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Duck, Duck, Goose… What’s Wrong with the Duck?


Lately everyone in workforce development has collectively lost their minds and decided to jump on the magic fun bus of renaming the duck. Ever since the President of the United States decided to call the now named “One-Stop Career Center” an “American Job Center,” people have abandoned all rational thoughts, stopped in their tracks, and started calling the duck the American Job Center.
 
Do I have a problem with updating and rebranding? No, but am I sure that we are actually doing ourselves a favor with Duck 2.0? No. The reason is that I think that the change happened overnight. It seems like a new trend. Everyone wants to be part of the American Job Center thing the way that everyone wants the newest “Iproduct.” 
 
What was wrong with the old duck? Was the “One Stop Career Center” broken? I’m not sure. How about taking it and making it better? When boxed macaroni and cheese seems boring, do manufacturers start calling it something else? No, they change the shape of the macaroni or start making varieties with different cheeses. To be honest, it seems like suddenly the “One-Stop Career Center” became a non-politically correct thing to say over night.
 
So, what’s in a name? For me a name is a big deal. A name is a brand. The right name can make or break a product.  I have been wondering why we are not calling the center the “American Career Center.” Why “job” and not “career?”  Have things changed so much in America since the recent great recession that America no longer has any careers and people will just work a series of jobs until they die? How depressing.
 
Maybe this is an admission that the duck is not as good at getting people into careers as once thought, but instead it is only good at getting people a job? Maybe the American government doesn’t really care if people have careers, but rather subscribe to the philosophy “any job is better than no job?”
 
Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter at this point. The cat is out of the bag. Now until the transformation is truly complete, we must live in the limbo land between the two places, like we are floating in the ocean between two islands.  One thing is clear. It’s duck season!
 
If anyone has any comments, feel free to post below. I can also be reached by email at kcirincione@gmail.com. Thank you for reading and following me! ~Karen Cirincione                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

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