Career Kids

Job Hunters Must Stay On Top of Technology

A woman returns back to work after 30 years:

Tools for America's Job Seeker's Challenge

The Department of Labor is having a competition called Tools for America's Job Seekers Challenge.

They are asking people to vote for the best on-line services for job search and career information. There is a database of hundreds of websites that offer some kind of service.

Career Kids has registered our two free resume generating programs. My First Resume was developed for students to learn how their skills and talents can be translated into job skills. For other workers, Quick Resume for Adults was developed to help those individuals in transition who needed help writing a resume. One-Stop Career Centers and other service providers will also find it very useful.

There is a voting deadline of January 15th! If you are reading this in time to vote, please to to the site. There is a very simple registration. You can vote for our two programs by doing a search for them or going to these links: Quick Resume for Adults at the DOL Challenge and My First Resume at the DOL Challenge.

Thank you for voting if you can. If you miss the deadline, I believe the listings will be up for quite a long time. There are many, many great sites in the database and will be worth some time researching them.

New PBS Financial Literacy Series

I just read information about a new financial literacy series on PBS that begins tonight at 9:00 (but verify your local programming). Your Life, Your Money looks like it is targeting the middle school through mid-twenties age group to help them understand a variety of topics about money. They also have an excellent website which includes lots of support material for teachers, parents, young adults and anyone interested in learning more about money. Finances is an area where knowledge is empowering. I'm trying to figure out how to get my twenty-something kids to watch it.

All Sorts of Things Going On...

Here are some announcements, links and information we distributed in our recent newsletter and twitter. (I admit, I really do not like twitter and look forward to someone telling me I don't "need" to use it anymore.) Hope these are helpful:

- We have a new Careers for Me Plus edition. Let us know if you would like a sample mailed to you.
- A new edition of the software for Careers for Me Junior is about to be released.
- Here are some interesting links:
    - Mini grants for service-oriented projects performed by youth are available through the Pay It Forward Foundation: http://tinyurl.com/d9rwa9
    - Read about Vail Valley school district helping students with disabilities get ready for the transition from school to work.
    - Read about the study showing that a parent's best bet is to have a no tolerance drinking rule for underage kids.
    - Top 60 Jobs That Will Rock Your Future list.
    - Download free handouts on bullying, ethics and parenting from Barbara Coloroso.
    - Latest article on our about to take your real-life experiences and translate them into transferable skills.

Sally Ride and Some Thoughts

I have a season ticket for a speaker's series in Sacramento. Last year, one of the speakers was Sally Ride. She was one of the better speakers, as well as having one of the most impressive resumes a person can hold.

In addition to everything she has accomplished (Ph.D. in physics from Stanford, the first American female in space having been on two shuttle missions, and currently a professor at UC San Diego), she started a company in 2001 called Sally Ride Science (www.sallyridescience.com). It's purpose is to encourage science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers to kids, particularly girls.

Ms. Ride is understandably concerned about the difficulties in keeping kids -- especially girls -- interested in math and science. In an Associated School Counselor's Association podcast,  she discusses the link between math and science skills to the economy. Sally Ride Science provides professional development programs, homeschool and classroom science resources, science and career books and school programs.

There are also some great science links on Sally Ride's website, and you can hear her on more podcasts. She's enthusiastic, knowledgeable and has a passion for her field and in reaching young people. For more information about Sally Ride, as well as other people who have contributed to our society, check out the Career Biography Series.

My unscientific observation has been that boys, as well as girls, are no longer as interested in STEM careers as they might have been a generation ago. There may be a need to have two different approaches for the genders, but let's make sure we are reaching everyone.

And the Pursuit of Happiness - Can Do

If you want to smile, feel a little motivated, and like Benjamin Franklin (who doesn't?), check this out:
And the Pursuit of Happiness - Can Do

We have a new school year just around the corner. My youngest daughter is starting her first year of high school in two weeks. I truly feel she is going to have a great four years.

We are looking forward to the new school year here at Career Kids, too. Some exciting new products are in the pipeline and we're working hard to add more products and free resources to the website. Stay tuned!

Planning for College? Good News for Southern Californians

If you've got a high schooler beginning the college admissions process and you live in Southern California, you're in luck.

UCLA Extension is offering a FREE college admissions workshop next month. Here's how they describe it:

Find out how to navigate the college admissions process at a FREE workshop sponsored by UCLA Extension. Presented by Dr. Rebecca Joseph, the workshop is designed to give parents the tools and knowledge to help their high school students prepare for the college application and admissions process. The workshop addresses:

• Working effectively with high school counselors
• Extracurricular activities and course choices
• Preparing for standardized tests
• Applying to the right colleges and visiting college campuses
• The college application process itself

The free workshop takes place Monday, April 20, 7-9 p.m., in Dodd Hall Room 147 on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP by April 15 to 310-206-7229 or amarkowi@uclaextension.edu. Include your name, email address and daytime phone number, and number of attendees.

Still Drinking After All These Years

It's a fine-line that needs to be walked when it comes to alcohol. In our household we strongly subscribe to the no-tolerance attitude for underage drinking. It's not OK for our teens to drink under our roof, over our roof, or anybody else's roof. Having said that, we made it very clear that IF they drank, there would be no punishment, yelling, etc., if they called us or a neighbor or the parents of a friend to pick them up. We have a bigger no-tolerance for drinking and driving than we do for just drinking.

How do you not sound hypocritical or tolerant if you say "don't drink, but call us if you do"?

I haven't found the answer to that yet, but that's the way we have handled it.

Now, I know that there have been many parties where the parents not only allowed alcohol, but they purchased the booze! I still shake my head when I think of it. We have a program in our community that helps us with the dilemma of non-thinking parents. It's called the Placer Parent Host Program. The program consists of a public awareness campaign for parents to inform them about the laws. But the power of the program is that parents sign a Responsible Host Pledge guaranteeing that they will not expose youth to alcohol or drugs in their homes, they will not allow parties in their home when they aren't present, they will chaperone the parties and all sorts of other responsible, common sense things. The database of parents who have signed the pledge is on the website so that you can look up the name of the family hosting a party to see if they have signed the pledge.

There's been a lot of buzz, so to speak, about alcohol and lowering the drinking age. Last year, a group of university chancellors and presidents placed their signature on the Amethyst Initiative to open up the debate about this topic. The latest I've heard about is coming out of Minnesota.

Minnesota seems to be a hot spot with this issue. Maybe because it's always so cold over there -- young people drink because there isn't anything much to do outside but freeze? Having said that, I think the young kids here in California are drinking their share, too.

The University of Minnesota is getting ready to have a new policy to protect the students who abuse alcohol and the students who seek help for the drunk kid. Students are often afraid to get help when their drinking buddy passes out because of fear that they will all get into trouble. Students who report and seek medical attention for others will no longer need to be hesitant in an emergency.

Let me know how you handle underage drinking at your home. And do you think the drinking age should be lowered? One thought is to let people learn how to drink before they drive, so lower the drinking age to 16 and raise the driving age to 18. I don't see that happening, but we should be all talking openly about the subject.

Other Web Resources:

Our good friend, Lisa Frederiksen, has tons of information on her site, Breaking the Cycles. Please look at it and also check into her book, If You Loved Me, You'd Stop.

Choose Responsibility is a nonprofit organization that encourages minors to make good decisions, as well as encouraging dialogue about alcohol.

If you are looking for products to help you teach in the classroom check into our Substance Abuse section on the Career Kids' website.

Skilled Trades Jobs

Education Week has an article about how business are having a hard time finding highly-skilled workers, even in this economy with a high unemployment rate. It discusses balancing career training with academics. You may have to register to read the whole article, Career Skills Said to Get Short Shrift

Another article supporting the Education Week's article is from the company RIDGED, which conducted a survey indicating that students don't want jobs in the skilled trades. Students want jobs where they will work with computers. Could there be a connection between what and how material is being taught in school and student's perception of careers?

Financial Literacy and More

We're in a real financial mood around here, with all the stimulus plan talk going on non-stop. If you didn't get our newsletter, you can read our latest article about teaching young people about budgeting.

We saw another article, which relates to common discussion around here, since sending out that last newsletter (which you can easily subscribe to):

Should high school or college students start planning for retirement or save money for homes and paying back student loans? Read Obstacles for Young Investors and the comments section to see how you feel about the topic.

In the article, the parent funds the daughter's IRA. Around our office, we often talk about the desire to start accounts for our children, but is that really what our role as parents is, to fund our children's retirement? Does that encourage irresponsibility or apathy towards planning for the future?