Creating Positive Spaces for Career Counseling with Transgender Clients

By Sue Motulsky and Emily Frank

Transgender and gender non-binary individuals experience significant stigma and discrimination in employment, the workplace, educational settings, and when accessing career services. Recently, there has been an explosion of research on transgender youth and adults, including identity struggles, professional barriers, and resilience. Trans-affirmative, positive career counseling strategies can empower transgender clients.

Enhancing Students' Strengths from the Classroom to Their Career

By Rebecca E. Michel, Maria Mendez, and Mary K. Wendel

This article showcases how counselor educators can utilize a strengths-based approach to help graduate students understand their personal strengths and apply strengths-based approaches in practice career counseling sessions and team-based community workshops.

Becoming a Volunteer

By Ron Elsdon

As career counselors, we encourage clients to volunteer for career development. While the benefits of practical and altruistic volunteering are clear, becoming a volunteer in a meaningful way is sometimes challenging. This article explores volunteering for our clients and for ourselves, addressing purpose, selection criteria, and different life stages

The Right MIX for Social Skills Development in Middle School

By Todd Smith

A desire to improve students’ interpersonal and communication skills --skills necessary to thrive in the world beyond high school -- birthed the mock job interview simulation titled, The MIX. This article describes the training and preparation program set up to be as close to a real-life experience as possible for middle schoolers.

Symphonies in a Garage

By Charles Orlowek

Preparation for a technical career may boost an individual’s economic prospects, but the idea may also clash with one’s hopes for an intuitive and artistic life. Have career development professionals noted this or is it a false dilemma? People can have both, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Such a life is being lived by service technicians in Chicago, as they listen to symphonies while repairing cars.

Maximizing the Use of a Free Career Development Resource

By Janet Wall

CareerOneStop, the free resource offered by the U.S. Department of Labor, includes a wide variety of tools and data for career planning, decision making and transition. Knowing what is available and how the information might help is easier through the sharing of these case examples.

Top Four Reasons for Connecting with Conference Exhibitors

By Willa Smith

There are many reasons for making a connection with exhibitors when you attend conferences. This article provides four valuable ones from career services professionals like you, including the editors of Career Convergence and some past presidents of the California Career Development Association (CCDA). They are all great reasons to visit the Exhibitors Hall and get the biggest bang for your conference buck!

FreeConferenceCall.com

Do you need to schedule conference calls with colleagues? If so, you might want to explore FreeConferenceCall.com. It offers many services, including free conference call numbers to host phone meetings. You can also use video conferencing and screen sharing features, as well as record calls. FreeConferenceCall.com, offers a free basic version and fee-based plans that provide more extensive application features.

Tip Provided by Barbara Thomason, thomson.barbara@rutgers.edu