Students, community flock to new TMCC career center

Ever since Truckee Meadows Community College opened its new Career Services Center, students and non-students from around town for that matter have been flocking to the center to learn about jobs they might fill.

That's no small matter in a regional economy where unemployment is running about 3.3 percent and employers spend increasing amounts of time looking for qualified help.

Anywhere from 400 to 600 people a month visit the new center.While most are TMCC students, some also are experienced workers looking to make a career change.

Some of the work undertaken by Humberto Hernandez, the career specialist at the center, would be familiar to anyone who visited a guidance counselor 50 years ago.

He runs students through a self-assessment process it's largely computerized these days and helps them scout possible careers that match their interests.

But there's also a healthy dose of realworld analysis in the counseling provided by the career center's staff.

The same computers that suggest careers that match students' interests also have links to analysis prepared by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

That analysis shows the outlook for different careers over the next few years will demand for workers be growing? shrinking? and details the pay workers can expect.

"We help keep their feet on the ground," Hernandez says.

Whether the visitor to the career center is an 18-yearold starting classes at TMCC or a 62- year-old looking for a satisfying second career, Hernandez and other staff follow a four-step process:

* They help visitors learn about their interests.A popular software program called "Choices" quickly runs visitors through about 180 questions that narrow their interests.

For $20 each, visitors also can take the Meyer-Briggs and Strong assessments of their personality types.

* They explore those interests.

The Choices software, for instance, includes short videos about daily life in hundreds of jobs and allows students to compare the requirements of one career against another.

And the software lists every college in the nation that provides training for each career complete with costs and other data.

It's not unusual, Hernandez says, for a visitor to the center to spend hours at a computer cruising through career possibilities.

* They focus students' interests through the use of internships.

* They help students find jobs in their chosen fields.

(Employers who want to list job openings can do so for free; for details contact the center at 673-7063.) Counselors also show students how to access services such as America's Job Bank and counsel visitors about resume preparation.

In many instances, Hernandez says, counselors at the center prepare an educational plan one that details which courses they need to take every semester after a TMCC student has settled on a career.

(The Career Center is located in the student center at the Red Mountain Building of TMCC's Dandini Campus.)