Remain Employable: Part 2 in a series examining the cycle of poverty in Brevard
If you are not that person yourself, you may know someone who was the first to graduate with a college degree. But what they come out of college with isn’t always the magic ingredient in their job search.
Have you also heard someone say that other skills learned along the way suddenly became more marketable than that college degree? For example, a student works in a restaurant to help pay for college, but then after graduation, can’t find work in his trained field and continues working at a restaurant. Or maybe it’s someone who gets a jumpstart in a career then relocates and falls back on those pre-college skills to land a job in a new town.
The point is that we are more than our college degree, or lack of one. The ongoing sum of what we’ve done, what we’re trained in, and what we’ve learned makes us employable for the right job at the right time. Remaining employable means taking advantage of every opportunity to gain experience and training.
This second in a series of articles examining how the cycle of poverty affects our Brevard County community focuses on employment, and what it takes to remain employable and reenter the workplace. The key to avoiding the cycle is remaining employable and being employed.
Unemployment unchanged
According to CareerSource Brevard, the unemployment rate in Brevard County is 3.5 percent — unchanged from both the local and state rate a year prior, and on par with the national rate. The local labor force is 286,388, up 9,102 (+3.3%) over the year, with 9,981 unemployed residents.
The report also shows the top industries gaining jobs in the past year:
- education and health services (+1,600 jobs)
- professional and business services (+1,500)
- construction (+1,200)
- manufacturing (+1,100)
- trade, transportation, and utilities (+1,100)
- government (+500)
When employment opportunities exist, what does it take to be a good candidate and land successful employment? Several programs in Brevard County help students and adult residents prepare themselves for employment.
Training programs in schools
Our school system aims to prepare students for employment. Certificate and Technical Education (CTE) programs offer the opportunity to build marketable skills. From Microsoft Office to Adobe Creative Cloud, auto repair to applied dental hygiene, heating and air conditioning to aviation electronics and food service, Brevard public high schools offer programs to develop skills applicable across a variety of industries.
“When our children turn 18, we expect them to choose a career path that potentially impacts the rest of their lives. I try to explain to students and parents that stepping out of high school and into the workforce allows the student time to grow up, experience life, and have a work record,” said Brevard Public Schools CTE Director Janice Scholz. “To do this, certain skill sets make them more employable.”
Scholz is passionate about how CTE prepares students for success in life.
“I suggest that even if a student goes to college part-time, and it takes eight or nine years to finish, but they’ve been working for a company all that time, they’re building a work history,” she said. “They’ve been moving up the company ladder, and that company says, ‘We really like this kid. We’re going make sure we have a place for him or her.’”
CareerSource Brevard
So, you’re an adult and don’t have a high school guidance counselor. Enter CareerSource Brevard — a regional public/private partnership that is part of a statewide network of 24 regions, known as CareerSource Florida. No matter where you are on your career journey, their free services can help. Getting started involves some paperwork, but according to CareerSource Brevard, you will soon realize that even that is part of the learning process, prepping you to best be able to identify and take your next steps. Those steps can include help finding a job, but also training, education and career exploration.
CareerSource goes beyond job skills, though, and recognizes what a person needs to remain independent and successful. Services include a welfare transition program with emphasis on work, self-sufficiency and personal responsibility, as well as opportunities for welfare recipients transitioning from welfare to work.
CareerSource administers The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) in Brevard, the primary federal workforce development legislation, as well as grants and other employment support activities. Their support structure includes services such as employment programs, job training, child care and transportation assistance, a diversion program to reduce domestic violence and child abuse, and diversions to prevent families from going on welfare.
Mindset matters
Kathleen Register, associate program director at weVENTURE in the Bisk College of Business at Florida Tech, says maintaining an entrepreneurial mindset can help keep you employable.
“By thinking of themselves as the solution to a problem, the commodity that absolutely every business needs to have in order to be successful, the paradigm shifts. You stop thinking ‘I need the job’ and start thinking ‘The employer needs me,’” she said.
It’s about understanding one’s unique value proposition.
Register said learning to articulate and project your value to potential employers makes all the difference: “What is it about me that makes me the only right fit for this job. How am I unique, what experiences, attitudes or strengths do I have that no one else does?”
CareerSource Brevard
321-504-7600
Twitter: @csbrevard
Facebook: /careersourcebrevard
LinkedIn: /careersourcebrevard
WeVENTURE
321-674-7007
Read more articles in our DIGITAL MAGAZINE.
Map It
