Education and Career - career cluster

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Career selection and career potential are closely linked to the education. As such, the concept of career selection had to be understood and the actual selection is to be thought well before his first day in college. Unfortunately, majority of the students will not be able to do it, mainly due to the lack of awareness and knowledge.

The thought behind it is simple, you choose the cluster of profession you like to get into, and that will be the guide for you to choose you course and the major.

I had come across an article on the career cluster. I think it is very useful and I like to share this with the readers. I hope it can highlight the concept and assist the students to select the courses.

The article is below..

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Since 1960s, career cluster resources have been used as career exploration and planning tools in schools, learning communities, and organizations across the nation. Career Clusters is a system that matches educational and career planning.

Step 1: Identifying Career Cluster Interest Areas

Career clusters are groups of similar occupations and industries. When teachers, counselors, and parents work with teens, college students, and adults, the first step is to complete career cluster assessment. The assessment identifies the highest career cluster areas. Career assessments show teens, college students, and adults rankings from one of the following 16 Interests Areas or Clusters:

1. Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources

2. Architecture & Construction

3. Arts, A/V Technology & Communication

4. Business, Management & Administration

5. Education & Training

6. Finance

7. Government & Public Administration

8. Health Science

9. Hospitality & Tourism

10. Human Services

11. Information Technology

12. Law, Public Safety & Security

13. Manufacturing

14. Marketing, Sales & Service

15. Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

16. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Step 2: Exploring Career Clusters and Related Careers

After pinpointing the highest career clusters, teens, college students, and adults explore the different careers and create education plans. Career cluster tools used in career and educational planning include:

• LISA: A comprehensive career cluster database
• Models
• Brochures
• Pathways
• High school plan of study
• Interest and Skills Areas
• Crosswalks

After completing a career cluster assessment, teens, college students, and adults look at web sites, career models, brochures, pathways, and high school plans. One of the most unique comprehensive career cluster resources is the Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), an Internet program. LISA lets you explore career clusters, careers, abilities, training requirements, and more. There are 3 steps in the LISA program:

STEP 1: Click here to select a Career Cluster

STEP 2: Click here to select a Career Group

STEP 3: Explore Occupations within this Career Group

In Step 1, when you choose a career cluster, you will see a description of the cluster. When you select a career group in Step 2, you see different careers. Finally, in Step 3, you see a wealth of information:

• Job descriptions
• Educational and training requirements
• Crosswalks, for example ONET, DOT, GOE, and other codes
• Abilities
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Tasks
• Work Values
• Labor Market Information

Even though LISA is an awesome program, in classroom or workshop settings, you need printed materials. When using printed materials, the career model is the best place to start. Models provide excellent overviews listing the cluster definitions, sample careers, pathways, knowledge, and skills. Visual models show career clusters, the cluster subgroups, and related careers. Models are an excellent way to introduce career clusters.

For presentations, workshops, and group discussions, the career cluster brochures provide additional information. Adults and teens read about the different careers that are available in each career cluster. Teachers, counselors, and parents use the brochures to solidify adults' and teens' potential career or educational decisions. The brochures cover topics such as:

• Definition of career clusters
• Careers
• Career pathways
• Employment outlooks
• Skills
• Credentials

Teachers, counselors, and parents use career pathways for more detailed information. The career pathways are subgroups or areas of concentration within career clusters. Each pathway contains career groups. The career groups have similar academic skills, technical skills, educational requirements, and training requirements. Career pathways are plans of study that outline required secondary courses, post secondary courses, and related careers. The career pathways are essential tools that teachers, counselors, parents, and other adults use to give educational planning advice.

Several web sites feature High School Plans of Study. These study plans show required, elective, and suggested courses for each grade level. The school plans also match the career clusters to related careers, career pathways, and post-secondary options. Teachers, counselors, and parents find that these school plans are guides for selecting the right high school courses to match potential careers. Beyond high school, the Utah System for Higher Education has created a College Major Guide. Parents, teachers, and counselors can use the guide to match college majors to Certificate and Degree Programs.

Additional Resources for Counselors and Teachers

For planning curriculum and educational programs, there are detailed Knowledge and Skills Charts and Cluster Crosswalks. The knowledge and Skills expand upon the information listed on the career cluster models. For each knowledge and skill area, there are performance elements and measurement criteria. Crosswalks show the relationships between career clusters and other career models:

Career clusters build a bridge between education and career planning. Different types of career cluster resources are available: videos, web sites, booklets, brochures, activity sheets, and workbooks. Teachers, counselors, and parents use career cluster resources to successfully complete career and educational planning.

Resources:

American Careers Career Paths, Career Communications, 6701 W. 64th St., Overland, KS 66202, 800-669-7795

Career Click, Illinois Department of Employment Security,33 South State Street, Chicago, IL 60603, (312) 793-5700

CIP Code Index by Career Cluster, Adult & Postsecondary CTE Division, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, 333 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17126, (717) 772-0814

Cluster and Career Videos, Career One Stop, U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210, 866-4-USA-DOL

College Major Guide Utah System for Higher Education, Board of Regents Building, The Gateway, 60 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1284, (801) 321-7100

Find Careers (Videos), iSeek Solutions, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Wells Fargo Place, 30 7th St. E., Suite 350, St. Paul, MN 55101-7804

High School Plans of Study, New Hampshire Department of Education, 101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301-3860, (603) 271-3494
Introduction to Career Clusters, Career Education, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, P.O. Box 543
Blacklick, OH 43004-0544,

Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), customized Internet version of OSCAR, a product of the Texas Workforce Commission/Career Development Resources, TWC/CDR, Austin, TX 78753

Maryland Career Clusters, Maryland State Department of Education 200 West Baltimore Street Baltimore, MD 21201,

Rhodes Island's Career Clusters, Rhode Island's Career Resource Network, 1511 Pontiac Avenue, Cranston, RI 02920, 401-462-8790

School to Career Clusters, State of Connecticut, Department of Labor, Job Bank, 645 South Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457, (860)754-5000

States' Career Clusters Initiative (SCCI), 1500 W. Seventh Avenue, Stillwater, OK 74074
Career Pathway Plans, Career Cluster, Knowledge and Skills Charts

VTECS Cluster Frameworks, VTECS, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA, 30033,404-679-4501 ext 543

What are Career Clusters? Career Prospects System, New Mexico Career Resource Network, CAREER TECHNICAL AND WORKFORCE EDUCATION BUREAU (CTWEB), Education Building, 300 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 827-6512

Dr. Mary Askew specializes in Holland Codes, career cluster, and transferable skills career tests, websites, and books for adults, high school students, college students, and teens. Find easy to use, yet comprehensive career resources. Move towards your career potentials athttp://www.hollandcodes.com Contact Dr. Askew at learning4life@qwest.net Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Askew

Job Interview - questions and answers

Getting through a job interview is the mean to get a job. If you are going for your first interview, you need to review how it should be done.

Some interviewers take the care to break the ice and reduce the tensions and apprehension of the interviewees. There may be the "small talk" about common topics such as the weather, the traffics etc.. There may be the interviewers who purposely induces more tension, " I want to see them handling the tension..".

You can check the video on how to handle some of the issues of over-qualification, what to say and what not to say.

Tool to Improve Customer Services

Good customers services is essential to compete in the market economy. It is an integral components of the product delivery. The interacting with a customers is made through a contact point and it is important to plan each contact point to leave a positive impression on the customers. Each industry has its own points of contacts. For an airline, the main contact points are as follows:

1. The online of phone flight booking.
2. The airport check in.
3. The boarding movement.
4. On flight services
5. Post flight services.

Service industries can learn the tools from manufacturing industry to improve the quality and delivery of their products. The manufacturers have been using both the Six Sigma and Lean methodologies in their processes.These methodologies had been used successfully to identify causes of waste and defects and the services business are eying to implement them.

The 6 sigma methods was invented by Motorola in 1980s and popularised by GE. It involves the systematic data collections and process analysis tools using hypothesis testing tools to identify the cause and effects.

Each of the Six Sigma tools follow the prescribed process of DMAIC:
a. Define the problem
b. Measure it - identify the measurement requirements and measuring methods, capture the data.
c. Analysis - using the selected statistical tools.
d. Improve the processes , measure the new process and if it is satisfactory then:
e. implement and control it.

Six sigma is a measure of deviation or error of 6 parts per million outputs, so each of the main contact points to be monitored and control to ensure compliance to standard.

It is noting that, the physical components of the airlines products, such as the aircraft amenities the food can be duplicated by the competitors. However a good customers service is harder to copy and it can become a differentiating points for the airline.

Note: Although, the article consider the customer as the external customers, you may be involved in serving the internal customers who in turn serve the paying external customers. The internal customers deserve similar quality of service.

"get noticed at work"

It is important to "get noticed at work" to ensure that you have a better chance for the next available promotion. Do not let yourself be invisible and beyond the radar of you boss. If you are in that situation, we have some tips to get noticed.

1. create positive impact.

Remember the time of the interview, when you wanted the job badly, we were planning on how to create a positive impact in the interview. That frame of mind and the desire to create a positive impact is important. Use the first opportunity available to impress your bosses and make sure that people know about your contributions and the positive impacts you had produced.

2. Add value to the business

Your efforts should add value to the company. Not withstanding the sectors your are working, look for ways that you can add the value to your organisation.

3. Upgrade your skills.

Take the opportunity to volunteer for additional tasks that will upgrade your skill and at the same time add value to the organisation.

4. Be honest

Everyone makes mistake. Be honest if you had created a mistake and try to find solution to rectify the mistake. The real issue in on how to resolve the problem.

5. Remember the basics

Despite the big plan, it is important to remember the basics, be at work early and leave slightly late. Keep record of your achievements, volunteer works and stay update.

Another important thing is to create a networks of friends, be ready to help other and be honest about it. The network may be a valuable support for you promotion.

job application - getting the first interview

If you are a fresh graduate, getting the first interview can be an apprehensive experience. You may be wondering what to prepare, what to wear and what to say in the interview.

The best way is to get some feedback from the experienced persons. Your friends or family members must have gone trough some sort of interview. Get the tip from them.

Sometime we are more comfortable with a specific mode of communication. The young generation will be very familiar with e-mail and texting. However their parents may prefer the face to face interaction and building network. It is good to have a good working knowledge of all and specialized in one of two communication skills.

The video here shows some tips on getting your first interview.

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making a winning speech

As you ascend higher in your career, the ability to makewinning speeches is becoming more critical. Many analysts put the ability of Obama to delivery his mesmerizing keynote in 2004 as the single most important reason for his rise to the presidency.

What made him so charismatic? Why did the American listen to him and vote him?. The followings are the noted techniques that enriched his delivery.

1. Give them hope. This can be done if you yourself believe and remain hopeful. When the going gets tough, people are facing uncertainty, not sure of the future, you have to come strong and provide the reason why optimism is the right course. Despite the unpopular war in Iraq and the worst recession, Obama brought the message of hope.

2. Project Yourselves as a winner. A act with confident whatever the challenges you are facing. Put yourself as positive and healthy. Look at how Obama handled his earlier defeat at Hampshire. He delivered a speech full of optimism that rally his supporters behind him. This was what he said.. "we know the battle ahead will be long. but always remember, no matter what obstacles stand in the way, nothing can stand on the way of millions of voices calling for change.."

3. Use of Rich Imagery. To help the audience to create the mental pictures through your words, use the five senses of virtual, auditory, kinesthetic, smell and taste images. In 2004, Obama painted a picture of the hope, when he said..." it is the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom song, the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta..."

4. Use of Figurative Language. The use metaphor will greatly strengthen your point. It is a way to give a new meaning to your words. The like of the cold war, when Churchill created the term.."the iron curtain" to describe the Russian.

5. Employ contrast: When Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969, he said,.. "one small step for man, one giant step for mankind". The method was used by Obama when he said.."tomorrow you will be able to choose a policy that invest in middle class and create jobs that this economy will grow so that everybody has a chance to succeed. Not just CEO, but secretary and the junitor.

Making speech is part of the necessary tool to influence others. Depending on the situation, the speech can be delivered with the intention to attract the emotional or the intellectual side of the listener.

Get Promoted

job progression
Moving up the rank in your job progression requires careful planning and proper execution. This is because the corporate world is very competitive, volatile and unpredictable. The best way to do is, to move up the ladder step by step and take time to scan the surrounding and reequip yourself.

Here are some tips:

a. Inspire trust.
In most cases, the bosses are under pressure to deliver and he is struggling to find someone he can trust to do the job. Trust has to be earned and the normal way of gaining trust is to deliver the assigned jobs. To be able to perform the task is only the starting point, as for you to move into the management position, you need to demonstrate the management capability.

Managing capability is different from the production capability. This is because, managing is getting the jobs done through other peoples. So beside the tasks skills, a manager has to have the human skills. There is a lot to learn in this area, the domain of knowledge include the affective domain, dealing with the soft aspect of the job.

b. make yourself indispensable.
Build up your capacity and offer to help the company and your bosses in his main areas of concern. It is important to make your boss looks good within the organisation. If you had done that, mot likely your boss will appreciate and depend on you for further assignments.

c. Know Your Job.
This is the most important, If you are promoted to a higher position, take time to learn and find ways to get people to advise you. You may now be responsible for other people's career, so be sensitive to their needs. It may be worth to remain at a certain level and build up your knowledge, rather than climbing up the ladder too quickly.

d. Lead wisely.
If you promotion is purely based on merit, then you can safety be proud and confident in your new post. Of course there will be jealous and dissatisfaction especially among your colleagues and more those who had be longer in the company.

selecting your new job

I had been thinking and asking the question... "how does a new college graduate select her or his job?".

It seem to be a simple and straight forward question. However, when I asked some of the colleagues at work, majority said that the job selection was left to the game of chance. It was either the first one available, or they stumbled upon the advert in the paper or even they followed their friends.

I came across this video in the tube. I thought it is good. At least the proper process was followed when they do the self assessment to check our strength and preferences. They even provide the solution and the actions to be taken, in term of what additional skills and knowledge if you happen to choose a job beyond your present skill level.

The video shows Northwest Michigan Career Planning and Career Assessment Workshop.

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selecting your new job

I had been thinking and asking the question... "how does a new college graduate select her or his job?".

It seem to be a simple and straight forward question. However, when I asked some of the colleagues at work, majority said that the job selection was left to the game of chance. It was either the first one available, or they stumbled upon the advert in the paper or even they followed their friends.

I came across this video in the tube. I thought it is good. At least the proper process was followed when they do the self assessment to check our strength and preferences. They even provide the solution and the actions to be taken, in term of what additional skills and knowledge if you happen to choose a job beyond your present skill level.

The video shows Northwest Michigan Career Planning and Career Assessment Workshop.

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Jobs Interview Tactics

Getting through the interview is the way to get job.
I find this video is helpful to prepare for the interview. Of course do not expect miracle from a 7 minute video. But it help to understand different style of interviewers and get yourself prepared for it.

The key to success is preparation. Preparation can only be done with knowledge.