As I write this blog, Workforce Solutions is closed today and tomorrow (1/16-1/17/18) because the roads are frozen all over our 13-county region and our board values the safety of our staff at our 24 career office locations. I am totally grateful for this opportunity to #netflixandchill; but now that I have exhausted the endless movie and TV options offered on multiple streaming sites, I would like to try to demonstrate something I observed. In movies like “Deadpool,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and “Annie Hall,” the main character will break the fourth wall, or cross the line between themselves and the audience. Usually this can be seen in several ways such as talking directly to the audience or recognizing themselves as a character. As you read along, I will talk to you directly, relate this cold event to job searching, and explain how Workforce Solutions can help you meet your career goals.
If your work stresses you out, gets cancelled, and isn’t accessible remotely, you’re probably one of the many jumping for joy during this short break. You can waste this time similar to how I mentioned above, or you can take this time to start planning for your next career move. The great thing about living in today’s digital age is that most of us have smartphones and/or access to the internet (otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this), making it possible to update your WorkInTexas, LinkedIn, and Indeed accounts. When a lot of “Gen Xers” and older were coming of age, they used rolodexes to maintain their contacts. Personally, I’m not a fan of paper and I keep all my contacts in spreadsheets, the cloud, and social media accounts. However, for all of us, this chilly time could pose as a great opportunity to add, update, or remove entries using one of those methods. By the time you read this, our career office operations will have resumed and you can share some of the steps you’ve taken with one of our career professionals.
Visit our career exploration page to learn about labor market information such as high-skill/high-growth jobs, industry and occupation profiles, and other resources that will help you plan for either entering or changing your position in the workforce. If you need to brush up on your job search skills, such as resume building or interviewing, you can find dates and times for seminars covering these topics by hovering over the “For Individuals” tab on our website and clicking on either “Workforce Solutions Seminars” for seminars at one of our career offices or “Community Seminars” for seminars held at a partnering organization’s location. If you don’t have the time to sit through a class or you’re not comfortable in a group environment, you can visit one of our 24 career offices, Monday through Friday between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm to receive one-on-one advice from one of our professionals about career planning and opportunities.
Career planning and exploration never stops. It doesn’t stop when you have a job, nor does it when your job gets cancelled due to inclement weather. As a blogger, I used this time to practice breaking the fourth wall (thank you streaming websites) with the goal to hopefully motivate you in your job search. Generally, a character does this by facing the camera or audience and says what’s on his/her mind. I want you to try this by visiting one of our career offices, facing one of our professionals, and expressing your career goals. If you were overly excited to get a day off of work because of these freezing temperatures, maybe you won’t be in your next job that Workforce Solutions helped you get.
Diego Trevino is a Regional Facilitator for Workforce Solutions in the Houston – Galveston area. Before joining the regional team, he served as a greeter, employment counselor and staffing specialist. Earlier in his career he traveled to South Korea where he taught students English. He uses past teaching experiences and present workforce knowledge to conduct job skills seminars throughout the 13 county Gulf Coast Region.
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