Sunday, November 11, 2007

New State CareerZone websites Available

We've got exciting news to share about some new alliances we've created. Our counterparts in California and Pennsylvania have created their own state versions of CareerZone. You can check them out at www.cacareerzone.org and www.pacareerzone.org. Each site has been customized with state labor market information and connections to relevant educational resources. These are free resources just like the original New York State version. Check these sites out for more information.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

What’s Ahead for 2007-2008?

One of the questions that people always ask the CareerZone team is “What’s new this year?” Updates to our career websites are based on the needs and requests of you, our customer. We believe the reason that CareerZone is used by over one million kids in New York State each year is because we continue to refine and add to the system based upon ongoing dialogue with users.

This summer has been a busy one here at the Career Resource Office. We’ve been working to implement a new management system for the portfolio modules in CareerZone and JobZone. The management system will allow counselors and/or teachers to guide use of the portfolio system by allowing access to portfolio work and provided an in-system mail service for communication. You may notice that we now have a new job bank connected to our systems. America’s Job Exchange replaced the America’s Job Bank system this summer.

We are developing some new graphics for the homepage and profile pages to update the website for the coming year. We are revising the resume section in CareerZone and JobZone so that users can select from a chronological, functional or combined resume output. Another important work item is the updating of the Work Importance Profiler interface. For those of you listed on the Find a Trainer page, be on the alert for a call from our office. We’re updating the trainer database so if you know someone who wants to share their CareerZone knowledge please give us a call. You can reach us in the office at 1-877-226-5724.

Now you’re up to date!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

It's that time again

‘Tis the season for developing new workshop proposals and planning fall calendars to reach out to professionals gathering at conferences across the state. It’s an opportunity for the CareerZone Team to share system updates with a wide variety of customers across education and workforce development communities and to gather feedback about the neat applications of the system that have been locally developed.

This year we’ve been asked to present at the regional Career and Technical Education conferences, the Guidance Expo in Westchester County, the Fall Workforce NY Conference, and the Mental Health Association Annual Conference just to name a few. While presentations offer an opportunity to directly affect the work of practitioners, it is also an extremely effective way to gather information from our customers.

Do you know of a conference that we should attend this fall or the coming spring? We offer a variety of presentations around broad career development themes and the changing workplace of the new economy. We also provide school or organization-based training tailored for your staff. Put us to work for you.

Monday, July 30, 2007

The Real Deal at Sachem CSD

I had the privilege of working with Jeanette James, the Chair of the Business/ Career Development Department and her dedicated team at Sachem Central School District for two days last week. Sachem is one of the largest suburban school districts in New York State and serves over 15,000 students. They are also the largest customers of the CareerZone System and the people we look to for help in making the system more user friendly.

We spent two days reviewing the Real Game curriculum for 7 & 8 grade and 9 & 10 grade. The Real Game Series is an experiential career development curriculum that allows students to role play adult life and make decisions about where they want to live and how they spend their paycheck. The team at Sachem is using these programs to enhance an existing class for older students and as the framework of their newly revised Career and Financial Management class for 8th graders. It was a pleasure to watch as the group spent each day reviewing the materials and identifying how this supplemented an existing resource or filled a gap in the curriculum. Sachem already has a strong career development program but they consistently fine-tune their materials so that students continue to build skills and knowledge for the 21st century.

Under Jeanette's care, the Sachem CSD has integrated the Career Development and Occupational Studies (CDOS) learning standards into each child's educational experience. She has worked with academic and CTE teachers to identify the relevant skills they teach and explored ways of helping students use this information to plan for their futures. Each year, all 15,000 students have the opportunity to explore and plan for the future at least 4 times over the school year. If you're interested in how they do this, visit the Career Development webpage at Sachem for more information. Sachem is an example of how even the largest of schools can make career development work!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Welcome to the NY CareerZone Blog

This blog is designed to gather feedback from NY CareerZone (http://www.nycareerzone.org/) users from across the State. I have crisscrossed New York State for the past ten years providing training and support for the CareerZone project and during that time I have learned as much from my training participants as they have learned from me. The CareerZone website is a comprehensive career exploration and planning system and its application with students and adults is limited only by our imagination.

This blog will provide information on updates that have been made to the CareerZone System as well as implementation strategies from professionals. Please feel free to share ideas as we begin this new blogging journey.