Train the Teachers Better!

Here we go again. Secy. of Education Ann Duncan recently delivered a speech calling for more and better teacher preparation in USA teacher education programs. Secy Duncan said that in order to make sure that the US remains competitive, more time, attention and yes, financial resources must be given to better teacher education.

All of this is well and good, but we have several huge roadblocks here.. including our cultural bias against educators in general (on the whole we pay them little), the poor morale of American teachers( about half leave the profession in five years) and our odd ability as a culture to blame teachers for many of society's ills...poor student performance and high property taxes among many others.

What is it going to take to change the way we educate our teachers, who in turn educate our children?
First, teachers need respect. No one with any brains enters a profession where so little respect is given to those within it. Second, teachers need support, and that includes the support of administrators (themselves former teachers) parents, community leaders, etc. Finally, teachers need exposure to the work world that their students will be living in; business and education still rarely mix, and I believe that is one underlying reason we find ourselves in the economic mess that we are in.

Downtime Vrs.Missed Opportunities

Are you glad that you were laid off? Has it given you a sense of relief?

Perhaps for some the questions above might come as a surprise, however many recently laid off people report a sense of relief and sudden peace that the ax has finally fallen and they can leave all the stress and anxiety their job produced in them behind. If you were fortunate enough to receive a severance package that provides not only an income but health benefits for several more months it is tempting to delay any job/career search and just kick back for a while.

So, do you do it? Do you go "on vacation" from life and chill out? My advise is sure...you earned it....but the job/career search can be a long and arduous road and will probably take more time than you think so decide on a reasonable break and then get back into the saddle as soon as you can. Make an action plan; include in it the services of a career coach/counselor and get busy. If this action plans includes a career change as well, then you have another complication adding to the timeline. Do not delay!

Pulling Out All the Stops

Yesterday I volunteered to critique resumes at a local job fair. I met with a young women who had just earned her master's degree in school counseling. She was bemoaning her lack of a job, saying that area schools (she meant public schools) were just not hiring. I asked her a series of questions and her answers immediately showed me that she had not pulled out all of the stops in her job search. Had she gone to her university's career center for help?... had she looked into employment in any private schools in the area?...had she joined any professional associations or her alumni association and tried networking through those?...had she tried social networking sites?...had she expanded her search outside of this area, especially into places where there were immigrant populations speaking the languages that she speaks? and finally, had she considered her transferable skills and how to use them to secure employment in another area of counseling?...Obviously, this young women had not...and that is one reason that she does not have a job right now.

In this market, it is very important to "pull out all the stops" and leave no stone unturned when looking for a job. Make sure that you do.

Career Change and Networking

I recently read a blog entry written by an MBA who has spent the last seven years in the financial world. He has decided that he wants a career change but has been having trouble making connections. It has just occurred to him that while he has many connections in the financial world, he has yet to establish any in his target career. How can he establish such connections when he has no experience as yet in the new career (much less a job or any training)? My advise to him would be to work with a career coach who expertise includes how to network and how to get experience and contacts in your new career. Remember, the best investment you can ever make is in yourself>

Starting a Private Practice-Colleagues to the Rescue

Here is what it takes to begin a private practice.

A New Reality

One of the things that I enjoy as a career coach is the variety of clients that I service. Besides my private practice, I also volunteer at my local one stop career center where I use my group skills with a new collection of people each week, many of them immigrants to the US. It always strikes me how different we are as a people and yet how similar. What I am hearing from all my clients is how the "new reality" of job and career search is challenging the mental and perhaps even physical health of most of us, and what I continue to tell everyone, from the newest immigrant to the executive at mid career is the following: continue to hang in there, work your network, prepare career plans A, B and maybe even C, be positive, and be good to yourself even in the smallest way. Remember that you are the president of "You" Inc. and it is in your best interests now and in the future to always be prepared for changes in your work life.

Over on Career 'Rocketeer'

Have a look at this article about Making a Career Plan. It appears on Career Rocketeer, which is also on my linklist to the right.