Discussion 4 Fall 2022

Chapter 12 Virtual and Brick and Mortar Career Centers: Design and Implementation

Things to Remember

The information and services available on the Internet

The services provided by One-Stop Career Centers

The process to be followed when establishing a career center

Criteria to be used in locating and designing a career center

The technological competencies needed by career center coordinators

Uses of the Internet as adjuncts to career counseling

What had traditionally been called career exploration centers (CECs) now have been labeled as career centers (CCs; Schutt, 2008). Why the change? The connotation associated with career exploration centers is that they are depositories for print, audiovisual, and other informational resources. The current thinking about these centers is that they are places where people needing a variety of services can go to engage in action taking that will yield information about the user’s needs, values, interests, and abilities; training and educational information; occupational information; information about opportunities in the military; information about job openings; information about job-hunting strategies; and ultimately employment.

In 1994, the Department of Labor Employment and Training Agency (DOLETA) responded to the criticism that their services overlapped and in some instances were difficult to access by developing what are now termed One-Stop Career Centers. These centers are now located throughout the country in U.S. Employment Services (USES) offices and in other agencies that serve job hunters (Ettinger, 2008b). They are also available online. One-Stop Career Centers, as the name suggests, are designed to provide a full range of virtual resources and face-to-face services to job seekers. These centers offer referrals to training facilities, career counseling, job listing and placement services, and many other services. These centers also offer a wide array of information, including job descriptions, listings of educational information, data about sources of funding for training programs, salary information, occupational projections, and so forth.

What resources do you need to access the virtual component of One-Stop Career Centers? You only need a computer and an Internet connection. However, brick and mortar CCs have been established in community colleges, vocational technical schools, four-year institutions, U.S. Employment Security offices, libraries, and businesses.

Not all virtual components of CCs are as comprehensive as those available in One-Stop Career Centers. Canada’s WORKink (http://www.workink.com/province_template.php?id=11152&pid&pr=11152), which focuses on employment for disabled people, is an example of a more focused virtual exploration center.

Student Learning Exercise 12.1

Before moving on, search online for a virtual CC, such as the U.S. One-Stop Career Center, Canada’s WORKink, or one in a major university, and “visit” it. Take stock of the resources offered. How are they using virtual resources, such as O*NET, salary websites, apprenticeship websites, financial aid sites, or the resources they have developed on their own to help students? A “trip” to a virtual center should help you better judge the resources that need to be made available in brick-and-mortar centers.

Establishing A CC

The model for One-Stop Career Centers incorporates the occupational projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET occupational profiles and assessment tools, apprenticeship data from the Department of Labor Bureau of Apprenticeships, Department of Defense information about the four branches of military services, USES job posting listings and crosswalks between military and civilian jobs, and literally scores of other sources, including some from commercial publishers. Career counselors aiming to establish CCs would do well to use the mass of materials and resources available in these resources. However, because high schools, two-year institutions, colleges, and other agencies have limited resources, their developmental approaches must be much more circumscribed. What then are the factors that should be considered in the development of what in all likelihood will be a combination of online (virtual) resources and the delivery of information in a traditional manner?

Basic Criteria for Locating and Designing a CC

At least six factors must be considered as plans are made to develop a career center: clients to be served, accessibility, attractiveness, ease of operation, responsiveness, and adaptability (Osborn, Dikel, & Sampson, 2011; Schnell & Schaefer, 1999).

Accessibility: Although there are many general questions about the accessibility of CCs, the issue of accessibility for persons with disabilities raises both ethical and legal concerns. The Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that all facilities must be accessible to people with disabilities, including those with mobility, hearing, and visual disabilities. Schutt (2008) and Ettinger (2008a) compiled lists of concerns for these groups. Some of these concerns include:

For people with visual disabilities:

Well-lighted areas for those with limited visual acuity

Tactile directions, signs, and elevators

Closed caption videos

Alternatives to keyboard and mouse use (e.g., voice activated)

Audio versions of graphics

For people with hearing disabilities:

Rooms equipped with alternative emergency notices, such as flashing lights in place of bells and sirens

Available telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD)

For people with mobility disabilities:

Wheelchair-accessible entrances, registration desks, telephones, and restrooms

Easy access to buildings

Other general accessibility issues include proximity to parking lots and entrances close to career counselors’ offices and in the mainstream of client traffic flow. In public schools, this typically means that the center should be accessible from one of the main corridors. CCs on college campuses and in businesses career centers should be located in buildings near the centers of the campuses. Community centers should be easily accessible by automobile and should provide adequate parking.

Attractiveness: The center should be well lit, and the overall appearance should be inviting. Posters, audiovisual invitations at the entrance of the center, and comfortable furniture enhance the CC’s appeal.

Ease of operation: Ease of operation covers a variety of areas, including the filing system used, storage and display of material, policies about checking out material, and the nature of the assistance provided to users of the CC. With regard to the latter, a staff member should always be available to explain and demonstrate the use of complex machines, online materials, and computer software packages. Perhaps it goes without saying that the more data and assessment devices that are stored in computers and online, the easier the task of storing, organizing, and perhaps delivering material becomes.

Responsiveness: A CC is typically designed and stocked with the materials and machines that are needed to serve the needs of client populations, regardless of whether it is in a One-Stop Career Center, a school, a college, or a business. By identifying and programming to client needs, the center becomes immediately responsive. However, needs change. The group or individual may come with a request for information that has not been acquired. Responsive centers have budgets that allow them to act on requests from individuals and groups as long as they are within reason.

Reflect diversity: Throughout this book, addressing the unique needs of individuals who are other than white and middle class has been stressed. CCs should have materials that allow individuals to “see themselves in a particular job or educational opportunity.” Seeing one’s self in the material means that the material addresses the unique needs of the client and that the material has appropriate pictures and examples. All centers should contain material that deals with the concerns of women, members of racial and ethnic minorities, persons who are disabled, and persons who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

Renovating a CC.

Most career counselors will enter workplaces that have some type of CC. Schutt (2008), Schnell and Schaefer (1999), and Osborn and her associates (2011) have outlined some useful guidelines for revising an existing CC. The first step in either developing or renovating a CC is to select a coordinator who understands technology and its application in information provision, testing and assessment, and web-based career counseling.