Modeling Proactive Career Management

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Have you ever discussed your professional development with a Walden Career Services Advisor?  A tip we often suggest is to attend a state or national conference.  Professional conferences promote life-long learning, encourage networking, and provide the latest resources, tips, and trends through presentations, activities, and knowledge sharing.  As career advisors, we make a conscious effort to model the activities we recommend to our students.   Here we share our takeaways from the National Career Development Association (NCDA) Career Practitioner Institute in Bloomington, Minnesota on October 3, 2014.

What was unique about this conference?
This event was a partnership between our state chapter and the national organization.  We mingled with local and national speakers, learned more about NCDA’s offerings, and brought new knowledge back to the Walden community.

How has the Career Services Center been involved in NCDA?
We have attended the organization’s conferences, used its web-based resources, and delivered a national conference presentation.  We recently submitted two conference proposals for the 2015 NCDA Conference in Denver, Colorado.

What topics did this conference cover?
The conference offered a broad gamut of topics including career development for specific populations of clients, theories and best practices, and LinkedIn for career success.

What was one highlight from the conference?
Carol Vecchio of Centerpoint Institute for Life and Career Renewal shared her Life-Career Self-Test and Career Process map.  Carol Vecchio’s map represents career management as a circular process, a concept strongly aligned with Walden Career Services Center’s holistic approach to career management.  To identify your career stage using Carol Vecchio’s model, take the short Life-Career Self-Test and review the Career Process diagram:
http://old.cpinst.org/selftest
 http://old.cpinst.org/processmap

How can Walden students benefit from joining a professional association?
Follow our lead; join professional associations and attend events.  Professional associations provide opportunities to assume leadership roles, submit conference proposals, contribute to newsletters and journals, and tap into the member directory.  Find new outlets to increase your professional engagement and see what opportunities may arise.

Learn more strategies for managing your career by attending upcoming Career Services webinars:

  • Networking Cafe for the Underconnected:  Nov 6, 6:00 p.m. Eastern.  Register here
  • Curriculum Vita (CV) Cafe: Nov 7, 12:00 noon Eastern.  Register here
  • Resume Cafe: Nov 12, 3:00 p.m. Eastern.  Register here
  • Career Opportunities in I/O Psychology: Thursday, Nov. 13, 6:00 p.m. Eastern.  Register here
  • Engaging with LinkedIn: Nov. 19, 5:30 p.m. Eastern.  Register here

 Written by Senior Career Services Advisor Dina Bergren