Image Source: Flazingo Photos. Source License: CC BY-SA 2.0. Adaptations: cropped.

Career Headlight is one of the first tools to come from Economic Development Work Group; it emerged from the Jobs, Workforce, and Education Alignment Study, a CONNECT project. This online tool connects job seekers with educational information and resources based on the job seeker’s individual interest and location.

Why is this important to your community?

The CONNECT region is expected to add more than 863,000 jobs in the next 35 years, and the region’s growth industries have been identified and even targeted down to the county level. But how can people who live in each county, who are current or future job seekers, find out what education and skills are needed to work in those growth industries?  How can they learn where education or skills training is available, so that they can qualify for good jobs closer to home?  Currently, over 50% of the region’s workforce commutes outside their home county for a job. How can this trend be reversed?  A key priority for the CONNECT region is growing jobs closer to home, and the Career Headlight on-line database can help job seekers find out how and where to qualify for good jobs in their home county.

50
or more of the region's workforce commutes outside their home county for a job

How does it work?

Career Headlight provides updated information about careers in the region to help job seekers match their skills and interests to relevant careers. One key feature is the ability to help high school and college students (and their career counselors) match their interests and strengths to the type of jobs that are available or that are growing in the region, at the county level. They can then use the very user-friendly online interface to see where they can gain the education and skills to qualify for those jobs, again at the county level. This eliminates hours of searching and guesswork to find the needed educational programs, and to learn about job possibilities, as well as more about specific careers and earning potential. Career Headlight also allows employers to access county-level job demand and education data and review education programs to see what skills job seekers in the area have access to, fostering better “work closer to home” possibilities. The database provides links to recent job postings on NCworks.gov and SCworks.gov and education programs within the region that match job-specific skills criteria.

Ready to get started?

Using the Tool

  • Review the online tool at: http://www.centralinacareerheadlight.com/
  • Share Career Headlight with students, leadership of your organization, educational institutions, and organizations that assist career seekers. Don’t forget high school guidance counselors!
  • Designate a Career Headlight contact in your organization or business, so that employees or others who wish to improve their job skills/promotability can access it.
  • Encourage the use of Career Headlight in the community, to strengthen your “job readiness!”.
  • Partner with schools to ensure that students are aware of the tool and high schools, universities, and colleges are preparing students with the right training and educational materials.

Where has it worked?