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Diary of a Conference- Part 3- Day 2 (a.k.a - Which Road Will You Take)

 First full day of the conference. The sessions were packed. I started my day yesterday having a meeting with some great workforce development professionals. I am a member of the New and Emerging Professionals cohort group for the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (More about this in another blog). We had a breakfast meeting to discuss our project work for the group and the organization. Any time, you get the opportunity to sit down with professionals from other areas to share ideas, take it.  An opportunity like this is always worth the time.

The first session that I attended, "Beyond Branding," was the highlight of my day. This presentation on implementing a social media strategy within a workforce development organization on all levels. The presentation not only discussed teaching social media to job seekers,  but how all staff in an organization can use social media with job seekers, to develop themselves professionally, and how to use it to represent the company.
 
Another highlight of the day was the awards luncheon. The winners of the awards were truly deserving for their contributions to workforce development. Everyone represented a high level of achievement. One of the winners, Gail Breen, in her acceptance speech quoted Lewis Carroll's work, Alice in Wonderland.  Words of wisdom from the Cheshire cat were spoken when Alice asked him what road she should take in the path in front of her.
 
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." 
 
This is true is this for workforce development professionals and job seekers alike.  Without defining  where you want to be in your career, you will never be able to know which road is the right road. As workforce development professionals, we are the map. We help people figure out which road to take. I ask each of my readers to think about this. Not only for those job seekers you work with, but for yourself. 
 
-Karen Cirincione kcirincione@gmail.com

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