WCC adds career coach program
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 15, 2017 9:55 AM
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Elvira Johnson, right, career counselor at Wayne Community College, talks with Johanna Torres, a senior at Smithfield-Selma High School, about the college's dental program. WCC recently introduced an online program, Career Coach, that includes an assessment test, resume builder and other tools for students and job-seekers to access information about potential careers that line up with their aptitudes and interests.
Elvira Johnson, career counselor at Wayne Community College, knows what she's talking about -- after all, she's had three diverse careers herself.
She has worked in engineering, culinary arts and since receiving her master's degree in education, advises job seekers.
"My motto is life is too short to work at a job that you don't absolutely love," she said.
The college recently added a new online tool to help students and the public find their best job match, an information resource called Career Coach.
"There's so many facets to career planning that you need something to bring it all together," she said. "And it's got something for everyone -- for people who don't even know what they want to do, people who know what they want to do but they don't know how to do it, people who are in their field or in school but now they're going to have to get a job, and then other people who are in a job and they're like, 'This is not it' or 'I'm ready to move on to something else.'"
Career Coach is for potential students, current students or non-students, she says. It is even a viable resource for earlier career exploration.
"The people that use Career Coach more than the college are middle school and high school parents and counselors because students start thinking about what they want to do," Ms. Johnson said.
Sometimes the tool can provide a "reality check" before they hit a brick wall, before they invest unnecessary time going in the wrong direction, she said.
The software program provides a lot of useful data -- including wages, job postings and associated education and training.
"The best thing about it, it gives local and regional data. We just expanded to a 100-mile radius because we have so many students who don't mind going to work in Johnston County or in Raleigh," she said, pointing out that the information is accurate since it's provided by actual employers.
"It tells the number working in that field in the area, a description of what they're doing, the hourly wage."
From the typical starting pay to the future demand -- including the number of retirees anticipated in the next 10 years, leaving vacancies for potential hires -- it even scales down to current job postings.
Career Coach is also used by Wayne Community College in determining programs and courses to prepare students for the job market.
"It's a planning tool for division directors and academic vice presidents because if we're thinking, should we expand this program? Should we start a program? Should we do away with a program that we have? We can look and see whether or not this field is increasing or decreasing," she said. "It's a holistic tool, something that students could use, that faculty and staff and administrators could use, something that employers could use and something that reaches out into the community as well."
To get started, there is a simple career assessment which helps determine a good career path based a lot on personality.
"This is a short six-question assessment that you can take and it asks you about things that you like to do or don't like to do," Ms. Johnson said. "It takes less than a minute. Based on what level of education that you plan to do, then it will give you a match for your personality and then a field of interest."
Even those ensconced in a career may benefit from the assessment, she said.
"I'm encouraging all of our top administrators to take this assessment to see if they're in the right place," she said with a laugh.
Those with a military background can also translate their skills, simply by putting in the military occupation code to discover similar civilian jobs, she said.
The service costs nothing except time, she said.
But what it provides -- clarification of the best job match -- is priceless.
"When someone comes in here and says, 'I don't know what I want to do,' they know what they want to do," Ms. Johnson said. "They just don't see how it's possible, they don't know how long it's going to take and they don't know what the outcome is going to be, whether they can get a job and there will be a living wage and they don't know where to get started.
"This program gives you all that, answers all those questions."
For more on Career Coach, visit www.waynecc.edu/career-services/career-coach.