The federal government may need to have a more hands-on role in helping people in their search for jobs, according to a March 11 policy paper by scholars from the Center for American Progress and Center for Law and Social Policy.
The paper, titled “A New National Approach to Career Navigation for Working Learners” outlined measures for updating and coordinating the multiple resources available for career development at community colleges, four-year institutions, local centers and industries.
A major component of the paper is the implementation of a web-based career navigation tool. The authors hope the tool will be a lifelong source of training and information for job hunters in the United States.
“The labor market is becoming more complex,” said Louis H. Soares, director of postsecondary education at CAP. “We want to create both policy solutions and web-based to tools aggregate different information resources.”
According to Soares, the web-based tool would aggregate career information and personalize it for the individual job hunter.
Vickie Choitz, co-author of the paper, said that individuals should be able to plug in career relevant information.
The web-based service would employ methods used by sites such as Facebook and E-harmony to match job hunters with employers. However, some may be concerned over the privacy and safety such a service would provide if done on the web.
Jeff Silver, director of Career Services at the University of Massachusetts, described the online method as “less than desirable.”
“My concern would be the privacy of the users,” said Silver, “Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but you never know who could be viewing these profiles,” continued Silver. He cautioned against potential bad eggs that could use this information to hunt down their next victim.
Silver admitted that he has had students who found jobs using websites such as craigslist.com.
“People should employ any resource available to them to them to find a job,” said Silver, but he advised job hunters to be wary of the dangers.
Silver detailed an online tool students can already access. Career Services, along with Isenberg, use an e-recruiting tool which allows students to search for jobs, internships and co-ops.
According to Silver, students have “full control” over who receives the information. The tool allows employers to post jobs for interested students.
Soares acknowledged the potential risk of hacking and use of the information by those wishing to do malfeasance, but qualified that the issue of internet security is not exclusive to this program.
Soares also explained that users would have control over their own security, similar to the way Facebook users have control over the security settings of their profile.
The paper suggested that current policy be updated to create standards for the professionals providing career advice.
“We say we do career counseling, but we have no way to set standards,” said Soares describing the current career counseling services available.
According to Soares, the aim of the paper isn’t to create a new service, but to invest in those already in place.
“We are not looking to create a new bureaucracy, but create new standards to make career counseling and coaching already available more professional, cost effective, and professional,” continued Soares.
Currently, the Center for American Progress is in discussion with the Department of Education and other government departments coordinating how the ideas proposed by the paper could be implemented.
Soares envisions new investment in the Department of Labor’s one-stop career service center for training staff in useful methods for career counseling and coaching.
Soares also foresees investments in demonstration projects of the web-based service at community colleges and other centers for career counseling and navigation services in the coming years.
Bobby Hitt can be reached at [email protected].
