Career Development in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism: A Positioning Approach - Softcover

Typically in the job market anywhere from 50 per cent to 80 per cent of available jobs are hidden or don't follow what people perceive as the normal job search process, according to employment literature. Whereas, positioning is a technique that already occurs in the workplace; it cuts across disciplines, career stages and is applicable to a large segment of the job market. Positioning is the technique of placing yourself in close proximity to the person, place or firm for whom readers want to work and/or the position that fulfills a career goal. Based on contemporary research and literature, "Career Development in Recreation, Parks and Tourism: A Positioning Approach" is an essential personal workbook for students and professionals. The book outlines a plan to navigate through career development using the positioning approach and process. For each new step in the process, the author presents proactive strategies, tools and techniques. Each chapter includes exercises to accomplish each step in the positioning approach and success stories from students and professionals who have successfully used the positioning approach to reach their career goals. Positioning is a career development approach used in many academic fields and careers. Yet, many students or professionals introduced to the concept of positioning respond that they had never thought of viewing their job search this way. Students can use positioning when they begin their first year in their major course of study to start the steps toward their entry-level career goal. Professionals can use positioning during their career development, to climb to the next level, to explore lateral career moves, or even seek new and different career opportunities.

Robert B Kauffman was editor of NRPA's EMPLOY for two years. EMPLOY was designed to provide tips and tricks on the job search and career opportunities in the recreation and parks field. As part of his responsibilities, Kauffman solicited articles from others, conducted original research and reported on it. He wrote several key articles in the career development area. They included articles on writing resumes and cover letters. One article on resumes consisted of original experimental research where recreation and parks professionals evaluated resumes on their different components.