Deidre Dutcher Leading Career Navigator Workshop
When the recession started taking its toll on organizations across the country, the DOL reported that managers, IT personnel, sales professionals and other upper-level, professional employees were being affected by lay-offs in much greater numbers than in past downsizings. As part of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the DOL offers retraining programs for displaced employees in conjunction with unemployment benefits. Unfortunately, the programs offered are geared toward front-line employees who need additional skill sets to find a different career path. Many professional-
Career Navigator is an interactive, hands-on workshop where participants learn how to use their skills to plan a full-time, effective job search. Conducted by certified Career Navigator facilitators, the five-day workshop teaches job seekers how to set up a job-search network, market themselves to prospective employers and make a successful transition from one industry to another, including: self-assessment of transferable skills; developing a marketing plan and value proposition;
Currently the Career Navigator pilot has one workshop scheduled per week in Rochester, New York through the last week of January, 2010 with plans to add additional workshops whendemand increases. Over 100 professional job seekers have already gone through the five-day program. The average participant has a bachelor's or master's degree and earned approximately $50,000. There are slightly more men than women in the classes and most of them have been searching for a job anywhere from 2 months to 2 years (with some contract or temp jobs in between).
Many of the workshop participants had already attended other job search workshops and outplacement services. All of the Career Navigator participants found the 5-day program to be a wonderful investment of time that gave them the tools and knowledge they needed to be more proactive and motivated in their search.
Everyone who completes the program participates in a weekly, two-hour Search Team. These are groups that are facilitated by a certified Career Navigator Facilitator and provide support, accountability and motivation through what are now very extended search periods.
With four workshops completed and 100 participants performing effective, efficient job searches, the success of Career Navigator seems a given. With current funding for the Rochester pilot ending in January, Dutcher envisions rolling the program out nationwide to city and state agencies, as well as out-placement organizations and companies looking to create an in-house program to support displaced employees.
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