CAREER DEVELOPMENT INSIDE THE BELTWAY - Webinar

What Policy-makers Know, Don't Know, and Need to Know

June 16, 2015

1:00-2:00 PM CDT

ACRP Professional Development Webinar via GoToWebinar

Bridget Brown, Executive Director of the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals, will examine policies affecting career development and career resources. Join us for an informative presentation by a uniquely positioned observer and leader of policy conversations at the national level. Following Bridget's presentation, former ACRP President Jo Kahn and Curtis Richards, Director, Center for Workforce Development, Institute for Educational Leadership, will offer brief responses to the presentation.

Click Here for Free Member Registration
Click Here for Non-member Registration ($20)

"My Backpack Is Not The Heaviest Thing I''m Carrying Today!"

This week an article from the Washington Post appeared numerous times on my Facebook feed.

I you haven't seen the article, 'I wish my teacher knew' it is great! Tugs at the heart strings, reminds you of your purpose and is a good conversation starter among educators.

Giving student's needs assessments gives them the opportunity to tell us their stories anonymously. It empowers students to be honest and raw, while they help us do our job better, by knowing how to advocate for them. We discover what services are most important for their success and how we can provide it.

Often as a school counselor, I would hear students stories and knew the background information affecting their performance at school. However, I often found it difficult to transmit student needs
and issues into a message. A message for parents and teachers to consider and reflect upon.

Sharing this article with your staff, faculty and parents may help you communicate the burdens students walk into our buildings everyday carrying. I think many of our student are telling us, "My backpack is not the heaviest thing I'm carrying today!"

So I ask you...are you asking questions? Are you giving students a voice and a place to lay the burden down? Are you allowing those voices to be heard? If so, I unfortunately hope what you hear breaks your heart! I hope it makes you unable to stand for the injustice and in turn you take action. I hope you help them feel welcome at school. You start that lunch group to address anger, coping skills and positive thinking. I hope you build that clothing and basic needs closet you've been thinking about. Because whatever challenge your students face, you are the best resource to help them navigate to a better place. I'd even bet that's why you got into this education thing in the first place!

“Don’t Let Social Media Shut You Out”

Excerpts from “Don’t Let Social Media Shut You Out”

career-intelligence.com

How to use Social Media to attract potential employers

To a great extent, you are who the Internet says you are. Today you can be sure that employers and recruiters will be checking you out online – before and after you’re hired. It’s up to you to make sure your virtual presence doesn't damage your career.

...  According to a 2013 study by CareerBuilder, more employers are finding reasons not to hire candidates because of their social media presence. Some said they took candidates out of the running after finding various concerning content online. The top two negative behaviors mentioned by employers were 1) provocative/inappropriate photos and/or information (50%) and 2) information about candidate drinking or using drugs (48%). Remember that old adage about not saying anything bad –even if your boss is a first-class jerk? Many employers said candidates were crossed off the list for badmouthing a previous employer (33%).

… Everything you post online helps them determine who you are as a person.

Besides avoiding blatantly negative behaviors like racy photos there are things you can do to make yourself more appealing to potential employers.

• ·   Be sure your presence is consistent across all media and true to who you are. Make sure your LinkedIn profile aligns with your resume. No, it shouldn't be exactly the same word for word, but the jobs, including titles, should be. Inconsistencies tend to make people suspicious.
• ·   Avoid being negative online. While a picture of you having a glass of wine on your birthday probably won’t turn off employers, constant ranting likely will. If your boss truly is the devil incarnate tell your best bud over drinks rather than making negative remarks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
• ·   Share the positive things you do. Walking a 5K for charity? Post pictures of that. Mentoring younger staff? Tweet about that. Let employers know you’re the type of person they want to have as part of their team.
• ·   Research yourself to find out what potential employers will find. Keep tabs on yourself by setting up a free Google alert for your name. Use alerts to follow companies you’re interested in as well.

Today your online presence is your calling card, particularly when it comes to your career. So use it wisely. Make sure recruiters and hiring managers will be talking about you in a good way.

Find complete article at career-intelligence.com

 

Are you ready to embark on the adventure that awaits you? OK Career Guide will make its premier in August 2015 as the new online career development system supported by Oklahoma CareerTech. 
 

After more than 18 months of careful examination and evaluation of online career systems, OK CareerTech is moving in an exciting new direction with OK Career Guide. Our 10 year partnership with the Career Information System to provide the Oklahoma Career Information System (OKCIS) will end on June 30^th, 2015. 

What can you do to help prepare you students? We've put together a few tips to help you:

TIP 1: Consider downloading and saving portfolio items

OK Career Guide will have a portfolio that functions similarly to the current portfolio, with a few more capabilities and much more space (50MB vs 5MB). Users will be able to save assessment results, applications, resumes and ‘to favorite’ schools, scholarships, occupations. Unfortunately, OK Career Guide and OKCIS will not have an overlap. For this reason, any items your students would like to ‘take with them’ they will need to download, save, and then upload into their new portfolio.
Keep in mind, however, these will be static documents in OK Career Guide.  

 

Don’t have time or resources to embark on download/save/upload adventure?

No problem: Students will need to re-take the assessments in OK Career Guide anyway to be able to use results to explore careers. 

·      OK Career Guide will have Interest, Values and Skills assessments that DO tie to schools and occupations within the system.

·       The assessments in OK Career Guide are quick, 20-25 minutes and are thorough. Extremely reliable, based on 75 years of research and experience. Based on John Holland’s RIASEC codes, the 16 career clusters and the 79 Career Pathways.   

·      Completing these assessments will be vital to users’ career planning.

·       OK Career Guide & OKCIS use the same national sources for Occupations and School data. 

TIP 2: Email your users

Consider sending a mass email to all of your OKCIS users to let them know about the switch.
You may choose to tell them to download their desired items or simply give them the new website: www.okcareerguide.org - will be live in August 2015.
 

TIP 3: Make sure you watch your emails

Email roberta.douglas@careertech.ok.gov to be added to the OK Career Guide listserve…. Check with your colleagues to ensure that they are, too- if they need information regarding OK Career Guide.

 

 

Training dates for OK Career Guide will be available early in May. Watch this blog, the Career & Academic Connections Facebook account, follow @TommiLeach on Twitter or email roberta.douglas@careertech.ok.gov to be added to the OK Career Guide listserv.

 

We are looking foward to helping Oklahomans in the career development adventure!