Posts Tagged ‘vocational’

My goodness, you are a talented little  kid!

Do you realize that many of the things you do so well every day are related to skills that you can use when you grow up and get a job?

Building up your career and life skills whenever you can is very smart.

Think about how to connect your talents, skills and interests to a possible job. Find out what training or education you need to be the best you can be at it.  Learn how to connect dots!

This is a fun and valuable exercise for opening your eyes to all the wonderful jobs there are in the world and preparing to enter it.

I’ll get you started. Add to my list.  Have fun!

• Making your bed:   Innkeeper, Housekeeper, Home Decor Photography Stylist

• Getting dressed:  Clothing Designer, Textile Manufacturer, Fashion Show Coordinator

• Making Breakfast:  Nutritionist, Chemist, Organic Farmer, Chef, Foodserver, Veterinarian (to make sure we get milk from happy cows!)

• Babysitting:  Pediatrician, Children’s Playground Equipment Manufacturer, Children’s Book Author, Nanny

• Soccer Practice: Coach, Stadium Designer, Sportswear Distributor, Field Maintenance Supervisor, Physical Therapist

Are you connecting the dots now? Good for you. You’re getting careerwise!

CareerWise™ products are based on the premise that opening kids’ eyes to all the fascinating  jobs there are in the world is the first step to motivating them to stay in school so they can grow up and get a job someday. Visit www.GetCareerWise.com for our award-winning workbook –with Free Teaching Guide-  and  www.GetCareerWise.com/blog4  for more articles.  (Reprints are ok, but please acknowledge us.)  We will be launching a wonderful new product on Sept 1, so stay tuned.

Have you heard about sewing’s revival as a popular hobby? And how the marriage of a time-honored craft and high-technology is attracting a new generation of seamstresses?

It’s pretty cool.

Thanks to fashion-showcasing television shows like “Project Runway,” and the growing number of clothing designer sites and blogs, a new generation is discovering the fun, creativity and savings that can be enjoyed by making their own clothes.

Big retailers like Wal-Mart have reported that they are going to start carrying more cut fabrics, buttons, zippers and other notions again, in response to customer demand.

Sewing machine manufacturers have not only kept up with the times, they’ve lead the way by introducing new features that make sewing easier and more creative.

Some of the latest machines come equipped with USB ports, high resolution touch screens, and automatic threading and decorative stitching capabilities.  New software digitizes embroidery designs, transferring images from laptops to sewing machines.

Smartphone app developers are getting in on the trend too.  One new app helps seamstresses find the thread they need. You upload a photo of your fabric to search through 15,000 commercially available threads for the perfect match.

This revival in sewing and crafting is creating big, lively communities of seamstresses and crafters who enjoy sharing what they’ve learned, discovered or made. The website WeAllSew.com, offering links to blogs and Twitter, reports 95,000 visits since its launch two years ago.

And group sewing events have become very popular-combining the recession-prompted trend towards home and hearth activities, intergenerational bonding and cost-savings resourcefulness.  The Singer Sewing Machine Company hosted 800 sewing parties across the country on Mothers’ Day this year. They had experienced seamstresses host and teach guests how to use their machines.  
 

Sewing isn’t just for girls either. If boys are skeptical, have them look up the careers of iconic males in the fashion industry like Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Ozwald, Boateng, Michael Bastian and others.

What kinds of jobs and/or careers can a love of sewing lead to? Here’s a start:

Sewing Consultant/Instructor (computer skills a plus!)

Blogger (Build a community or help market someone else’s products)

Youth Group Sewing Instructor (After-School Programs & Camps are starting!)

Tailor/Seamstress/Clothing Repair Expert

Quilter (specialize in personalized graduation, new home, baby & wedding gifts)

Fashion Directors

Clothing Designer

Salesperson/Demonstrator (tell a local store you’ll bring in younger customers)

Pattern Makers

Software Engineers

Sewing Party Coordinator

Fabric Designer

Quilt Instructor

Computer Consultant (Help older sewers learn new computerized functions)

Phone App Developer

Sewing Accessories Designer
Sew, it makes one think in a whole new way, doesn’t it?

The ability to connect-the-dots between interesting news reports, popular trends and their own interests is a wonderful skill that will serve kids well throughout their lives.

 It can lead to fascinating career exploration and rewarding employment. And, help them get career wise!
 

  CareerWise™ products are based on the premise that opening kids’ eyes to all the fascinating  jobs there are in the world is the first step to motivating them to stay in school so they can grow up and get a job someday. Visit www.GetCareerWise.com for our award-winning workbook –with Free Teaching Guide- and  www.GetCareerWise.com/blog4  for more articles.  (Reprints are ok, but please acknowledge us.)  We will be launching a wonderful new product later this month, so stay tuned!

There was an interesting segment on National Public Radio this week. It was about what things, people, places, or events influenced various professionals to make the career choices they did.

The interview I heard was with a woman who combined her love of the sciences and her hobby – photography – to choose Tissue Engineering as a career. A big influence was the day she saw beautiful, very colorful photos of magnified cells from the human body in an art book. It prompted her to investigate merging her two interests. She sounded very glad she did.

I had to look up Tissue Engineering when I got home; I was motivated by the woman’s obvious passion for her job. The National Institute of Health provides this general description of the field on their website.

Tissue engineering / regenerative medicine is an emerging multidisciplinary field involving biology, medicine, and engineering that is likely to revolutionize the ways we improve the health and quality of life for millions of people worldwide by restoring, maintaining, or enhancing tissue and organ function.

The field is much more interesting, expansive and highly relevant than this short description implies. And it sounds like one that could offer very rewarding and exciting opportunities in the future.

Kudos to the Tissue Engineer for successfully merging her two passions in life.  And for sharing how she did it.

Go ask an adult you know what influenced his or her career choices.  Search for career-related interviews with professionals from all walks of life to discover what got them on a successful career path.

These real-life stories are fascinating and will open your eyes to some amazing choices you have in front of you. It’s all  part of getting careerwise!

Visit www.GetCareerWise.com or www.GetCareerWise.com/blog4 for more eye-opening ideas.

Ok, so I remember when the song was originally released by the group A Taste of Honey back in 1978. Let’s pretend I was just a toddler…

Anyway, it’s popular again and was very appropriate for the second annual National Dance Day, celebrated this past Saturday. For good reason.  It really is hard to sit still while listening to it!

National Dance Day was kind of a light and upbeat diversion from some of the less than light-hearted news that was everywhere else. Lively events were coordinated in different cities across the country for people of all ages.

It made me think about how smart it was of Nigel Lythgoe, the executive producer and judge of the TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance,’ to create this event and get the backing of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. She is a long-time proponent of healthy living and introduced a National Dance Day resolution to promote dance education and physical fitness across the U.S.

Their site says: National Dance Day is an annual event and grassroots initiative to encourage the nation, young and old, to move!

Ok, so it promotes the TV show in a big way. But the show is popular because people appreciate talent, dancing and entertainment, so what’s wrong with that? I say instead of worrying about overdone commercialism, we get mov’n and get careerwise!

What jobs are related to the National Dance Day events, promotions and TV show?

Here’s a start. How many jobs can you add?

• Entrepreneur (Nigel Lythgoe, definitely!)
• Dance Educator
• Congresswoman
• Costume Designer
• Event Planner

After you’ve completed your list and marked the ones that you’d like to look into further, go out and boogie, oogie, oogie.   It’s good for you– every day!

For more creative kids-to-careers exploration ideas, visit www.GetCareerWise.com.  For more articles, visit www.GetCareerWise.com/blog4 .  Blog articles may be reprinted, with proper acknowledgement please.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about the dry cleaning industry, with the latest news about how the economy, environmental concerns and changing consumer habits are affecting it.

But what really grabbed my attention was the number of jobs referred to in the article. I counted eighteen. There are probably many more considering that the article reports 24,124 dry cleaning and non-coin-operated laundry establishments in the U.S. alone.

Here are the ones I noted:

1. Dry Cleaning Store Chain Operator
2. Dry Cleaning Store Manager
3. Pressing Machine Operator
4. Garment Sorter
5. Seamstress/Tailors
6. Forensic Accountant & Business Advisor
7. Market Researcher
8. Consumer Products Maker
9. Consumer Products Company Spokesperson
10. Valet
11. Store/Facilities Designer
12. Store Design Tester
13. Environment Protection Agency Representative
14. Director of Technical Services – National Dry Cleaners Association
15. Chief Executive Officer - Dry cleaning & Laundry Institute
16. Director of Public Affairs - Consumer Federation of America
17. Professor of Fiber Science
18.  Dry Cleaning Machine Operators

What a creative way to learn about different jobs in various industries. You should try it as you read the newspaper, a book or online articles.  Your knowledge of the working world will impress everybody!

Learn how to get careerwise on an everyday basis and have fun with career exploration by visiting www.GetCareerWise.com.