Mark Cafferty on Career Talk Radio

Mark Cafferty has been the president and CEO of the San Diego regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC) for a little over a year. Before that Cafferty spent nearly six years at San Diego Workforce Partnership, working his way up to president and CEO.

Cafferty has plans to improve and expand the way the EDC strives to establish more jobs in San Diego. Since taking his position at the EDC, Cafferty has been paying special attention to companies like Qualcomm, focusing on growing jobs in the area rather than moving pre-existing jobs here.

A recent study produced by Cafferty and the EDC, regarding Qualcomm’s overwhelming economic presence in the region, is intended to serves as a guideline for creating homegrown jobs in San Diego, like Qualcomm did. Rather than focus of the EDC being “to attract high-wage companies to the region from around the world,” as stated in the EDC’s mission statement, Cafferty hopes to expand that mission to include the generation of new local jobs as well.

Hear Cafferty discuss his most recent work at the EDC and give advice for job seekers in San Diego on the upcoming episode of Career Talk Radio. Click here to listen live Thursday June 13 at 10:30 am.

Check out this video of Cafferty talking about San Diego’s job summoning potential.

For other episodes of Career Talk Radio, visit the Career Channel at uctv.tv/careers.

Finding a Sustainable Career

Sustainability is about the preservation of resources today in order to meet current needs and the needs of future generations, or in other words “the capacity to endure.” For businesses, sustainability means respecting the environment while maintaining commercial success. Individuals with a passion for green initiatives often seek jobs in sustainability but do not know where to start.  Often times, sustainability roles are created by an individual already working with an organization, as they work towards implementing various sustainable initiatives.

Last month at UC San Diego Extension’s Career Week, Bob Gilleskie,  Andrea Cook, and Erin Koch, local sustainability executives and UC San Diego Extension program advisors/instructors, outlined various paths to becoming a professional in sustainability. Some of the helpful tips discussed included to.

• Get connected. Most jobs are found through family, friends, and existing professional acquaintances. Go to networking mixers, join professional associations, and attend industry events.
• Volunteer. Ask to volunteer with an organization that you want to work with or get experience through the many nonprofit, conservation, or environmental organizations that need volunteers and/or board members.
• Find a mentor. Your mentor could be someone in a particular job you would like to have or a seasoned sustainability professional. Ask educated questions about their journey and advice on how to achieve your short term and long term goals.
• Refine your resume. Make sure your resume and cover letters are accurate, up to date, and without errors.  Also, revise your resume and cover letter so it speaks to each individual company’s values and their current priorities.
• Do your homework. Investigate and ask yourself necessary questions before applying to a job or attempting to create a sustainability role. What is the organizations approach to sustainability? Do your skills match their needs?
• Write it out. If writing is one of your strengths, start a blog about a topic in sustainability that you are interested in, and get your name out there.
• Learn. Get continuing education. Learn sustainability fundamentals and keep up-to-date on emerging trends.
• Take initiative. Start sustainability initiatives in your current workplace and document them.  If your company leaders see the value of what you implement, they may create a sustainability role for you to keep it going.
• Make a match. Many companies are becoming more socially responsible. You can incorporate your previous experience into a role involving sustainability. Enter a company you want to work for in a “normal” job and then find a way to incorporate sustainable practices into your particular role.
• Be patient. Although sustainability is viewed as a good thing, not all companies are open to incorporating sustainable practices into their operations. It may take a few positions to get to where you want to be, but your effort and time will be worth the wait.

All in all, there’s no golden ticket to landing a sustainability job.  It’s a balanced, multi-pronged approach just as in any job search in any industry. The world of work has changed and individuals need to assume full responsibility for managing their own portfolio of knowledge, experience, interests and skills.

If you’re looking for guidance in your job search or need help identifying your next steps, UC San Diego Extension’s Life/Work Center can be a useful resource. Quarterly workshops and career coaching are available by appointment.

To gain a solid foundation in sustainability principles and applications in today’s business world, the Sustainable Business Practices certificate will provide you with the skills necessary to become a sustainability professional. Learn more at extension.ucsd.edu/sustainable.

 

Exporting Your English Skills

Teaching English abroad has become just as common as studying abroad, offering an opportunity of adventure, particularly popular amongst recent college grads, before settling into the corporate world.

Why has interest in teaching English abroad recently spiked? Half the world’s population is expected to be speaking English by 2015. English is a first language for 400 million people and a fluent second for 300 million to 500 million more.

Cultural and economic reasons have thrust English upon the world stage as the new lingua franca, a common business language used for communications by people who do not share a mother tongue.

If you have ever considered living overseas and earning money at the same time by teaching English, the College of Extended Studies at SDSU and UCSD Extension offer programs that may be a perfect fit for you.

The 130-hour Teaching English as a Second Language/Teaching English as a Foreign Language certificate program is offered through the American Language Institute, a division of SDSU’s Extended Studies. The program prepares novice instructors to live and teach English overseas.

A recent graduate of SDSU’s TESL/TEFL program in Saudi Arabia

SDSU Extended Studies is an approved provider for this and many other “education to career” funding programs through San Diego Workforce Partnership, Military Spouse, and Veterans benefits.

More than 150 graduates of the SDSU program have been employed in nearly 40 countries with the help of the American Language Institute’s job placement assistance program, which combines a solid teaching foundation with hands-on practical classroom experience.

“Traveling and living overseas has been a valuable and meaningful rite of passage for generations of Americans,” said Van Hillier, assistant director of the American Language Institute and course instructor. “Facilitating the process for those interested in such an adventure has been very rewarding.”

Hillier received his undergraduate degree at UCSD and his master’s at Rutgers University. He has been teaching since 1983 and has taught English at SDSU and Harvard as well as overseas in Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. He has also taught English as a foreign language in the U.S., Korea, Jordan, Japan, and Mexico.

In addition, UC San Diego Extension’s professional certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) trains teachers to use teaching methods and special techniques to rapidly increase their students’ proficiency and fluency. This certificate provides in-depth study and training in best practices and methodology for teaching English learners.

“The major goals are to provide training which results in highly advanced knowledge and skills in explaining the English language at every level: elementary, secondary, university, and adult, around the world,” says Roxanne Nuhaily, director of the English Language Institute and International Student Services at UC San Diego Extension.

Passion in the Public Sector

The last few years have proven difficult for the public sector. Falling public employment has been among the largest contributors to lingering unemployment in the United States since the end of the 2008 recession.

Tight budgets have forced a number of difficult decisions on policymakers and nonprofit leaders who have been forced to lay off public service workers in order to meet their monetary constraints. Although salaries often trailed the private sector, in the past the public service sector was able to attract talented employees with the promises of job stability, great benefits, and opportunities for advancement.

Recently, a study titled, the “Inspiring Excellence in the Future of Public Service” from The Centre for Organization Effectiveness, was conducted in alliance with UC San Diego Extension to uncover what brought people into the public sector in the first place and what’s changed in the landscape of serving the public.

This is the sector broadly defined as government (all levels), nonprofits, non-government organizations (NGOs), international development and education. More than 200 individual interviews and focus groups were conducted within more than 30 organizations representing state, county, and city agencies as well as municipalities and universities throughout California. Participants in the study ranged from graduate students to seasoned and retired public sector employees at all levels.

The Centre for Organization Effectiveness study reports that despite the economic challenges, workers are still attracted to public service. But, because job security and stability are not the draw they once were, study participants believe future public service employees will choose the field for other reasons.

For years, employees joined public service to make a difference and improve communities and in turn received job stability and benefits. A new generation of recent and mid-level college graduates are still choosing careers in public service because of a desire to do public good even though much of that job stability is diminishing.

The report noted there is a sense of idealism and a strong desire to contribute something significant and make an impact. Many public sector employees work in fields where they provide health care, maintain state and local infrastructure, provide protective services, and help educate the next generation of workers.

The majority of participants chose the public service career path because they felt compelled to serve people, their communities, and those in need of representation. Those drawn to public service were motivated by an overwhelming need to give back, to work for the greater good, and to make a difference with the work they do.

For a recap of the research, visit http://tcfoe.com/pdf/ResearchSummaryFinal.pdf

Military Transition: Building a Career in Facilities Management

San Diego is a robust military city inhabited by both active-duty military personnel and military veterans. One of the greatest obstacles veterans face is the transition of skills learned while serving in the military into successful careers as civilians. However, the experience and training gained in the military can be absolutely invaluable to many employers—especially in certain fields and industries.

The Facilities Management field is a great fit for military personnel in transition.  For example, there are parallels between military experience and the construction field, including the design, building, maintenance, and improvement of military infrastructures, power plants, roads, docks and bridges.  In addition to hands-on facilities training, military personnel often possess leadership and problem-solving skills essential to success in the field. Facilities Management involves the coordination of physical infrastructure, space, people and organizations. Facility managers work in business locations ranging from offices buildings to hospitals to sports arenas.

Now is a great time to consider a career in Facilities Management; this is a field that is rapidly evolving, and new roles are constantly being created. Buildings have become increasingly more technologically complex, and the pressure to create more sustainable facilities has led to an increase in demand for highly-skilled workers to cover new and changing responsibilities. These responsibilities can include: designing office layouts for maximum productivity, understanding safety and health regulations, creating systems within buildings such as cooling and heating, implementing sustainable practices, emergency preparation, contractor selection, and finding less expensive ways to run facility operations.

Salaries of a Facilities Manager are dependent on a variety of factors, including the size of the facility, the type of building, and the budget of the organization.  According to salary.com, median salaries are over $80,000.

UC San Diego Extension offers a certificate in Facilities Management that complements the hands-on training many receive while serving in the military. Learn more about the certificate and how it could help advance your career at extension.ucsd.edu/facilities.

San Diego’s Unemployment Lowers, Economic Outlook Rises

Last week, the Employment Development Department reported that San Diego County’s unemployment rate fell to 8 percent, the lowest rate since December 2008, when it was at 7.4 percent. Data show that county businesses added a total of 31,400 employees in the past 12 months. California is seeing a decreased unemployment rate along with the majority of the nation—including 37 other states, Puerto Rico and D.C.  In the past year, California employers added 293,000 payroll jobs and had a job growth rate of 2.1 percent, higher than the nation’s 1.5 percent job growth rate.

California’s unemployment fluctuates greatly from county to county. Imperial County has the highest unemployment rate at 24.2 percent, while Orange County enjoys a much lower rate of 6.5 percent, mostly due to highly visited attractions such as Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.

Some factors that may contribute to San Diego’s decreased unemployment rate are:

Diverse Industries – San Diego’s diverse and growing industries, including biotech, engineering, and healthcare, are driving new job creation. San Diego is also a region of continuous research, with universities and independent research institutes that hire regularly.

Real Estate – San Diego’s real estate market was hit especially hard during the recession. This year, economists expect a turnaround in San Diego’s housing market with home prices and home sales to increase by 5.5 and 7.5 percent, respectively. Data from the State of California Employee Development Database also show a decrease in monthly foreclosures in 2012.

Tourism – The tourism industry was greatly affected during the recession, but increased jobs and revenues from 2012 show that the industry is making a big comeback. In 2013, a record number of business and leisure travelers are expected to come to San Diego County. This is mainly due to the increase in discretionary income combined with San Diego’s many popular attractions—SeaWorld, LEGOLAND, and famous beaches, to name a few.

Other hopeful signs include an increase in online help-wanted advertising, local stocks performing well, and an optimistic outlook of the nation’s economic health. Factors that could potentially hinder San Diego’s economic growth include: healthcare reform, rising oil prices, and increased taxes.

Between 2012 and 2013 San Diego County added 31,400 jobs, almost all jobs sectors showed gains, the biggest winners included:

Job Sectors	Job Gains
Professional and Business Services	11,000+
Leisure and Hospitality	6,000+
Education and Health Services	5,700+
Construction	1,600+

In February alone, San Diego County gained 9,800 jobs. The largest contributor in the county was the leisure and hospitality sector, up 3,300 jobs, with 2,100 of those coming from the restaurant and bar industry. This is a good indicator of a recovering economy since increased restaurant sales usually mean an overall increase in discretionary income.

With more jobs being added each day, now is the time to meet with a career coach at UC San Diego Extension’s Life/Work Center to see what the future holds for your career.

Figures do not include people no longer looking for work, underemployed workers, or the many who have already used their unemployment benefits.

Sources

Horn, J. (2013, March 29). UT San Diego. SD Unemployment Drops to 8 Percent
Horn, J. (2013, March 22). UT San Diego. San Diego Shows Robust Job Growth
San Diego Business Journal. (2013, April 1). San Diego County’s Unemployment Rate Falls to 8 Percent in February
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. (2012, June). San Diego’s Road to Economic Recovery (PDF)
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2013, March 29). State Unemployment Rates Improved in February 2013

Grammar Matters

There is a big difference between writing “Eat here and get gas” and “Eat here, and get gas.”

When it comes to business writing, do you mean well but it comes out good? Are you never quite sure what is there, they’re or their? Are you wanted by the grammar police, whose mission is to serve and correct?

Many jobseekers and career climbers are unaware that poor grammar is holding back their careers. Beware if you don’t know that your and you’re are two different words. According to a Harvard Business Review blog, many companies will not hire people who use poor grammar.

An excellent book to help you brush up your grammar skills is “Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation” by British journalist Lynne Truss.

Asserting that punctuation “directs you how to read in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play,” Truss wittily argues for the merits of preserving the apostrophe, using commas correctly, and the proper use of the semicolon.

This #1 New York Times bestseller’s title is based on the following old joke. A panda walks into a bar. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. “Why? Why are you behaving in this strange, un-panda-like fashion?” asks the confused bartender, as the panda walks towards the exit.

“I’m a panda,” he says, tossing a dictionary on the bar before he goes. “Look it up.”

The bartender turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds a definition. “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats shoots and leaves.”

For those in San Diego, more personal punctuation help is also available. Published author Anne Bromley, a writing instructor and consultant, helps students get it right (or write) the first time when she teaches the Professional Certificate in Business Writing program through San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies during the spring semester.

“What’s happening now is that more and more people are being called into management positions and forced to write,” Bromley said. “They get kicked upstairs and realize they are not very good communicators in writing. It has caused a lot of problems in the workplace. We’ve had so many issues where people need help.”

Students who enroll in the Business Writing seminar will receive Bromley’s assistance in a series of three half-day workshops designed for professionals who would like to hone their writing skills.

For information, call (619) 594-5489, email nbridgers@mail.sdsu.edu or visit www.neverstoplearning.net/bw.

UC San Diego Extension partners with World Wildlife Fund

This August, the University of California San Diego Extension and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will launch a new international certificate program in Advanced Terrestrial Carbon Accounting.

This unique program will train professionals from around the world on how to measure forest carbon – a key step to unlock new public funding to protect forests and fight climate change. The clearing and burning of more than 10 million hectares of tropical forests per year spews almost 200 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per second into the atmosphere, causing an estimated 15 percent of global human greenhouse gas emissions.

The Kyoto Protocol’s emissions–trading framework creates economic incentives for nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions cost effectively. Developing countries can find funds to preserve their forests, which in turn helps save the earth by reducing carbon emissions. This creates a need for a new breed of ecological protector, the terrestrial statistician.

“This course will equip the emerging generation of scientists, government officials, and society at large to understand this large driver of climate change with advanced skills – UC San Diego is recruiting some of the best instructors in the world to ensure this course’s quality,” says Hugo Villar, director of Science and Technology at UC San Diego Extension.

By using the latest cutting-edge scientific tools and methods to measure forest carbon, participants of the carbon accounting course will be able to provide rigorous estimates of how conserving tropical forests avoids emissions of greenhouse gases. In turn, the new certificate course will help participants advance major global initiatives such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+). REDD+ is a global initiative aimed at helping developing countries secure international funding to preserve their forests, which in turn reduces carbon emissions.

Lou Leonard, Vice President, Climate Change at World Wildlife Fund said, “We are on the threshold of proving that pay-for-performance conservation can work at large jurisdictional scales. These efforts have momentum and new funding, but require more detailed science on how much carbon different ecosystems hold, and how many emissions can be prevented through conservation. This collaboration between the University of California, WWF and other partners will help us cross this threshold by making some of the world’s best conservationist scientists even better.”

“There is still a large capacity gap in professionals who can accurately and transparently measure and model terrestrial carbon,” said Benoit Bosquet, of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility at the World Bank. “Advanced training programs like the one being offered by the University of California San Diego will supplement existing efforts and ensure that REDD+ continues to evolve toward higher standards of credibility.”

The course will be held over four weeks in August 2013 on the UC San Diego campus in Southern California. The certificate will cover IPCC Good Practice Guidelines, remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), emissions factors, activity data, various new technologies and methods to estimate carbon, statistics, uncertainty analyses, and communicating results.

Partial scholarships will be awarded to qualified applicants. However, all applicants should fully explore opportunities with their host country government and/or organization for financial support before applying for a scholarship.

Application and scholarship information can be found at http://extension.ucsd.edu/TCA. The deadline for applicants outside of the United States that require a visa is April 15. American applicants have until June 15 to apply.

Focus On Instructors: Leland Foerster

“You photograph with all your ideology.” - Sebastiåo Salgado (Popular Photography, March 2008)

We invite you to take a moment to get to know Leland Foerster, a fine art photographer who has taught for UC San Diego Extension for close to twenty years. His recent projects include: The Californios, Taking the Early Bus and There is Work. His photographs are in public and private collections including Scripps, Kaiser and San Diego’s Museum of Photographic Arts.

How did you get started as a photographer?

My mother and father were both amateur artists. There were easels, paints, cameras, and a darkroom in the homes where I grew up. Creating art was seen as a legitimate activity. My father gave me a camera when I went to Brazil as an exchange student during high school. That early experience kindled my love for making photographs and showing people my work. Photography became an important part of my life (often to the point of distraction) as a Peace Corps Volunteer, graduate student and 4-H Youth Adviser.

In 1974, I had the chance to join a small educational film production company and decided to choose a career in photography instead of fitting photography into other duties. Looking back it was a risky decision to make with a young family, but it turned out to be a great decision.

Mission San Luis Gonzaga. East of of Constitución, Baja California Sur, (c) Leland Foerster

Who is your favorite photographer and why?

There are two.

Elliot Porter, for his choice of subject matter that went beyond breathtaking scenery to making color photographs and dye transfer prints about man’s presence in the natural world, and Sebastiåo Salgado, for his motivation and skill in documenting the human condition with beautiful books and black and white prints about workers of the world.

Seeing Porter’s and Salgado’s prints encouraged me to learn how to make my own fine prints in a traditional, wet darkroom. I continue this quest in my digital darkroom. For me the print is the end point of each memorable photographic experience.

What are your three favorite photography subjects and what was memorable about them?

Stone Legacy, Photographs and Stories of the Historic Stone Churches of Baja California. My yearly expeditions to photograph Jesuit mission sites in remote areas of Baja California were wonderful adventures to discover the history and beauty in and around the old structures—a burning candle, a garden still tended after 250 years, a confessional screen where priest and parishioner communicated, and time worn stone steps leading to a choir loft.

The Baja California Deserts. I loved the routine of two or three week trips with my friend and photographer, Bill Evarts. We bounced along dirt roads in a 4-wheel drive pickup searching for exceptional light on this ragged landscape. Scout, eat and nap in the mid-day. Hike out before sunrise and back after dark to be in position for dawn and dusk photography from some hight point. Then build a mesquite fire, re-load 4×5 film holders inside a black changing bag, tell stories and watch the stars.

The Californios: Stories and Photographs of the Descendants of the Mission Era in Baja California. I have fond memories of long, unhurried trips to visit remote ranches in the mountains around the mission sites in Baja California. I would camp in the back of my truck for three or four days at each ranch. Camera and tripod always within reach, listening to stories, and participating in daily routines With time my hosts would begin to ignore my camera, and I could make photographs. On subsequent trips I would return with work prints to re-do images that fell short, re-tell the stories I had heard, and begin to edit them into book form on the kitchen table with my hosts.

Chema Aguiar with Goats, Rancho Picacho, Sierra de la Giganta, Baja California Sur, (c) Leland Foerster

What was your all-time favorite location to shoot?

I love the Imperial Valley where I photographed for the book, There is Work, Hay Trabajo, about agriculture and water. Photographing farm workers at dawn and dusk in fields, on harvesters, catfish farms, sheep shearing operations and feedlots are among the best memories of my life.

What are the key elements to include in a robust photography portfolio?

• Having something of value to say about the human condition
• Developing a coherent, personal style
• Paying attention to detail and craftsmanship in the presentation

What are three key pieces of advice you’d give to aspiring photographers?

• Work on discrete projects with a beginning point and an end point rather than diluting your energy in pursuit of random photographs.
• Photograph things you know about and care about in a place where you like to be.
• Choose subjects that allow for repeated access over time so that you can return to your subject to refine your work.

Leland is teaching Nature Photography: From Vision to Print in Spring 2013 (opens for enrollment January 25, 2013).

Career Strategy Session—Negotiating What You Want at Work and in Life

UC San Diego Extension’s Center for Life/Work Strategies is offering a new quarterly series to help professionals succeed in their careers. These free Career Strategy Sessions will feature a series of subject matter experts speaking on a variety of topics around job and personal growth.

According to the Harvard Business Review only 45% of people are satisfied with their jobs. The majority need to know there are ways to feel happier with work.

Everyone is faced with opportunities to negotiate on a regular basis.

On January 15^th at 9:30 a.m. at UCSD Extension’s University City Center, career coach and Extension instructor, Camille Primm, will lead a career strategy session on negotiating how to get more of what you want at work and in life.

Primm brings to our attention that “everyone is faced with opportunities to negotiate on a regular basis.”  Her workshop will teach tips for collaborating that can be applied in any work or life scenario requiring give and take. Primm’s practical approach walks you through scenarios where you have the opportunity to negotiate and collaborate. You’ll learn skills to become a better negotiator and boost your confidence along the way.

The Career Strategy Session is free to attend, but pre-registration is recommended.
Register now

Camille Primm is an award-winning career and performance strategist. She is author of Learning the Ropes: The Insider’s Guide to Winning at Work; and contributor to Discover Your Inner Strength. Camille is a graduate of Longwood University in Virginia and her training and consulting practice, Primm and Partners, is based in San Diego, CA.

The Center for Life/Work Strategies is committed to providing resources to help individuals think about their career success and satisfaction, and take control of their future for a rewarding life.