Gary's Address

Gary's Address Work-Like Practice: Revolutionizing Career Preparation Through Real-World Experience

Introduction

Hello, everyone. I'm Gary. For over a decade, I've been dedicated to developing what I call 'work-like practice' -- a method of integrating real-world work experience and guidance into education. This concept has been at the heart of my work in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, where I've seen firsthand how hands-on experience can profoundly impact career choice and readiness.

My speech will last about 35 minutes. While this may seem long, the information I'll share has the potential to significantly enhance your or your loved ones' quality of life. Because of that potential, I personally support this mission through both donations and volunteer work.

I want to emphasize that I'm not here to pitch any specific offerings. As of this recording, we do not sell or even market any products. However, this may change by the time you watch this video. If you're interested in shorter, more enthusiastic presentations about our career solutions, you should be able to find them online.

My goal today is simply to share my observations, identify problems, and explain my actions to solve them. I encourage you to use the chat feature for your comments and questions. Your insights and queries will help improve this presentation for future listeners and potential participants.

Reflection 1: Education Meets Career

It's common for career paths to differ from what one studies in college. It's a journey many people take; that was my experience too.

In high school, I was passionate about physical science, inspired by a thought-provoking teacher and enthusiastic classmates. This led me to pursue mechanical engineering in college. However, after graduation and starting my first job, I realized it wasn't the right fit for me.

Driven by a desire to innovate, I eventually started a desktop publishing company in the early 1990s when the field was just emerging. We had to train our employees ourselves due to the industry's novelty. There was simply no formal publishing software training available at that time. As technology advanced, we continually innovated, even developing our own customer management and business operation systems.

I value my first college education. The skills I gained from my college experiences -- problem-solving, analytical thinking, and adaptability -- proved valuable in ways I couldn't have anticipated. Nevertheless, I obtained way more through work.

Professionally, I must acknowledge that my first degree didn't directly apply to my eventual career. If I had the chance to explore different fields before college, I might have chosen a different specialty.

If I had discovered my career interests earlier, I might also have pursued a different career path. After completing my first degree, I took a job with the help of my parents. While they wanted the best for me, they weren't career experts.

I am sure there were innovative jobs available in the mechanical engineering field. However, neither I nor my parents looked for those jobs. We were also unaware of the importance of vocational discovery.

Reflection 2: Career as a Journey

Career development is a lifelong journey. It involves exploring different jobs, learning new skills, earning qualifications, and finding work. Our careers aren't set in stone; they change over time. Here's why:

1. Personal changes: As we grow, our interests, skills, and circumstances evolve. What we aspire to at 16 may differ greatly from our goals at 40. New experiences can lead us down new career paths.
2. Job changes: Take mechanical engineering as an example. In the 1980s, when I specialized in this field, engineers used paper and pencils. By the 2000s, they had switched to computer programs. Now, they use 3D printers for quick prototyping. In the future, they'll rely on AI and robots. The tools and methods keep changing.
3. World changes: New technology, economic shifts, and cultural trends create new jobs and make others obsolete. For example, AI and robots are transforming many jobs. This means we need to keep learning new things throughout our careers.

In high school, I thought five years of college would prepare me for life. My college back in the Soviet Union claimed to provide a strong knowledge foundation. But after 40 years in my career, I wonder: what foundation did I truly gain from acing 'Scientific Communism'?

Even for more relevant subjects, things have changed. AI-powered chatbots now offer more information than any college curriculum, providing knowledge on-demand. Do we still need to memorize potentially outdated information?

Ongoing learning and adaptation are no longer optional -- they're essential in our changing world. All in all, if careers are adventures with unexpected turns, shouldn't college education adapt similarly?

Reflection 3: Practice and Education

In the late 1990s, I was consumed by the day-to-day operations of running my business. Ironically, a broken leg became a catalyst for my professional growth. Confined at home in an era before widespread internet access, I found myself yearning for mental stimulation.

Recognizing my predicament, my mother borrowed a book from the library -- Philip Kotler's "Marketing Management." This text was nothing short of revelatory. It opened my eyes to a wealth of pre-existing knowledge, theories, and strategies that I had been struggling to discover on my own.

Inspired by this newfound perspective, I returned to college in the early 2000s to pursue a business degree. This decision proved to be a turning point in my career trajectory.

My prior work experience breathed life into the academic concepts I encountered. Abstract theories transformed into practical tools as I recognized their applications in real-world scenarios. This connection between classroom learning and professional experience ignited a passion for my studies, as I could clearly see their relevance and potential impact.

The synergy between my academic pursuits and practical experience propelled my career to new heights. Armed with both theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills, I successfully grew my publishing business to 120 employees before ultimately selling it.

This journey highlighted two crucial ways in which education and real-world experience complement each other:

• In school, we usually start with big ideas and theories, then learn how to use them in specific situations. It's like learning the rules of a game before playing it. But we also learn from examples and experiments in school, which is more like learning by doing.
• In the real world, we mostly learn by doing things hands-on and trying different approaches. But we also use what we've learned in school to help us solve new problems we encounter.

Both ways of learning help us become well-rounded and skilled. What we learn in school becomes more meaningful when we use it in real life, and our real-life experiences make more sense because of what we've learned in school. This balance between theory and practice helps us grow and become more effective in our future careers.

Reflection 4: Test for Career Tests

In the mid-2000s, I moved from Belarus to the United States, determined to find my ideal career path in this new country. In my 40s, I knew a bit about myself but couldn't identify where I could fit in.

At the very beginning, I faced challenges because my English wasn't strong enough for meaningful jobs, and I had no work experience in America. Only cash jobs and college classes were available.

So, I started making a living and taking classes at different colleges. Initially, those classes were English courses. Then, I added more professional studies. By the 2010s, I was close to finishing my Bachelor's degree in the US, but I still hadn't found a meaningful job that I both wanted and could secure.

Looking for help, I talked to career counselors and people from government agencies, private companies, and non-profits. They gave me advice, but I still struggled to figure out my career path.

I used a few tools like personality tests and career catalogs. These tools gave me some ideas, but they made things seem too simple and didn't really help me find a job or identify my path.

I identified three groups of problems with the usual career instruments:

1. They make things too simple: The tests try to match one's personality and skills to specific jobs, but they don't consider how complicated jobs and workplaces can be.
2. They don't know enough about different jobs: Career counselors often focus on what you want, not what jobs are actually available. They don't always know the latest information about different industries.
3. They treat everyone the same: The tests don't consider the credentials one has already possessed, as well as the fact that people's interests and skills change over time.

That wasn't only my experience. I remember working with a lady who didn't like their job as an administrative assistant. A career counselor told her to try becoming a technical writer. That lady spent a whole year trying to get that kind of job but couldn't, and had to go back to being an administrative assistant.

Reflection 5: Inside of Career Prep

In my early years in the United States, I worked the basic cash jobs that many immigrants do. To enhance my resume, I registered a non-profit organization, named it the Economic Group, and took on the role of director. This experience allowed me to teach business classes at a community college initially and later at other colleges and universities.

Since the late 2000s, I've had the opportunity to teach part-time in the U.S., as well as in China and Russia. Interestingly, many of the courses I taught were the same ones I was taking while pursuing my business degree.

I also organized academic exchanges, as well as programs for students to study in different countries. Moreover, I helped to review a couple of college programs.

These experiences helped me understand how colleges prepare students for their future jobs. The competencies needed for a job can be divided into three main groups. We call them "KSA" for short:

• Knowledge (K): This is the information learned about a subject. It's the easiest and cheapest to teach because it mainly requires an instructor and some basic materials like books.
• Skills (S): This involves using knowledge to do practical things. It costs more to teach because it requires special equipment such as labs, simulators, and machinery for hands-on learning.
• Abilities (A): This relates to being capable of performing specific tasks required for a job. It's the most expensive to teach because it needs real-world settings, individual assignments, and feedback from experts.

Due to limited budgets, colleges often prioritize teaching knowledge over providing opportunities to build skills or gain real professional experience. As a result, students may graduate with a general understanding of their subject but lack the practical skills needed to succeed in the workforce.

Higher education faces a significant challenge: while colleges emphasize imparting knowledge, the high costs of gaining professional experience often leave students without it until after graduation. Meanwhile, employers are increasingly seeking candidates who already have experience.

Reflection 6: Mentors Make Differences

Back in the early 2010s, I got a surprising job with the US Marine Corps. I didn't seem like the typical candidate, but my active professional profile might've helped me stand out. They put me in charge of the Russian part of a cultural program. It was a role that would show me how much of a difference mentors can make.

The job was awesome because I had the freedom to try new ideas. We had great resources and not many rules, so we could use cool tech and different ways of teaching. I got to connect with top experts in the field. I'd reach out to people who wrote textbooks, created language apps, and other big names in language learning.

At first, we taught Russian using college textbooks and conversation practice. But when our first group of students took their special assessment called Defense Language Proficiency Test, we realized we needed to change things up. The test was focused on military, not just the stuff you find in conventional textbooks.

This challenge led me to an amazing mentor. I teamed up with Professor Soboleva from the Defense Language Institute, a special language school in California. She agreed to try something different and became my mentor. She'd visit my classroom to see how things were going and guide our new teaching approach.

Mentors really do make a difference. With Professor Soboleva's help, we quickly came up with a new way of teaching Russian for the learners' specific purpose. As a result, our students matched the listening scores of students from that top language school. In a big part, this success was because of the guidance and support from my mentor.

The project only lasted a year because of money issues. Later, I did receive a promising offer from Professor Soboleva to teach at her institute in California. However, the low salary combined with the high cost of living in the area made it less attractive.

Nevertheless, even though the project was short, it had a big impact. It boosted my confidence for future projects and showed me how important mentors are for growing in our careers and coming up with new ideas.

Reflection 7: Tough, But Vital Networks

Before joining the Marines full-time, a colleague at my community college in New York suggested I consider teaching in public schools. He had experience running a school district.

I researched two school districts: one in my home area and another where the college was located. Their websites indicated I could teach math or physical science. When I asked my colleague for advice on which job to pursue, he recommended science, explaining, "There are more math jobs, but, for us, it's always been harder to find science teachers."

I then inquired about the hiring process. In my home district, the HR department handled the bulk of hiring, with the school principals just making the final decisions. In the college's district, school principals managed the hiring, with HR handling the paperwork.

This insider information wasn't available on the official websites, highlighting the importance of knowing people who understand the inner workings of the system.

After my time with the Marines, I had to choose what new job to pursue. By that time, I already moved to Virginia. School teaching didn't pay well there, so keep teaching languages or switch to IT? To help decide, I asked people working in both fields.

For language teaching, I consulted a hiring manager at a major company. Their candid response was revealing: "There aren't many jobs, but a lot of people want them. Most of these applicants have better degrees and more experience than you do. Even if you did well in your first job, it's hard for me to hire you. As a bureaucrat, I don't want to be blamed if anything goes wrong."

Getting meaningful info about IT jobs was harder. Many people only knew about small parts of the field. I saw that IT jobs were changing fast and had more options than language teaching. I also noticed that people who find IT workers for companies seemed to get tired of their jobs faster than in other fields.

Still, I got a lot of useless advice. Many people were happy to listen and give basic suggestions without really understanding my situation.

Reflection 8: Practice as a Career Tool

By the mid-2010s, I had accumulated extensive experience as an instructor. To take my teaching career to the next level, I chose to specialize in IT training.

I started a meetup community called 'Hands-On Training,' which organized free IT workshops on related topics. To find workshop facilitators in Northern Virginia, I partnered with a local non-profit group called CNM. To differentiate ourselves from the mainland branch of CNM, we later began referring to our team as 'CNMCyber'.

People often say that working together on real projects shows who works well as a team. This idea came to life when two hiring managers asked me to host hands-on training for SharePoint administrators through my meetup community. They needed more qualified admins and were willing to train people on the job but wanted to find out who they'd work well with.

My experience developing apprenticeships in Belarus and workshops in Virginia was very helpful when I started recruiting and training for a venture that invested in startups. Startups need staff who can handle many different tasks. Interviews help find good candidates, but seeing how they actually perform is what really matters.

My recruitment plan started with 1,000 candidates. Through a step-by-step process, this number went down to 100 who began training, 10 who moved on to work trials, and finally one person who got hired.

I realized something important: while I needed a specific type of candidate and had to reach out to many people, it wasn't just about finding "gold nuggets" among grains of sand. Each candidate had potential value, if not for my startup clients, then definitely for other opportunities.

Hands-on experience clarifies career preferences. However, I faced limitations in delivering comprehensive assessment results, and candidates weren't actively seeking my career assessments. This revealed a gap between the wealth of talent discovered and the ability to effectively channel it to fitting opportunities.

Reflection 9: Experience Rocks

For most of my life, I've been helping companies find the right people for jobs. Over the years, it's become clear that employers usually look at three main things when deciding who to hire:

• Can the person do the job well?
• Will they fit in with the company's culture and team?
• Are they satisfied with the salary and benefits offered?

When it comes to skills, having experience in the field is super important. It makes sense - if someone has already done well in a similar job, they're more likely to succeed in the new one. That's why many job listings say things like "Experience can replace education requirements." In the real world, hands-on experience often matters more than classroom learning. One could even argue that if education costs money, real-world experience should be worth even more.

This focus on experience is one reason why it is often tough for new graduates to get their first job. While school is important, classroom learning alone lacks the practical experience employers seek.

I'd like to support this point with another personal story. Early in my time as an immigrant, one of my college professors was instrumental in helping me navigate new environments. However, when I needed a job recommendation, she couldn’t provide one because we hadn't worked together directly. The best she could offer was that I was a good student, which wasn't very helpful for someone in their 40s seeking a professional job.

College degrees may open doors, but it's experience that helps us walk through them confidently. An interesting point to note is that if a job recruiter mentions that experience isn't very important, it might be worth asking about their own education. In my experience, it's uncommon to find a recruiter with a degree specifically in recruiting. If such a recruiter does exist, it may be insightful to learn whether their degree alone helped them secure their position. If they indicate that it did, they might be focused on hiring students for a college.

Reflection 10: Experience as a Craft

Careers often take unexpected turns, and trying different things can lead to surprising opportunities. For example, I know someone with a performing arts degree who started a recruiting business. Even though the business didn't succeed, it helped them land a job in corporate recruiting. I've also gained a lot by exploring various types of work.

Doing projects, internships, apprenticeships, starting a business, and freelancing often give us more freedom than regular jobs and can work well alongside traditional jobs.

These different roles help us build important skills and expand our network. They might not offer all the benefits of a full-time job, but they are often easier to get into. A typical path from no experience to a paid job might be: volunteering, gaining credentials, moving to part-time or entry-level work, and finally getting a full-time job.

However, reaching the "final" stage of full-time employment is rarely the end goal. These unconventional experiences can prepare individuals for future opportunities they might not even anticipate.

Volunteering is usually the most flexible way to build credentials. It can be used for career growth by making connections, earning credentials, or learning new skills -- not just to help out.

I learned this the hard way. I volunteered at my community college's tutoring center, hoping to get job recommendations later. It turns out the college didn't allow staff to give recommendations. The experience was still useful, but knowing this policy beforehand could have saved me time. I would have volunteered for six months instead of eighteen.

In contrast, my long-term unpaid work with 'CNM' has matched my career goals perfectly. Over more than ten years of my engagement with this volunteer group, I've noticed two main approaches to non-traditional work:

1. Immersive: Typically involves full-time volunteering to quickly meet a specific need, often using personal savings or financial support. It requires a financial runway long enough to sustain one through the immersion.
2. Incremental: Involves part-time or sporadic arrangements to gradually build credentials while maintaining other commitments, such as a full-time job.

Sometimes, I consider this hypothetical scenario: What if I had worked part-time as an engineering assistant or volunteered with a society of mechanical engineers while attending university? I would have graduated with a professional network, a better understanding of the industry, and a couple of years of experience.

Reflection 11: The Scarcest Resource

Many follow a familiar trajectory: attend school, earn credentials, secure an entry-level position, and then settle into a routine. They learn the job, pay bills, and possibly receive a promotion or two. They take on debt, start a family, and acquire possessions. Before long, it becomes easy to feel stuck. This routine often leaves little room for exploring other opportunities. Balancing education and career management is particularly challenging for those with family obligations and limited free time.

This issue has been observed firsthand. Some of my talented colleagues counted down the days until retirement, even if it was years away. They wished time away due to dissatisfaction with how most of their waking hours are spent.

Career changes require resources, typically involving several months and necessitating both time and money. Generally, money is easier to obtain than time. Funding can be sourced from sponsors, grants, and government support. However, additional hours in a day cannot be acquired.

In my experience hiring for startups, I reviewed a thousand applications to hire just one individual. The primary challenge was not finding skilled candidates but identifying those who could dedicate time to practice-based training.

Most adults have families to support and require a stable income. Taking risks on startups or investing time in learning new skills is a luxury many cannot afford.

Money can be a strong motivator for success. Having pursued two graduate degrees – one funded by the government and one self-financed – it is evident that personal financial investment increases seriousness. At CNMCyber, we always request some contribution from participants. It is not about the money; it is about the commitment. However, commitments demand time.

Onboarding training at CNMCyber is relatively brief, spanning months rather than the years traditional degrees require. Nonetheless, even a few months without income is too much for many adults. It is a paradox: new skills are necessary for advancement, but there is no time to acquire them.

Reflection 12: Career as an Enterprise

A career is like a journey, full of ups, downs, and unexpected turns. Bad fire departments simply wait for fires; good ones prepare for them. Similarly, our careers can be more than just finding a job when needed; they can be about actively managing and growing our professional paths.

As both a seasoned business professor and a successful entrepreneur, I've observed that treating a career as a personal enterprise can mirror managing a business. Among the many comparisons, two stand out to me.

Firstly, one's ability to land various jobs makes up their career portfolio. This involves building strong credentials, acquiring new skills, maintaining reliable abilities, and possibly letting go of less productive activities.

Just as businesses offer multiple products for sale, having two or more jobs is a feasible option. 'Bread' jobs provide financial stability, while 'butter' jobs are driven by passion and bring satisfaction.

Let's imagine how work-like practice can help me. With strong skills in training, securing a job in that field is achievable for me. I used to teach IT and business, but they no longer excite me. As AI becomes increasingly important, I could gain experience by volunteering on an AI project or starting a small AI training business. This approach would combine my existing skills (the 'bread') with an innovative field that interests me (the 'butter').

As another example, my interest in vocational discovery might lead me to work at a public school and offer an after-school program like WiseNxt. In this case, my "bread" job would also be a key to my "butter" job.

Secondly, a successful career requires many skills: planning your path, building up your qualifications, understanding job markets, providing good service, and handling marketing, sales, and financial matters. It's like being a jack-of-all-trades in the work world – part job expert, part career guide, part office manager, and part networking pro.

Even this very comparison of careers to businesses requires the listener – you – to understand both career management and business concepts simultaneously. However, this is not always the case. Similarly, not every business owner is familiar with every aspect of their enterprise.

That is why entrepreneurs often hire experts to help them. In the same way, getting outside advice and other assistance can really boost our careers. If companies split up tasks to work better, why shouldn't those on the job market do the same? If rightly managed, it shall save time and money.

Career is Agile, Not Waterfall

My career realizations inspired me to create the career resources I wish I had when I began my professional journey.

To identify solutions, I examined career development through the lens of business project management. Traditionally, many people have viewed their careers in a way that mirrors the Waterfall approach, but I questioned whether this view is correct.

The term 'Waterfall' describes a step-by-step process. In this model, progress moves in one direction, from start to finish, like water flowing down steps. Once a step is done, it is hard and expensive to go back. The Waterfall model’s predictability allows for detailed planning, making it popular in industries like construction, where projects start with a clear plan.

Similarly, people often dream of a specific career and use college education as a foundation to achieve that goal. However, very few can accurately predict their future, which is why career projects are better approached using Agile methodologies.

Agile methodologies, initially created for software projects, can be effectively applied to career development. These methodologies emphasize continuous adjustments: actions are taken, results are evaluated, and modifications are made accordingly.

To apply Agile to career management effectively, education, mentorship, and real-world experience should be integrated from the start, rather than being separated by years.

• Learning without doing is like studying how to ride a bike without ever getting on one.
• Working without structured training takes longer to yield results.
• Career advice should be ongoing and based on real job experiences.

By adopting an Agile model, career development becomes a dynamic and adaptable process, better suited to the uncertainties of the professional world.

Educaship for Career Prep

In the late 2010s, I worked on the WorldOpp project, supporting entrepreneurs in underserved areas with education, mentorship, and business funding. When financial support shifted, the funding component, which was the most expensive, had to be dropped. This led to the development of Educaship.

Although still in the conceptual stage, Educaship is being built on three pillars:

The first pillar is formal training. Educaship is not meant to replace existing educational systems but to complement them. Partnerships with established institutions will enhance existing curricula with real-world projects, internships, and apprenticeships. Focused training modules will prepare participants for hands-on experiences, and additional support will be provided for those seeking more knowledge.

The second pillar is career support. Educaship wants to help people find mentors and administrative help without spending too much time. At CNMCyber, we built a network of skilled professionals, like retirees and people changing careers. Now, this network is moving online to cnmcyber.com, so anyone can get mentorship from anywhere. We are also adding AI-powered tools to help with career management and professional relationships.

The third pillar is practical work experience. Opplet, a developing technology platform, will provide a digital workplace environment with various applications and tools. While not a perfect replica of professional settings, Opplet will offer a setup enabling participants to engage in authentic professional scenarios. The goal is to equip learners with hands-on experience in modern technologies, putting them in control of their career preparation.

Educaship aims to advance career preparation by offering a blend of formal education, career support, and practical experience. It will be available in two versions: a free version for CNMCyber volunteers and a paid version under the brand name 'Careerprise', which combines 'career' and 'enterprise'.

WiseNxt for Career Discovery

We anticipate that setting up Educaship will take 2-5 years. The most significant challenges will likely involve finding qualified mentors and establishing partnerships with universities. Given their bureaucratic nature, colleges are often not seen as agents of change.

As we develop Educaship, we realized we could start with something simpler and more immediate: WiseNxt. This component of Educaship will help school students discover the workplace before choosing a career.

WiseNxt is a platform where students can explore various jobs. Too often, young people are pushed to choose careers without any "fitting room." Trying different jobs is the best way to learn about them. Early exposure to diverse roles—through projects, gap years, part-time jobs, or volunteer work—helps individuals find the right fit.

The cost of higher education or vocational training is immense, including tuition and the time and support needed from parents or others. Despite this, vocational discovery often receives fewer resources than a car purchase. People don't buy cars solely based on movies or sales recommendations, so why invest in expensive career preparation without any form of a test drive?

Practical experiences can help individuals understand what type of work aligns with their abilities and passions. However, vocational discovery -- the process of exploring and identifying one's interests, skills, strengths, and potential career paths -- is largely ignored by existing workforce preparation systems.

Usually, career counselors are expected to help people discover their ideal careers. However, most vocational counselors are like doctors without diagnostic tools. Vocational aptitudes are complex, yet counselors are expected to make recommendations without the equivalent of medical tests, relying solely on the individual's words.

Time is crucial in career development. Younger individuals generally have more free time, but the current system often delays hands-on practice, weakening the connection between education and real-world application.

KenyaX as a Practice Place

Initially, we considered launching WiseNxt in Ukraine, but plans have changed. We are now preparing to launch it in Kenya as part of the 'KenyaX' program in the coming weeks. KenyaX will serve as an introductory practice platform, allowing students to explore and engage with various career paths early in their educational journey.

Participants will start with practical experiences in areas such as product analysis, website building, event organization, and cloud operations. These roles are not meant to represent specific occupations and will evolve, especially with the rise of AI.

We refer to these roles as pre-entry-level positions, where participants will engage in activities related to new developments, ongoing operations, analysis, and interpersonal relationships. The primary goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of non-managerial jobs.

With this experience, participants will progress to entry-level project coordination roles, applying their new competencies to manage contractors and oversee KenyaX developments. Those involved in commercial projects will receive nominal wages. Additionally, some nonprofit projects of CNMCyber are also receiving funding.

In terms of support for the program, we'll be providing minimal onboarding training, in-house team support, and workspaces at Opplet. We're implementing this approach even without external partners at this stage. Eventually, these actions will position us better to seek partners for launching the full scope of Educaship services.

Beyond work experience, early exposure to professional fields offers significant advantages. It grants students industry insider status and helps them build professional networks sooner, which are crucial for future job opportunities. This approach aims to help participants grow professionally and choose their careers more wisely.

EmployableU for Career Ed

Why don't high schools teach us how to get jobs and manage our careers? Our jobs will be a big part of our lives and how we make money, so shouldn't these subjects be as important as math or science?

At CNMCyber, we noticed that gap in education when we had to teach basic career awareness instead of tech skills building. Many participants misunderstood key career concepts. For instance, they didn't realize that working without pay, when managed strategically, could lead to better-paying opportunities later on.

In December 2019, I came to the United States from China, planning to return by February 2020. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything, and I ended up staying longer than expected. This situation pushed me to start a project I had been thinking about for a while: a course on job market navigation and career management.

Using my previous experience from the WorldOpp project, I developed "EmployableU Concepts." This course includes modules on employment, recruitment, career exploration, job marketing, networking, and entrepreneurship, all designed to help people succeed in today's job market.

Right now, EmployableU is a prototype, tested by participants from Kenya and Pakistan. We have three main goals for this course:

1. Serve as a prerequisite for work-like practice
2. Promote our WiseNxt and Educaship initiatives
3. Provide valuable career education to high schools

Our top priority is making career education accessible. To do this, EmployableU will be offered for free, ensuring that essential career knowledge reaches as many people as possible.

If my parents had known more about career options, they could have guided me better. Similarly, if I had been taught about different career paths, I could have saved time and money. If colleges claim their education is key to career success, then learning how to navigate a career is just as important for landing a job.

Join the Career Revolution

At our core, we're focused on more than just preparing people for jobs -- we're committed to equipping them for successful, fulfilling careers. By combining real-world experience and career support with traditional education, we aim to empower learners with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive.

I want to clarify that my purpose today is not to promote any specific product we're developing. These projects are still evolving, and their names and features may change. Instead, I'm here to highlight the issues that work-like practice can address and to share how this concept has grown and evolved over time.

Our approach to work-like practice is revolutionary because it goes beyond simply complementing standardized curricula or mimicking job scenarios. We're building a comprehensive ecosystem where:

• Learners explore diverse roles to discover their vocations and strengths.
• Graduates gain a clearer understanding of their career options, enabling them to confidently answer, "What do you want to do when you grow up?"
• We collaborate with educational institutions to secure internships or apprenticeships aligned with students' chosen fields.
• Graduates enter the workforce with formal training, practical experience, and a wealth of career opportunities.

Over a decade ago, I started developing these career concepts and practical solutions for my own children. However, I believe these ideas and resources have the potential to benefit many others, including you and your loved ones.

I'm deeply committed to bringing this vision to life and would gladly dedicate my life to its success. I invite you to join this transformation -- as a participant, parent, supporter, or advocate. Will you help us revolutionize education and career development?

Finally, if you have innovative ideas for advancing work-like practice or revolutionizing career preparation, I would be happy to support your initiatives.