Career Information Resources at Your Fingertips

People, Books, Databases, and more!

Introductions

Happy to be here!

What to Expect

This workshop is about doing things Goal: To have every participant here leave

with at least three things you can’t wait to use to help a job seeker at your branch

Career Resources

Information for People Who Don’t Know What they Want to Do

Defining Resource

“1 a. a source of supply or support . . .” “1 e. a source of information or expertise.” “2 Something to which one has recourse in difficulty.” "resource." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010.

Merriam-Webster Online. 23 January 2010

Career Information We All Need

Self knowledge—who are you and how do you fit into the world of work? Interests, values, skills and personality

Occupational information Job description, working conditions, typical

employers, wages, education and training required, career progression; outlook

Employer information Location, size, culture, organizational

structure, trends/initiatives, leadership team

Where Does the Library Come In?

Information Emotional support Workspace Referrals to resources outside the library

Job Seeker Resources @ the Library

People Librarians Staff (Pages, Technical Assistants, Security,

Specialists) Volunteers and Volunteer Career Coaches Presenters

Information/Materials Databases Books Computers/Wireless Space

Self Assessment & Exploration

Parties, Quizzes and Career Cruising

Free Informational Interviews

Road Trip Nation Ben Zander and Tom First

Bolles’ Party Exercise

Adapted from What Color is Your Parachute? Assumption: people like to work with people

like them Based on Holland personality types

Realistic Types

Practical Thrifty Genuine Enjoys the outdoors Prefers tangible to intangible/theoretical

Investigative Types

Curious Rational Analytical Critical Intellectual Enjoy research; ask a lot of questions

Artistic Types

Expressive Idealistic Original Nonconforming Includes those who appreciate art as well as

those who create it

Social Types

Helpful Cooperative Kind Patient Like to be of service to others or to provide

emotional support

Enterprising Types

Persuasive Talkative Confident Highly Money-Motivated Energetic

Conventional Types

Efficient Orderly Obedient Methodical Love to establish and maintain order

Holland Hexagon

Realistic Investigative

Artistic

SocialEnterprising

Conventional

Data

People

Ideas

Things

Opposites

Overview of Career Cruising

Electronic resource Available from any computer with internet

access with an NYPL Library Card Career Matchmaker Job profiles, school search, financial aid Resume Builder

Looking for Work

How it’s done versus how it should be done

Most Effective Job Search Strategies

Networking—co-workers, previous supervisors, friends, family, etc.

Yellow pages/cold calling Classifieds in the newspaper Internet job postings

Most Heavily Used Strategies

Responding to job postings online Newspaper classifieds Networking Cold calling

In Short

The average job seeker has no idea how to go about looking for

work.

Job Hunting Challenges

Job seekers with international degrees Lack of computer skills No phone/email address/computer

International Degrees

U.S. Department of Education Credential evaluation services

Usually nonprofit Reports are not free

Non-credit/non-degree evaluations Other evaluation services Cost for evaluation or exam

Computer Skills

Computer Resource Centers--NYC Department of Parks and Recreation Courses by skill level Locations throughout NYC Free courses Internet and printer access

Phone Service

Lifeline Service by SafeLink Wireless Universal Service Administrative Company

Information on options for low income families—wireless and landline

Free Email Services

Top 17 Free Email Services

Resources for Older Workers

AARP Foundation Worksearch National Employer Team

WiserWorker.com

Print Resources

aka Books

Recommended Books

Farr, Michael (2006). Seven Step Job Search: Cut Your Job Search Time in Half

Whitcomb, Susan Britton (2006). Job Search Magic: Insider Secrets from America’s Career and Life Coach

Beshara, Tony (2006). The Job Search Solution: The Ultimate System for Finding a Great Job Now

Lore, Nicholas (1998). The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success

Bolles, Richard Nelson (any edition). What Color is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers

Evaluating Resume Books

Target audience Presentation/format Quality of information Quality and breadth of examples

Target Audience

Career and education level Skill set/Industry? Situation

Presentation/Format

Correct grammar and spelling Professional layout Clarity of instructions Examples and worksheets

Information and Examples

Examples of good resumes Range of samples

“Typical” career path Special situations

Chronological, Functional and Combination

But We Don’t Have a Copy of That Book

Maybe not on paper, but perhaps digital?

eNYPL Materials

Great for tech-savvy patrons Materials can’t get lost Patron may need extra guidance on reviewing the

records and using materials at first

Can’t I Learn About Job Hunting During My Commute?

But of course!

E-Audiobooks

Search for Job Search Click on E-Audiobooks I’m drawn to The Ape in the Corner Office,

but follow your own bliss on this one

Important Information

Plays on Just because the e-audiobook plays on i-Pods

and i-Phones doesn’t mean it can be downloaded to a Mac and transferred to the device

Size Does your portable device have space?

Digital Rights Information How can it be used?

E-Audiobooks Pros and Cons

Extremely convenient option for commuters and people who love the gym

Not a great choice for techno-phobes If your iTunes or OverDrive are more than

three days old, odds are you will need to update one or both of them to get things to work

Need high comfort level with adjusting import settings on iTunes to voice only

Best Part of eNYPL Resources

They are available to anyone with a personal computer regardless

of location!

I’ve Heard About this Obscure Career. Tell me about it.

The Wild World of Occupational Research

Occupational Research Tools

Occupational Outlook Handbook—widely available in print and online

O*NET Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center Career Cruising

Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center

Search for Job Profiles Let’s look for a job profile together

Pull Up Ferguson’s

Go to www.nypl.org Books, DVDs and More Articles & Databases Click on the Home link in the description Narrow results by the subject Jobs Click on Ferguson’s

Search for Profile

Type Ergonomist in the search box and click on the arrow button

You will see two job profiles and one industry profile

Search Results

Information Available

Description of what the work is like Earnings information Employment projections Related careers Related industries Traits Education and training/licensure requirements

Resources

Directory of directories Let’s look at resources by industry

Pick an industry that interests you What do you see?

Sample Industry: Fashion

Education—list of educational institutions Periodicals and Websites—Includes

consumer and trade publications Professional Industry, Trade Associations,

and Unions

Career Cruising

Assessments Matchmaker Skills Learning Styles

Careers Schools Portfolio

Assessments

Good for anyone making a career transition or unsure about what they want to do next

Starts with 39 questions Can answer more if they want Results can be saved in portfolio

Careers

Search by word Search by subject A-Z search (index) Search by cluster Career Selector—narrow choices by interest

area/subject, earnings, required education, etc.

Career Cruising School Information

Search for programs using specific criteria Courses of study offered Specific student services available Extra curricular activities

Easy-to-use financial aid search

Researching Companies and Industries

Vault and Wet Feet

Intro to Vault & Wet Feet

Vault conducts surveys of individuals currently employed at large companies and incorporates the data into profiles of those companies. They also include discussion and message boards as part of their site.

Vault’s Career Insider site includes career guides

Wet Feet is mainly focused on career guides which used to be available in print only and are now digital.

When to Recommend

Patrons who have an interview with a Fortune 500 company and need to do some research

Patrons who have a good idea of the company or industry they want to work in, but need more information on who the big players are in the industry or want a list of the top companies for a particular industry

Wet Feet and Vault Not Ideal For

Patrons who have absolutely no idea what they want to do No interest inventory Most of the information is too specific for a

patron who is beginning career exploration to use at that point

Patrons primarily concerned about coping with job loss or making a major life transition

Patrons seeking employment with small businesses

Good Guides to Keep in Mind

Wet Feet Changing Course, Changing Careers Finding the Right Career Path Careers with a Conscience Green Careers

Vault Guide to the Case Interview Advanced Finance and Quantitative Interviews Culinary Careers Nursing Fashion Careers Media, Entertainment & Journalist Careers

Tips for Using Vault & Wet Feet

Vault’s site will not work with IE 6 To use Vault---even on site---each user must

register and create a user name and password before they can access the site

Currently, Vault is only available on site at SIBL, but guides can be emailed home

Wet Feet Guides can be emailed home to patrons or downloaded to a flash drive, but will require a password to open each time

People as Resources

Librarians, SCORE, career coaches and more

People as Resources

Librarians Technical Assistants SCORE counselors Career Coaches Friends/Family Co-workers Supervisors

Listening Does Something

If you have a problem and you talk to someone about it, do you really want their answer?

Experiment: Divide into pairs One person tells the other about a problem Switch

Listening Experiment

Did the other person offer advice? Was it helpful? Why/why not?

Challenges and Problems

Focus on listening and reflecting rather than trying to fix everything

Clarify what the patron would like assistance with

Review possible options Walk the person through as much as you can

Show the patron how to look-up materials Walk with the patron to set-up an appointment

Career Coaching

Expectations & Realities

Quick Question

How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?

What does coaching mean to you?

Motivation Guidance/suggestions for improvement Creating a plan

Coach and Client

Coach Clarifies needs Establishes goals Collaborates with client

on creating an action plan for reaching goals

Assesses progress

Client Describes needs Agrees to established

goals Collaborates with

coach on creating an action plan

Acts on action plan Tracks progress and

reports to coach

Coaches are Resources For

Emotional support Guidance on selecting and using career

resources at the library Referral to other community resources, as

needed Clarification and reframing; acting as a

sounding board to help clients organize their thoughts regarding job search/career exploration

Advice-giving vs. Coaching

Nobody wants to be told what to do; patients don’t listen to their doctors. Who is going to take a coach’s word as gospel?

Coaching is about empowerment Helping people solve their problems Building skills to use for the rest of one’s

career Decision-making Gathering and using information Understanding personal strengths and

weaknesses

Reasonable/Unreasonable Expectations Reasonable

Coach critiques resume

Coach recommends tools for client to use in job search

Coach helps client clarify interests and career goals/direction

Unreasonable Coach writes resume

for patron Coach gives client a

job, list of open positions, or list of companies hiring now

Coach tells client what he or she should do

Coaches at SIBL

Approximately 19 career coaches including AARP coaches

AARP coaches see clients who are age 50 or over on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Some coaching appointments are available in the evenings as well as Saturdays

All coaches are generalists---we do not assign clients by coach “specialty”

Coach Credentials

Certificates/Certifications National Certified Counselor (NCC)

Awarded by the National Board of Certified Counselors the same organization the publishes the National Counselor Exam for Certification and Licensure (NCE)

Educational and experiential requirements Five O’Clock Club

Coach Certification Program Other Programs

Professional Background/Expertise