Career : Criminal Record: How to Address Your Background

  

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

by Kim Isaacs, Monster Resume Expert

According to the US Department of Justice, more than 64 million criminal-history records are on file at state repositories nationwide. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the number of prison releases is growing, with more than 500,000 ex-offenders rejoining the community each year.
Individuals with criminal histories face numerous obstacles when seeking employment, so it's important they make the one document that can open doors -- the resume -- as effective as possible. Follow these tips to ensure your resume is ready to go:
Don't Reference Your Criminal Background
The purpose of a resume is to help you secure a job interview. For your resume to work, it must highlight your top qualifications for the position and demonstrate that you would be an excellent employee. While it's important to be honest on your resume, revealing information about a criminal background is best handled in a face-to-face interview.
Many states prohibit employers from asking about an arrest record but allow them to inquire about past convictions. (Check with your state's attorney general's office to determine what employers can and cannot ask you.) If the employer asks a legal question regarding your criminal history, briefly explain what happened, but keep it positive and don't dwell on the past. Explain that you have learned from your mistakes and are currently interested in making a positive contribution to the employer's operation.
When completing job applications that ask about your conviction record, you must be honest. Select "yes" when asked if you have been arrested, and in the section that asks you to provide the details, write something like "will explain in interview."
Highlight Related Training/Work Experience
If your criminal background includes prison time and you took advantage of training or work opportunities during that time, you may include these experiences on your resume.
Write the name of the facility and your title (e.g., "Arthur Green Correctional Facility, Commissary Clerk") in your resume's Work Experience section. Treat this position as any other position and write about key skills you developed and any positive contributions you made. If you completed further education while in prison, write the name of the sponsoring institution along with the details of your training in your Education section.
Keep in mind that employers are less interested in your early career; prison-related activities from more than 10 years ago can be omitted.
Don't Emphasize Unrelated Experience
If your work or educational experiences from prison are unrelated to your careerjob goal, they should not be featured prominently on your resume. The most effective resumes are targeted to an objective; your related experience and training should be the focus of your resume. You may, however, add an Additional Experience section to your resume and briefly list your prison-related work or training if you need to cover a big time gap.
Use Available Job Search Resources
If you were recently released from prison and are in a work-release program, take advantage of job search services offered by your facility. A placement specialist may be able to help you find employment or offer guidance that will facilitate your search. Many states offer tax credits to employers as incentives to hire ex-offenders.

Career :Resume Dilemma: No Degree

  

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

by Kim Isaacs, Monster Resume Expert

Are your fellow job seekers leaving you in the dust, nabbing the great jobs because they have educational credentials that you lack? Follow these tips to put your best foot forward on your resume and compete with others who have more impressive educational backgrounds.

Emphasize Your Strongest Credentials

Think about why an employer should hire you out of all the applicants for the job. What do you offer that they don't? Perhaps you have practical work experience and skills that are relevant to the job. If your experience is stronger than your education, place your work history before education on your resume, and write about your career achievements, track record of results and industry knowledge.

Include a detailed listing of your accomplishments throughout your career. Prove that your work performance has been outstanding and you would be an asset to your future employer's operation. By the time hiring managers read the education section, they should be so impressed by the value you offer that educational shortcomings could be overlooked.

It's true that some employers will not be interested in you because you lack the job opening's educational requirement, but you will find other employers that welcome your experience, skills and expertise.

Highlight Alternative Education and Training

Maybe you lack a formal degree, but you've participated in ongoing training throughout your career. You can emphasize all of your continuing education by creating a Professional Development section within the Education section. Think about job-related training, certifications, conferences, in-service training, seminars, online learning and even self-directed study. For some professionals, this section can be quite impressive, and showing recent, up-to-date training can be more valuable than a dated degree.

Show In-Progress Education

Include partially completed or in-progress education.

Examples:

• If you are currently enrolled in a program:
ABC COLLEGE (City, ST) Enrolled in Bachelor of Arts program, major in < >, degree expected 5/05
• If you partially completed a program and don't intend to complete:
DEF COLLEGE (City, ST) Earned XX credits towards a Bachelor of Arts, 9/99 to 5/02

Apply Even If You Lack the Educational Credential

If you see a job opening that requires a certain level of education and feel you can do the job based on your experience or skills, send your resume anyway. The hiring manager might prefer to hire someone with the stated level of education, but your resume could stand out because of your other qualifications.

Whenever possible, follow up on resumes that you submit. Many employers using electronic resume-tracking systems automatically screen out applicants who don't meet the educational requirements. You will have a much better chance of convincing an employer that you are a strong candidate if you make a personal connection with a hiring manager.

Return to School

If you continue to hit roadblocks because of your educational background, it might be time to hit the books again. Do whatever it takes to reach your goal: Enroll in night classes, take online courses or start a distance-learning program. The fact that you are pursuing further education could make you more marketable to employers, plus you will be taking steps to ensure you have the credentials to succeed in a competitive job market.

Career :What's Your Objective?

  

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

by Kim Isaacs, Monster Resume Expert.

The first step to creating a high-impact resume is determining what you're trying to accomplish. With a clearly defined career objective, you can write a resume that conveys the experience, skills and training that best serve your overall professional aspiration.

Hiring managers are busy folks who can't afford to waste any time trying to figure out what your career goals are. They won't take the time to do this; they'll just move on to the next resume.

Do You Need an Objective Section?

While it's important for your resume to include a clear career goal, you don't have to convey it through an Objective section. The majority of job seekers may incorporate their career goals into a Qualifications Summary instead.

For example, a candidate led her qualifications summary as follows:

Talented and dependable secretary, skilled in all aspects of office management within nonprofit environments.

Her summary continued to relay her key qualifications for an administrative position, but her introductory line enabled hiring managers to immediately recognize her goal. If you are on a steady career track, incorporating your objective into a summary sends the message "this is who I am," rather than "this is who I'd like to be when I grow up."

When you build your resume on Monster, you can use the Objective field to present your qualifications summary.

When Is a Formal Objective Required?

Career changers and entry-level workers should consider incorporating their objectives into their resumes, because their goals may not be clearly defined by their work history alone. If you're targeting a particular position, add a formal objective statement and reference the job opening. The hiring manager will see you took time to customize your resume and the opportunity is important to you.

Sample Objectives

For Career Changers: Accomplished administrator seeking to leverage extensive background in personnel management, recruitment, employee relations and benefits administration in an entry-level human resources position. Extremely motivated for career change goal and eager to contribute to a company's HR division.

Entry-level Workers: Dedicated CIS graduate pursuing a helpdesk-support position.

When Targeting a Specific Position: Elementary teacher for ABC School District.

Tips for Writing Your Own

• Focus on how you would benefit the employer, not on how the employer would benefit you. Stay away from objectives that state your working preferences, such as "seeking a team-oriented environment that fosters professional development."
• Don't be vague. Steer clear from statements that say nothing substantial about your career goal (e.g., "seeking a challenging position with potential for growth and advancement").
• Keep it concise and targeted. Hiring managers often sort through hundreds to thousands of resumes to fill one job opening. Make it easy on them by keeping your objective short and to the point. The best objectives contain a desired job title or target.
• If you have more than one career goal, create a different resume version for each objective. Remember, you can store up to five resumes on Monster.

Career : Resume Dilemma: Not Enough Experience

  

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

by Kim Isaacs, Monster Resume Expert

It's a catch-22: You want a job to gain experience, but you can't find a job because previous experience is required.

Don't be discouraged. You can still put your best foot forward and have a shot at the job. Follow these steps to create a winning resume:

Select the Right Format

The two most effective resume formats for entry-level workers are functional and combination. Steer clear of strictly chronological resumes, which place emphasis on your work history.

Functional resumes emphasize your related skills while downplaying your work chronology. Rather than citing dates of employment, this format uses categories to highlight your aptitudes. For example, if you're seeking a secretarial position but don't have any related experience, you may create the following categories: "Computer Skills," "Interpersonal Communications" and "Office Management Abilities." The latter may refer to managing your own home office, for example.

A combination resume is a chronological resume that leads with a Qualifications Summary, in which you emphasize the credentials that most qualify you for the job you're trying to land. Strategically order the sections in your resume to best suit your qualifications, placing more relevant categories, such as Education, Key Skills, Volunteer Work, etc., before your work history.

Assess What You Offer

What you lack in real-world experience you may make up for in your motivation to excel. Put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes and ask, "Why should I hire this person when there are 100 other applicants with more experience?"

Before you revamp your resume, research your target job on Monster and review the job descriptions. What skills, abilities and credentials are listed as desirable? Do you offer competencies, personal attributes or unpaid experience that compensate for your lack of work history? How would the employer benefit if you were hired?

Think of the top five reasons you should be selected for an interview. These will help you differentiate yourself from your peers.

Weave Your Unique Credentials into Your Resume

Whether you've chosen a functional or combination resume, you need compelling content to convince hiring managers to give you a chance. Consider these areas when developing your resume:

Experience: Part-time positions, temporary employment, volunteer work and related hobbies are all valid forms of experience. Focus on your achievements and contributions to show you are a results-oriented worker. Key Skills and Abilities: Incorporate the skills that would be valuable to employers, such as foreign languages, technical capabilities, organizational ability, interpersonal and written communication aptitude, creative problem solving, research ability, customer relations, the ability to rapidly master new concepts, the ability to work independently or as part of a team and leadership potential.

Students and New Graduates: Describe courses, school projects, internships and extracurricular activities that are relevant to your career  job goal.

Other Benefits: On your resume or cover letter, indicate whether you are willing to work the graveyard shift, accept a low salary or take classes at your own expense to get up to speed. Any of these benefits could tip the scales in your favor.

Career Colleges Offer Job Placement Services

   

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

Why go to a career job college? To get your dream job, of course! Whether you focus on health care, creative arts, criminal justice, or any other career area, when you complete your program you’ll be looking forward to putting your skills to use in a rewarding new career.

But becoming qualified is the first step in your journey. To get that dream job, you have to know the secrets of successful job hunting. You need to know how to find job opportunities, how to apply, and what to do when you land that all-important interview.

Fortunately, most accredited career colleges and technical schools know that getting the training you need is only the first step. Many schools have dedicated career job services offices that help graduates find jobs. These offices may be called by many different names, such as job placement or career  job planning, but the goal is to help you find that perfect job.

Here are some valuable tips:

1. When you are looking for a career school, check out the career services office. Make sure the college or career school has a dedicated career advisor who will take the time to work with you personally.

2. When you enroll, get to know the career services staff. Start planning your new career before graduation.

3. Many career services offices offer seminars or classes where they provide information about how to conduct a job search. Take advantage of their experience!

4. Some college career counselors offer mock job interviews. These give you the opportunity to practice and hone your interview skills.

5. Make certain your resume is clear and accurate. Don’t load it down with fancy decoration or needless commentary about how terrific you are. Let your accomplishments speak for themselves.

6. The career services office may also have access to local job listings. The key is to be realistic! Make sure that your qualifications match what the employer is looking for.

7. Professional appearance is important. When you go for an interview, remember that the employer is hiring someone who will be working as a member of the team, and who will be representing the business or office. Dress appropriately.

http://www.articleinfoblog.com

Top Business Careers

  

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

College… the stepping stone to your bright and shiny future having been completed, most former students have a set goal in mind. What if you happen to be the one that doesn’t? No problem. You just need to assess the skill set you have combined with your new business degree and find the best fit for you. Let’s explore some of the top business careers available to you.

The various options offered to any business major tend to focus on one of three areas of expertise. These areas include management, marketing, or customer service. Each of these is a viable option for someone of your standing. The problem lies in discovering the one that is right for you.

A business degree has the ability to open many doors in many different fields of endeavor. This type of degree can be useful if you want to be a success in the corporate world, or even if you want to be an entrepreneur. If you have earned a degree in business then you immediately have the qualifications for many different career paths. You will have the qualifications for most entry-level management positions. Some of the fields that you could choose to enter include management, human resources, purchasing, marketing, sales, accounting, and even bookkeeping. Can you think of any successful business that does not have managers, a sales team, accountants, or bookkeepers?

You will be able to choose whether you want to work in an office, a factory, a shop, or even for the government. A business degree can give you unlimited opportunities to choose whether you want to a career that focuses on one specialty or a career that allows you to delve into a variety of interests. You also have choices when it comes to what type of business degree you want to earn. You can get a degree in general business that covers all aspects of business such as sales, marketing, management, and other fields. You can also choose to get a specialized degree that focuses on one particular aspect of business.

A business career focusing on the management side of your major is often times the most desired option, however when just starting out, degree or no degree, you will still need to work your way up to the top. There is no shame in starting out as an entry level employee or first level manager, everyone must start somewhere. Consider this your opportunity to grow your skill set even more so that one day when you are calling the shots, you will have a better understanding of what goes on in the company from the bottom on up. The second side of this field that goes hand in hand with management is that of customer service. Often times seen as the lowest rung on the proverbial corporate ladder, you must not forget that without a solid foundation, no great structure would still be standing today. From handling customer requests over the phone in a call center, to one on one interaction in the hospitality industry, your management skills will only benefit from the exposure. Last but certainly not least, for those with the gift of gab or a knack for making a deal, a perfectly suited starting position may be in the sales industry. Whether selling advertising slots, or products to other businesses, it is one more instance through which to hone your skills.

Office Affairs Can Be Detrimental to Your Career.Parts 2

 

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

By Ruth Houston

Career Complications
   
”Aside from legal issues, workers tempted to date their bosses should worry about whether a relationship will hurt their careers”, said Houston in the Christian Science Monitor article. 

"If it ends badly and you were involved with someone in your direct chain of command, very nasty things can happen," Houston says, especially if your boss is married. "No matter how hard you work, some of your co-workers will always be convinced you got your raise or your promotion as a reward for sexual favors, rather than that you worked hard and earned it."

Below, Houston further expands on some of the day-to-day and long-range career complications that can result from office affairs:  

• Envious co-workers may become jealous and attempt to sabotage your work.
• Your productivity or the productivity of those around you may suffer.
• You could become the subject of office gossip
• If your office romance results in preferential treatment with regard to work assignments, raises, promotions or company perks your co-workers will resent you.
• A series of office romances will earn you a reputation as someone who tries to sleep their way to the top.
• You may be transferred to another department or even required to leave the company, especially if you are a woman.  When an office affair becomes a problem, it’s usually the woman who is penalized.
• It could create an awkward situation when the romance ends, and the two of you still have to work together.
• If you end the relationship and the other person is vindictive, they can sabotage your career in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.
• A disgruntled lover can negatively influence the kind of work assignments, raises, and opportunities for advancement you receive.
• Your coworkers’ perceptions of your work performance may be lowered.
• No matter how good you are, there will always be speculation as to the “real” reason for your job advancement.

How to Keep Your Office Romance on a Professional Level

“The best advice I can give regarding office affairs is to avoid them, altogether, since the risks greatly outweigh the rewards,” says Ruth Houston.  “If you’re currently involved in a office romance, or you’re tempted to become involved in one despite my warnings, the guidelines below will help you keep things on a professional level.”

Know your company’s policy regarding office romance.

·         Never get involved with someone in your direct chain of command.

·         Confine your romantic attachments to someone who is a peer, rather than someone above or below you in rank.

·         Never get involved with in an office affair if either of you are married.

·         Never underestimate the power of the office grapevine.  Try to keep your office romance a secret, if you can.

·         Keep it low key – don’t flaunt the fact that the two of you are romantically involved.

·         Avoid public displays of affection – it’s highly unprofessional.

·         Don’t gossip about your love life.

·         Do not exchange embarrassing or ostentatious flowers, cards or gifts.  (Small , discreet, tasteful gifts are okay.)

·         Do not allow your office romance to interfere with productivity – yours, your partner’s or your coworkers.

·         Do not use company e-mail to send passionate or suggestive love notes to each other.

·         Do not leave X-rated voice mails on each other’s phones.

·         Don’t show or request favoritism regarding work assignments, raises, promotions or company perks.

·         Do not use company funds to entertain your partner.

·         Refrain from overt sexual behavior on the job.

·         Never engage in sex on company property. (That includes stair wells, supply closets and company parking lots.)

·         Have a back-up career plan in case things take a negative turn.  Be prepared to find another job.

Employment:Employing Contract Workers – Part 2

By Shuki Stauber

 

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

 This article is the continuation of a conversation with Atty. Tzvika Kind, chairman of the Union of Personnel Companies, about developments following the implementation of the amendment to the Personnel Companies Law, which went into effect in October 2008.
If everybody thought it was bad, why did the Knesset decide to accept the nine-months option?
I have no rational explanation to offer. It has to do with political pressures. It’s unbelievable how decisions are reached in the State of Israel. Labor relations are made up of different interconnected systems. You can’t make a decision in one area and think it won’t have consequences in other areas. The time has come for people here to understand how to make decisions properly.
Barak traveled to Camp David and then Amir Peretz ran to Labor Committee Chairman David Tal and said to him, “Let’s push second and third readings through in two weeks.” Coincidentally or perhaps not coincidentally, Tal secured a solid spot on Amir Peretz’ Am Echad list during those elections. There may or may not be a connection, but those are the facts of the matter.
I went to the Labor Committee for the meeting on the issue. I expected a professional, focused discussion. Instead they brought a few employees who told their personal story. The matter was wrapped up in a single meeting where some of the Knesset members were hearing about the proposal for the first time, but still had to reach a final decision. A respected MK told me: “This is a bad law, but because the government is opposed, I’m in favor. As soon as unreasonable limits are imposed on employers the attempts to bypass it harm employees rights more than necessary.

Career Planning – Say No to Your Intuition .Parts 4

  By Shuki Stauber

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

Motti: A person's career anchor consists of important characteristics, including tendencies, values, motivations and talents. These elements guide his choice of which profession to pursue and which jobs to engage in. When these elements do not sufficiently match the work he does, difficulties and a lack of gratification arise. Proper career planning means one must evaluate his career job anchors and seek jobs and tasks suited to them. 

The primary career anchors researchers have identified are as follows:
Autonomy – An anchor that characterizes people who find it difficult to work at large organizations and prefer to be "independent." An employee graced with this anchor will not last long at a large, bureaucratic organization. He will grab at the first opportunity to leave and open a business.
Creativity and initiative – An anchor that characterizes people who organize their career around the need to create something new of their own. They can be found in marketing, advertising, public relations and perhaps software development. This is also the place for entrepreneurs setting up their own business.
Security and stability – An anchor that characterizes people who attribute great weight to career stability. A myth has been created around this anchor of entering an organization at the age of 20 and retiring from it at the age of 60+, preferably with minimal changes throughout the decades.
General management – An anchor that characterizes people whose career focuses on climbing he corporate ladder toward executive positions. People with this anchor are seeking a position of influence and responsibility. Only jobs with a direct connection between individual effort and personal reward will satisfy their desire.
Technical or functional work – An anchor that characterizes people who organize their career around a specific professional ability they were graced with. The impulse that drives these people to change jobs and companies is maximizing the opportunity to face challenges in their specific area of expertise. When a technical expert receives an offer to advance to another job and do a different type of work in which he does not have expertise, he will turn down even an offer that appears very attractive to others.

Career Planning – Say No to Your Intuition .Parts 3

  By Shuki Stauber

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

Shuki: Sometimes an individual may make a decision because of a specific event or for a specific reason, even if it's an ongoing situation. For instance, someone who has an unbearable boss may decide to leave an interesting job, or even become self-employed, because he's no longer willing to have someone on his back ever again.

Motti: And that's why the decision to make a career job change must be calculated and based on a methodical examination of the situation.
Someone who feels burned out or whose boss drives him crazy or has reached the glass ceiling, doesn't necessarily have to leave and start his own business. It could well be that switching to a new job or a different type of employment would solve the problem.

Shuki: Because starting an independent business does not have to be in order to do away with something negative, but out of a desire to advance something positive.

Motti: Something positive, such as a desire to realize a good idea combined with a drive to succeed and to make a personal and commercial breakthrough. Or this individual feels he has knowledge needed in the market in which he operates and his work will be in demand. Starting an independent business is right for a person who feels his ability to contribute a lot beyond what his current job permits him to do.

*          *          *

Shuki: We spoke about situations in which a person has realized his potential in his work. Under such circumstances he feels the work he does no longer brings him genuine pleasure and gratification, and then he looks for a way out of the labyrinth he's in. In such a situation one really is liable to make hasty decisions. So he should constantly be aware of opportunities for personal development that come his way. Don't wait until you're thirsting for a change, because then you'll leap at anything, but rather anticipate the future and realize that alternatives should be considered before you lose interest in your current job.

Motti: This approach can be referred to as the "dental care model" for examining your career. There are two ways to care for your teeth: you can go to the dentist in response to a toothache or you can go in for checkups from time to time. The same applies when it comes to career planning. It's highly recommended that you adopt the periodic checkup method by evaluating where you stand in relation to your goals and aspirations. When doing such a checkup you should also look into market trends in your fields, as well as the need to update the goals you set for yourself in light of changing needs.
Here's an example of evaluating career developments within an organization: The employee asks himself, "What position is going to open up in the near future and what will the people doing the hiring be looking for in the person who fills it?" Then he should ask, "Am I a good candidate? Would my supervisors recommend me? What advantage do I have over those vying for the job?"

Shuki: I meet a lot of people in the process of career transitions. Many of them initiate the meeting for two main reasons: one, to seek advice on how to proceed and on the opportunities available in the job market, and two, they assume I have an extensive network of connections and maybe they can make use of it to expand the opportunities open to them.

Motti: That's the right way to manage a career. You shouldn't fight the battle alone. A person has to consult with and get help from someone who's in a position to assist. Some people who are headed for a career change and are evaluating job alternatives put together a sort of "advisory council" composed of close friends with whom you can consult when choosing a new path.
Some people even set up this kind of council on an ongoing basis, serving all members in turn. It should be a group involved in a range of fields and different jobs – a jurist, a finance person, a marketing man with managerial experience, etc. A group like this helps reduce the number of mistakes a person seeking a change is liable to make.

Shuki: For instance, they can make him aware of his limitations. People are not always aware of their shortcomings, so in many cases people occupy posts and do jobs they're not suited for.

Motti: And they find it hard to admit it. There are professions and jobs like firefighter, sapper or combat soldier that require a lot of courage and even a willingness to risk one's life. But there's also another kind of courage and showing such courage requires almost the same inner strength like that needed to march off into battle, to catch criminals or to rush into a burning building – the courage to look in the mirror, see yourself and accept what you see. The courage to come to terms with and accept the imperfection, flaws and blemishes in each of us. Many people lack this courage, therefore they are stuck and cannot realize their potential, because only problems and flaws that a person sees can be rectified.

Shuki: Researchers on the career job world created the concept of "career anchors," which can help people better plan the direction in which their careers develop. Could you give a brief overview of this concept and the lessons that can be learned from it?

Mo

Career Planning – Say No to Your Intuition .Parts 2

 

 
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

Shuki: This means a lot of advantages the worker has accumulated over the years go down the drain – professional know-how and experience, or connections in the field.

Motti: That's why someone who wants to make a career change should first evaluate every related or overlapping profession. For example, someone who worked in the field of medicine could consider working in fields like diet, beauty or physical fitness. And someone who worked in the field of bookkeeping should evaluate jobs involving the sale of office equipment or consulting or services for accounting firms, or retraining programs for positions in bookkeeping, accounting and tax consulting.

Shuki: It seems both of us are worthwhile examples of adopting this approach. For years you were a police officer involved in personnel. When you were released from the police force you started an independent company that dealt with retraining for candidates who left a prior field, in addition to career planning services for them, and today you have a job in a similar field at Pilat. Thus you changed your area of expertise in accordance with your changing needs, but you didn't change your field of work. You continue to carry out the same type of work and deal with the same professional milieu. You maintained your know-how and professional contacts.  

Motti: Absolutely. Our ties over the years is a good example. You did the same. You were a salaried employee for several years in the fields of human resources and work relations. You lectured, provided consulting services and wrote about these fields, and then you continued working in these fields as a self-employed professional. And when you started writing books you continued carrying out the same work, only the platforms changed.

Shuki: One of the problems in career planning is the fear of change. The fear of the unknown.

Motti: This is a powerful psychological trap that makes many people hold onto the present set of circumstances to maintain the status quo. Added to it is another human tendency to defend the commitments they've taken on, i.e. the initial choice they made. Therefore they continue to invest in what they're used to doing, working at the same jobs and getting drawn up into an unthreatening routine without objectively evaluating the possibilities and risks, both in the area they are working in and in facing the real alternatives before them. 
Take, for example, someone who studied biology and worked at a job in the field, such as teaching or research. He doesn't feel real gratification at his job, but dreams of doing new and different things. Yet he's afraid to make a change because he would "lose" his job security and the salary he's been promised.
Therefore in career planning one need not act intuitively. It's important for someone trying to make a change in his life and work patterns to invest resources in systematically investigating the reality of the situation by gathering information and data before making a major decision

Career development of women of color and White women: assumptions, conceptualization, and interventions from an ecological perspective. (Special Section).parts 2

 

  
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

Career Development Quarterly| June 01, 2002 | Cook, Ellen P.; Heppner, Mary J.; O'Brien, Karen M. | Copyright

Moreover, it is important to note that not all individuals have the luxury of making career choices. For many low-income people, having a paid job is a necessity that does not often involve choices about a career path. In these situations, the oppressive nature of pervasive poverty becomes the salient influence on career development.
Career Counseling Today: Examination of Basic Assumptions
Career counseling, as widely practiced today, continues to follow a brief, three-step model that includes an intake interview, administration of assessment measures, and test interpretation (Gysbers et al., 1998). The client's role in this model is to obtain and synthesize information about self and the world of work. The subsequent job and educational decisions are expected to initiate a potentially rewarding career trajectory over time. The counselor's role is to provide the client access to sufficient information about self and work and, if necessary, to improve independent decision making skills.
This model of career counseling is based on a number of implicit assumptions about clients and the career development process itself, which can be described as follows. Work plays a central and pivotal role in people's lives. Individuals are responsible for making independent decisions that actualize their career potential. The focus on individual assessment reflects an assumption that knowledge about individual traits and preferences is the most important factor in optimal career decision making. Career counseling also typically refers to counseling for work roles with little exploration of other life roles that are commonly assumed by adults (e.g., family, community). These rational job decisions initiate or maintain an orderly, linear progression of career development in terms of continuous, increasingly skilled, and rewarding involvement over time. Finally, career counseling perpetuates the optimistic belief that any individual, if she or he works hard enough, will be able to realize her or his occupational dreams. The world of work is seen as facilitating individual autonomy and rewarding hard work with economic security and success.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this vision of career development. It is consistent with an American ethos of individual self-sufficiency and freedom of choice, officially mandated since the birth of the United States as a sovereign nation. More than a political philosophy, the emphasis on individual autonomy is a worldview that permeates our psychological conceptualizations of the nature of human functioning. This vision of career development has never reflected the needs of everyone, however, and is not consistent with the general life priorities and specific role commitments of many women of color and White women.
First, the reverence for individualism and autonomy implicit in this widely practiced model of career development reflects only one among numerous possibilities for viewing the world. Contrary to this model, many women and people of color experience human life as defined, sustained, and responsible to others within a nexus of community. For many racial and ethnic minority members, membership in a collective group is far more important than individual accomplishments (Helms & Cook, 1999; Landrine, 1995). Career choices may thus be weighed in light of the potential contributions such choices would make to the group as opposed to the autonomous choices made for individual self-actualization (e.g., Heppner & Duan, 1995). For many people, the priority placed on roles outside of work may positively affirm the greater psychological salience of these commitments, rather than represent compensation for what is missing at work. This possibility is particularly likely when these extrawork commitments are rooted in nondominant cultural values (e.g., Morgan, Guy, & Cellini, 1986). Proponents of the relational perspective in women's career development have also argued for interdependence rather than independence as a defining principle for many women (e.g., Forrest & Mikolaitis, 1986; Gallos, 1989).
Patterns of life role enactment that commonly characterize many women's lives also do not fit a singular focus on career success. Across cultures and over time, with few exceptions, women retain major responsibility for home and family regardless of involvement in paid and unpaid work outside of the home (Betz, 1994). In a comprehensive review, Shelton (1999) concluded that
women continue to spend more time than men on housework, whether they are employed or not; they continue to do more of the work involved in caring for children and to take more responsibility for that work; and finally, …

Training career practitioners.

  
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

| June 01, 2009 | Niles, Spencer G.; Engels, Dennis; Lenz, Janet | Copyright

This article summarizes 8 presentations from Group 8 on the theme "Training of Researchers and Practitioners," which were part of the 2007 joint symposium of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Society for Vocational Psychology, and National Career Development Association held in Padua, Italy. Three themes representing challenges for the profession emerged from the presentations: (a) the need for public policies addressing career development, (b) the need for greater competency standardization, and (c) the need to create innovative training programs. Discussion group participants presented creative strategies for addressing these challenges.
Career practitioners provide services that include career assessment, career counseling, career planning, job search skills training, and career coaching. It is no coincidence that the increased attention being given to career services comes at a time when the nature of work is changing dramatically. Ongoing corporate downsizing, technological advances, growing numbers of dual-career couples, a global economy, and a burgeoning contingent workforce all represent changes in the work experience for many people. Those involved in training career practitioners must be knowledgeable about such changes because they represent challenges confronting workers as they attempt to manage their careers effectively. Knowing the challenges confronting workers enables career practitioners to construct interventions that are relevant to the current context. Similarly, training experiences provided to current and future career practitioners must constantly be updated and adjusted so that trainees have relevant knowledge, awareness, and skills to provide effective career interventions. The latter challenge provided the focus for this symposium discussion group.
To provide a bit of context, this discussion group was diverse in multiple ways. Most obviously, participants represented five national contexts. Obviously, national contexts differ regarding the career services offered and the training requirements for career practitioners. Some countries have a relatively long history of providing career services (e.g., the United States, Canada, England), while in other countries such services are relatively recent (e.g., China, Japan, India, Korea). Moreover, political, social, cultural, economic, religious, and other factors influence the career development tasks people encounter, the career concerns they experience, and, therefore, the services they require. Thus, it would be naive to assume that there is, or should be, uniformity in the training that career practitioners receive. Uniqueness of national contexts requires career practitioners to develop specific competencies to respond to their respective settings. Discussions in this group reflected the uniqueness of some contexts, the similarities across many contexts, and the creativity that career practitioners and those engaged in training career practitioners demonstrate as they attempt to meet the needs of diverse student and client populations in a wide range of practice settings.
Factors Influencing Career Practitioner Preparation
Collectively, the presenters in this discussion group highlighted the many factors driving the training of career development personnel in countries throughout the world. Specifically, participants addressed three main challenges that influence career practitioner preparation directly and indirectly: (a) the need for public policies addressing career development, (b) the need for greater competency standardization, and (c) the need to create innovative training programs.
The Need for Public Policies Addressing Career Development
Across nations, provinces, states, and municipalities, career policies and regulations (or the lack thereof") influence the delivery of career services, stipulate the nature of career service delivery requirements, and determine which segments of …

 COPYRIGHT 2009 National Career Development Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)

Career development of women of color and White women: assumptions, conceptualization, and interventions from an ecological perspective. (Special Section).parts 1

  
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

Career Development Quarterly| June 01, 2002 | Cook, Ellen P.; Heppner, Mary J.; O'Brien, Karen M. | CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 National Career Development Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)

Current career counseling practices are based on certain assumptions about clients and their career development, and these assumptions implicitly reflect male, western European experiences and worldviews. These assumptions may not reflect the general life priorities and specific role commitments of many women of color and White women. An ecological perspective on career counseling is proposed to conceptualize the dynamic interaction between the person and the environment. This perspective holds promise for assisting career counselors in their work with women of color and White women.

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Career counseling, as widely practiced today, evolved at a time when the typical career client was young, male, White, able-bodied, publicly heterosexual, and ethnically homogeneous (White immigrants from western Europe). However, today's U.S. labor force is far from homogeneous. One strategy to remedy the previously limited practice of career counseling is to make counseling available to everyone regardless of race, color, creed, affectional preference, or biological sex. In fact, the practice of career counseling has increasingly been extended to populations that vary in age, sociocultural status, race or ethnicity, and gender (Gysbers, Heppner, & Johnston, 1998).

In this article, we argue that this open-door policy of offering career counseling to everyone is insufficient in itself to address the needs of many women of color and White women. First, we briefly examine how the assumptions on which current career counseling practices are based implicitly reflect male, western European experiences and worldviews. These assumptions concern (a) the separation of work and family roles in people's lives; (b) reverence for individualism and autonomy in American life; (c) the centrality of work as life activity in people's lives; (d) the linear, progressive and rational nature of the career development process; and (e) the structure of opportunity characterizing the labor force as a whole. These assumptions render many career counseling practices either insufficient or irrelevant to the experiences of many women of color and White women. Next, we suggest that implementation of an ecological perspective may better meet the needs of many career clients today. Finally, we make sug gestions to encourage the career counseling profession to embrace a broader, ecological model of career development.

It is important to emphasize the reason for the careful use of modifiers (e.g., some, many) throughout this paper. The analysis of basic assumptions related to career counseling requires an examination of broad generalizations that are rooted in gender and cultural diversity and that reflect modal expectations about career job development. Little justice would be done on behalf of marginalized individuals if a new singular mold was simply substituted for previous models of career development. An innovative model embracing diversity as the core of career development is needed.

ADP National Employment Report Shows United States Added 57,000 Private Sector Jobs in February; ADP Enhances Report Methodology and Introduces New Industry and Company Size Data.

  
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

 M2 Presswire| March 07, 2007 | CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Normans Media Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)

 M2 PRESSWIRE-7 March 2007-ADP: ADP National Employment Report Shows United States Added 57,000 Private Sector Jobs in February; ADP Enhances Report Methodology and Introduces New Industry and Company Size Data(C)1994-2007 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
RDATE:07032007
ROSELAND, New Jersey - Private sector employment increased by 57,000 in February, according to today's ADP National Employment Report. Beginning today, the ADP National Employment Report will be developed from a significantly larger sample of anonymous payroll data, and will utilize more advanced data filtering and seasonal adjustment procedures. The ADP Report also has been broadened to now include additional detail on nonfarm private employment by select industry sectors and by company size.
Nonfarm Private Employment Highlights - February Report:
-- Total employment: +57,000
-- Small businesses* +53,000
-- Medium businesses** +33,000
-- Large businesses*** -29,000
-- Goods-producing sector: -43,000
-- Service-providing sector: +100,000
Addendum:
-- Manufacturing industry: -29,000
* Small businesses represent payrolls with 1-49 employees ** Medium businesses represent payrolls with 50-499 employees *** Large businesses represent payrolls with more than 499 employees
"Today marks an exciting milestone for the ADP National …

ournal of Employment Counseling | March 01, 2007 | Ganske, Kathryn H.; Ashby, Jeffrey S. | COPYRIGHT 2007 American Counseling Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)Copyright

  
Jobs Employment, Career Job, Employment Job

Journal of Employment Counseling| September 01, 2003 | Smedley, Mark; Levinson, Edward M.; Barker, William F.; DeAngelis, Danielle L. | CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 American Counseling Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)

The authors investigated the level of career maturity of nonadjudicated high school students without disabilities and 3 groups of adjudicated high school students: those without disabilities, those with learning disabilities, and those with emotional disturbance. Also investigated was the relationship between career maturity and behavioral functioning, using the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Self-Report of Personality (BASC-SRP; C, R. Reynolds & R. W. Kamphaus, 1992). No significant differences existed between nonadjudicated and adjudicated students without disabilities, Adjudicated students with emotional disabilities and learning disabilities scored significantly lower than nonadjudicated high school students without disabilities on the overall measure of career maturity. Career maturity was found to be significantly but only moderately related to 8 behavioral domains on the BASC-SRP.
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There has been a significant increase in adolescent crime in the United States over the past two decades (Panel on High-Risk Youth, 1995). Moreover, there is a strong tendency for juveniles who are released from correctional facilities to become reinvolved with the legal system (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1993). Juvenile correctional facilities report that as many as 50% of the adolescents released from their facilities tend to be reincarcerated. A study conducted in a correctional facility in Alaska, for example, indicated that 52% of the juveniles released from that facility were eventually placed back into a correctional setting (Henjum, 1990). The high failure rate of rehabilitating these juveniles seems to be because there is a subgroup of these adolescents, whose criminal misconduct begins at an early age and who can be classified as falling into one of the following categories: learning disabled, emotionally disturbed/mentally disordered, developmentally delayed, drug and alcohol dependent, neurologically impaired, and juvenile sex offender (Altschuler & Armstrong, 1990). The present study focused on adjudicated adolescents in two of these disability categories: learning disabled and emotionally disturbed/mentally disordered.
The term learning disability has been defined as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act of 1990, Public Law 101-476, defined Emotional Disturbance as "a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects educational performance": (a) an inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; (b) an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; (c) inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; (d) a generally pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or (e) a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
Research has shown that more than 50% of juvenile offenders have learning disabilities, which is more than 5 times the rate that occurs in the normal adolescent population (Keilitz & Miller, 1980). Due to the high rates of reincarceration characteristic of this high-risk subgroup of adjudicated adolescents, it is essential that career interventions be developed that enable these adjudicated adolescents to make a successful transition back into the community. Yet, there has been little research that has addressed the career development needs of this population. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether differences exist in career maturity between various subpopulations of adjudicated adolescents with and without disabilities and how these compare with nonadjudicated adolescents.
CAREER MATURITY OF ADJUDICATED YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES
Career maturity is defined as the degree of development the individual reaches on a continuum of vocational development from exploration to decline. It involves the extent to which an individual possesses the skills and knowledge necessary to make realistic and informed vocational choices (Levinson, 1993). According to Super (1957), vocational maturity is characterized by the extent to which (a) one is concerned with and seeking out a career choice; (b) one is investigating and planning for an occupation; (c) one's occupational preference is stable over time; (d) one displays realistic attitudes toward work; and (e) one's work habits, interests, and abilities match one's occupational preference.
A thorough computer-assisted review of the literature identified very few studies that focused on the career maturity of adjudicated adolescents. The research that has been conducted, however, implies that these adolescents are at greater risk for lower levels of career maturity than are adolescents in the general population (Wilson, 1978). The presence of a learning disability in such students, which is a relatively common occurrence, would seemingly exacerbate this situation. The incidence rate of learning disabilities in adjudicated adolescents has been found to range between 40% and 50% (Moran, 1979). Adolescents with learning disabilities display characteristics, such as learned helplessness, low self-esteem, and a passive learning style, that are likely to negatively affect career maturity (Alley, Deshler, Clark, Schumaker, & Warner, 1983; I. Rosenthal, 1989). Thus, adjudicated youths with learning disabilities seem to be at especially high risk for low levels of career maturity.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Using the Career Development Inventory (Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Meyers, 1981), we investigated whether there were differences in the career maturity of nonadjudicated high school students without disabilities and three groups of adjudicated high school students: those without disabilities, those with learning disabilities, and those with emotional disturbance. We also investigated the relationship between career maturity and self-report of behavioral functioning on the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Self-Report of Personality (BASC-SRP; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992). We hypothesized the following:
1. The career maturity of nonadjudicated students without disabilities would be higher than that of adjudicated students without disabilities.
2. The career maturity of nonadjudicated students without disabilities would be higher than that of adjudicated students with learning disabilities.
3. The career maturity of nonadjudicated students without disabilities would be higher than that of adjudicated students who were certified as emotionally disturbed.
Because research on career maturity …