Workplaces Archives

Demystifying Quiet Quitting and Quiet Firing Through a Racialized Lens for Career Practitioners

By Frank Gorritz FitzSimons

This conceptual article ties together the processes of quiet quitting and quiet firing through a racialized lens. The underpinnings of these phenomena in a world significantly impacted by structural violence and oppression towards minoritized communities are holistically explored. It is the first in a series on this topic.

Skills-Based Hiring: A Game Changer for Job Seekers

By Telma Sullivan

Skills-based hiring, which focuses on a candidate’s abilities and competencies rather than educational background, removes barriers for many job seekers and helps employers find the best talent. Career practitioners can be invaluable partners in this evolving hiring landscape, guiding job seekers to communicate their transferable skills, identify their top talents and competencies, and increase their knowledge base.

Rethinking Work: Essays on Building a Better Workplace

Book Review by V. Casey Dozier and Sarah Pearson

This collection of essays imagines new workplace structures and policies that promote decent and fair work for all, especially the most vulnerable is society. This book offers thoughtful suggestions for innovative work arrangements, strategies for rethinking work life, and recommendations for institutional and systemic changes. Reflective analyses with unique solutions provide direction and context in a complex world of work.

Working with Neurodivergent Clients, Part 2: Navigating Conversations Around Disclosure and Accommodations

By Ashley Cross

Disclosing a neurodivergent (ND) condition and requesting accommodations can be intimidating and challenging for professionals and job seekers. This article prepares career practitioners to assist ND clients in advocating for themselves throughout their job search and careers, expanding upon the concepts and best practices covered in Working with Neurodivergent Clients Part 1: How Career Practitioners Can Support the Job Search (Cross, 2023).

Helping Clients Overcome Their Fear of Networking

By Kristen McLaughlin

Networking is an important piece of career development, yet an activity many clients may be reluctant to engage in practicing. Career practitioners can help clients overcome their fear of networking by creating a strategy that reflects their needs and interests so they can achieve success in their career goals.

Working with Neurodivergent Clients, Part 1: How Career Practitioners Can Support the Job Search

By Ashley Cross

Neurodivergent (ND) clients navigate and perceive the world differently than neurotypicals, especially regarding social nuance, communication, executive functioning, and sensory processing. This article explains how career practitioners can better utilize their knowledge of ND-specific traits to support clients throughout the job search and interview process.

Helping Highly Sensitive Persons Navigate the Work Environment and Thrive

By Tiffany Greene

This article examines the significance of understanding highly sensitive persons (HSPs) in career exploration and development to help them thrive in the workplace. It addresses the traits of HSPs and their impact on work, providing insights for practitioners to effectively support this unique population’s career success. Strategies for accommodating and maximizing their potential to thrive in the workplace are discussed.

Positioning Clients for Success in Their Encore Careers

By Norma Dávila

Clients considering encore careers – professional endeavors undertaken while phasing out of employment into retirement or returning to the workforce after retiring – can find it challenging to take action when they are focused on their concerns instead of their possibilities. This article discusses how career practitioners can address those trepidations through coaching questions and strategies for moving forward.

Strategies that Guide the Mentor Selection Process

By Debi Ayliffe

A mentoring relationship can play an important role in guiding and supporting a person’s career journey. Selecting a suitable mentor is critical to ensuring that the relationship is beneficial and enhances a client’s professional and personal goals. This article shows how career practitioners can support clients in this process.

Managing Up Includes Speaking Up

By Barb Girson

By speaking up in the workplace, clients can define their brand, refine their voice, and ward off “quiet firing” by employers. With preparation and practice, clients can feel more comfortable speaking up, whether it is to ask for a promotion, present a proposal, or express concerns during conflict with a team member.

Matching, Trust, and Symbiosis for High Quality Mentoring

By David Hosmer

Successful workplace mentoring comprises complex interacting factors beneath the surface. This article describes the impact that matching, trust, and symbiosis have on mentoring programs supported by an organization. Use the suggestions provided for creating and nurturing high-quality relationships.

Using Career Assessment to Help Bullied Clients

By Dean R. DeGroot and Liz Willis

Workplace bullying is a common practice that harms employees and organizations. By employing career assessment strategies, career practitioners can increase both their own and clients’ understanding of workplace bullying dynamics. This benefits clients by enhancing their self-awareness and hope for the future.

Understanding the Needs of First-Generation Professionals

By Amanda Carcione

First-Generation Professionals (FGPs), those who are first in their families to enter professional employment, face unique challenges throughout their careers which can result in feelings of exclusion and impede the navigation of career ladders. Career practitioners have an opportunity to provide support for FGPs by addressing the challenges of these diverse individuals.

Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for the Work that Makes You Come Alive

Book Review By Melanie V. Buford

Financial and social inequity, and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, have challenged modern workers’ relationships with work. Jonathan Fields tackles workers’ discontent in his new book, Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for the Work that Makes You Come Alive. This review explores Fields’ solution - the Sparketype assessment - and its strengths and limitations.

Embracing the Reality of Trauma and its Impact in Career Development

By Paola A. Barriga

Career practitioners need to be aware of how clients’ trauma related behaviors may impact their career development. In order to create awareness and change, career practitioners can advocate for more workplaces to develop trauma-informed plans as well as determine when to refer clients to a therapist.

Getting Back In: Helping Relaunchers Return to Work

By LaShawn Randolph

Finding the right job after an extended leave can be difficult, yet possible. Knowing how to market oneself and how to find and use resources are important factors in making a successful transition. Career professionals can help Relaunchers build strong resumes, share resources, and break the stigma around career breaks.

Post-Pandemic Job Search Documents: Can Format Change the Negative Opt Out Effects?

By Gina Gridley

Many parents lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic often because of childcare and school closures. Research has shown gaps in employment to care for children have negative effects on parents trying to reenter the workforce. Common job search documents with traditional formats have been preferred by employers, however research has not explored those with employment gaps. Could changing formats on the job search documents change the negative effects for opt out parents?

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Why We Should Care About It

By Ann Nakaska

The fourth industrial revolution is bringing great change to industries and the workplace. This article focuses on why the fourth industrial revolution deserves attention, what practitioners need to know about it, and how it will provide career opportunities.

What is Your Greatest Weakness? A TWIG May Help Clients SOAR into the Job!

By Sean Lybeck-Smoak

SOAR and STAR are effective interview techniques. The use of acronyms to explain the techniques contribute to their effectiveness because they remind clients exactly what they need to do in the interview while also describing how to create compelling stories. When answering the weakness interview question, the more effective acronym is TWIG.

Rethinking Performance Reviews: Implications from a Global Pandemic

By Sofia Kospanos

Work performance has been impacted by the circumstances surrounding COVID-19. Employers may need to consider adapting their performance reviews after this years' loss of “normal” work. As a result of the global pandemic, should performance reviews be different this year and how might employees be better helped to succeed?

Reflections on the Past: What We Learned from 9/11 and the 2008 Recession

By Mason Murphy and Melanie Reinersman

It is easy to forget how career services professionals created a sense of reassurance after other world crises due to being so caught up in the present pandemic. Reflecting on the lessons learned in 2001 and 2008 is critical to assisting workers everywhere now and more important, moving the field of career development forward.

Navigating the Transition Wilderness: a Model for Coaching Veterans and Other Humans

By Paulette M. Risher

Career development practitioners are often called upon to support those in the throes of major life transitions. The nonprofit, Still Serving Veterans (SSV) uses an adaptation of William Bridges three-phase transition model as a framework for sense-making, dialogue, and action for their Veteran clients.

Artificial Intelligence and the Future: A Book Review of A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, And How We Should Respond

By Charles J. Lehman

While the current health crisis is having a tremendous impact on jobs, there is a much larger, long-term threat that could, over time, result in a permanent loss of work. A new book foresees how this is likely to happen and how society should adapt.

Managing Through the Uncertainty of COVID

By Cathy Bamji and Donna Godfrey

COVID-19 has exacerbated and expanded issues already existing in the current age of remote working. Organizations with remote/tele-working employees from across industries have been dealing with fluctuating productivity, trust, communication, and resources. Pausing to look at the common issues and using some commonsense basics can put leaders and workers back on track.

Exploring and Addressing Generalized Anxiety Disorder in the Workplace

By Eda Talushllari

Most recently, the population has been dealing with the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic. Due to the uncertainty and fear in the world from the Coronavirus, it is natural for individuals to experience higher anxiety levels. It is important for career counselors to understand the impact that anxiety and anxiety disorders have on clients to best assist them during this stressful time in history.

Understanding Bias When Working with Multi-Cultural Populations

By Carlos Carter

One of the salient priorities of career services professionals is to understand the populations which they serve. This article briefly reviews implicit and explicit bias and how it impacts multi-cultural populations. Examining cultural identity helps career professionals develop an awareness of clients’ personal values, preferences, and characteristics, which is critical in serving diverse populations.

Opportunity Found: Chaos Theory for Military Spouse Employment

By Candina Janicki

With high unemployment rates for military spouses, creativity, open-mindedness, and adaptability are important skills. The Chaos Theory of Careers (CTC) considers that career paths are not linear and by utilizing CTC, career consultants can aid military spouses to develop a growth mindset and holistic approach to their career.

The Role of Career Services Professionals in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

By Ovan Oakley

Given the trends and challenges derived from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, workers need to be adaptable, creative, and innovative to shift into the 21st century world of work. Career services professionals may want to apply the Protean and Boundaryless career models to help workers succeed in the uncertain job market of the future.

Women of Color Navigating the Career Environment: Using Male Dominated Strategies to "FuelForward"

By Vonya Hodrick and Vivian Blade

Overall, both men and women bring many skills, talents, and strengths to the workforce that are essential to progressing their career. However, studies on the progress of professional women show that women are often playing catch-up their entire careers. Women of color are even less likely to get access to the influencers and job opportunities that accelerate career advancement. This article illuminates the importance of strategic relationships in navigating the career environment, gender differences in relationship building, and strategies for practitioners to help women of color advance.

A Unique Approach to Career-Focused Prison Reentry Programming

By Victoria A. Shivy

The career development of people returning from prison to society (reentrants) continues to be a focused area of research and practice. Prison-based equine-facilitated animal programming (PEP) is offered in many jurisdictions and, although controversial, may have unique effects when combined with more traditional reentry modalities. Results of a mixed-methods investigation of an existing PEP are discussed in the context of career development.

How to Attract Millennials to Your Workplace

By Nidal Khaznadar

There are various critiques, myths, facts, and studies written about the millennial generation in the workplace and how they are reshaping the way we work, play, buy and even think. Yet very few leaders know how to approach this generation and attract them to work for and stay with their companies. Learning opportunities, social impact and feedback are the primary factors millennials consider when choosing a workplace.

Recruiting Gen Z Women into STEM Careers

By Leigha Compson

Careers in STEM fields offer competitive jobs yet women tend to be underrepresented. A review of the top career values of women and Generation Z reveals significant overlap, and many of the values align closely with opportunities in STEM fields. Strategies to recruit women into STEM are explored.

Relational-Cultural Theory: A Social Justice Perspective of Career Development in the Workplace

By Lawrence L. H. Richardson, Tonya R. Hammer, Christian D. Chan

Traditional career development theorists rarely acknowledge the importance of relationships and culture. Relational-cultural theory (RCT) is a new perspective from which career development practitioners can work with their clients. Career practitioners may use RCT to explore critical issues that affect people’s career development in the workplace because all individuals have complex identities.

Navigating Changes to the 180-Day Rule for Retiring Military

By Stacy Hojnowski

Retiring military service members should be aware of the 180 day rule if seeking civilian employment with the Department of Defense (DoD) immediately after retirement. This policy restriction presents a new landscape to navigate when helping our retiring military clients.

Maximizing the Use of a Free Career Development Resource

By Janet Wall

CareerOneStop, the free resource offered by the U.S. Department of Labor, includes a wide variety of tools and data for career planning, decision making and transition. Knowing what is available and how the information might help is easier through the sharing of these case examples.

Introverts in the Workplace

By Kim Finnestead

The purpose of this article is to explore how introverts thrive and react in the workplace. The traits and differences between introverts and extroverts will be explored, and the neuroscience behind each orientation will be outlined. The article provides insights about suitable careers for introverts as well as a discussion of the unique ways introverts contribute to the culture of the workplace, including leadership roles.

The Importance of Labor Market Information in Career Guidance

By Liana Jindaryan

When clients seek career assistance, they are looking for information about themselves and the world of work. Having quality information helps them make educated and effective career decisions. This article emphasizes the significance and timely availability of quality information in the delivery of career guidance and counseling services.

When Clients Seek Second Careers in Healthcare

By Allison Peterson

Healthcare careers are growing at a fast pace and are attracting many newcomers pursuing a second career. What career professionals and their clients may not realize is that several features of the healthcare workplace can present unique challenges to second career workers. This article addresses two such healthcare challenges, describes options and includes guidance for addressing these issues with your clients.

Preventing Job Seekers from Being Scammed

By Sandi Sibilio

Scammers are becoming more sophisticated at conning job seekers. Being scammed can have significant negative consequences. Career counselors can proactively help clients to identify the tell-tale signs of a scam before the job search begins.

Great Expectations: Providing Excellence in Reentry Programming

By Staci Parker

As professionals in the field of career development, how prepared are we to positively encourage high performance from a group that has historically not performed well? Compared to the standards to which we hold mainstream clients, what are our expectations for diverse groups?

Helping Employers Utilize Their Human Talent/Capital: A Case for Internal Labor Markets

By A. Nelse Grundvig

For businesses, the crux of solving a skill shortage is finding someone with the right mix of skills, abilities, and proven experience. This article identifies how employers can develop the talent they have by using internal labor markets and creating career paths.

It Takes a Village: South Dakota’s Collaborative Workforce Education Program

By Keley Smith-Keller

South Dakota has an innovative workforce education program which is a collaborative effort between private and public interests. This article describes the project and may offer ideas about how to do something similar in your state or region.

Understanding the Career Development Journey for Native American Clients

By Jenna Crabb and Lamarita Vicenti

Little research has been done on how to effectively assist Native American clients on their career development path. The following article will address the career needs and suggestions for career advising/counseling the Native American client.

Job Searching Considerations For Blind And Visually Impaired Individuals

By Mason Murphy

Clients who are blind or visually impaired encounter many unique challenges when conducting a job search. Those challenges can be hidden and external to the actual search process. This article is intended to bring awareness to factors that counselors may not have considered when working with this population.

Looking at Social Media From the Employer's Perspective

By Joe Bontke

Social media in the employment world is a relatively new form of risky communication. More employers are using the Internet to gather information about applicants. Using social networking websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, employers can gain access to information that would be "off limits" during an interview.

Career Support for Former Foster Care Students in Higher Education

By Christine Norton, Dawn Flores, and Naomi Valdez

Foster care agencies know that retention efforts are critical to prevent negative outcomes for former foster care students. Career counseling is an important retention tool to help provide direction for these students. This article examines the importance of career support to promote retention, graduation and financial independence with this population.

Focusing on Career Development with Inmates

By Amy Thul-Sigler

Assisting inmates with career development proves challenging for even an experienced counselor. There are additional barriers inmates encounter that prevent career opportunities. This article focuses on practical tips and resources beneficial for working with all inmates to develop skills needed for workplace transition.

Internship Supervisor Training

By Cindy Lewis

Internship supervisor training is an understudied area. Many internship supervisors feel training is important and should be provided, but most supervisors fail to receive training except in the psychology field. This article discusses internship supervisor training in the workplace: the importance of training, who should provide it, and how it positively impacts the experience for all parties involved.

Supporting Transgender and Gender Non-binary Job Seekers

By Brandon L. Beck

Providing career counseling to transgender and gender non-binary clients provides unique opportunities. In this article, a few important questions to consider when working with this population along with some key tips and resources for career development are provided.

Corporate Careers: How Employees Get Stuck…and How to Help Them

By Mimi Brent

Why do employees in large organizations get stuck in their careers? Offering innovative career resources in the workplace encourages ongoing career exploration and increases employee engagement.

Strategies for Helping the Hard To Employ

By Larry Robbin

This article focuses on strategies to increase employment motivation among people that are resistant to going to work. These individuals are the hard-to-employ. The article includes practical ideas that will increase their employment motivation.

Time Management Tips For Career Counselors

By Robert White

Effective time management can be difficult for many career counselors who freely give of their time and resources in order to help others. If you fall into this category, this helpful article provides a variety of tips and strategies for improving time management skills and increasing productivity. [Ed. Note: This article was originally published in Career Convergence in 2010 and is being re-run due to its value today.]

Transition Classes for Veterans: Analyzing Outcome Data for Evidence-based Approaches

By Krysta Kurzynski and Seth Hayden

The NCDA Veterans Committee is actively addressing the needs of service members transitioning to civilian life. One suggested activity on college campuses is a veteran-specific transition course. Based upon emerging research, practitioners could contribute career development activities in these courses to develop engagement with this population.

Comparing Career Transitions of Midlife and College Student Veterans

By Heather Robertson

Military members were surveyed regarding their experience transitioning to civilian employment, life satisfaction and demographic features. Specifically midlife veterans and college student veterans were surveyed. Findings include a discussion of group differences and transition variables. Implications for career practitioners working with veterans are addressed.

Competency Assessments Provide as Many Gains for Individuals as Organizations

By Selena Rezvani

Competency assessment is a critically important, and yet often overlooked tool for career development practitioners who work with professionals employed inside organizations. This article examines the under-leveraged advantages of competency assessment for individuals and its use as an effective career management tool with benefits that can help individuals in their short- and long-term career development efforts. [Ed. Note: due to the importance of competencies, this 2009 article is being re-run now.]

Labor and Employment: 2015 Policy Agenda Summary

By Jessica Carter, Zach McGrain and Aaron Sturgill

The GOP will hold majorities in both the U.S Senate and U.S. House of Representatives as the 114th Congress convenes. This means a Republican controlled congress will most likely expend energy on executive branch employment issues. The purpose of this article is to inform and update the reader on several agenda items that may affect labor and employment in 2015.

Job Skills and LinkedIn: Where's the Connection?

By Mike Parchinski

Industry-related LinkedIn groups can provide important information about the correct work skills required for a specific job. This article describes the author’s use of LinkedIn as part of a job search to indirectly interact with people currently working in a specific industry. The purpose is to show how a job seeker, particularly a college graduate, can follow a similar LinkedIn approach to obtain valuable information necessary for conducting a productive job search.

Employee Ownership in Career Development: The Role of the Organization

By Steve Knight

Although individual workers inside organizations know that career development is mostly a “do-it-yourself” activity these days, smart companies understand the value of supporting employee career development for increased productivity, retention and employee satisfaction. [Eds. Note: This article originally appeared in Career Convergence in 2010. Because of the value of this article, it is being reprinted now.]

Emotions and Employability: A focus on the soft skills of women offenders

By N. Jonas Ohrberg

While incarcerated, women offenders have an opportunity to pursue an education and improve career related skills. Although programs available to them may provide educational opportunities, they often ignore the development of effective interpersonal skills. This article stresses the need for programs that will teach women offenders about emotional awareness and help them develop effective interpersonal skills. [Eds. Note: This article originally appeared in Career Convergence in 2008. Because of the uniqueness of this article, it is being reprinted now.]

Career Development Opportunities Can Be Found by Looking at Own Job

By Maggie McCormick

Ongoing career and professional development is critical for all workers today. Such development demonstrates initiative, flexibility and a commitment to one’s growth. Yet many workers aren’t sure how to continue growing in the job they currently hold. This article offers strategies for identifying development opportunities that are very close at hand - within one’s current job. [Eds. Note: This article originally appeared here in November 2010. It is being repeated in celebration of Career Convergence's All Conference issue. See NCDA NEWS for more details.]

The Second Machine Age

Book Review by Charles Lehman

This well researched and wide-ranging book argues that accelerating automation will result in a second major transformation of society as great as the Industrial Revolution. The authors explain the processes well underway and the impacts on workers and work itself. They provide policy recommendations to handle the forthcoming challenges.

Offender Workforce Development: The Past, Present, and Future

By Imants Jaunarajs

One segment of the workforce comprises of ex-offenders; what efforts have been put into place to help these individuals, and what career development facilitators should know to effectively guide the successful reentry back into the world of work. This article will serve as a general guide to those professionals who have recently began working in workforce development or private practice.

M-HRDI: Workforce Development Solutions

By Aaron Leson

Michigan State AFL-CIO Human Resources Development, Inc. (M-HRDI) provides employment and training services to unemployed Michigan residents. Although the organization offers a variety of services to its constituents, they have found the most success by focusing on providing business services to employers and by utilizing on-the-job-training. This article provides an overview of these services.

Find Your Federal Job Fit

Book Review By: Lindsey Marx

This book review analyzes Janet Ruck and Karol Taylor’s book Find Your Federal Job Fit. The book includes five sections that offer self-reflection tools and straightforward career preparation advice for the federal job seeker.

The King County Non-Profit Staff Development Coalition Project - Identifying a Need and Meeting It

By Cal Crow

For more than three decades, Washington State’s Center for Learning Connections (CLC) has been providing training, organizing conferences, and managing programs throughout the United States and elsewhere. Located at Edmonds Community College, CLC’s mission is to prepare learners to manage change and create successful futures. One of its most creative and successful projects is the Non-Profit Staff Development Coalition (NPSDC).

Necessary Skills: Being Marketable for Federal Positions

By Amiko Matsumoto

Technical competencies are important for any job, but federal agencies look for additional skills in those they hire, such as teamwork and strategic thinking. Here's what federal hiring managers and HR specialists say are just as important.

Do Personnel Relocations Promote The Career Development Of Employees? Lessons From The Career Management System Of A Japanese Company

By Masumi Nagae and Yoshiji Ishikawa

After an employee relocation, how do work values change and what support structures are necessary for successful transition? How does their relocation experience affect their career development? We address these questions based on our research on employee satisfaction and work values in Japanese companies.

NCDA Plays Key Role in Delivering CDF Training to Persons who Work with Offenders

by JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey

NCDA's Career Development Facilitator curriculum has been adapted to train Offender Workforce Development Specialists (OWDS). These OWDS help prisoners plan careers, increasing the likelihood that they will stay out of prison after release. NCDA arranges the training of facilitators at the state level. Those trained in each state then provide training to others in their local organizations. In honor of NCDA's 100th anniversary, Career Convergence is publishing articles of historical significance. This month, our web magazine is reprinting articles from our debut issue in 2003.

Making Your Move Into Corporate Career Development

By Paula Kosin

An ad for an Employee Career Consultant in a leading corporation drew over 300 applicants two years ago. Expertise in career counseling with an adult population is only one of the competencies that this job demands. If corporate career development is an area you might be interested in moving into, what can you do to be the best prepared and qualified candidate? In honor of NCDA's 100th anniversary, Career Convergence is publishing articles of historical significance. This month, our web magazine is reprinting articles from our debut issue in 2003.

Building a Successful Career Development Program: Three Key Considerations

By Carrie Tuning and Carolyn Kurowski

This case study presents three key lessons learned while developing and implementing MyCareer@VA, the premier, organization-wide career development program for the Department of Veterans Affairs. With incredible benefits for both employees and organizations, we outline the three key steps any organization can take to create an impactful career development program.

Career Retention for Vulnerable Populations: A Relapse Perspective

By Shan Johnson

In the United States we are facing economic challenges that make getting a job difficult but keeping that job even more crucial. This is especially true for vulnerable populations who can fall through the cracks of our system. Career counselors can benefit from the field of addiction recovery when assisting this population with employment retention. [Ed. Note: this article is being re-run in light of its timely and positive message.]

New Opportunity School For Women: A Unique Career and Education Program in Appalachia

By Caroline Francis

The New Opportunity School for Women located in Berea, Kentucky, offers a free three-week career and education program targeting low-income, middle-aged women in the south central Appalachian region. The intensive curriculum includes: job search skills, self-esteem, computer basics, internships, goal setting, and learning how to become enrolled in further education.

Five Best Practices for Cross-Cultural Mentoring in Organizations

By Rhonda L. Norman

The article highlights the significance of responding to a diverse workforce with an evidence-based career development intervention, mentoring. Mentoring tasks in organizations happen from two different but equally important perspectives, career-related and psychosocial. Traditionally, mentoring has been based upon a monocultural European male perspective, but the author highlights a need to contextualize cross-cultural mentoring from a multiculturally inclusive perspective.

Career Counseling Trends in Rural America

By Cynthia Gurne

The role of the career counselor is expanding in rural America to encompass more of what we might normally think of as workforce development by adding tasks such as advocacy, planning, and collaborating. The career counselor is becoming an important tool in helping rural communities grow economically and expand their skilled workforce base.

A Strength-Based Approach to Career Development Using Appreciative Inquiry

Book Review by Shawn Utecht

This book is for counselors who are looking for a practical resource to help clients use their strengths to navigate a career development path. Donald Schutt, the author of the book, offers a detailed explanation of how the organizational Appreciative Inquiry approach is easily transferable to the field of career development.

Career Development and the Legislative Process

Reviving a Stagnant Career

By Tim Lutenski

Many people can lose enthusiasm and passion for work at some time over the course of their career. Career counselors can help both themselves and others rediscover both passion and purpose for their work by implementing several proactive measures.

Resumes & LinkedIn Profiles: Powerful Positioning within an Organization

By Wendy S. Enelow

Career management is a lifelong process. The resume, LinkedIn profile and other career communications can be of value in that process, well beyond the job search.

Manifesting a Champion Mind

By Danielle Gruen

It is more important than ever for career professionals to find ways to instill hope, foster creative thought, and maintain a positive outlook in both ourselves and our clients. It is in the mindset of the athlete, the "Champion Mind", where how to do this is understood and unveiled.

Personal Learning Plans: a Tool for Engaging and Retaining Talent

By Christy Ciezki & Nisha Kharé

Continuous learning has become vital in developing and retaining a skilled workforce. The challenge to organizations is supporting a diverse and evolving workforce in achieving learning and career development goals. ‘Personal Learning Plans' can be used as an organizational tool for the engagement and retention of workers.

Benefits of the Personal Learning Plan

By Nisha Khare & Christy Ciezki

Addendum to their April 1, 2010 article.

How a Nonprofit Agency Helps Latinos Thrive in Adams County, Colorado

By Mariela Michael

This article will discuss the old ideas that Latinos have encountered for many years. Ideas such as Latinos are not interested in education, they cannot speak English and there are no supports for Latino adults. A program to help Latinos overcome many of these career obstacles will be discussed.

Another Career, Not by Choice

By Mary Probst

Recently the demographics of the unemployed population have changed, and more individuals who involuntarily lost their jobs due to a dwindling economy are now seeking new careers. Establishments like workforce centers, employment agencies, nonprofits and community organizations who serve these unemployed individuals have the opportunity to generate empowerment in the job seekers by identifying transferable skills.

Your Year End Review

By Caitlin Williams

Before you toss away that 2009 calendar, consider taking the time to review your past year's work. As career development professionals, conducting a year-end review can help us reflect on what we've learned about ourselves and our own career development. Further, we can guide our clients who work in organizations through their own year-end review and use this information to help them design meaningful goals in the new year.

Guide to America's Federal Jobs

Book Review By Jennifer A. Smith

This new directory provides comprehensive information on finding, applying and getting hired in the federal government. The resources provided will be invaluable to counselors and to both seasoned and first-time federal job seekers.

Designing and Implementing Career Programs

Book Review By Hunter Alessi

This handbook describes a process for designing, implementing, and evaluating career services programs. The intended audience includes those who wish to change existing services, as well as those who are initiating a service center or program within a business or school. It is a comprehensive resource that can be used as a reference manual or as a precise and directive guide for the development or redesign of a career program.

The Introverted Leader: Thriving in the extroverted business world

By Jennifer B. Kahnweiler

In today's extroverted business world, introverts can feel ignored, overlooked, and misunderstood. But career development practitioners can help by identifying introverts' characteristic behaviors, understanding their key career challenges and providing practical career advice on their most common hot buttons -- networking, managing and leading people, performing in meetings, and more.

Current Careers in Energy

By Helen Harkness

Experts share insights, opportunities and challenges for careers in this exploding industry. Employees and employers should take note, as we are just at the beginning of the learning curve.

Bridging Employment Gaps: Strategies from a Military Spouse

By Stefani Schomaker

The frequent relocation of military families requires military spouses to use creative strategies for bridging gaps in their employment. These same tactics can be utilized by ALL job seekers.

Policy that Moves Beyond Employment toward Worker Resiliency

By Natesha Smith

The advocation of public policy by career development professionals has primarily been focused on education, training and employment. However, for future progress in policy development, it would be wise for career professionals to play a key role in identifying strategic goals that emphasize resiliency and employability in workers.

Helping Our Clients Develop Their Careers During Times of Change

By Carolyn Wilson

As career development professionals, we support others in developing their careers in a complex and changing workforce. This article offers practical tips for coaching and developing employees during times of change.

Successful Performance in a Complex World

By Lori Bartels

Given that the work world is becoming increasingly complex for workers, it is imperative that career development professionals identify the skills that will enable workers to be successful in this ever-changing environment. This article presents examples of key abilities correlated with high performance in organizations.

Depression and Career Development

By Roger Wilcoxen

How can clients successfully establish a career or a change when battling depression?

Welcome New Associate Editor, Non-Profit

Dr. David Scott is now the Associate Editor of the Non-Profit Department of Career Convergence. He invites new submissions in the areas of community/agency, pastoral/religious, rehabilitation, and association/foundation.

Systems Thinking in Organizational Career Development Programs

By Maureen Nelson

Why aren't organizational career development programs working? In the first part of this two-part article, we explore the application of a systems approach; in part 2, we'll look at ways to leverage relationships. Understanding the integration of these two critical factors can help career consultants who work with organizations deliver more effective services and stronger results.

Contributors Wanted!

Career development professionals working in business/industry, outplacement, career management, recruiting/staffing, or human resources are encouraged to submit articles for consideration.

Bridging the Gap from Job to Career for U.S. Veterans

By Jennifer Phillips, Jennifer Braud, Lindsay Andrews, and Emily E. Bullock

This article addresses the complexities of U.S. war veterans' career development. It addresses many of the barriers associated with this population including homelessness. The Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Approach to career counseling is presented as a method for assisting veterans from initial placement to long-term career development.

Win-Win-Win Mentoring: Five Steps Towards Exemplary Mentorships

By Christine D. Hegstad

Mentoring enhances morale, boosts productivity, and offers rich opportunities for career development at minimal cost. Done poorly, however, mentoring can prove detrimental to participants as well as an organization. Implementing these five steps will help to ensure mentors, proteges, and organizations all benefit.

Try-Decide-Attitude: Successful Responses to the Job Search

Book Reviews by Karol Taylor

Since so many job seekers seem discouraged and overwhelmed, particularly those in State and Federal One Stops and Rapid Response agencies, resources such as these motivational pocket books are a valuable tool.

Why Government Managers Need to Develop Critical Thinking Skills

By Asila Safi and Darrell Norman Burrell

Evolving leadership challenges like succession planning in government, international cultural genocide, and international terrorism have made decision making for government managers very tough with extreme implications. All government managers need to develop and utilize critical thinking skills. The engagement in managerial critical thinking is about learning to overcome and become self aware of biases, false assumptions, myths, and faulty paradigms that can hamper effective decision making.

Care for Yourself First

by Pam Thorne

People who help others for a living often put themselves last when it comes to mental and physical health. This article highlights the symptoms of compassion fatigue and offers some simple solutions. (Ed's Note: This article originally appeared in Career Convergence in 2003 and is being published again due to the valuable and timeless topic).

Call for Articles

David Harden, Organizations Associate Editor

Tell us about your experience in business/industry, outplacement, career management, recruiting/staffing, and/or human resources.

Addressing New Veterans' Employment Needs with e-Tools

By Denise Felder

Veterans returning home after recently serving in the Middle East face many adjustments, including career planning. This article details a few of the Department of Labor's online resources available to recently separated military personnel, their families and the career counselors assisting them in finding information about job searching, career development and post-secondary education.

Advocacy Myths and Opportunities

by Bridget Brown

This is the first installment in a series of articles providing an insider’s view of some of the misconceptions associated with advocacy. Bridget Brown, from NCDA’s Government Relations Committee, highlights specific tools to help career development professionals working in non-profit organizations become active in the political arena.

The Career Readiness Certificate: An Economic Success Story

by Barbara Bolin

The Career Readiness Certificate is fast becoming a national portable skills credential. Based on three WorkKeys assessments, it is filling an important role in our education / training system. The Career Readiness Certificate objectively certifies applied skills and trainability so it is particularly valuable to exiting CTE high school students. The Consortium now consists of 43 states, and close to 60,000 Certificates have already been issued.

Career Negotiations: Power Tools to Use

by Joni Daniels

Plug in your power tools before engaging in a job remodeling. When you manage career negotiations well, you and your organization will be pleased with the results.

Our Point of View: It is Better to Volunteer!

by Sue Pressman and Tanya Bodzin

The authors offer insight into governmental consulting opportunities. They suggest that it is better to volunteer one's services than do disservice to the counseling profession by accepting low compensation rates. Finally, they make recommendations for raising the compensation bar for the career counselor.

Quality Standards For Career Centers?

by Howard Splete and Bill Freed

NCDA has supported professional standards for career development service providers, as Nationally Certified Career Counselors (NCCC) and Global Career Development Facilitators (GCDF) . What have we done to promote similar professional standards for the organization and administration of career centers and their programs? Are they needed?

Springboard Forward: Engagement, Self-Efficacy and Hope

by Maureen Nelson

Springboard Forward partners with employers and community-based organizations to improve job performance and promote upward mobility for the low-wage workforce.

Career Counselors as Forensic Experts

by Michael Shahnasarian

Qualified career counselors, retained in litigation as expert witnesses, can offer analyses that facilitate just resolution of disputes. This article describes the types of disputes in which career counselors; insights are germane and outlines processes to conduct earning capacity assessments. Career counselors are cautioned about the perils of expert witness consulting: opposing lawyer deception, manipulation, and bullying - the antithesis of counselor training and raison de etre - are the rule of the day in forensic settings.

Get Hired! How to Land the Ideal Federal Job and Negotiate a Top Salary

Book Review by Janet Ruck

Have you tried to help your clients wind through the maze of the federal hiring process? If so, you know that Uncle Sam is not a benevolent recruiter. Lily Whiteman has tackled this challenge and provided counselors with a valuable resource.

Re-Thinking What We Say About a Former Boss

by Alan Rider

One of the persistent and vexing challenges during a traditional behavioral interview is the “boss question.” Many career clients have had unhappy experiences with problem employers, and want to be able to answer the inevitable “boss question” truthfully, but at the same time also effectively. Can it be done?

The Importance of Self-Marketing

by Janet M. Ruck

Emphasizing accomplishments rather than just listing skills, can be an effective form of self-marketing that federal employees can use.

Competency Based Workshops Help Internal Revenue Service Employees Manage Their Careers

by Dan Vale

IRS career management workshops help employees maximize their career potential, and facilitate the achievement of the IRS strategic goals of retention and reorganization. These workshops form an integral part of the career development services the IRS offers its employees.

Forget Your Troubles, C'mon Get Happy!

by Barry Davis

Happiness is often a lost commodity when someone is in the throes of job loss or career change. Martin Seligman's work titled "Learned Optimism" provides practical advice for improving our results in career development by understanding how to be more positive, even when we don't feel like it!

Unsuccessful Managers - Typing and Coaching

by Kent Noel

Many individuals want to make the leap to management, but not all will succeed. Those who fail tend to fall back on stylistic preferences that worked well for them in past roles. These individuals often find themselves being referred for coaching; and during the course of consultation, patterns frequently emerge. Awareness is often the important first step in moving from unsuccessful to successful.

Managing Client Expectations

by Sunitha Narayanan

Webster's defines "disappointment" as an expectation that goes unfulfilled, a situation to which career advisors are far from immune. Sunitha Narayanan has consulted with many hard-to-place job seekers going through relocation and cultural shift. She shares three brief case studies involving client disappointment, and what she learned through them.

Making Mentoring an Organizational Value: A Look at the FDIC's Mentoring Program

by Barbara Suddarth

This article about a formal, workplace mentoring program is the first of two rendered by members of the NCDA Mentoring Program committee. The second, to be published later this year, will focus specifically on NCDA's Mentoring Program, now one year old. For further information about NCDA's Mentoring Program, go to www.ncda.org and link to the Mentoring Program under Membership.

Knowledge Nomads and the Nervously Employed

Book Review by Sally Gelardin

Lifework success, according to Feller and Whichard, is "how we live, and who we've helped, not what we have." The authors inspire career professionals to guide their clients to make successful work and life choices that contribute to the world's well-being. To achieve this result, they advocate lifelong learning, meaningful work, and purposeful living amidst a rapidly changing work climate. Read on to find out how to help clients achieve this result.

Reaching for Our Deep Gladness

by Ron Elsdon

A challenging and important question to ask of ourselves and our organizations is "What do we mean by success?" Is success defined more by extrinsic monetary factors, or by intrinsic factors such as value, purpose and social contribution that constitute our deep gladness? This article explores these questions from personal and organizational perspectives, and draws out implications for career counselors.

A Layoff Sparks Dreams

by Michael Levy

Florida-based Career Coach Michael Levy relates a recent experience he had while leading a transformational seminar for a group of insurance professionals. Putting the participants back in touch with long-forgotten interests and dreams turned a sad experience into a source of creative possibilities.

New Developments in Federal Employment

by Elda Schwartz

More jobseekers are looking to the federal government as an employer of choice. People are realizing that there is more to federal employment that is appealing in this post 9/11 era in which there is a reawakening of interest in public service. Excellent federal benefits and regular working hours are appealing to people wanting to balance family and work life.

The O'NET System for Career Development Professionals

by Janet Wall

The US Department of Labor has produced a comprehensive, dynamic, and high-quality system of occupational information and supporting tools. These are available without cost to career development and workforce practitioners and researchers.

The Internal Revenue Service Creates New Career Management Tool

by Daniel Vale

The Career Advancement and Progression Guide (CAP) is a tool used by IRS managers, employees and personnel services representatives to help plan employees' career progression and to facilitate overall IRS workforce planning. CAP includes diagrams of employees' most likely career path options and other vital information about various job series and career paths.

Do You Have What It Takes? Marathon Interviewing Tips

by Michael S. Levy

A job interview and a 26-mile marathon both require stamina, endurance, excellent mental and physical shape, and the clear headed thinking required to survive the stress. Creatively comparing the two, Michael Levy notes similarities in preparation and practice, which are essential both to a marathon runner reaching the finish line and to coming out a winner with effective interviewing.

Letting Go of the Corporate Agenda; "Finding Yourself" in Small Business

by Robert E. Reuter

Our clients frequently decide well into their careers to leave the security of their corporate homes to pursue independent businesses. Major challenges and adjustments accompany this decision that are not always obvious or understood until experienced. Career development consultant Bob Reuter shares some learnings from his own experience to help smooth the way for clients who come for help in making this transition.

Distance Counseling Methods & Tele-counseling Approach for Employee Development

by Alice Rush

This article includes the following information:
-Why Distance Career Counseling can be useful in corporate career counseling and employee development.
-Methods, typical duration and overview of distance counseling process.
-Assessment tools utilized and follow up strategies.
-Unique perspective designed to inspire and encourage counselors to expand their experience in this emerging area of counseling.

Effectiveness of Short-Term Training for Self-Sufficiency

by Michael E. Wonacott

This article reviews the literature on the outcomes of short-term training programs for welfare recipients and the services required to meet the self-sufficiency needs of welfare recipients participating in short-term training.
[This article was released for publication by Eric Digest (www.eric.ed.gov) and is available at www.cete.org/acve/].

The Education, Social, and Economic Value of Informed and Considered Career Decisions

by Bridget Brown

This ACRNA special report includes the complete Summary of Key Findings, a link to the ACRNA website for the full report, and a brief overview by the Executive Director.

Using DISC for Career Development in Organizations

by Louella Jackson

This article briefly explores Dr. William Moulton Marston's theory of behavior and describes how one organization used the DiSC Personal Profile Software System as a foundation to develop and refocus a geographically dispersed team.

360° Feedback: Questions Regarding Strengths and Development

by Claudette Nowell-Philipp

The following are helpful questions that enable the employee to understand his or her 360° feedback and use it to maximize career opportunity.

Using the Workforce Investment Act and Other Resources to Foster Career Resiliency in our Youth

by Fran Abbott

How many more youth are we going to loose to the streets, substance abuse, violence, unemployment and chronic under employment, violence? As career development professionals, we know that our young people are our future.

Organizational Talent Management - Why Now?

by Peggy Simonsen

Talent management involves strategies and practices to align employees' expectations with business needs of the organization. Good talent management is a benefit for both employees and organizations. There are compelling reasons organizations need to pay attention to talent, and compelling reasons for people to work for organizations that do.

Sample Job Description for a Corporate Career Consultant

by Paula Kosin

Though individual positions will vary, here is a sample composite job description,
which outlines the range of responsibilities for a Corporate Career
Consultant.