Young Association Professionals (YAP) yapstar.org

A young graduate told me she was feeling like a failure in her first job after college. Her job lacked formal training, leadership, and guidance. Although she was trying to work through it by asking various people for help and working overtime, she felt exhausted and unsuccessful.

I asked her what this experience taught her professionally and personally? Was she going to continue the cycle, hoping it would improve? Or, would she take her talent elsewhere? She didn't have many answers, because she was struggling between the reality of her job versus the concept of it.

"The Paper versus Reality" conundrum ..

A friend of a friend was telling me about hating her job -how everything and everyone related to it emotionally drained her. She was bored, unchallenged, and a few other adjectives that meant she was leaving, resigning and didn't want to work there anymore. She said she spent every free and not so free moment looking for another job.

 I asked, "Are you Painfully Employed (PE)? Do you wake up every weekday with 101 reasons to call in... immediately followed by three motivating reasons to go in anyway?" She said, "YES, that's it!" For responsible people-- food, clothing, and shelter-- ..

Join the ASAE Technology Council's Twitter chat this Friday, June 24 at 3pm EST to get tips on preparing for the cloud. Kevin T. McDonald (@cloudktm) is cloud strategist for ICF International based in Washington, D.C. and author of Above the Clouds: Managing Risk in the World of Cloud Computing. He works with a wide variety of public and private sector entities and is a member of the PMI Washington D.C. Chapter and is the International C2C representative to PMI UK and PMI Italy. He also serves on the Tech America Cloud Computing Committee, the ..

I spoke to a woman in her late 50's who was humorously telling me about ending her 30-year marriage. Her husband had an affair and, after she confronted him, he asked her was she happily married prior to the discovery? She said, "Pretty much," and he then confessed to having other affairs over the years; but since she was ‘pretty much' happy, then why divorce?
She was stunned by his revelation and even more shocked when the majority of her friends agreed with him. Her friends told her that she had a great house, luxury cars, and three successful adult children. ..

Join project management expert Tobin Conley and Gretchen Steenstra, Senior Consultants, Technology Management at DelCor Technology Solutions for the second #ASAEtech live chat on Friday May 13th at 3pm ET. What tools are you using for task management? What are your biggest #pm challenges? Join the conversation on Twitter and tweet your questions to #ASAEtech. 

Last month the ASAE Technology Council launched a new monthly live #ASAEtech chat aimed at association techies. The first chat with guest expert Maddie Grant, partner at SocialFish, explored tech tools and game-thinking methods to get volunteers more engaged in online communities. We were ..

On April 27th from 7:00pm - 9:00pm, The George Washington University Law School will be hosting a free mock 1L class in their moot courtroom, followed by a Question and Answer session about all things related to law school. Seating is limited, so please register today at http://bit.ly/DCFirstHour.

The mock 1L class will be presented by Kalee Magnani, Columbia J.D. and Master LSAT Instructor. Kalee holds a B.A. from Stanford University, a J.D. from Columbia Law School, and a 99th percentile LSAT score. She has coached over 350 Kaplan students to higher LSAT scores and admission to top law schools.

An ..

When I converse with young college alums, we often discuss the life between their parent's home and their own. Whether the transition is from their parent's home or from college to the workplace, our talks about handling the angst in transitioning are engaging.

Most of them were told to go to college, major in something they like, and then get the job they would love. Some of them said they fell for it hook, line, and sinker without being prepared for the seeds of discontent. Others said life is what you make it so adjust through the unexpected and learn from ..

The United Nations Association-National Capital Area's Young Professional's International Career Dinners: an intimate "deep dive" into internationally focused careers on Saturday, April 9th. Ranging from public health to international advocacy, we've arranged a networking reception and six topical dinners where you'll have an opportunity to network with your peers and some of Washington's top experts in your chosen field. They'll tell you their stories, field questions, and offer advice based on their experiences in the industry.

Dinner topics:

International Advocacy - Click here to register!
Featured speakers:
Mike Beard, Director, Better World Campaign, United Nations Foundation
Todd Shelton, Senior Director, ..