03/01/2015

The Career Knowledge Series – A New Resource from NCDA

By Shirley Rowe

Do you need to refresh your knowledge on one of the core competencies of career development? Do you want to train your staff on some career development competencies but not necessarily all of them? Have you forgotten some of the topics covered in your graduate counseling course? Are you new to the field of career development and want to start learning on your own? Now NCDA is offering a new resource just for your specific career development needs.

NCDA has developed a new product titled the "Career Knowledge Series",  released in March 2015. This multi-book series includes titles focused on key career development competencies. Each book is between 30 and 80 pages and can be purchased independently or as a set by individual practitioners. Books in the series include basic materials that can be used to develop skills in specific competency areas. Here are some of the highlights of the books within the series:

Helping Skills. Become proficient in the basic career facilitating process. Understand how to develop productive interpersonal relationships. Realize the importance of self-care in the process of helping others.

Training and Leading Groups. Prepare and develop materials for training programs and presentations and understand different learning styles and how they impact your training. Optimize your classroom setting for the most effective learning and explore various methods of instruction. Also explore how groups develop and perform. Learn how to improve your training skills.

Career Theory. Understand career development theories, models, and techniques as they apply to lifelong development, gender, age, and ethnic background. Learn about the career development process. Explores some of the major career theorists such as Holland, Super, Krumboltz and Schlossberg as well as some of the newer, emerging theories.

Assessments. Comprehend and use both formal and informal career development assessments with emphasis on relating appropriate ones to the population served. Learn the pros and cons of using assessments and how to prepare a client for their use.

Multicultural Populations. Learn how to recognize the special needs of various groups and adapt services to meet their needs. It also takes a look at the characteristics needed in a practitioner to effectively work with diverse populations.

Career Information and Technological Resources. Understand labor market and occupational information and trends. Be able to use and evaluate current resources. Determine how to measure your own information literacy.

Employability Skills. Know job search strategies and techniques. Explore the concept of personal branding and networking. Social media and how it relates to the job search.

Program Development. Explores the concept of good planning and what it entails. Provides a 12-step process for program development which includes elements such as scanning your environment, defining your target audience, identifying stakeholders, understanding barriers that may exist, and evaluation among others.

Any of these topics could add to your professional competency, or your staff or students'. Be sure to visit the NCDA Career Resource Store to view the entire series  (as a bundle or individually) and order online. These books are also available individually in e-book format.

Shirley Rowe, M.Ed., GCDF-I is the Owner of Front Rowe Consulting, a consulting firm offering speaking and training services, career management, and instructional design and has over twenty years of experience in career development. She is nationally certified to teach the Career Development Facilitator curriculum and serves on the NCDA CDF Advisory Council. You can reach Shirley at shirleyrowe3930@gmail.com.

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