you can be a compelling candidate to a college, written in a way where you feel like you’re chatting with a friend – albeit a very experienced, knowledgable friend who is an educational consultant. Forster’s insider’s look into getting into a business school is fueled with stories of applicants, making it an easy summer read.

Let us know if you’ve found other career- or education-related books or biographies that have inspired or informed you to take your next career step!

-Lori Johnston

With the release of Cars 2, we decided to take a look at the man behind the wheel of one of the biggest franchises in Disney history. Animator-writer-producer-director John Lasseter, the movie’s director and chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, is well-known as a pioneer in developing the art and science of computer-generated animation. If you’re seeking career inspiration, look no further than the incredible life (yes, he was also the executive producer of The Incredibles) of John Lasseter. Start with his on-screen advice below, and read on for other career lessons we’ve adapted based on his story:

Career Lesson #1: Create your own opportunities.
When Lasseter discovered that there are people who actually get paid to make cartoons, he didn’t leave his animation aspirations stuck in the pages of his personal journal, or even in those “What do you want to be when you grow up?” essays you have to write for school. In high school, Lasseter actually wrote to Disney Studios, saying he wanted to be an animator. And Disney wrote back! They encouraged him to get a great art education, learning the basics of figure drawing, design, and color.

Career Lesson #2: Don’t be afraid to explore new educational avenues.
It gets better. In his senior year of high school, Lasseter got another letter from Disney, this time saying they were starting a character animation program at California Institute of the Arts. It was a new, untested program – going to his mom’s alma mater, Pepperdine University, would have been a safer bet – but Lasseter took a chance, got himself a scholarship, and enrolled in the inaugural year of the program. He learned from the Disney greats and earned his B.F.A. in film in 1979.

Career Lesson #3: Forge your own path.
When Lasseter graduated and got a job with Disney, he discovered a sad truth – at that time, the animation studio was not being run by great artists and visionaries like the ones who taught the Cal Arts program, but by lesser artists and businesspeople. He could have just kept his head down and maintained the status quo – how many of us do that? – but instead, he became increasingly enamored with the possibilities of using computer graphics in animation. Unfortunately, Lasseter’s enthusiasm for this fairly new technology earned him a reputation as something of a loose cannon at Disney, and he got fired.

Career Lesson #4: Keep your dream alive.
Getting fired might sound like a death sentence, but we all know that wasn’t the end of the story for John Lasseter. His next gig – at Lucasfilm, which later became Pixar, which was later bought by Disney – wasn’t far behind. After he got fired, Lasseter went to a computer graphics conference, met up with some contacts he had made at Lucasfilm, and got himself a job that same day. Notice that he didn’t sit around waiting for an offer to come to him – he went out and made it happen! He believed in the possibilities of a new technology and found some other people who believed in it, too.

Career Lesson #5: Be true to yourself.
At 54 years old, Lasseter claims he is still a little boy, and making animated movies is a great way to let that little boy out. Obviously, this is a job where thinking like a grown-up is not always the best thing. But even if you don’t have aspirations in the cartoon world, your childhood interests can still serve as inspiration for your present-day career. Just look at how Lasseter, the son of a manager at a Chevrolet dealership, used his lifelong love of cars!

When John Lasseter gave a commencement address at Pepperdine University in 2009, he encouraged the graduating class never to let anyone kill their dreams. Coming from the man behind the Disney/Pixar magic, that’s good advice.

-Robyn Tellefsen