In this issue of Kuder User News, we are introducing Kuder Tips to provide our readers with fun, interesting, and fresh ideas for using our products. These tips have been shared with us by our customers or identified by our staff during field training sessions. We hope you find the ideas helpful as you encourage your students or clients to plan effectively for their future education and careers using the Kuder^® Career Planning System or custom Kuder-powered systems.

Tip #1: Posting Messages
With social networking and blogging sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Linkedin taking over our virtual world, students and adults alike are checking their favorite site daily to read new threads and messages. The Kuder Post a Message feature can be used to keep your students or clients coming back to the Kuder system time and time again. This feature, which also allows you to e-mail copies of the message to individual system users and/or their parents, is available to system administrators via the Kuder Administrative Database Management System. Posted messages appear in the Announcements section of individual portfolios.

Traditionally, we have encouraged you to use the Post a Message feature to communicate information about upcoming college visits, scholarships, career fairs, etc. Check out these tips that some of our customers are using:

• One teacher likes to post a career-related question each Monday. For the answer, students search for it using the system and e-mail their teacher the answer. The first student to answer correctly gets extra credit points on an assignment, candy reward, etc. The teacher commented that the competition made the exercise fun and students seemed eager to log into the system each Monday to see the new question.
• Another way to use the feature is to post information on specific careers on a daily or weekly basis. One idea is to make a Top 10 or 25 List of “Interesting Careers.” Each week a new career could be posted. This idea would make individuals aware of alternative or non-traditional careers. You could ask individuals to look up a couple characteristics about the occupation such as wage or required education. This exercise aims to break stereotypes about certain occupations and encourage career exploration. You could also try the same tip for postsecondary institutions, helping students understand all postsecondary opportunities and learn about the institutions within their state.

Tip #2: Job Interview Planning
Securing a job interview is exciting for any job seeker. They may be ready to celebrate the job prospect, but the interview preparation should start immediately. Experts say that preparing for each interview is critically important. The Job Interview Planning tool within the Kuder system provides information and tips on interviewing in order to help individuals with this process. Instead of only reading through the Job Interview Planning section, we suggest creating Mock Interviews to make preparing for interviews fun and realistic. Follow these suggestions to create your own Mock Interview:

• Ask individuals to pair up, one will be the interviewer and the other will be the interviewee (you can act as the interviewer if you prefer). Select an occupation and a real-life company. Using the Kuder system both individuals should review the occupation and the job interview tips. Individuals must also research the company. Using all of the information collected, individuals can act out an interview for the selected occupation and company, dressing appropriately and asking relevant questions. The instructor should rate the performance based on the ideas, information, and tips outlined within the Job Interview Planning section of the system.
• You can also implement a similar Mock Interview scenario as described above; however, invite your community to get involved in a Mock Interview Day. Bring in representatives from local companies to conduct interviews with your students. Students can use what they learned from reviewing the Job Interview Planning section and apply it to the mock interviews.

Look for more tips in future issues of Kuder User News. Want to have your ideas featured and shared with others? E-mail us your tip(s) at news@kuder.com.

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