To help all students and jobseekers better navigate the rapidly changing job market and make informed choices about their educational and career paths, the United States must make systemic reforms and strategic investments in career services and navigational supports. Drawing on the insights of leading practitioners from education and workforce…

This executive summary of "Unlocking the Power of Digital Technologies to Support "Learning to Earning" for Displaced Youth" provides key insights and a roadmap for action from the full report, which itself provides an overview of how digital technologies are being used to support youth's transition from school to work,…

The compendium of solutions is a supporting document to the report "Unlocking the Power of Digital Technologies to Support 'Learning to Earning' for Displaced Youth." The compendium supplements the lessons learned and recommendations outlined in the main report by providing a deeper dive into the context, design, and implementation…

A new 'Work & Skills' initiative is needed for people who are long-term unemployed. Next year there could be between 1 to 1.6 million people who have been out of work for 12 months or more. This could be the highest since the 1980s and will have drastic implications for families and whole communities across the United Kingdom (UK). There needs…

This article demonstrates and reinforces the role that well-told stories play in the success of the job-search process. Building on narrative theory, impression management, and an increased use of behavioral-based questions in interviews, well-crafted stories about work and educational experiences demonstrate skills applicants possess and convey…

Educating high school students for both college and career is difficult. Teaching trade skills seems alien to the academic culture. But new research indicates that soft skills are quite important to judgments of employability and that youth learn many soft skills in traditional academic subjects (e.g., literature). A focus on soft skills allows…

Contemporary labor markets are suffering from the recession and structural shifts, which can cause various mismatches through processes of search friction. A lack of informational transparency among worker- and job characteristics is the common denominator of these search frictions. In this paper, the potential of the career ePortfolio, which…

This Info Brief introduces families, including families of youth with disabilities, to a new way of looking at career development for youth. This brief discusses the three phases of career development, highlights Individualized Learning Plans as a tool for facilitating the career development process, and offers strategies on how families can be…

Still-rising national jobless rates are surpassing 8.9%. This translates to millions of ill-prepared job seekers, raising complex questions about how to manage layoffs. Even if workers receive severance benefits, most struggle with how to move on and find jobs. Rather than focusing primarily on work skills and practices within individual…

Good resumes, applications, and cover letters broadcast one's abilities. They tell employers how one's qualifications match a job's responsibilities. If these critical preliminaries are constructed well, one has a better chance of landing interviews--and, eventually, a job. This article provides some guidelines for creating resumes and cover…

Federal prisons have begun holding job fairs for inmates close to being released. Texas prisons have successfully used job fairs to assess inmates' interviewing skills, provide assistance with job placement, and offer interviews with company recruiters. (SK)

The results of a survey at Oregon State University emphasized the variety of skills needed for a successful job search. Job acquisition skills training sessions will continue to be needed for successful placement. (JAC)

This paper describes how the Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute's Trades and Services Occupations Department developed and integrated into the curriculum a course on employment skills to help their graduates to secure and retain employment. The project included building consensus among the staff and department heads that the course was…

Describes a videotape produced by the Cross Cultural Communication Centre for Making Changes and orientation program for immigrant women which focuses on career planning, information retrieval, job search skills, and assertiveness training. Discusses the techniques used through the various stages of the program with particular emphasis on…

School-to-work initiatives have a place in elementary schools. A Rhode Island school has introduced Making Connections, a program that provides work-place-like settings for learning and applying practical skills. An "employment agency""hires" fifth- and sixth-graders in positions such as tutors, computer assistants, and ad…