source: careerpronews

People have long been visiting the country to pick their own fruit. But these days, there are many more activities enticing tourists to the farm.

Farmers are finding unique and innovative ways to attract city slickers, not only to bolster income but also to promote agriculture and rural living.

According to Purdue University research, nature- or agricultural-based tourism is the fastest growing sector of the U.S. tourism industry, averaging a 30 percent increase since 1997.

From farmhouse bed-and-breakfast operations to winery tours, specialized product sales and Halloween attractions, farmers are taking a chance on tourism.

At nine years of age, Jerry Howell, living on a pig and chicken farm, decided to sell a few pumpkins from a wheelbarrow. Decades later, he’s running the Howell Family Pumpkin Farm, relying completely on revenue from visitors.

“I realized, heck at nine I’d made 28 bucks. So, the next year I asked my dad to plant more pumpkins and that year I sold a wagon load,” says Howell. “It just kept getting bigger.”

A jack-o-lantern display in the 1980s was so successful that the family started school tours and wagon rides. They also added a 3,000-square-foot haunted barn and a 25-foot robotic pumpkin dinosaur called Pumkinosaurous Rex.

There are pony rides, hay romps, a pumpkin catapult, animal petting areas, pumpkin carving demonstrations, scarecrow displays, puppet shows and a corn maze adventure.

“This [agritourism] is now our only source of income. There are no more chickens or pigs and we make all of our money in one month [October],” he says.

While the Howells rely entirely on agritourism, Mike Bose has successfully added a corn maze component to his existing turkey and vegetable farm operation.

“My family has been farming for over 100 years and been fighting for market share. This is a way for us to ensure viability of the farm and to bring people back out to the farm — to connect between urban and rural communities.”

Picking unique themes for the corn maze has garnered media attention, which Bose considers the best marketing tool.

“Ending up on the news does more good than anything and giving to charity is another way to get attention,” says Bose. His corn maze logos have included golf, football and hockey themes, as well as a bucking bronco.

Visitors come from around the world. The maze also attracts youth and church groups, birthday parties and other special events. “We do really big numbers in September and October. It’s big business,” says Bose.

Steve and Dorothy Enger open their 1,600-acre North Dakota farm to the public annually through the fall months. The couple expanded into agritourism as a means of additional income.

Known as Fall Family Fun on the Farm, attractions include a haunted house, indoor games, face painting, miniature golf and cow milking — all to supplement the growing of carrots and pumpkins. “It is treated as any other enterprise on the farm,” says Dorothy Enger.

And it began quite by accident.

“We were working with our church youth group and decided to have a Halloween party at our farm to raise money for [a charity]. It seemed like a lot of work to do for just our church for one night, so we opened it up to the public. People came and said they liked it and asked us to do it again. It has grown each year since,” says Enger.

Adding “agri-entertainment” makes for a very busy fall at the Enger farm. “It gets very hectic at times because the crops we raise and the fall activities in our yard are all taking place at the same time as harvest. It makes for very short nights of sleep and sometimes not even going to bed,” she says.

Each year, something new is added and is always home-made and self-financed.

“We find it virtually impossible to get finances for this. Lenders frown on it and so do insurance companies. One better be prepared to have the means to start themselves,” says Enger.

The U.S. government may provide funding through agencies such as USDA Rural Development, the Rural Community Empowerment Program, and the National Council of State Agriculture Finance Programs.

And while branching into agritourism has proven successful, Howell says he sees the need to further diversify. “We’ve been realizing that all our eggs are in one basket and we’ve had a couple of rainy Octobers, so we’re developing singing chickens as a side business.”

Howell is building animatronic chickens that pop out of crates. Chick-n-motion products will be marketed to other entrepreneurial farmers who have expressed interest in this type of attraction.

However, he says agritourism isn’t for everyone.

“It’s for people who like people…because at times the large crowds can be very stressful. It’s not for all farms.”

Enger agrees. “People who get into agritourism are a different thinking kind of people than the norm. They are energetic, creative, jack-of-all-trades kind of people. One can’t afford to hire all that is to be done.

“They need to work with and understand marketing, construction, be people-oriented and be willing to start from the ground up and build the business just like they did with their traditional farm,” she says.

While diversification is important for added income, farmers feel strongly that there should also be an educational component to agritourism operations.

“Seventy percent of the population used to have ties to the farm, which was huge, but now it’s just two percent,” says Howell.

“We are teaching what farms are all about, how plants grow, and that we need bees for pollination, etc. A lot of people don’t get exposed to it all.”

Loans for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers
Find out about an assistance program for beginning farmers
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/publications/facts/beg
loan01.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture
Get extensive information on a range of government programs
http://www.usda.gov/

The Maize
The world’s largest cornfield maze company
http://www.cornfieldmaze.com/site_list.html

Myth: Executive level jobs are best found through recruiters and fee-based, high level job boards.

Truth: Both recruiters and fee based executive level job boards can severely limit your job search and the responses you receive.

Executive recruiters can only help you if you have the exact qualifications to help them…fill their key search assignments that is.

And fee based job boards usually yield about 1% to maybe 7% response rates. You are going to have to send out a lot of resumes to get any response at all, and of course don’t forget about the intense amount of executive competition you will face for the very same job.

Most executives are all about working smarter, not harder. Though connecting with recruiters and answering 6-figure job ads might seem like the easiest way from point A to point B, it’s actually more work on your part to market yourself thoroughly enough using only these two outlets to get you the kind of results you are hoping for. It’s counterintuitive to your objective.

Want an easier solution? Of course it depends on the industry and position but I find that executive level jobs are best found using the following system:

1. Identification of the industry(s) of interest
2. Identification of the position(s) sought
3. Launching a campaign to penetrate those industries

To be successful (and when I say successful I mean conducting a job search that results in a number of high quality interviews for opportunities you are genuinely interested in, and obtaining one or more viable job offers) you must have a clear plan, followed by a significant level of market exposure.

Here are several highly effective techniques and resources to get going in the right direction:

1. Identify your market
What industry are you interested in and why? You must have a crystal clear direction before you can formulate any sort of plan. Is the market growing, or… are you purposely targeting growing markets? Smart move on your part. I recommend you read my ezine
( my monthly articles you can sign up for on my site at www.maryeizabethbradford.com) to gain access to portals of free US market reports that include recession proof industries and all kinds of useful information for the high level job seeker.

2. Identify your position
In order to target and brand your resume you have to be clear on the type of position you are pursuing. Again, have you thought it through? Are their other emerging positions (e.g.: Chief Ethics Officer) or parallel positions that might offer more challenge, more security or more experience where you need it – that help to achieve your long term career goals? Its worth spending some time here, doing a bit of research and thinking this through.

3. Launching a campaign to penetrate your industry/position of choice
You can do this several ways including:

•  Hiring a firm to research contacts and companies that fit your career parameters.
•  Using a site like zoominfo.com to research your preferences yourself.
• Hire a company like mine to analyze, make recommendations and gather the initial information for you.
• Hire an administrative assistant on a project basis to take care of some of your more mundane job search tasks such as mail merging documents, sending out resumes etc… (you should make phone contacts yourself though).
• Find (and follow up on) growth opportunities (companies moving/growing/expanding) through setting up a simple tracking system on Google news or through regular checking of business and trade journals.
• Hire a company to conduct an elite direct mail program for you.
• Find executive recruiters through a high-end contact that can distribute your resume exclusively to retained search firms.
• Obtain a list of VC firms or PE firms who specialize in your industry of choice.

These are just a few ways that go way beyond fee based, 6 figure job boards. These methods, once they are set up by you – are just as turnkey as responding to a job ad

Bottom line, a combination of the right executive job search techniques can improve your results by 20%, 30% and even 40%. Questions about resources for these techniques? Just call – I am happy to answer your questions.

Source: Career Pro News
When Larry Ponemon first got into the field of business ethics more than 20 years ago, many corporations didn’t understand the importance of ethical behavior.

“Most companies didn’t see the connection between good business and good ethics,” says Ponemon. He is the founder of a couple business consulting practices.

Today, in the wake of scandals at companies like Enron and Tyco, more businesses appreciate the importance of having someone on hand to make executives more accountable.

The Ethics Officer Association had 19 members when it was incorporated in 1992. Today, it has almost 1,000 members.

“The career is growing with the exponential growth of concern with ethical issues in every part of our society,” says Cornelius Von Baeyer. He is an independent consultant on workplace ethics.

“It used to be that there was a story or two per week on ethics that appeared in the media. Now such stories are daily, and, in fact, many stories have an explicit ethics issue embedded in them.”

Von Baeyer says an ethics officer usually provides advice to employees faced with ethical dilemmas. Officers also accept complaints or allegations about misbehavior and attempt to resolve them.

He says many of those charged with handling a company’s ethics also have other responsibilities. “Often, managers responsible for human resources, legal services or even operations are asked to take on ethics-related duties as part of their normal work.”

But some companies employ full-time ethics officers. And many experts expect that the demand for these professionals will grow.

Ponemon says the career can be rewarding.

“A career in the business ethics field has a major advantage over other jobs,” he says.

“Not to sound too smug, but helping people and companies out of a serious jam or helping senior management solve complex problems can be very rewarding.”

Von Baeyer and Ponemon say that public and stock market sensitivity to scandals at Enron and the like play a big role in the increased recognition of corporate ethics officers.

But there are a number of other factors, including stricter laws. Plus, a number of business schools have included ethics education as part of their programs.

Still, only about a third of accredited business schools require business ethics coursework, says Diane Swanson. She is the founding chair of the Ethics Education Initiative at Kansas State University’s College of Business Administration.

She first got interested in the field while completing a PhD in business administration. At that time, she realized that ethics education was a major part of many business programs.

“When I realized that I got more ethics education while taking my MA in economics than most MBAs get, I began to be concerned about the lack of ethics education in most business schools,” she says.

“The eruption of corporate scandals is no surprise to me, given the amoral philosophy of business promoted in a lot of business degree programs.”

She says ethics officers can help fill that gap by providing training and advice that some business schools don’t offer. For instance, ethics officers at many corporations have created help lines that employees can call to report and clarify ethical concerns.

However, the role of the ethics officer in a company also depends greatly on how much a corporate CEO or board of directors values ethical integrity.

“Ethics officers can only make a difference if CEOs want them to make a difference,” Von Baeyer says.

“The support of the CEO is crucial. No doubt, in some organizations, the ethics program is primarily window dress. That’s a pity, given the real benefits that can be drawn from it, including increased customer loyalty, product reputation, investor confidence, employee productivity and risk reduction.”

Ponemon agrees that some companies hire ethics officers just to reassure the public, and then bury them in the chain of command.

“Unfortunately, many ethics officers are too low in the corporate hierarchy,” he says. “They don’t have the visibility or power to resolve serious problems.”

The experts agree that, to be effective, the ethics officer should answer directly to the CEO or board of directors.

“The signals sent from the top are those that really matter,” says Swanson. “If the CEO is committed to improving ethics, he or she can elevate the role of ethics officer meaningfully.”

You’ll need training in a number of areas. That includes not just business ethics, but also business law, human resource management and business and society.

Von Baeyer also recommends getting involved in professional activities as soon as possible.

“There are numerous round tables and workshops and conferences on various aspects of ethics in cities across Canada,” he says.

“Such events and the organizations sponsoring them are generally happy to accepts students and beginners and those who simply have an interest in the field.”

Ponemon says a good ethics officer also must have a number of personal qualities that can’t be learned. Obviously, that includes a strong personal moral code. “You must be principled, with the backbone to stand up for what is right, true and fair,” he says.

However, other qualities also are important, including good people skills and a strong commitment to your work. “This is a tough field,” Ponemon says. “To survive, you must be dedicated.”

But even in ideal situations, Von Baeyer stresses that the ethics officer isn’t a cure-all. “It’s obviously impossible for all decisions with an ethical component to be sent off to an ethics officer for resolution,” he says.

“The ethics official can only help employees to think through the ethical issues, remind them of basic corporate values and help defend them if their careful ethical decisions come under fire.”

Ethics Officer Association
A professional association that also provides training
http://www.eoa.org

Ethics Resource Center
Lots of resources here
http://www.ethics.org

Business Ethics
Read the latest articles
http://www.business-ethics.com/

Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983. Since that time, the number of women in the scientific workforce has improved, but it hasn’t exactly skyrocketed. Aerospace engineering students are hoping to change that.

Aerospace engineering can be very exciting — it is rocket science! And women’s careers are taking off fast with opportunities that can be out of this world.

Women at Work in Aerospace Engineering

The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show women accounted for just 13.3 percent of the aerospace workforce in the U.S.. There is no question that engineering is a male-dominated field. But women interested in math and science should take a look at the rewards offered by this field of study.

“There are wonderful opportunities for women in engineering, and it can be a rewarding and interesting field of study,” says Amy Lang. She is an assistant professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Alabama.

“I myself have found at times both challenging and supportive environments as a female engineer, but by far usually supportive rather than inhibitive throughout my career. The biggest challenge has been in balancing family life with work, but that is the case, I think, in any high-paying career,” says Lang. She has two children.

Women do face unique problems which can be difficult to share with male co-workers.

“You do feel lonely sometimes. It is important to keep contact with other female engineers, both from aerospace engineering and other engineering disciplines,” says Bo Tan. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Ryerson University.

Being a Woman Can Pay Off

The lack of women in engineering can work to women’s advantage in many cases.

“Federal agencies offering scholarship and job opportunities recognize the lack of women representation in engineering, and aerospace engineering has some of the lowest percentages of female participation,” says Lang. She notes that this lack of female participation becomes more significant at graduate levels and beyond.

Female Students Outnumbered But Not Outperformed

Classrooms are also dominated by male students. Tan says that female students account for five to 10 percent of undergraduates and even fewer post-graduates at her university.

“Although they are outnumbered by their male peers, they usually do pretty well academically and are usually ranked high the class,” says Tan. “Young women who are interested in aerospace engineering should not be discouraged by the male-dominated work environment.”

Female participation numbers are a bit higher at the University of Cincinnati. “Of our aerospace engineering graduating class, 25 percent were women in 2005 and 2007,” says Professor Awatef Hamed. She is the head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at University of Cincinnati.

“I am sure they would agree with me that being female did not present a challenge.”

Professor Keiko Nomura works at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Although she is seeing more women in her mechanical and aerospace engineering classes, she recognizes that women may have difficulties.

“I do know and understand that it is very challenging for women students to be in a male-dominated environment,” says Nomura. She adds that is especially true when it involves dealing with subjects like airplanes and cars. There is a generalization that boys are more familiar and knowledgeable in these areas. “However, there are in fact many male students who are just as unfamiliar and inexperienced with these things,” she points out.

UCSD Girls Get their Motors Running

Building a formula race car may not be a stereotypical hobby for girls, but it revved up some young women engineering students in San Diego. A group of female mechanical and aerospace engineering students at UCSD entered the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) competition. They were the first SAE all-women’s team in the nation.

The competition involves designing, building and racing an open-wheeled, formula-style race car. “The UCSD student team has in the past been active but consisted of all-male students,” says Nomura. “This group of women decided to form their own team and together, learn how to design and build a race car. … They organized a workshop where they had a community advisor come in and give tutorials on automotive engineering.”

It took a lot of time and hard work to learn about race car design and how to work and use equipment in the machine shop. The team succeded in designing and building a car which then competed against over a hundred other colleges and universities in the annual FSAE event.

Female Students Speak Out

Don’t be intimidated by the guys, says Marina Selezneva. She is a fourth-year student of aerospace engineering. “All the girls that I know in engineering are doing great and get better grades than guys in general,” she says. “Plus it wouldn’t be too long until they get full respect from the guys; all it takes is a couple of good marks on midterms or projects.”

Irene Chan is a senior aerospace engineering student at UCSD. She is also president of the UCSD student chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

“As a female engineering student, it is difficult to be taken seriously by your male peers. Some may refuse to work in a group with you because you are female, some may not want to study with you,” warns Chan.

Although there are some challenges to overcome, Chan is confident that she’ll be able to make a difference when she gets to work. “Female engineers bring a different perspective and skill sets that are beneficial to a male-dominated field: females are better multitaskers and can provide effective organization; their different, nurturing outlooks of the world provides insight on topics males may not think about regarding safety in their designs or facilitating communication in a group,” she says.

Net Sites

Women in Aerospace
A great support network
http://www.womeninaerospace.org

Society of Women Engineers
A great place to look for scholarships, support, career guidance and more
http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/

Women in Engineering Organization
This is a special page just for girls
http://www.engineering.tufts.edu/wieo/girls.htm

Sally Ride Science
The first American woman in space has a special page with resources for students
http://www.sallyridescience.com/for_girls

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Check out their Kid’s Place page for some fun
http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=473

Here is a nice list from www.greencollarhirhing.com on the top 10 emerging “Green Jobs”. I am not a big fan of using our corn for Ethanol (hello: no GMO/worldwide food shortage/hasn’t worked yet etc…) but anyway I digress..

Here is the list:

10. Land Use Planner: One of the biggest changes necessary to bring our communities up to a level of environmental sustainability, is in urban development. Our cities need to be designed with their ecological impacts taken into consideration, if we are to attain any level of energy efficiency. Visionary planners dedicated to reconfiguring our communities around resource efficiency and decreased waste, will be essential.

 
9. Ecotour Operators: Ecotourism is growing at a rate 3 times that of the overall tourism sector. Knowledgeable workers committed to sustainability and education, will find a wide variety of opportunities within this space. Employees will get to travel while simultaneously helping to spread awareness about the issues facing our environment and society.

 
8. LEED Accredited Builder: The “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” initiative has given rise to a whole new set of rules and implementation standards for construction companies. Knowledgeable green builders will be in high demand as communities push to bring their properties up to these new standards and seek out accredited builders. Additionally, these new green builders will be able to command higher pay rates per square foot of developmen, due to their specialization.

 
7. Environmental Lawyers: When a corporation refuses to comply with its green initiatives and falls behind on its standards compliance responsibilities, an environmental law group steps in. Law professionals representing these cases, serve state and federal government agencies, nonprofit groups, and individuals, as they uphold justice and further the cause of sustainable living.

 
6. Green Building Manager: As buildings make the shift to cleaner energy sources such as sola, wind, and greywater recycling, a new batch of building managers familiar with high-tech energy systems, recycling measures, and energy efficiency standards will be necessary.

 
5. Environmental Engineer: Now that sustainability and energy efficiency have become key words in construction and urban planning, a new breed of engineers have come into favor. These eco-savvy engineers conduct environmental site assessments, create environmental impact statements, and use their knowledge of emissions calculations and soil testing, to coordinate building projects that have sustainability and minimized carbon waste in mind.

 
4. Green Brand Manager: As traditional manufacturing companies are pushed to offer more and more green products, they will have to develop new departments within their corporate structure to handle these projects. One position expected to see a sizeable increase in hiring due to this shift, is brand managers. These jobs will be rooted in communications, and contribute to the marketing of these new green products and services.

 
3. Solar Panel Installer: Solar energy production is one of the most mature businesses with the clean energy market, and its product will be increasingly integrated into both residential and commercial properties in the coming years. Installers for thin film PV modules are projected to be one of the most demanded service professionals as this technology spreads.

 
2. Corn Farmer: As ethanol and other biodiesels continue their ascendancy toward the mainstream, corn farmers will see their harvests increasingly demanded and used in a wider variety of applications. Corn prices have more than tripled in the last 4 years due to this increased demand, and there is no sign of this trend changing in the near future.

 
1. Green Venture Capitalist: As the cleantech sector grows, investors will begin shifting over from more traditional markets in search of increased returns. Renewable energy and other markets aimed at sustainability will see massive capital inflows. The venture capitalists spearheading this shift stand to reap the greatest rewards.