Blog 12

        I really found the higher education groups presentation very interesting. I really think the Focus 2 is a very valuable resource that could be used with students who are undeclared or seniors who are looking at entering the job force in a few months. I liked the idea of having a workshop that lasted four weeks. I think breaking all of these items up over that time period would be really beneficial for students so they have time to comprehend what they have learned in the previous session. I really like the idea of using a group narrative approach at the end to wrap up everything that has been covered in the previous session. I think this group session could really help to show these students that they aren’t the only one alone in their struggle, and they would also be able to provide insight for the other members. Overall I found that presentation very enlightening and I feel like it would be super useful with people in higher education.

                As for this week’s readings, I guess what really stuck out for me in chapter 11 was the idea of outplacement services. I did not realize that companies even offered outplacement services if they were to let a position go. I think this is a really useful service as long as the person uses it to its full potential. I know after reading that they likely only last for about a month but still they provide the individual with useful skills to be able to find another job. I was also thinking about job placement facilities that charge for their services if you are successful in finding a job. I think that there should be some sort of public service announcement that alerts individuals to the dangers that could arise through the use of these programs. I understand that most do not really take a full month’s salary upon finding a job, but I feel that people deserve the right to know that some of these companies are only out to make money and not be truly helpful.

                Chapter 16 I felt was very important. As we enter into our desired fields we are going to be developing programs and seeing how they work with individuals. This may be with career counseling or behavioral programs. I think it is extremely important for us to collect data. In today’s world your efforts only count if you can show improvement. If you cannot show that your program helped lead to a desired result no one will find it impressive. Our society is impressed by cold, hard, facts and data. So it is extremely important for us to become familiar with the different styles of experiments and ways of collecting data, because it could mean job security for us.

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling and career development. (10^th ed.). New York: Pearson Education Inc.