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Mary-Ellen Godfrey Holland College's only employment counsellor positon has been frozen indefinitely due to a projected college deficit this year. The position was created last fall by Ray Malone, manager of student services, as a one-year position he hoped would be ongoing. It was felt that students graduating needed someone who could work one-on-one with them and employers in their field. The position was filled by Janice Coffin, an employee of the college, with one-third of the funding coming from the college and the other two-thirds from Human Resources Development Canada. Coffin set up workshops and seminars, helped students with their resumés, gave interview tips and dealt with employers. In one year of operation, she held 20 workshops and dealt with more than 500 students. Coffin often acted as a mediator between students and employers. "She did wonderful work and made a real foundation to expand on," Malone says. Malone's proposal to continue the position this fall was turned down. Coffin's duties were passed on to staff at student services. "A major decision had to be made," Malone says. "People who were busy got busier." Lynn Carr at Charlottetown Centre's student services would like to see the position filled. She and her co-workers have found themselves having to update the Web site, organize noontime sessions and post jobs. "It's adding quite a bit of extra work," Carr says. Royalty Centre staff will soon find extra work on top of that. A pilot project, Choices CT (Career Training) software will be installed soon and available to students in the new year. Student services, resource centre staff and counsellors will attend a four-day seminar starting Dec. 18 to learn how to use it. The program can't be accessed through computers by students at other centres because of a site licence which allows the software to be at one centre at a time. Students and graduates can book appointments either as a group or individually through student services at Royalty Centre. If enough students use it, the software could be installed at other locations. Choices CT software allows students to search for information about schools and job prospects and includes a resumé builder. Malone says this technology is the best way to keep up to date on information dealing with employment. He added the software and career counsellor should be used together and not exclusively. "You can't beat that one-to-one relating," Malone says. He plans to include the employment counsellor position as part of his budget proposal next year. Whether that will be accepted will be known after Christmas. "I believe we need this position because our private trainers and competitors do this to a tee, and if we are going to remain competitive we will need it too," Malone says.
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