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A clip from this longer presentation – CareerCamp: New Unconference Methods for Helping People Build the Career They Deserve with Douglas E. Welch
CareerCamp Founder, Douglas E. Welch, shares CareerCamp with the attendees of the California Placement Association at their annual 2015 conference in San Luis Obispo.
He discusses What is CareerCamp?, how it might be used in your organization and takes you through an example of a Day at CareerCamp.
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Transcript:
I always saw, as the main heart of CareerCamp, is that we focus on career-development. The reason career, the word career, is in there. This isn’t about getting a job today. How many people do job fairs right now, at their organizations? Very popular. You see them, they are ubiquitous. You see them basically as one method of that we use on and on. Anthony does a job fair at College of the Canyons. What we have found is that CareerCamp is and excellent balance to what, unfortunately, I see sometimes as kind of meat market approach of a job fair. I hear so many people complain about it. You know, “I went there and all they were doing was taking my resume and moving me down the line.” Or worse yet, “All they were doing was handing out cards that says ‘Go to our web site and fill out your resume online.'” That frustrates the living daylights out of people and I can tell you that, if you haven’t heard that, which I’m probably sure you have, I hear it from nearly everyone who comes to a CareerCamp. They hate that aspect of it.
What is CareerCamp and Career Camp International?
CareerCamp is a community organized, career-focused, unconference which calls upon local communities and people to share their knowledge, expertise and other important information on developing yourself and your career.
What is an unconference?
Unconferences are self-organizing conferences, similar to many professional conferences, but instead of hiring well-known, professional speakers, they call on the attendees themselves to provide the content and focus for the event. Every person who attends is highly encouraged to present on some topic deeply important to them or, barring that, to facilitate an open breakout session or round table discussion or even just to engage and converse with their fellow attendees between presentations. A few organizers band together to find a venue for the event, recruit sponsors and invite attendees, but the focus of the unconference is driven solely by the attendees.
Some might question the usefulness of presentations by their peers, but we have found that there is an enormous amount of real-world expertise available in each and every local community. CareerCamp utilizes a format that draws out that expertise and benefits everyone. CareerCamp (and other unconferences) provide a structure and an opportunity to share this expertise in ways that traditional conferences do not. Additionally, CareerCamps also attract career development professionals who can use CareerCamp as a way of introducing themselves to a new audience of potential clients.
How was CareerCamp developed?
The genesis of CareerCamp was found by attending BarCamp unconferences held around the world. CareerCamp founder, Douglas E. Welch, was a long time attendee of BarCamp, which is an event that embraces any topic, although it often leans toward technology. After seeing the success of BarCamp as a way to illuminate and educate within a community, Welch applied the unconference concept to the specific world of Career Development.
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