More than 2,100 librarians registered for our May 19 webinar, “Preparing Job Seekers for a Post-Pandemic Economy.” We received nearly 50 questions about LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator during the live session. Members of the EBSCO LearningExpress sales team have been reaching out to answer customers’ specific questions; however, we also wanted to answer the most popular questions we received.
How often is the content in Job & Career Accelerator updated? Do you anticipate tweaking your product to better fit the masses of newly unemployed?
LearningExpress updates and publishes new content to all its platforms on a quarterly basis. This includes interactive tutorials, practice tests, articles, and e-books (which are available in accessible PDF format) as well as the occupations content in Job & Career Accelerator. In the coming months, we plan to add even more content to address the needs of the newly unemployed.
Do you have any updated content on job interviewing in these times of the coronavirus pandemic?
Although job interviews are likely to move from in-person to online during the coronavirus pandemic, job seekers will still be expected to conduct themselves professionally. Employers who meet candidates “face-to-face” in a video conference call will still be evaluating their appearance, attitude, communication skills and body language. Job & Career Accelerator’s “Interview with Confidence” tutorial walks job seekers through the stages of the interview process and provides strategies to help them prepare.
Do users have to create an online account with LearningExpress? What about privacy?
Users can access a variety of educational resources from our interactive online learning platforms. Users must create personal accounts in order to save their work in progress, store score reports, and revisit any practice tests, tutorials or e-books. Registration only requires a valid email address and a password. Users wanting to review the information we retain can download a copy from My Center. Due to GDPR compliance for our European Union residents, users are also able to completely erase their history from our systems. Click here to download the EBSCO LearningExpress Privacy Policy.
Are there plans to incorporate any other job search engines beyond Indeed?
Yes. We are currently working to incorporate USAJOBS federal job search into our job search engine.
Can I create direct links to specific content within Job & Career Accelerator?
Yes! Adding direct links to specific centers within your LearningExpress products ensures users can get to the information they want in fewer clicks. EBSCO Connect includes colorful Job & Career Accelerator product buttons you may use on your library’s website. (You can find additional product buttons in our LearningExpress Promotion Kits.) Construct custom URLs for your library website using these instructions, or contact Customer Support for assistance.
Do you have video tutorials to show users how to use Job & Career Accelerator?
From the EBSCO LearningExpress interface, click the Help link and select Video Guides. These guides show users how to search for resources in LearningExpress products, take a tutorial, download an e-book, take a practice test and more. You can also find public links to these video guides on EBSCO Connect. We are currently working on an updated enhanced video guide that covers Job & Career Accelerator’s new features and functionality.
How can Job & Career Accelerator help career changers, older adults, adults with intellectual disabilities, adults re-entering the workforce after an absence, and new college graduates coming into the job market during the coronavirus pandemic?
The “Find Your Next Job Tutorial” shows job seekers how to make the most of the many online resources available to help them in their job hunt. They’ll learn all about the 21st-century job search and employment landscape, why it’s important to acquire new skills and build up the ones they already have, and just how crucial the power of networking really is. They’ll walk through the country’s top job search engines and the best ways to use them, the various steps of the job application process and which careers have been made possible by the digital age.
Job seekers can also choose one of the following paths to get expert advice and learn how to best take advantage of the available resources in Job & Career Accelerator’s guidance pages:
- High School Students
- College Grads
- Entry-Level Job Seekers
- Transitioning Military
- Career Changers (Those looking for a new career will also find a “Career Changers Manual” e-book in the Career eBooks Library.)
- Experienced Job Seekers
To get customized guidance and results, users can select preparation levels when using the Interest Matcher. The preparation levels range from Level One (Little or No Preparation) to Level Five (Extensive Preparation).
When building resumes using the Resume Builder, job seekers can choose from the following job experience levels:
- Not Applicable
- High School / GED (Little/No Experience)
- Currently in College/Technical Program
- Recent Graduate
- Entry-Level Job Seeker (1-2 years)
- Mid-Level Job Seeker (3-7 years)
- Experienced Job Seeker (8+ years)
- Research/Academic Job Seeker
They can also choose from the following work situations:
- I have a 6+ month gap in work history.
- I'm transitioning from military to civilian workforce.
- I'm looking to change careers.
The Resume Builder offers sample resumes based on job experience and work situation, along with lists of dynamic and engaging keywords to help make the resume stand out.
Can resumes and cover letters be saved to an external source such as a flash drive?
Yes. After creating your resume in the Resume Builder, you can download the file in Microsoft Word (.docx), Adobe PDF (.pdf) and Rich Text Format (.rtf).
Does Job & Career Accelerator include any content in Spanish?
Yes. The Career Matchers, Occupation Explorers and Occupation Cards allow users to toggle between English and Spanish. In addition, the new Career Videos within the Occupation Cards offer Spanish subtitles under the Closed Captioning setting.