NEWS RELEASE
June 10 , 2009
New Missouri Career Guide Available
for Students and Job-seekers
Preparing for a career involves many steps and choosing from many possible directions, so it can be hard to know where to begin. The new, improved Missouri Career Guide 2009-2010
provides an inviting starting point.
“This guide covers it all, from exploring
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career interests and strengths to how to make a great impression when meeting with prospective employers,” said Marty Romitti, director of the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC). “It offers help both to students and adults hoping to attain higher education, as well as those who are active job-seekers. And it does it all in just 32 pages so it’s not overwhelming.”
One Resource Meeting Thousands of Needs
Visitors to Missouri Career Centers will be able to pick up copies of the Career Guide starting this, the second week of June. Distribution will be impressive, with 50,000 copies going to the career centers and another 50,000 going to high school counselors at their fall conference. Thousands more will go to the state’s Adult Education & Literacy (AEL) Centers and Career and Technical Education teachers. In addition, schools, career centers and other organizations assisting students and job-seekers can order bulk quantities at cost from the Missouri Center for Career Education in Warrensburg (www.mcce.org), and the guide can be accessed online at both www.MissouriCareerSource.com (a site for job-seekers) and www.MissouriConnections.org (a site for students and parents).
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure as many Missourians as possible are made aware of this valuable resource,” said Mike Waltman, a spokesperson for the Division of Workforce Development and a member of the Missouri Connections Public Outreach Partnership, which produced the Career Guides.
Noting the more than 610,000 active job-seekers registered on www.MissouriCareerSource.com, Waltman mentioned the guide will be one of the resources handed out by Missouri’s Rapid Response teams, which provide information and assistance to businesses and workers experiencing job losses.
“This valuable guide is another way Missouri is working to provide help for its unemployed citizens,” said Department of Economic Development Director Linda Martínez. “We will be making it available at layoff events, job fairs and many other places where unemployed Missourians need this kind of critical career exploration information.”
A Look Inside the Guide
The guide begins with a one-page round-up of career, education and financial planning resources in Missouri. Following sections include career exploration, money management, job-seeking tips, career and education services, and forming a plan of action.
“It just has everything in it,” said Jan Speck, senior counselor at Windsor High School in Imperial. “Having all of this information at students’ fingertips is a really helpful thing.”
Speck added that she appreciates the colorful, engaging presentation, and she likes that the guide includes the list of the jobs expected to have the most openings through 2016.
“With the way the economy is, students are really starting to come in and ask, ‘What are some jobs that are going to be out there when I graduate?’ ” she said. “Ten years ago, that wasn’t the case; they were just doing what they wanted to do.”
Al Babich, a career counselor at Manual Career and Technical Center in Kansas City, added that the guide will also fill a gap for adult job-seekers.
“Students have access to a lot of this information in school, but adults don’t usually have this information,” he said. “For adults, this publication is a concise, valuable guide to the resources available to them.”
Specific features include an introduction to the 16 Career Clusters; a Career Cluster Interest Survey; a graphic that shows how higher education affects unemployment rates and earning power; a family wage calculator; resources and tips for paying for higher education; a list of Missouri’s top 50 jobs; a four-page list of Missouri’s career centers, colleges, universities, vocational rehabilitation centers, etc.; and much, much more.
The state agencies involved in producing the Missouri Career Guide include the Department of Economic Development, MERIC, the Division of Workforce Development, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Higher Education. Also involved are the Missouri Center for Career Education and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Funding for printing comes from a Workforce Investment Act federal grant.