Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Job-hunting tips from the March 4, 2002 issue of
QuintZine.
Could distance learning provide answers for this
dilemma? Ten years ago, what worried corporate leaders
most was that U.S. competitiveness would be undercut
by inadequate workforce skills, Business Week reports. But
those fears dissipated as the economy boomed in the late
1990s and productivity soared. Now, a new study raises
troubling questions about the country's human capital
once again, as well as about the failure of U.S. schools
to keep pace in an increasingly competitive global economy.
The study, by the Princeton (N.J.)-based Educational Testing
Service (ETS), finds that the literacy of American adults
ranks 10th out of 17 industrialized countries. More
troubling, the U.S. has the largest gap between highly
and poorly educated adults, with immigrants and minorities
making up the largest chunk of those at the bottom.
Since both groups make up a growing share of the workforce,
the U.S. will drop even further behind unless adult
training and education improve sharply.
Read
the full story.
"Sources of Career Success," an article on HR.com
by Peter Heslin, describes subjective factors that
influence career success. They include:
Personality, especially, conscientiousness and extraversion,
which are positively related to job satisfaction, income,
and occupational status.
Education. Heslin cites a survey of 1,388 US executives
that found that educational level, quality, prestige,
and type of degree all predicted subsequent financial success.
Mentoring relationships.
Career tactics, including networking, political influence
behaviors (self-promotion), and a person's proximity to
organizational decision makers.
In another boost to training -- whether of
the classroom or distance variety -- a new survey
released jointly by CompTIA, the Computing Technology
Industry Association, and Prometric, shows that information
technology (IT) training and certification are
elements crucial to increased productivity,
credibility, and compensation for professionals
in the IT industry. The 2001 Global Training
and Certification Study polled nearly
18,000 IT managers, certification candidates,
and certified professionals.
The research showed
that both IT professionals and managers consider
technology training and certification to be critical
to career development and quality control within IT
departments. The survey also indicated that employers
are now taking IT training very seriously. The research
also showed that training and certification often go
hand in hand. Sixty-four percent of certified individuals
believe that both training and certification are beneficial
to professional development, and more than 70 percent
of certified professionals indicated that they would
pursue training even if it did not lead to certification.
Could distance learning provide answers for this
dilemma? Ten years ago, what worried corporate leaders
most was that U.S. competitiveness would be undercut
by inadequate workforce skills, Business Week reports. But
those fears dissipated as the economy boomed in the late
1990s and productivity soared. Now, a new study raises
troubling questions about the country's human capital
once again, as well as about the failure of U.S. schools
to keep pace in an increasingly competitive global economy.
The study, by the Princeton (N.J.)-based Educational Testing
Service (ETS), finds that the literacy of American adults
ranks 10th out of 17 industrialized countries. More
troubling, the U.S. has the largest gap between highly
and poorly educated adults, with immigrants and minorities
making up the largest chunk of those at the bottom.
Since both groups make up a growing share of the workforce,
the U.S. will drop even further behind unless adult
training and education improve sharply.
