Career Counseling Services

Article by Karan Naidoo

Most schools have career counseling services, a resource that’s often severely underused. Many students struggle to find what their passion is and agonize over deciding the path they want to take in life, but they still don’t ask for directions. Now, a career counselor won’t necessarily tell you all the things you need to do or provide you with a surefire life trajectory. Rather, career counseling services are intended to guide individuals so that they have an idea of the options out there and they can better prepare for the great unknown.
You can find some career counselors in high school, where their role is mainly helping students to get into college. College is an important vehicle into the job market, so career counselors provide advice regarding things like what universities the student might be interested in and the requirements for admission into those institutions. The counselor will dispense information like when to sign up for standardized tests like the SAT and which schools focus on specific fields of education and where they are located.
Career counseling services in college are more directly career oriented, because at that point graduating students are either looking for a job or pursuing further education to receive a higher degree that will help them procure a job more easily in the future. To help college students, a career counselor might help them look for graduate schools and prepare for tests like the GRE, kind of like the SAT all over again.
Career counseling services can also provide the notorious career test, an examination intended to determine which careers would be best for you based on your strengths and interests. Career tests have often been spoofed in mainstream media, portrayed as providing ridiculous results that send test takers down the wrong path. In contrast, real life career tests can be fairly useful, but of course they’re not to be sworn by. Only you can really figure out and decide what’s best for you.
The same skills and interests can apply to many different fields-for example, majoring in psychology can lead to working as a counselor, a business person or even a lawyer. Or you might decide to pursue a career that has nothing to do with what your studies emphasized-things aren’t set in stone and you can still change your mind. Remember that it’s your life, and the path you take ultimately depends on the choices that you make.

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Career Development Process – Tips To Realize Your Career Goals

Career development is an avenue that a person must adhere to in order to prepare for, sustain and to advance in the careers they have chosen.
Before now, many big name companies had conferences that centered on the topic of career development for their employees. It was good for 2 reasons; it helped its employees gain the needed skills important to enhancing their future goals in their career.
Many companies will still educate their employees, however nowadays it is important for the individual to assume this responsibility by taking control of their own education and progress through career development. The more the person prepares himself the more chances he will have at advancement.
One of the most important things that a person can do is to examine the career development goals and the skills they possess. They should know what they are going to be, if they are good at organizing others, and can they work in one to one situations with their clients. Companies are interested in the skills their new employees will bring to the table.
The next aspect of career development is the decisions you will make about what career is best for you presently. An example would be, Joe wants to be a graphic artist, he knows he will need schooling and talent in the graphic arts, and maybe even some mathematics in his bag of tricks.
Once he knows what skills he can market in his career choice, then he can fully realize what areas will need tweaking if he is to move up in his career. In career development education is a key factor.
While deciding on classes to take to enhance your career it is a good idea to choose a few career development classes as well. You can do this at anytime during your career development process. These classes teach important skills such as writing the perfect resume, and may also recommend seminars or conferences that will further your career objectives.
Continuing Education is an important part of change; it makes you more prepared for the new avenues your company may want to explore.
There are many career development studies and surveys which watch for the stress levels of the employee. Companies want to have an idea of how well you will cope with stressful situations, whether or not you can get others to do their job effectively, are you a social or solitary person, Is he the type of person to explain problems to his employer, or hold it bottled inside, or to take it out on others.
There are many other things to consider, but here is a few to get you on the right track to your perfect career.

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How Would You Like To Have A Career In Fashion Design?

If you are aspiring for a career in fashion, you had better take a major in fashion design from a reputable college. A degree or associate degree in fashion design enables you to pursue goals that you once thought to be just a dream.
The function of a fashion designer, the term given to a person who has either completed a college degree or engaged in fashion designing career, is wide and varied. This involves sketching the designs of clothing you have in mind.
The designs can depend on your niche. You may want to focus on gowns, women’s apparel, which can either be pants, Capri, skirts, slacks, blouses, dresses. Even the designs of these merchandises are relative to the season. The same thing goes out to men’s apparel, and children’s wear.
Besides that, you should also have vast knowledge on the types of fabrics used in sewing clothes and apparels.
In every sketching, a fashion designer is involved in all phases. And this continues on to its production. In the modern era, sketching is done digitally. Many use appropriate software to create designs with graphics.
Most of the large and highly reputed fashion designers in the world have designers who use both sketching on notepads and fashion illustration on one’s computer.
Another function of a fashion design is pattern making. In some colleges, this is offered as a major or minor. Students who have excellent visualization skills may do well in pattern-making as some of the designs in clothing today include patterns. Of course, you need to maintain your sensibility in making the patterns.
Costume designing is also a component of fashion design. In some cases, this can be a niche. Dress-making companies may specify the skills they want when they open a position for a career in fashion design, and costume designing is one of them. The career offered for this position is lucrative, because the clothing is tailored for performers such as for Broadway and Hollywood movies.
A fashion designer is also involved in fashion event planning. Fashion show, bridal show and other shows that showcase different fashions are all planned by a fashion event planner.
Also included is the fashion styling. However, here, the main task is to choose the right clothing for a particular photo shoot, advertisements on prints, billboards and televisions, and television commercials.
Fashion is an industry that never goes out of style. The trends may change, but the fashion sense remains. If you notice, some of the trends in fashion have already been a hit a few decades ago. But each time they emerge, a new addition to style is introduced. This is how an idea is sold.
Because trends come and go, a fashion designer must be dynamic, creative, and resourceful. The fashion industry is highly competitive. In order for a clothing manufacturer to stay in business, their designs must always be unique, catchy, and yet, sensible.
Hence, the career in fashion design is only awarded to people who deserve them-the mightily creative having endless ideas.

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How Do I Start a Fashion Modeling Career?

A modeling career in the fashion industry could be extremely lucrative. Not only that; it exposes you to the world of fashion in general. For that reason, when you retire from it, you could still venture into the business at a different capacity- all this without having gone to school to learn about it. Before you become a model in the fashion industry, you need to ensure that you have some things in order.
The first thing is that you have to conform to the standards that are held by the fashion industry. A female model should typically be five feet and seven inches or taller. Your weight should also be proportional to your height but you cannot be overweight. Your skin complexion should be near perfect. This is because most fashion houses abhor having to over rely on pictures that have been taken of their models. For this reason you have to take good care of your skin. You also need to ensure that your teeth are not crooked and are pearly white.
If you want to make it in the industry, you have to ooze self-confidence. Nobody wants to work with a wall flower. Models have to be confident and light up the room when they walk in. Self-confidence will also enable you to walk tall and this will do wonders for your catwalk.
Breaking into the fashion modeling industry will require that you are intelligent. This does not necessarily mean being book smart;  you need to be quick witted so as not to be taken advantage of in the industry. You will also be required to have excellent organizational skills. The modeling industry is fast paced and if you are not organized, you could find yourself being late for shows or missing them altogether. This would not augur well because though it may seem that the industry is big, word of mouth spreads fast. If you are considered unreliable, people will not hire you.
Modeling involves flying to many exotic locations. You may also be required to relocate from your home town to a different city or state that has a blooming glamour industry. You will have to be very versatile and flexible to change. There are times you will find yourself living out of your suitcase because of all the travelling you will be doing. You cannot constantly moan about these inconveniences because that is what you get when you become a successful model.
You need to put practice for your walk and even your poses. Runway models are chosen because of how distinct their walk is. If you want to succeed, you will have to practice your walk everyday, until it comes to you easily. You will also have to practice different poses for the camera. This will be essential for photo shoots as cameramen prefer models with a wide range of expression. This will give your pictures a more diverse look which will be to your advantage.

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Uncover The Six Factors Of Career Success

What do business employers consider when searching for prospective staff members? That was the question that was in fact posted recently on a career discussion forum on the net. Usually, for each different position, the exact solutions to that question would as well be different. Yet, there are some usual skills that employers look out for in pretty much all employees, whether the person looking for a job may be a network engineer or a fry cook.
In-Demand Abilities for Success
1. BASIC SKILLS – Writing, reading and arithmetic! In reality, a good portion of high school graduate students (and several college grads) tend not to read at an 8th grade level and cannot do multiplication mentally. Business employers are searhing for employees who can read very well, can manage to write coherently, not to mention whi is capable of calculating mathematics in a business setting (percentages, fractions, etc.) Add to that the modern day basic skills of keyboarding, basic personal computer knowledge, and ability to use most computerized tools (e.g. fax machine, basic word processing program, etc.) to round out the fundamental skill sets needed for employment success.
2. PERSONAL SKILLS – Can any employee talk well? Can the applicant answer questions of clients in a positive, informative way? Can the prospect provide great customer satisfaction? While not everyone has an outgoing sales’ character, highly effective employees can communicate in a non-confrontational, optimistic manner with their coworkers, team members, management, customers and subordinates. To be able to work efficiently with others is an important skill to succeed in all jobs.
3. JOB ATTAINMEN – Job search is actually a process that requires a good deal of determination and focus to be carried out successfully. It actually follows the old principal a growing number of experienced programmers consider as GIGO ? (Garbage In, Garbage Out). When you put lousy effort in, you will as well receive awful results. Hiring managers look for people who are capable of presenting themselves in a favorable way and who seem to display determination and knowledge about the companies they actually approach. Not only do applicants get themselves examined in their abilities and expertise, but also about how they’re approaching the job search. Eager candidates which who have much less skills have an even potential for getting the job as dull candidates with much better skills.
4. JOB SURVIVAL – At this point there is a hot topic with regards to this time period of lay offs. Who actually gets the ax and who does not is actually a matter of numbers, but it’s more often a matter of effectiveness. Employees who have constantly exhibited their worth, have taken initiative, and then made themselves a priceless asset to the organization now have lower incidences for being downsized than employees who put forth not very good or maybe average effort in their jobs. Surviving within a company throughout layoffs or simply moving up the career ladder is definitely a success skill that is learned and is also consciously developed amongst outstanding professionals.
5. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT – Such as all hi-tech and engineering experts already know it really is learn or burn in the present type of work environment. Attaining potentially profitable new skills, implementing innovative principles, modernizing skills which were already established is an absolute requirement to succeed in today’s labor pool. The successful individual actually constantly attending workshops, taking lessons, attaining training on new products or releases, and in any other case mastering innovative skills that may keep them saleable within their careers. Successful individuals are life long learners. Recruiters are seeking for those who have the education and training necessary to fulfill their demands.
6. CAREER DEVELOPMENT – Career Development is different from Professional Development. Professional Development is actually learning while Career Development is a preparation and goal setting level. Successful people design a plan for their career with written goals for long term and short term plans. They as well lay out the techniques required to move their own professions from from the first pit to the next within a specific time frame and plan how they’re planning to achieve the steps needed. Successful individuals have someone to whom they can be accountable for their progress and who will keep track of their success when it comes to accomplishing their goals. Employers are usually seeking for those who (surprisingly) aspire to commit to the company for a long period of time. Beneficial career advancement is really a high selling point of applicants to future employers.
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