Mike Kelly

Career investigation and development is an ongoing process and we need to instill this mindset in students.  They need to be confident in themselves when career challenges present themselves.  They may remain in the same or similar profession for their lifetime, or make a change.  Either way, students benefit from knowing this and being prepared for change.  Heck, career opportunites don't even exist today that will be at the forefront in 15 years.  

I like the emphasis on discussing life situations and changes, including personal development, all have a strong effect on the possibility of career changes.  And that is not only OK, but healthy.

There are so very many steps in actually securing employment, from researching available job opportunities, to resume development, the application process, interviewing and then follow up.  Ongoing support for students that we can provide on this journey can be life changing for them, and we just might be that one and only person who was there to help them.

Exploring and doing your research is so important so that you have an understanding of what is all involved day in and out in a specific career pathway, what it takes to get there, and what the occupational outlook is for that career pathway.

Assessing your event, both from the employer perspective as well as the student perspective, is a best practice in ensuring successful similar events in the future.  It also provides good ROI information for stakeholders.

Helping students to prepare for a career fair/job fair is important to do.  It's instilling those essential skills in them so that they can be successful and engaging with employer prospects. 

Planning for your event in an intentional way is crucial to its success.  Cover all areas - budgets, dates, venues, marketing, recruitment efforts, etc..  Begin early.

I came away from this module with a better understanding of the importance of clear communication around these events.  I also was introduced to a variety of "names/labels" attached to events such as a career fair of yesterday.

Community and industry partnerships are essential as they play a huge role in the alignment of classroom education and real world career workforce requirements and applications.  CTE programs cannot be effective whatsoever without these partnerships.

As challenging as it is sometimes engaging students in the importance of CTE, likewise it is the same with parents. We need to continuously communicate the value of CTE programs and student opportunities available through them to parents and get them onboard early on in their children's education journey.  And then keep them involved as their student moves forward in the educational progression.