Special
Features / April 2008
Career Advice - Direction for the Next Step
Colleen Cooper
|
Colleen Cooper, Director of Career Services at Ohio Valley University in Vienna, WV listens to the needs of people everyday. What she hears are questions like “I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up” from adults or “I have been in X profession for many years and I want to do something different, but I don’t know what”.
For Colleen to be able to gently give people some directions into career alternatives, she must listen very, very carefully and be aware of all the millions of types of careers available, what education and experiences each career requires, and the job forecast for the future in each of these careers. More than anything else she has to gather both verbal and non-verbal clues from each person to make the match between person, personality and new career direction.
After she has gathered this information, then Colleen’s next question back to the person is “Here’s what I hear you saying. Is this you? Does this fit?”. Colleen says that normally there is a very good match. “I enjoy listening and condensing all the information down into job family categories. Probably, my greatest moments are when I hear them say “Yes, that is me!”
Colleen has had a long circular career that has lead her back to Ohio Valley University. Born and raised in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Colleen didn’t know what she wanted to do when she grew up either. She decided to attend Ohio Valley University and received an Associate in Science degree as a Pre-Professional. The University was only a two year school at the time, so to further her education she then completed her bachelor degree in psychology from Oklahoma Christian College. She met her future husband there, got married, and moved to Dallas, Texas where she worked her way into the position of Human Resources Administrator for a major national trade show and convention company. Then after being in Dallas 15 years, a strange event happened. Her husband was offered a teaching position at Ohio Valley University, Colleen’s old alma mater. “It was such a unique opportunity for my husband, we decided to move to West Virginia and my husband accepted the position,” she said. Little did Colleen know that she would be invited to take the position of Student Activities Director at the university. Then, the Career Center opened and Colleen was chosen to be its Director. “It is really ironic how I have come full circle,” she said. “I loved Ohio Valley University. It was two of the best years of my life when as a student I found a direction for my life. Now, I have the opportunity to help others find their direction in life,” she added.
“I would like to see more women enter into the technology and science fields. I think women are a little afraid and they don’t want to seem like ‘geeks’. I truly believe that women have the exceptional capacity to embrace these fields and impart their knowledge and understanding of technology to the world around them. If I had to offer some general encouragement, I would direct women into these types of fields for that reason, and because occupations in these fields are in high demand,” she commented.
Colleen, as a career advisor is able to offer many resources to help people find their direction, including online assessments, personality inventories, and personality screenings. “We have so many new resources in career development that were simply not available a few years ago. These resources open up so many new possibilities for people. It is great,” she added.
When asked what she sees as a major downfall of women entering or re-entering the job market, she said that she sees women who have gained a lot of experience from working out of the home or have volunteered for community programs or associations and do not realize the importance and value of this experience.
“When I sit down and talk with them and then see their resumes, I am quite shocked that they do not list this experience on their resumes. From my perspective I can see a person who has “unknowingly” developed into quite the professional, yet is omitting some unique skills and abilities on their resume. I see women who have managed or operated non-profit organizations or programs who never mention it on their resumes because it was a non profit or they were just volunteering because no one else had the time. When I hear this, I get right to work with them analyzing all the job skills they have learned and mastered; whether paid or unpaid, “skills are skills”. I see other women who may have been off the payroll for a while raising their children, but have been fundraising for events and causes, but again, they don’t list it on their resume. Fundraising is a very valuable skill. Others have done part time sales out of their home, but don’t list any sales skills on their resume because they think it doesn’t count for some reason,” she said. “I help them bring to the surface all the skills they have and help them see how valuable they really are to an employer,” she commented.
“Anyone can start from anywhere…no matter where they are at in life. There is a career path for everyone. Even people who have not had any formal education can start on a new career path by taking that first step to go back to school and learn new skills or change jobs to better themselves,” she added.
Copyright © 2001-2009 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
Top • Home • Subscribe • Advertise • Submit • Distribution • Contact
Support Our Advertisers • Organization Resources • Women Owned Business
Organization Resource List • Women Owned Businesses • Support Our Advertisers
Maintained by TEABROOKE
Website Design | SEO | Social Media Consulting
Related Sites | XMLSiteMap | Web Portal
Landing Zone SEO - Website | Search | Usability | Results | Goodness
Send an Email About This Article