Career & Life Planning (CELP1-CE)

Explore your beliefs about—and your attitudes toward—money, and examine how your past relationships with money—and common money myths—impact your daily financial habits. Identify negative behaviors related to money, such as overspending, hoarding, accumulating debt, and worrying. Discover how to create a positive intention for personal financial effectiveness, and develop ways to better understand your goals and to cultivate a new sense of financial health and self-empowerment.

Create a résumé that showcases who you are and what you have to offer. Whether you are returning to work after an extended absence—or you are looking for your first job, the next step in your career, or a bridge job before retirement—a well-developed résumé is key to an effective job search. Examine various résumé and cover letter formats. Learn how to highlight accomplishments that close in on your desired goals and how to account for gaps in your professional background, for frequent job changes, and for freelance work.

If you’re not living life to its fullest, then learn to create a more satisfying one by using personal tools to improve relationships, to establish and achieve goals, and to correct perceptions that negatively impact decision-making and goal-setting. Topics include using fear as a positive force, influencing your thought process, and identifying possible hurdles to getting the life you want.

Today’s workforce is increasingly fluid and adaptable. Companies are hiring more nonpermanent contractors and consultants for staffing flexibility and speedy response to the marketplace. Explore whether consulting is right for you, prepare for a consulting career, and learn how to make it successful under the guidance of an experienced senior manager who has interviewed, hired, and managed hundreds of consultants.

Acquire the skills, confidence, and know-how to return to the workforce after taking time off to raise children. Once they've left the workforce, women frequently do not want to return to their prior careers or feel that either their skills are outdated or their schedules prevent them from doing so. Gain the practical skills to leverage your experience and go about exploring new professional opportunities. Participants develop their dream job description and formulate an action plan to land that position.

<p>As Baby Boomers continue to be active into their 60s, 70s, and 80s, work is still important to them, though many wish to work for themselves in a new way. This course provides directions and techniques for creating a business after retirement. The first session includes in-depth instructions for creating an initial business plan; setting up and organizing a new business; handling financing, legal issues, time management, and market research; creating a business image; and setting fees and rates. After several weeks of preparation, the second session brings participants back together in a workshop to discuss their business plans and accomplishments as well as possible obstacles encountered and ways to overcome them.</p>

<p>LinkedIn is now an essential tool for job-seekers and career-advancers, and those who are well versed in it are reaching their career goals more quickly&mdash;but even regular LinkedIn users are often not aware of advanced, easily accessible features and strategies that will improve their success with this tool. This course explores the many features available to, yet under-utilized by, LinkedIn users.&nbsp;</p>

A career change can feel overwhelming, but this supportive small-group workshop&mdash;led by an experienced career counselor&mdash;can help you to investigate job options and to develop a plan of action. Determine your career direction using a simplified, two-part process. Assess your professional ambitions, personal priorities, talents, skills, and ability to master change. Learn to evaluate your findings and translate them into workable, realistic, and rewarding goals.

After investing years working in a particular field, the prospect of a career change can be daunting&mdash;but it doesn&rsquo;t have to be. In a supportive, small-group environment led by an experienced career counselor, evaluate your interests, values, and priorities with the objective of confidently transitioning to a new field. Translate dreams into job possibilities, and enhance your personal career development.

<p>In this asynchronous online class, learn how to use online tools like LinkedIn, job boards, and company websites to generate leads to existing and future jobs. Develop creative strategies to convert those leads into personal contacts, in-person meetings, and interviews. This class helps you to identify targets, craft objectives for these encounters, and follow up in a way that showcases you as an asset to any team.</p>

If you have served in the military and are new to college-level classes&mdash;or need a refresher&mdash;this course can build your confidence and set you up for success in an academic environment. Identify your unique learning style, learn how to navigate the college environment, practice time management skills, and begin to develop your own educational identity and college goals.

An individual&#8217;s speaking voice is critical to conveying ideas confidently and convincingly, whether interviewing for a job or giving a presentation at work. Discover how effective breathing, articulation, and pitch placement can lead to opportunity in the workplace. Learn 10 steps to voice strengthening, and reinvigorate your speaking in meetings, on the phone, and in front of colleagues and clients. Become aware of how a voice, when properly used, can reflect a new self-confidence and can make a difference in achieving a successful career.

<p>To sell yourself in an interview, networking situation, or sales meeting, you need to tell people how you can help them in a compelling way. Often, you only have two minutes, or sometimes even 30, 15, or 5 seconds, to make your pitch. Having a concise, engaging, targeted &ldquo;two-minute pitch&rdquo; makes you look professional, and it enables employers or business prospects to clearly understand what you can do. In this workshop, learn how to create a targeted pitch that tells your audience how you can help them and what differentiates you from the competition.</p>

Most people need to promote themselves to advance their careers, or simply to remain employed in this challenging economy. This course offers lively exercises to help students discover promotional methods best suited to their personality type. Introverts, for example, may face more obstacles in getting the word out, but often have untapped advantages. Marketing yourself can be revitalizing&mdash;especially when it starts with the important groundwork of connecting to your strengths and passions. Learn tips and tools to articulate your strengths, make a plan, set goals, and take action.

Have you ever wanted to see your creative idea come to fruition but didn¿t know where to begin or how to organize your ideas and think like a producer? Explore how to define, develop, and execute your idea--whether it¿s a cabaret show, a play, a comedy group, a short film, an alternative art show, or any other production. By learning the fundamentals of networking and producing, you will watch your project get ready to go from the page to the stage, screen, or gallery.

<p>We laugh when we are surprised or shocked. Perhaps that&#8217;s why we have to bite our lips and suppress laughter upon seeing a stranger stumble on a sidewalk and almost fall down: it&#8217;s a surprise and not what we expect to see on a day-to-day basis. In this course, experience firsthand the benefits of laughter, explore why we laugh, and learn how to make others laugh. Acquire the same techniques that professional stand-up comedians use, and apply them to reduce your stress, to increase your mental flexibility and creativity, and to bring more joy to your life.</p>

Are you interested in changing careers and becoming a social worker, psychologist, or counselor? Maximize your ability to make this transition smoothly and successfully by taking this course. Learn the basic terminology of these mental health professions, identify possible career paths within these areas, find out what skills and interests suit different fields, discover research techniques, and explore graduate school options in New York City. Finish this course with an action plan for graduate school and/or the job search.

Develop effective strategies to balance parenting with your career. This workshop helps mothers, expectant mothers, and those considering parenthood to explore various career options and work arrangements that are conducive to raising children, whether working full- or part-time, working from home, starting your own business, or transitioning into a new, more flexible career. Participants evaluate their life and career values, goals, priorities, skills, and interests through insightful discussions, exercises, and assessment tools. The course focuses on overcoming barriers that hinder change and provides information and resources pertaining to family-friendly work possibilities.

Finding your passion in life and doing what you love is much harder than it seems. Even if you are lucky enough to identify it, turning your passion into a successful profession can seem impossible without the right tools or a detailed road map to follow. Through interactive exercises, this course teaches students not only how to uncover their talents, interests, and strengths, but also how to cultivate a lifelong ambition into a profession. Participants receive a personalized plan to transform their greatest passion into a successful and rewarding career.

Explore careers that suit your personal aspirations and unique talents, that help create a sense of peace and calm, and that allow for a more fulfilling life. The average professional spends a minimum of 40 hours a week in the workplace, and a fulfilling&#8212;or unfulfilling&#8212;work life has a far-reaching impact on other areas of life, from relationships and family to friendships and health. Assess what the best career for you, based on who you are, what kind of lifestyle you desire, and what you feel is your core mission in life.

Examine the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional areas of childhood development, and understand the basic principles of development and behavior. This course focuses on normal development and behaviors that are expected at each stage, the tasks that are mastered, and the ways in which parents can maximize that development.

An entrepreneurial mindset is critical to success in any career path these days&mdash;whether it&rsquo;s starting your own business, climbing the corporate ladder, or managing a career transition. Learn the techniques and strategies that successful entrepreneurs use to identify opportunities, to develop and sell their expertise and talents, to create action plans, to persevere in the face of rejection and obstacles, and to proactively manage their businesses and professional careers.

This course focuses on helping professionals who strive to secure competitive jobs, but have been unsuccessful using only online tools. Learn how to map out existing online efforts and prioritize activities that will lead to offline meetings and maximize your employment potential. Develop strategies to network and showcase yourself as an asset while expanding your connections and increasing your potential of finding that ideal job.

If you are a recent graduate or a young professional, develop an effective framework to explore careers and to experiment with potential career paths. In this highly interactive workshop, learn how to create a dynamic job search campaign and networking strategy. Explore all available tools to pursue the ideal job in the field of your choice.

This course provides you with the opportunity to learn more about your personal and career preferences by taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) online. Receive a personalized interpretative report based on your responses to the online assessment tool, and learn how to use the report to further your career and your professional plans. Work with the instructor to gain further insight into the MBTI instrument, and discuss how to proceed based on your results.

For many parents, choosing a preschool program can be a daunting task. Discover the most effective strategies to focus on what to look for in an early childhood program and specific questions to pose during the search. Learn how to research and choose a program that will facilitate your child&#8217;s intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development; contribute to healthy parent-child interactions; and reflect your family&#8217;s values.

<p>Are you ready for a second act or third act? Have you thought about work that will help others, strengthen your community, or change society? In this course, begin your personal journey toward creating a meaningful, purposeful, inspirational, and fulfilling encore career. Focus on leveraging your life and work experiences for the social good. This course provides an introduction to the world of paid and unpaid work at nonprofits and socially minded ventures. Also, meet guest speakers who can serve as role models and can help you to expand your connections around social purpose work.</p>

<p> Looking for a job sometimes can be discouraging, even isolating. But you don&#8217;t have to go it alone. In this course, get guidance from an experienced career counselor who helps to keep you on track and moving forward in your unique job search. Benefit from the insights, resources, and contacts of fellow job seekers. These sessions help ensure that you keep your spirits and confidence up.</p>

<p>When you&rsquo;re in between jobs, you don&rsquo;t have time to waste. Acquire the tools you need to launch your job search in this two-day seminar. Learn what it takes to make your r&eacute;sum&eacute; pop and how to write a cover letter that sets you apart from the rest of the pack. Most important, learn how to develop your own job leads, discover ways to get closer to hiring managers, and know what to do once you have their attention.</p>