StaffCV Launch Free Virtual Career Counsellor

StaffCV and HP Launch Free Virtual Career Counsellor

Revolutionary New Zealand software company StaffCV announced today the launch of the first ever new generation online careers guidance tool. The Internet-based ‘NZ Students Virtual Career Counsellor’ is being offered to every student, teacher, guidance counsellor and parent in the country to use in assisting young New Zealanders into careers that they will ultimately enjoy.

Feedback from New Zealand academic staff highlighted an enormous gap in the availability of career guidance resources, both for preparation for tertiary study and for transition into the workforce. Resources had been previously sourced from providers outside New Zealand, and only those schools or tertiary institutions with adequate funding have had the ability to implement them. The Career Counsellor is available free on the Internet and has been designed to complement the work of careers advisors and teachers.

Operational support of the free careers service is generously provided by HP New Zealand. The company actively demonstrates its commitment to supporting students and education in New Zealand through its HP Schools Programme. The programme is focused on helping educators to achieve effective implementation of information technology and to help them share their knowledge and experience with others. “We are delighted to support a creative yet practical technology solution that will encourage our students to develop and succeed”, says Russell Hewitt, Country Head for HP New Zealand.

The patented profiler interface used by the Career Counsellor is unique in its graphical rather than questionnaire-based appearance and offers a positive, personalised and fun way for students to build a picture of how they like to work and interact with objects, people and things.

A Career Counsellor profile takes 10-15 minutes to complete, and is designed for people of all levels of ability and aspiration to explore their skills and interests, identify possible career paths, develop their career plan and research options for further study and training.

Output from the profiler has been validated against 950 careers created through a scientific study funded by the United States Government over a very broad range of industries and job roles.

The underlying mandate of the Career Counsellor process is to identify career options that let people do more of the things that they naturally like to do, so they will enjoy and excel in the career they eventually choose.

As well as presenting very detailed job role information, the Career Counsellor will soon provide students with links to appropriate courses of study at their choice of school or tertiary institution.

CEO Jason Kerr explains how StaffCV arrived at the concept. “We believe we own the very best profiling technology available and once we had validated it against a huge database of jobs, realised it had an obvious application for career planning. We are thrilled that through our partnership with HP, we are able to offer this exciting tool to all students across New Zealand as a free community service.”

StaffCV also acknowledged the assistance of The University of Auckland Careers and Employment Office for its help in perfecting language sets to suit students who have no previous experience in the workforce.

The university was keen to be involved in the development as it will provide a valuable means of dealing with initial student queries in an efficient and productive manner. Reports provided by the Career Counsellor will be used as a means of structuring subsequent discussions and activities.

In addition, the reporting will be very useful for prospective students to assist in course selection.
"We no longer have the resources to give an intensive service to all 30,000+ students who might seek it. The Career Counsellor enables us to get further with each student sooner and so has the potential to save time for all parties. Its versions now fully account for our diverse student population”, says Auckland University Manager, Tony Crane.

StaffCV is a New Zealand owned company specialising in next generation recruitment solutions and is headquartered in Auckland with offices in Sydney, Denver and Chicago.

The NZ Students Virtual Career Counsellor can be found at: www.nzstudents.co.nz

Educators are encouraged to obtain a free StaffCV Profiler overview and validity document by emailing careerprofiler@staffcv.com or phoning StaffCV on 0508 STAFFCV (0508 782 332).

ENDS

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