by Carla Pfahl
Quick Summary
In the ELM collection for LearningExpress Library we have both Career Preparation Center and Job and Career Accelerator. The two centers are really quite different in terms of content.
In the ELM collection for LearningExpress Library we have both Career Preparation Center and Job and Career Accelerator. The two centers are really quite different in terms of content.
The Career Preparation Center is, as its name describes, a place to prepare for a career. It houses materials on exploring what different careers are about (with a focus on technical careers), their industries and standards, and education needed to enter and advance in various careers. This center also houses entrance and occupational preparation exams as well as a workplace skills improvement section, and military careers and prep tests. If a patron is looking to prepare for a professional exam or improve their workplace skills the Career Preparation Center is the place to go.
The Job and Career Accelerator center is geared towards individuals ready to join the workforce, change careers, or advance in a specific area. It is the stepping stone for reviewing over 1,100 + occupations, searching for a job or internship, creating/customizing cover letters and resumes, applying for a job, and searching/reviewing colleges and scholarships.
With JCA there are occupation exploration tools such as an interest assessment quiz and a skills assessment quiz to identify areas that may fit well with certain occupations and linking to explore those occupations in more detail using the government’s O*NET Data on Wages and Salaries. Where Career Preparation Center provides information on military careers, JCA offers military-to-civilian occupation exploration. JCA also offers targeted guidance for many types of job seekers from high school students to experience job seekers.
As will all of the centers in LearningExpress Library, access to any of the content requires an individual (free) account. This is because the content is specialized to be interactive to each person’s individual needs and work. Any content that was accessed is saved in the My Profile section of the database. As an example, if you create or upload a resume you can make copies of that resume and edit it as needed depending on the position(s) you are applying to. The same is for any prep test taken. You can review your test score, answers, and recommended skills builders from the My Profile section.
