Website a 'one-stop shop' for N.B. job seekers
Published Saturday November 15th, 2008
NB Career Surf aims at young people and women, but anyone can find help
A new online tool designed to help people find their perfect career is getting good reviews from users so far.
NB Career Surf is designed mostly for young people and young women in particular, but people of all walks of life are using it to find their niche in the job market or to learn more about how to successfully find a new career.
"It was created as a resource to assist youth and encourage them to explore career options," explains Nicole McCarty, director of the provincial government's wage-gap reduction initiative.
The target audience is those between the ages of 14 to 19, but so far it's being used by everyone from students to their parents, from teachers to guidance counsellors -- and it's a valuable resource for anyone wondering what they want to do for a living.
"It can help you to look at all of your career options," McCarty says.
It also helps users consider non-traditional jobs. For example, women who might be interested in the skilled trades, or men who are considering a nursing career. Non-traditional is defined as careers in which 25 per cent or fewer of the jobs are occupied by one sex.
"We do know that those attitudes are changing a bit," McCarty says.
The site features success stories from real people who found satisfying careers.
"We enjoyed meeting these people and hearing their stories."
You can explore your job options, get key information on your career search, find out how to get training, get information on student loans and tuition rebates and see what are the most popular jobs among New Brunswick women and men.
You'll find links to CareerBeacon.com, the region's top job-posting site, as well as to employment programs and services, including templates for resumes and cover letters, to name just a few.
Surveys indicate that there is a skills shortage coming. Over the next 10 years, 60 percent of job openings will be in the trades and technologies field. In all skilled occupations, employers are becoming increasingly concerned about the shortage of workers with the necessary skills and abilities.
Attracting more women to the skilled trades will be one key way of countering the looming shortage, for example.
Yet few women know there are 58 scholarships available for women entering the New Brunswick Community College to study a non-traditional trade.
"So it's a one-stop shop," McCarty says. "It's valuable for just about anybody."
It all comes down to helping you determine what you enjoy doing, and finding out where jobs in that field exist and how you can snare one of them.
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