Career Development

"No one is surprised to hear that seniors on the threshold of graduation visit the Career Resource Center (CRC) looking for job search assistance. Those who have procrastinated on career choice and finding employment see the finish line approaching and realize they need to find something that will keep them fulfilled and flush with cash once they're marched to the edge of campus and pushed out of the proverbial nest."

"When James Watson was 24 years old, he spent more time thinking about women than work, according to his memoir "Genes, Girls and Gamow." His hair was unkempt and his letters home were full of references to "wine-soaked lunches." But when Mr. Watson wasn't chasing after girls, he was hard at work in his Cambridge lab, trying to puzzle out the structure of DNA. In 1953, when Mr. Watson was only 25, he co-wrote one of the most important scientific papers of all time."

"Teacher seniority rules are meeting resistance from government officials and parents as a wave of layoffs is hitting public schools and driving newer teachers out of classrooms. In a majority of the country's school districts, teacher layoffs are handled on a "last in, first out" basis. Critics of seniority rules worry that many effective and talented teachers who have been hired in recent years will lose their jobs. "

NYC Workforce Weekly March 10. 2010

One of the most old-fashioned occupations in finance is back in favor: the life-insurance agent. Some big insurers are adding thousands of agents and planning to sign up more. They're taking advantage of the weak job market to scoop up former real-estate agents, mortgage brokers, bankers and lawyers whose prospects have declined.

"Internships-the vast majority of which are unpaid-have become a staple of the college experience. In 1992, only 9% of graduating college students had participated in internships; by 2006 that figure increased nine-fold to 83% (Ortner 1997/1998; NACE 2008), representing at least 2.5 million student workers each year. Internships are often beneficial for both the student and the employer. Students can gain valuable insights into the nature of a certain occupation or industry, specific skill development, exposure to a network of contacts in a field of interest, and experience in the professional world. In turn, employers can engage in low-cost workforce training and vetting for future employment."

Top Ten Networking Tips for Alumni written by Leslie Camacho.

"Later this year, a marketing manager will sit down for his first day of work at HomeAway, a company that helps people rent their vacation homes online. In the firm's sleek Austin, Texas, headquarters, a glass-wrapped building decorated with travel souvenirs, the marketer will flip on his computer and do his job - a job no one has done before. This, you see, will be a brand-new job, one of the most coveted commodities of economic recovery. "

"MAYS LANDING, N.J.-Training and education are said to be the best route to a better job, but Cynthia Motte is still waiting to see if that's true. Ms. Motte and millions of other jobless workers across the country are discovering that new skills can take you only so far when jobs are scarce."

"Few events arouse more teenage angst than the springtime arrival of college rejection letters. With next fall's college freshman class expected to approach a record 2.9 million students, hundreds of thousands of applicants will soon be receiving the dreaded letters. Teenagers who face rejection will be joining good company, including Nobel laureates, billionaire philanthropists, university presidents, constitutional scholars, best-selling authors and other leaders of business, media and the arts who once received college or graduate-school rejection "

This is the landing page for eCareer at LaGuardia Community College- CUNY.

Community colleges are thrilled that President Obama is planning a major infusion of federal support for their job training programs, and they are talking about how this might best be done.

Vault will be the indispensable provider of information and solutions for professionals and students who are pursuing and managing high-potential careers. We will achieve this goal by delivering the timely and actionable insider information and advice that allows them to define and achieve personal success at every stage of their careers. Based on our knowledge of professionals and students, and our relationship with them, Vault will be a vital partner for companies seeking engagement with this valuable audience.

DENNIS PALUMBO, a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist who treats many artists and other creative types, says his patients previously tended to talk about problems like writer's block, procrastination and fear of rejection.

Longtime runner Ray Gobis posted a 3:09 at the Boston Marathon in April-his personal best. The cause wasn't a new training technique or the perfect weather. It was because Mr. Gobis got laid off.

Mentors can be essential, especially for people making career transformations. But unfortunately, a lot of mentor relationships fall apart after a few months because there is no formal structure to support them.

Work is always a cause of stress, but lately, it seems like it's been even more so. Layoffs have put millions out of work. People who are still employed are often seeing their workloads increase, but not their pay, and they're worried about their own job security.

Seventy-seven percent of members of Freelancers Union, which has 120,000 members nationwide, have had clients that didn't pay at least once, says Sara Horowitz, executive director. Worse yet, more companies are trying to renegotiate lower prices with freelancers after work has been delivered, says Gary Swart, chief executive of oDesk, a freelance-management Web site that acts as a liaison between freelancers and clients.

There is a common misconception that networking is about "who you know". In the old school world of the privileged classes that was true. However, as the professional world has become more accessible to a broader array of people, this has changed. Networking is no longer about "who you know". Today, it is about "who knows you".