Southern Wisconsin Association for Continuing Higher Education (SWACHE) |
SWACHE is composed of leading, accredited, southern Wisconsin educational institutions that have joined together to present informative and comprehensive Education Fairs for companies that promote continuing education opportunities for their employees. The Education Fair offers employees the opportunity to learn about member institutions and speak face-to-face with a representative from each school. http://www.swache.org/
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Test Prep Review |
Your Source for free on-line practice tests, including GED, the Compass Test used by MATC for placement, ACT, SAT, and many, many more. http://testprepreview.com
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WISCareers |
Wisconsin Careers is an easy to use comprehensive website that responds to the individual and encourages a self-directed and engaged approach to career development and job-seeking. Access to this site is available through all Sauk County high school counselors, the Sauk County Job Center, MATC Reedsburg, and UW Baraboo Sauk County. Examples of Assessments are Career Skills, Transferable Career Skills, Workplace Skills, and Interest Profiler. http://wiscareers.wisc.edu/Default.asp
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Advice from Local Employers |
- Recognize development opportunities – know and understand your limitations.
- Communication – Speak clearly. Organize your thoughts. Be respectful. Listen.
- Research available opportunities at the business you are applying for.
- Understand and assess your own skills – Be positive. Know what you do well and what do you do great.
- Prepare for the interview – know specifics about the organization you are applying for.
- Be motivated. Take professional initiative – Maintain good eye contact. Be upbeat and friendly. Maintain good posture.
- Accept feedback and take action – Ask questions. Understand what you can do to improve.
- Be realistic about your career path – know where you are at and where you want to go
- Align skills with the right job opportunity. (If you do not have computer skills, do not apply for a position that requires computer skills)
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Interview Protocol |
The interview is one of the most important components of your job search strategy. The purpose of the interview is, of course, to assess your skills, qualifications and personal style and determine if there is a good fit with organizational needs and requirements of the position you are seeking. It is up to you to make sure the interviewer sees you in the best possible light and to show why you are the best candidate for the position.
This is where research and careful preparation will really pay off. The more you know about the company and the position, the more you will be able to show how you can make a significant contribution. At the same time, the more confident you are about who you are and what you have to offer, the more effective you will be in showing how your particular combination of skills and experience matches the requirements and expectations of the position and the company.
Mock Interviews: The Sauk County Job Center has Mock Interview Workshops available. These are workshops held by local employers that will assist you with skills that are needed by today’s workforce Please contact the Sauk County job Center at 1-608-355-3140 for dates and times.
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Job Application Guidelines |
- Answer all questions on the application as completely as possible. An incomplete application will not be considered for employment.
- Applications received after the deadline will not be considered unless specific criteria as determined by the Personnel office.
- The most qualified candidates will be invited to participate in subsequent phases of the hiring process. All applicants are evaluated only on job-related factors.
- References should be provided at the time of submitting an application and/or resume
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Employer Expectations - Sauk County Workforce Skills Survey Results |
High School students and graduates are a vital part of the Sauk County workforce. In order to ensure that their skills and knowledge sets meet the needs of local businesses and industries, the School District of Baraboo and the Sauk County UW-Extension office conducted a labor skills survey. This brochure highlights the results of the 2005 survey.
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WORKnet - Career Exploration |
Worknet is Wisconsin's on-line Workforce and Labor Market Information System. This exciting interactive website is jam-packed with all kinds of useful information on the Wisconsin and Sauk County labor force. This section drills down into Hot Jobs providing information on demand, skill sets, training requirements, and wages.
http://worknet.wisconsin.gov/worknet/homece.aspx?menuselection=ce
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Importance of Critical Thinking Skills |
Raymond S. Nickerson (1987), an authority on critical thinking, characterizes a good critical thinker in terms of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and habitual ways of behaving. Here are some of the characteristics of such a thinker:
- uses evidence skillfully and impartially
- organizes thoughts and articulates them concisely and coherently
- distinguishers between logically valid and invalid inferences
- suspends judgment in the absence of sufficient evidence to support a decision
- understands the difference between reasoning and rationalizing
- attempts to anticipate the probable consequences of alternative actions
- understands the idea of degrees of belief
- sees similarities and analogies that are not superficially apparent
- can learn independently and has an abiding interest in doing so
- applies problem-solving techniques in domains other than those in which learned
- can structure informally represented problems in such a way that formal techniques, such as mathematics, can be used to solve them
- can strip a verbal argument of irrelevancies and phrase it in its essential terms
- habitually questions one's own views and attempts to understand both the assumptions that are critical to those views and the implications of the views
- is sensitive to the difference between the validity of a belief and the intensity with which it is held
- is aware of the fact that one's understanding is always limited, often much more so than would be apparent to one with a noninquiring attitude
- recognizes the fallibility of one's own opinions, the probability of bias in those opinions, and the danger of weighting evidence according to personal preferences
This list is, of course, incomplete, but it serves to indicate the type of thinking and approach to life that critical thinking is supposed to be. Similar descriptions of critical thinking attributes are available in the very extensive literature of critical thinking.
See, for example:
- Teaching Thinking Skills, 1987, edited by J. B. Baron and R. J. Steinberg
- Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking, 1985, edited by A. L. Costa
- The Teaching of Thinking, 1985, edited by R. S. Nickerson and others
- Critical Thinking, Fifth Edition, 1998, by B. N. Moore and Richard Parker
- Critical Thinking, Second edition, 1990, by John Chaffe. These books are representative of the genre.
See http://www.freeinquiry.com/critical-thinking.html for more information.
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MATC Smart Start – Clusters |
Career Clusters are 16 identified career areas that have related occupational groups that require common knowledge, skills, and talents. The clusters include hundreds of occupations and include information about suggested high school preparatory courses and MATC degrees and certificates that lead to these occupations.
MATC Smart Start – Clusters (PDF)
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Workforce Advancement Training Grants (WAT) |
In 2005, Governor Doyle initiated a new program to support worker training in Wisconsin. This program, entitled Workforce Advancement Training Grants (WAT), was created to enable businesses to better access training opportunities through the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), to promote increased investment in the development of incumbent workers, and to improve Wisconsin businesses’ productivity and competitiveness.
WAT grants are designated to be used by for-profit employers from June 1, 2009-May 31, 2010. Each technical college in the state has the opportunity to apply for grant funding for employers within their district. MATC's approach to these grants is to survey MATC district employers to determine their training needs. We then submit applications for business consortiums to help reach a greater number of employers rather than a select few. Businesses who participate in the grant are able to receive training funding at approximately 50% off the standard training rates.
Contact Information for WAT Grants: Jennifer Bakke, (608) 243-4458, jbakke@matcmadison.edu
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College Credit Opportunities |
UW Baraboo-Sauk County
The Associate of Arts & Science Degree
The Associate of Arts and Science degree is the foundation for many college majors and for the Bachelor's degree. The degree signals to employers that the degree holder has advanced skills in communication and critical thinking skills. These skills are paramount for success in today's workplace. The degree gives the recipients the foundation for acquiring new knowledge, which is vital to pursuing the Bachelor's degree and to adapting to change in the work environment. The Associate degree is confirmation of an important accomplishment on the road to a Bachelor's degree. UW schools that grant the Bachelor's degree consider UW Colleges students with the Associate of Arts and Science degree to have satisfied the university-wide general education breadth requirements. http://www.baraboo.uwc.edu/?pid=128
UW HELP (Higher Education Location Program)
This site contains information on the institutions in the University of Wisconsin System including 13 universities, 13 freshman-sophomore Colleges and UW-Extension. The information is provided for you and your family by the Higher Education Location Program (UW HELP) and all campuses of the UW System. http://uwhelp.wisconsin.edu/
Madison Area Technical College (MATC)
Madison Area Technical College will grant advanced standing based on demonstrated/documented college-level learning. Advanced standing is credit granted toward the completion of a particular degree/diploma. The total for all forms of advanced standing cannot exceed 75 percent of the credits required for graduation. http://matcmadison.edu/matc/getstarted/admissions/advstdg.sht
At MATC advanced standing may be obtained by the following methods:
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WIA Title I Opportunity Grants |
Opportunity grants are awarded in an effort to help low-income individuals improve their skills at technical colleges, earn certificates or degrees, and pursue career pathways to better jobs in high demand occupations, including registered apprenticeships.
WIA Opportunity Grants - Federal Poverty Line 2009 (PDF)
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Wisconsin’s Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs |
In what will play a major role in Wisconsin's economic recovery, more than 426,000 "middle-skill" job openings -- those that require more than a high school diploma, but less than a four-year degree -- are projected for the state by 2016, concludes a new study released today by The Workforce Alliance (TWA) and the Skills2Compete-Wisconsin campaign, of which of COWS is a lead partner.
The report, which tracks Wisconsin's jobs at the middle-skill level, notes that funds from federal economic recovery legislation, especially the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, are expected to create more than one million new jobs across the country and that Wisconsin has a number of exemplary middle-skill education and training opportunities. These opportunities must continue to keep up with the anticipated demand for middle-skill workers.
Wisconsin's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs also assesses the current and future middle-skill employment and education patterns in the state.
Skills2Compete-Wisconsin believes every Wisconsinite should have access to education or training past high school -- leading to a technical college degree or diploma, occupational credential, industry certification, or one's first two years of college -- to be pursued at whatever point and pace makes sense for individual workers and industries.
Read Wisconsin's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs
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Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin |
The Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin, Inc. serves a six-county area to make positive economic change in the local area and beyond. It is a one-stop workforce development connection for businesses, workers and leaders in Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Jefferson, Marquette and Sauk counties. They also work with people and organizations throughout the region to make our area a better place to work and do business.
Their role is to build bridges and forge partnerships that strengthen the workforce, they are driven to deliver solutions that work for businesses, workers and communities. WDBSCW support the global economy yet retain a quality of life that forms the foundation of an area in which profitable businesses want to locate and skilled workers want to live. Through strategic partnerships, they strive to deliver best-in-class programs combined with cutting edge solutions that deliver success.
http://www.wdbscw.org/
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Tips for Parents from the Jack Young Middle School in Baraboo |
This highly informative web site provided professional, research-based tips and ideas for school success on responsibility, respect, student motivation, reading math, homework, study skills, routines, discipline, and more ---written for parents from an educator’s point of view.
Pages for Parents - Jack Young Middle School
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South Central WI Job Centers, Come Here First |
South Central WI Job Centers are central locations for people looking for employment and businesses that need help finding qualified applicants.
We are a partnership of government agencies and community-based organizations with a common goal: to make our communities a better place to live by improving job opportunities through economic support, training and education.
With service in Baraboo, Madison, Jefferson, Wisconsin and in other locations by appointment, there is always a Job Center in your area
http://comeherefirst.org/
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Mapping Green Career Pathways: Job Training Infrastructure and Opportunities in Wisconsin |
Mapping Green Career Pathways: Job Training Infrastructure and Opportunities in Wisconsin outlines key components of the state’s workforce development systems - including but not limited to apprenticeship and technical college pathways - that could be aligned and expanded to support an emerging clean energy sector. The report was prepared by the Apollo Alliance and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) and released in February, 2010.
http://www.cows.org/pdf/rp-mappingreportWI.pdf
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