KSA'S Gone!

The federal government recently announced that as of April, 2010, KSA's (knowledge, skills and abilities) will no longer be required for most federal job applications. I say "most" because it will still be up to the hiring manager to decide whether or not to use them in the vetting process. The federal government, it appears, wants to move more toward a private sector style job application.


Keep in mind, All You Federal Job Seekers Out There, that an awareness of your knowledge, skills and abilities, and the ability to write them in "sales" style, is still very important, no matter what type of resume you are writing. KSA's may no longer be necessary on the application, but still should appear in the body of your resume. Read the federal job announcement carefully. No matter whether it asks for a USAJobs style resume or not, understanding what your knowledge, skills and abilities are, and how to write them is still key, and will remain so.

Need help? Contact a career coach. You will be glad that you did.

WSJ Recent Article the Worth of a Degree

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the dollar worth of a college education. Per the article, in recent years the nonprofit College Board estimated that a degreed individual would earn as much as $800,000 more than a non-degreed individual over a lifetime. The article goes on to say that this estimate was based on the 2002 Census Bureau report entitled "The Big Payoff".

Now, a representative of The American Institutes for Research calls all of this into question. The estimates, per this individual do not factor in such things as student loan debt, or breaks in employment. Essentially, no one can predict what someone will earn.

There is no question that every American needs some kind of post secondary education and/or training. However, like with anything else in life, look before you leap. Make sure your student has an idea of what he wants to study, what kind of work his major will lead him to, what kinds of opportunities there will be for this work in the future, and how else future education and/or training might be secured beside the very expensive four (or five or six) year college education route.

Getting More Out of Your Graduate Education

So, you have decided to return to school and get a graduate degree. You have done your research (you think) and have decided to get a graduate degree not because you do not know what else to do but because you are sure that this degree will assist you in further career development. If you are like many graduate students now, you feel you need further education to insure career success in the future.

Whether or not the above is true is up to you...however, if the above describes you, then I suggest that you pay attention to the following during the course of your education: consider seriously how the knowledge that you are learning can be applied to your present job or to the one you want in the future...do you see a direct match? It is not enough for the admissions department to see the match; you must see it and understand how all you are learning can lead to future success. Then, talk to your professors! Tell them about your career goals...use them as mentoring sources. Many professors work in business too and those are the people who can help you the best. Lastly, volunteer within your field; look for internship and shadowing opportunities so that as you prepare to graduate, your can show both theoretic and practical knowledge to a potential employer.

"Slow Careers"

I recently read on article on this subject. A "slow career" is defined these days as a cultural shift, and as a slowing down of one's life pace...either because of choice or because the slowdown is thrust upon you. The article states that frequently this slowdown leads to the development of better self-understanding and increased ability to deal with the demands of life, employment, etc.

I think we will see more "slow career' participants in the coming years. Our population is aging, and although the baby boomers are probably the healthiest, both physically and mentally, of any group that has ever approached "old" age in this country, many of these folks will opt out of their present "fast' careers situations as soon as they can,,or they will be pushed out. What is interesting is that this phenomenon sparks interest in younger people as well. The stress and pace of modern careers and modern lifestyles, coupled with the challenging economic times, makes the concept of a slow career very attractive for various reasons to some. Think about this concept as you ponder your next career move. Your physical and mental health may thank you in the future!

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.