Thursday, Sep 16, 2010
Career-climbers can now tune into 107.7 The Bronc on Sunday mornings at 8 a.m. for an new and interactive call-in program entitled Your Career is Calling: Your Weekly Appointment for Career Choices, Decisions and Success.
by Sean Ramsden
Not so long ago, job-seekers and other career-minded professionals used to pore over the Sunday classifieds in search of that next position, the one that might take them to the next level of business.
Starting September 19, career-climbers can simply tune into 107.7 The Bronc, the on-campus radio station at Rider University, on Sunday mornings at 8 a.m. for a new and interactive call-in program entitled Your Career is Calling: Your Weekly Appointment for Career Choices, Decisions and Success. The one-hour show, hosted by Frank Kovacs ’84 and Rod Colon, will debut this weekend around the topic of “Building, Tracking and Maintaining Your Network.” It’s a subject particularly close to the heart of Kovacs, a 1984 Rider graduate who is the founder and CEO of The Breakfast Club NJ, a 3,000-member networking group established to promote career growth, special networking and help people in career transition.
“Radio was a logical next step for us,” explained Kovacs, who founded Breakfast Club NJ in the wake of the September 11 attacks to help restore what he calls “a semblance of order” to the lives of myriad professionals who, during that time of economic and financial uncertainty, suddenly found themselves on the job market after years of relative security.
“So many people were out of tune with the current ways of the market,” said Kovacs, who co-hosts the show with Colon, CEO of The ETP (Empowering Today’s Professionals) Network. “They hadn’t looked for a new job in 20 years, and suddenly had to represent themselves again.”
For years, Kovacs had been a senior manager at a major New Jersey Bank, and had seen corporate culture shape the role of people in his role – and not always for the better.
“In the earlier part of my career, a huge part of managing was the career management of the people who reported to them,” he explained. “In many cases, the focus on that had lessened a great deal, but I had always prided myself on developing people along the way.”
Fueled by this passion for steering careers in the right direction, Kovacs began his small networking club, meeting once a month in accessible, central locations. It has since grown by leaps and bounds, incorporating social media like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to expand his base of professional contacts.
“Job-hunting is a game of inches,” said Kovacs, who estimates that 85 percent of jobs are obtained as the result of networking. “If we can give them that little edge, we remain vital.”
Your Career is Calling is the next step in Kovacs’s commitment to area networking, and he calls his partnership with Rider and 107.7 The Bronc a key opportunity to expand his reach. “I think we’ll introduce ourselves to a whole new audience, in addition to the people who we’re already in touch with through The Breakfast Club NJ,” he said. Your Career is Calling can be heard on the FM dial, as well as online at www.rider.edu, either live on Sunday mornings or anytime via podcast.
Other topics to follow this season include “Run Your Career as a Business,” “The Hidden Job Market,” and How to Start a Conversation.” Kovacs and Colon will welcome guests in studio and take callers to discuss the day’s topic, as well as other career, employment and networking questions. Listeners can reach the studio at 877-900-1077.
Kovacs is eager to launch the show, and hopes it has the same success as The Breakfast Club NJ.
“It’s a good feeling when we see our people helping each other,” he said.
Learn more about The Breakfast Club NJ at: http://www.thebreakfastclubnj.com
Learn more about The ETP Network at http://www.etpnetwork.com