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" Preview: Obama's 2013 Budget February 13, 2012 - 3:00am By Libby A. Nelson WASHINGTON -- President Obama today will propose spending $8 billion on job training programs at community colleges over the next three years, part of a budget for the 2013 fiscal year that also would increase spending on Education Department programs and some scientific research. The president will outline the job-training proposal in more detail in a speech at Northern Virginia Community College this morning. But unlike past calls to spend more on community colleges, this plan is aimed squarely at an election-year message of "jobs, jobs, jobs" rather than the administration's goal of increasing the number of Americans with college degrees. The proposal, as outlined by Education Department officials Sunday evening, builds on job training programs already in existence -- especially the Trade Act Assistance Community College Career Training Program, which began making grants to community colleges in September. If approved by Congress, the president's proposal would provide $1.3 billion each per year to the Education and Labor Departments, on top of the trade act grants. While it's unclear whether the money would create new federal programs or build up existing ones, the funds would be spent at community colleges that train workers for jobs in high-demand fields, according to materials released by the Education Department. Programs that are especially successful at finding jobs for their graduates, or at placing those who traditionally have difficulty finding work, would be eligible for additional money. The grants would also be used to encourage partnerships between businesses, states, local governments and community colleges, and to create an online course to encourage entrepreneurs. The money would also support paid internships for low-income college students. But the plan would shut out for-profit colleges, which would not be eligible for the additional funds -- a move alm

"Invisible Transfer Students February 28, 2012 - 3:00am By Mitch Smith Enrollment managers have long spoken about the mobility of students, citing the high number of credits transferred in and out of their colleges and grumbling that federal graduation rate calculations fail to account for those transient degree-seekers. Data released today by the National Student Clearinghouse back those assertions, showing that a third of those who were first-time college students in 2006 had attended at least one other institution by summer 2011. The study followed 2.8 million full- and part-time students of all ages at every type of institution. Students were counted as transfers if they enrolled at a second institution before earning a degree. Thus, students who moved to a four-year institution after earning an associate degree were not counted, but university students who took a community college class over the summer were. High school students who enrolled in concurrent enrollment courses were not counted as transfers. The Clearinghouse researchers found that a quarter of those who transferred did so more than once and that the greatest number of moves, 37 percent, took place in a student's second year. It also found that 43 percent of transfers were to public two-year institutions, making them the most common transfer destination for students from every type of institution except other public two-year colleges. This study, unique in including part-time students and in following students who might transfer several times, joins a small but growing body of research on the mobility of students. The findings don't surprise Clifford Adelman, a senior associate with the Institute for Higher Education Policy whose research agenda includes national transfer patterns. Loyalties to a particular institution or location, which can discourage transferring, have long been eroding, Adelman said. He calls the phenomenon "geomobility" and said it has called attention to ineffi

"Beloit, Wis. - Born when Ross Perot was warning about a giant sucking sound and Bill Clinton was apologizing for pain in his marriage, members of this fall's entering college class of 2014 have emerged as a post-email generation for whom the digital world is routine and technology is just too slow. Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. The creation of Beloit's Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. The Mindset List website at www.beloit.edu/mindset, the Mediasite webcast and its Facebook page receive more than 400,000 hits annually. The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since "digital" has always been in the cultural DNA, they've never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (who's that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat. Nonetheless, they plan to enjoy college. The males among them are likely to be a minority. They will be armed with iPhones and BlackBerries, on which making a phone call will be only one of many, many functions they will perform. They will now be awash with a computerized technology that will not distinguish information and knowledge. So it will be up to their professors to help them. A generation accustomed to instant access will need to acquire the patience of sch

"Welcome to the GED COMPASS. The GED Testing Initiative is a public/private partnership that aims to improve the New York City GED testing system, including testing infrastructure, test-taker readiness, and public awareness and support. Through the Literacy Assistance Center, new tools are being developed including a GED Compass web portal to ensure that GED test takers know where to enroll in GED prep programs, prepare for the exam and secure a GED test seat. This website was developed for people interested in learning about how to get a GED in New York City. There are many ways to achieve this goal and this website will help you find the path that is right for you. In New York City finding a place to take the GED was difficult. Finding information about what you need to do to prepare for the test was hard to find. The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) partnered with the New York Community Trust to take a close look at the existing system and see how it could be improved. The result was a comprehensive report written by literacy expert, Jacqueline Cook, called Our Chance for Change: A Four Year Initiative for GED Testing in New York. You can see the full report here. "

Being able to find a satisfying and fulfilling job in this day and age is quite a challenging task. There are many people who have to run from pillar to post just to obtain an interview. If you are someone who has bagged another job and are wondering how to change from one job to another, without much trouble at all, then you ought to read on. If you are unable to make the transition well, then you might end up messing up your professional reputation.

"The passage by NCDA of the Minimum Competencies for Multicultural Career Counseling and Development confirms the long known reality that the work of career counselors is impacted by the complexity of culture as much as psychotherapy and other forms of counseling. As career services professionals, the Competencies provide us with a useful framework for engaging our increasingly diverse client population. The Competencies challenge us to shift our counseling paradigms, improve our techniques, modify our theoretical approaches, and to be aware of our own cultural blind spots as we attempt to meet the unique needs of our clients and to better understand how culture impacts career development. While the Competencies provide basic guidance about the skills and knowledge needed to be a culturally competent career practitioner, it is still a challenge for career experts to understand how they can integrate multicultural competence into their everyday practice. This article seeks to examine some factors to consider when developing one's multicultural competence as it pertains to career counseling."

Hope is related to optimism. Snyder (1998) described hope as "the perceived capacity to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways" (p. 249). In Career Flow (Niles, Amundson, & Neault, 2011), hope is at the centre of a career development model and essential to each of the stages (i.e., self-reflection, self-clarity, visioning, goal-setting, action-planning, implementing, and evaluating). Without hope, clients are unlikely to be motivated to engage in career planning activities or ongoing career management.

Our careers and our lives are constantly changing. With so many twists and turns it is almost guaranteed that our career plans will not be stagnant. There are many different types of individuals who are moving in/out of a traditional career. Recently the term "comeback parent" has been coined for the parent who has left a paid position outside the home to raise a family, and is now returning to paid external employment. Another example is the graduate student who alternates full time employment with full or part time education. Some leave to take care of an aging relative, start a private practice or a business, attend to personal health issues, or even work part-time from home. While juggling various roles in life, it is important to manage our careers even if it is not currently the highest priority. Networking is an important way to effectively and efficiently tend to your career at all times.

"Regardless of your title, career advisor, career navigator, career counselor, work workforce development professional, etc., you are likely to employ some career assessments from your tool kit to help individuals move forward in their career choice and development. There are so many assessments now available, both in paper-pencil and online formats, that it is easy to forget to take proper care to use quality assessments with your students, customers, and clients. Using a poor quality instrument, one without strong technical characteristics or using an instrument in which you are not trained, can cause harm to your clients despite your genuine intent to do otherwise."

Sheila is a claims processor at a major automotive company. Due to recent declines in the economy, she has recently been given notice that her position will terminate in two weeks. A despondent Sheila makes an appointment with the career consultant employed to assist with terminated workers. Upon hearing Sheila's story it might not surprise you to hear that the counselor plans to consult various websites during her work with Sheila. As professional career counselors, we are practiced at using career-based websites to assist clients with finding resources for taking interest inventories, engaging in job searches, finding occupational information, and creating resumes. However, Sheila's counselor is not looking at these types of websites. There are other beneficial websites that may not be as apparent or as frequently used. There are many websites that have information on career development theories that may be useful to counselors who are working to resolve the dilemmas of their clients. Below are several websites on the theories of cognitive, sociological, trait-factor, and on diversity issues that Sheila's counselor, and many of you, may find useful.

I have been living and working outside of the United States for almost three years. I have a small spa in the Caribbean and due to the slowing economy, have decided to return to the States to utilize my bachelor's degree in communications. Could you give me a bit of advice on how to present my entrepreneurial past to prospective employers as I return to the corporate work force?

Did you know the average recruiter spends about six seconds looking at a single resume? That means job seekers have six seconds to highlight their skills and expertise, making the format of a resume as important as the content. For that reason, Bryant & Stratton College Online announced a new session in its career information webinar series titled "What Type of Resume is Best for You?" The webinar will be held on Friday, January 10 from noon to 1 p.m. EST. During the "What Type of Resume is Best for You?" webinar, attendees will learn practical tips and advice to improve their resume. Some of the topics covered in the webinar will include: * The difference between chronological, functional, skills based and combination resumes * When to use each type of resume * How to take a resume from responsibility-focused to success-focused * Dos and Don'ts of resume writing The webinar will be led by Cindy Carpenter and Albanitza Mayoliz who handle recruiting at Verizon for the Call Center and Retail Sales Channel, respectively. To learn more and register for the webinar, please visit: http://online.bryantstratton.edu/webinar/

Eventbrite - Bryant & Stratton College Online presents Free Webinar: What Type of Resume is Best for You? - Friday, January 10, 2014 - Find event and ticket information.

Becoming a model at the age of 18 is a challenge. There are so many things you have to be mindful of. From having the right eating habits to working your way up in the industry, every step counts! If you want to switch careers and give modelling a shot, here are some essential tips and ideas that should help. In this article, we have suggestions for both boys and girls. So you won't have to miss out on anything. Keep reading the article to find out everything about the lucrative profession

""Yes, you really do need to target your resume and cover letter every time." I find myself uttering this over and over again to my students. Whether itis in a class of design students or meeting one-on-one with a business student, they all doubt whether this is truly the case. They cannot believe that they need to go through the trouble of reading through a job description, interpreting what an employer is really asking for, and then demonstrating their interest and skill in these areas. They ask, "Do employers really care?" and some of them raise objections, feeling that targeting their resume is dishonest or "being fake." After several years of struggling with this, I have realized I can relate this issue to something students are more familiar with, something they think about all the time - dating. When placed in the context of an everyday situation where they "target" their communication, they begin to see how important it is to enter into a relevant conversation with a potential employer from the outset. "

"Social Media isn't just for staying in touch with former school classmates. There are ways to use social media to stand out from the competition. It does take some strategic thought, but it can really take you to the next level. Here are 3 simple ways to get started using social media to advance your brand."

"Olympic athletes know a lot about sacrifice since most have had to juggle jobs and college with rigorous training schedules. And they often end up putting their professional lives on hold like speedskater Eric Heiden who scaled back on medical school. so he could become a professional road-racing cyclist. Freestyler Kirstie Marshall even had to go into debt to personally finance her own way onto the national team.But winning medals is just the end of the first act for the following seven Olympic athletes. All have gone onto successful post-Olympic careers, reinventing themselves to become doctors, lawyers, business owners and politicians. And they didn't simply discard one career for the next. They've been able to apply their experiences as athletes-the drive, goal-setting and dedication- to become better at their new jobs. "