Dating Your Boss: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

By Ethan Vernon, senior Chinese and international affairs major at CU-Boulder

So your co-worker is cute and you’re thinking about making your move, but you’re held back by the possible unforeseen consequences of doing so. Attraction is natural, and so it inevitably may find its way into the workplace. However, the workplace is where the pedal is put to the metal for a paycheck, but if you divert attention to your emotional needs, will this affect your output? What about when the object of your affection is also in charge of your raises and promotions?

Like any decision, deciding to date your boss can be considered in light of a cost-benefit analysis. The benefits are the largely the same as any other relationship.

However, the costs are slightly more. With the usual risk of emotional damage, dating your boss also comes with additional break-up costs. You will be seeing this person 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, so if things go south, this sort of interaction could lead to awkward office encounters.  Additionally, the cost of an office relationship can include maintaining gossip, defending against claims of favoritism, and, when company policy forbids such a relationship, lying to co-workers lest you and your significant other face termination. Lastly, you should consider whether or not you want a clean break between your work life and your social life. Dating your boss, or any coworker for that matter, has a tendency to bring work home.

Should you pursue a relationship with your boss? First, if this question comes up, consider whether it is sparked by physical attraction or if there truly is an emotional component. Emotions can be difficult to rein in, and continuous interaction will only make an emotional bond even stronger. If it comes to this, the best advice is to pursue alternative employment opportunities. You should avoid dating your boss, but if a relationship does develop, then strongly consider looking elsewhere for work. This way, you will be able to follow your heart, while avoiding all the additional costs that come with an in-office relationship.

A Conversation with Sarah Schupp, Founder of University Parent Media

By Amanda Barrell

Parents sending their children off to college can be very daunting. Whether students are going 20 minutes or 2,000 miles away, parents are often unaware of the resources available to their students at school. While eager high school seniors have a lot to look forward to with the new and exciting experiences of college, parents are left wondering how they can help once their kids aren’t at home anymore. Many parents struggle in toeing the line between being overbearing “helicopter parents,” hovering over the student’s every move, or giving too much distance while their student struggles to adapt to life at college. 

Sarah Schupp, a Dallas native, and her family had been coming to Colorado for vacations and ski trips for years before she decided to attend college at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2000. As a student, Schupps specialized in the marketing and entrepreneurship management program through CU’s Business school and participated in the President’s Leadership Class. 

During her time at CU, Schupp noticed a gap in the information about resources that help students support their students while at school. With this in mind, Schupp, along with a few of her entrepreneurship program classmates, found the inspiration to make a change. For her senior project, Schupp created a resource for parents called University Parent Media to help inform them about everything from tuition deadline dates and financial aid to restaurants, activities and other things to do in their student’s college town.

Schupp acknowledged that starting UPM had its share of seemingly insurmountable problems. From HR issues to increasing cash flow, Schupp faced no shortage of challenges, but she overcame them through perseverance.

“I just had to keep going and overcoming small obstacles,” Schupp said.

Despite the challenges and setbacks, Schupp had a clear passion and dedication for the goal that she and University Parent Media were working toward, which ultimately led to UPM’s success. 

Young professionals in the Boulder area can learn a lot from the example set by Schupp’s dedication to University Parent Media. Given the nature of her company, it is essential for Schupp to reach out and interact with members of the communities which UPM features. Schupp works with university officials to engage with local community resources to provide material for each edition of the guidebook. 

Additionally, Schupp and her team work with various local businesses in order to build solid relationships and facilitate advertising sales for the guidebooks. Her largest advertisers are local hotels and Dell Inc.

Eight years after it’s founding, University Parent Media now reaches over 200 campuses and millions of parents every year, with new schools being added every month. UPM has published guidebooks, an email newsletter and a new website with helpful information for parents. 

“It’s so exciting,” said Schupp. “90% of the time our work is changing, but I’m rewarded in hearing the impact UPM has had on parents, schools, and the local community.” 

In 2011, ColoradoBiz Magazine chose the company as one of the Top 100 Women-Owned Colorado Businesses. In 2012, Inc. Magazine featured UPM on their “30 Under 30” list of America’s coolest young entrepreneurs.

Schupp credits her staff with the company’s success: “I’m really proud of our team.  We rely on everyone’s contribution to make us successful.” 

Learning about the university system has been one of the biggest accomplishments since starting the business.  “I’ve gotten to learn about how higher education works,” said Schupp. From the admissions process and financial aid to extracurricular activities and weekend events around town, Schupp has gained unique knowledge about all facets of university life. 

“I recently attended a conference put on by AHEPPP (the Association of Higher Education Parent/Family Program Professionals), and it was really interesting to get an inside view of the challenges facing schools,” said Schupp.

Looking to the future, Schupp and University Parent Media continually strive for ways to achieve their goals and increase their presence at schools across the country. In December they will launch a brand new mobile website, in addition to bringing on new schools every month. Schupp’s other goals for University Parent Media include providing information for 1,000 schools across the country, increasing their email list to one million recipients and making it onto Inc. Magazine’s “5,000 Top Fastest Growing Companies” list.

How To Protect Your Online Reputation

By Brad Graham, Career Counseling Intern at CU-Boulder Career Services

In today’s world, communicating through social media has given us the ability to instantly broadcast our thoughts globally. We can now use Twitter from our smart phones, Facebook from our iPads, and contribute to blogs while flying on airplanes. Many believe that the many pros of these technologies outweigh the cons, but that is only if they are used appropriately.

Growing up, our mothers would say: “think before you speak!”  At least when we were young, this uncensored spoken banter vanished by the time the last word left our mouths.  Nowadays, technology has the ability to record social media content and store it FOREVER. That’s right, anything you say on Twitter or Facebook now can stick with you for the rest of your life.

You may have a polished resume, cover letter and top-notch interview skills, but that inappropriate Facebook picture or infamous blog post you contributed to in a heated rage may eliminate your candidacy for a job. Employers are now using search-engines to find out more about who you are outside of the interview setting. According to a 2009 CareerBuilder.com study, 45% of all employers who conduct background checks are searching the Internet for this so-called “digital dirt.”

             

3 Tips to Protect Your Online Reputation:

1.     Remember who your friends are on Twitter and Facebook. Anyone who is in your network of friends (or even friends of friends) can see or search anything you post. Make sure that you are A) being appropriate with your posts and B) knowledgeable about what privacy settings need to be activated to protect yourself.

2.     Again, when contributing to blogs, be aware that the information that is being shared can be searchable. As a result, experts recommend that eliminating identifiable photos or screen names is a smart move. As always, be careful with what you post. You don’t want your digital-trail of inappropriate comments to come back to haunt you when you’re job searching!

3.     Be careful when “checking in” to certain establishments on your smart phone. Many applications like Four Square now have the ability to locate where you are and push that information to Twitter and Facebook. You may think it’s cool to “check-in” to that bar or club three times in a week, but your future employer might not be so impressed.    

Just to reiterate the message, use social media as if your mother can see everything you post! After all, your future professional success may be hampered by those ill-conceived tweets, angry blog posts or crazy Facebook pictures that you carelessly shot into cyberspace.  Let’s face it, occasionally we all do and say inappropriate things, but we certainly don’t need the whole world and our future employers knowing about it!