Make Plans Now For National Career Development Month - November

November is our month and I always enjoy making plans to help promote career education and career development, not only in my workplace, but within my community and in my children's schools. Each year I dust off my copy of A Celebration of Work and pick an idea or two to implement. This year I will enjoy meeting with the Kentucky Career Development Association for a November best practices meeting. We will also enjoy some career game icebreakers. At work, we will hold an assessment workshop and present some career-related webinars. What will you do this year to celebrate National Career Development Month? Perhaps hold a career fair or write a column for your local newspaper. Offer to be a guest speaker at your local middle school and role play interviewing with students. We look forward to hearing from you as you embrace our month.

NCDA Free 1 Year Membership for GCDFs

Consider Taking Advantage of this great offer. Carla and I are both NCDA members.

FREE NCDA MEMBERSHIP OFFER EXTENDED!

The National Career Development Association is pleased to offer individuals who successfully complete a NCDA Career Development Facilitator (CDF) training program, from an NCDA approved training provider, a FREE One-Year Trial Membership to NCDA.

Since Carla and I meet this requirement, you qualify for this FREE One-Year Trial Membership to NCDA. This offer excludes individuals who are currently members or previous members of NCDA.

Complete the FREE One-Year Trial Membership by visiting the following link:https://www.tcslabs2.com/cgi-bin/PRIMA/tcsPRIMA2.pl?Action=DisplayRegForm_Step1&EventID=159&RegNo=1&StartNewReg=1&UID=NCDA,130285

You will need to create a login and register for NCDA regular membership and use CDF5000 as the comp/promo code. Use the above link in order to take advantage of this offer. OFFER EXTENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!!!! This offer is only valid for those CDF completers living in the United States and individuals who have not been or are not currently NCDA members.

Enjoy the following NCDA benefits:

·         Complimentary copy of the latest issue of the NCDA professional journal – Career Development Quarterly.

·         Complimentary copy of NCDA’s magazine – Career Developments.

·         Discounted NCDA member registration to attend the NCDA global career development conference in Boston, Massachusetts, July 8-10, 2013.

·         Discounted NCDA member registration to attend the Career Practitioner Institute in Chicago, IL, Oct. 4-6, 2012 and San Diego, CA, Feb. 7-9, 2013

·         Discount NCDA member rate on NCDA published materials.

·         Resources – The member’s only section of the website offers a wealth of information to assist career practitioners to provide excellent service to career clients.

Questions or comments regarding this FREE One-Year Trial Membership may be directed to Mary Ann Powell at mpowell@ncda.orgor phone (918) 663-7060.

Latest Social Recruiting Survey Results

Sometimes our clients just need some data or statistics to further convince them. This I find true, especially with older clients, when trying to educate them about the importance of using social media as a job search tool. The recent Jobvite's Social Recruiting Survey for 2012, shared some fabulous statistics. They polled more than 1,000 human resource and recruitment professionals regarding their social recruitment activities. Here are some highlights.

-92% of U.S. companies are using social networks and media to recruit talent (up from 78% five years ago)
-LinkedIn is still the most popular recruiting network and is used by 93% of the respondents
-Facebook and Twitter have seen significant growth in the past year
-2/3 of polled companies now use Facebook to recruit
-More than half of polled companies use Twitter to find new talent

As for what employers like to see (or not see).
-Over 75% positively reacted to candidates listing professional organizations and volunteer work
-As could be expected, candidates using profanity in posts and tweets, making reference to drinking and illegal drugs or using poor grammar or misspellings all received negative responses from employers

Recruiters  and HR professionals  say they like social recruiting because it is inexpensive, they receive a better pool of candidates and it takes less time to hire. Interestly, the survey also found that 2/3 of surveyed companies offer referral bonuses to current employees who make a successful referral. In 1/3 of the instances, the reward is more than $1,000.

10 Characteristics of A Successful Job Seeker

I recently saw a blog post referencing 10 Characteristics of a Successful Job Seeker. Before I hit the link, I grabbed a pen and scratched out what I thought the list might include. I encourage you to do the same now. In thinking back over the years about characteristics of clients who have conducted a successfully job search or made a smooth career transition, they certainly have had some things in common.  Focus and persistence seem to rank high as well as a positive attitude. Ironically, during a client’s intake process when I ask them to describe their strengths, these traits never seem to be shared. Aren’t these things employers are also seeking in a good candidate? This made me think of a new tool for working with clients. In the future, early in our relationship I will ask clients “What do you think are 10 characteristics of a successful job seeker” and see how they respond. This question could certainly give some insight into how aware they are of what is needed to conduct a search or transition. It could also help me realize how in tune they are with what employers are seeking in today’s world of work.

Post to the blog your thoughts on the list and what you would add.

Resume Padding

Although one can make an innocent typo or mistake when compiling a resume that doesn’t get caught in proofreading, intentionally misrepresenting credentials can get you into serious trouble. Resume padding has been in the news again lately as Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson was recently fired for claiming to have both a computer science and an accounting degree. When people throughout an organization have put their trust in someone who has lied to them, directly or indirectly, it becomes an issue of confidence and credibility.  According to a recent blog Resume Padding: What’s the Problem?, “The judgment and ethics of the individual who has perpetrated the lie are called into serious question, spurring concerns about the reliability and trustworthiness of that individual in other areas of his/her work and life. If an individual can justify lying about something on the resume to get a job, who’s to say he or she wouldn’t decide that other lies are equally justified down the road somewhere? Where does the line get drawn?” 

 Most Human Resource departments have stories of situations where they have to let an employee go due to misrepresentations on their resume or application. As GCDFs, let's educate our clients on the importance of accurate and truthful application materials.

A New Theory and Working With Ex-Offenders

During our recent GCDF CEU training in Lexington, we learned more about Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Theory of career problem solving and decision making, which was developed out of the Florida State University Career Center. Here is a link to make you more familiar with the theory. (GCDF Competency: Career Theory)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Information_Processing



Additionally, we talked quite a bit about the challenges of working with ex-offenders and how this is becoming a real issue in our region. According to an NCDA website article promoting a past Defendant / Offender Workforce Development (DOWD) Conference, “an explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million. Recent reports published by the Pew Center on the States indicate that one in every 100 people in this country are confined in prison or jail and one in 31 individuals are behind bars, on probation or parole. Of those released, 67.5% will be rearrested within three years. Having a meaningful job with a livable wage and reducing the barriers to employment have proven to reduce the likelihood of re-offending.” Learn more on working with this population form the following NCDA article links. (GCDF Competencies: Employability Skills, Helping Relationships)



http://associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/5523/_PARENT/layout_details_cc/false

http://associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/32714/_PARENT/layout_details_cc/false

Trends

The white paper from the second annual 2011 Career Thought Leaders Global Brainstorming Day, is now available. As GCDF professionals, I'd place this high on your reading list. The report looks at trends in a variety of areas such as resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn, job search, networking, recruitment and hiring, career planning and career management. In October, 250+ career professionals from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom met in 15 live and virtual events. Their focus was to brainstorm best practices, innovations, trends, new programs, new processes, and other observations that are currently impacting, and projected to impact, global employment, job search, and career management. Page 18 of the report gives mention to "The New" and plugs that "Professionally led job clubs and networking groups provide ongoing support for job seekers. Instead of or in additiuon to a one-on-one relationship with a coach, job seekers are finding increasing opportunities to stay in touch and gain ongoing advice through a job club led by a career professional."

I especially like the layout of the report in that each topic of focus is broken down into “the now”, “the new” and the "the next". You will be sure to come away from reading this report with an edge on where future trends are going and how to better serve our clients.