Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

About Me

I thrive on helping individuals develop a toolset that will bring forth more career satisfaction. Being a career counselor incorporates my curiosity of business, my knowledge of how the hiring process works, and my desire to help others. Much like a number of graduating college students, I had an idea what my ambition in life was–mine was to help others. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to realize my ambition. Through a series of random events, I am happy to have found my career home. This seemingly meandering path has helped me understand that it can be easy to lose focus. I draw upon this experience to understand others. I am always asking myself “How am I going to make a difference?” and “How can I better assist each of my clients?” I challenge myself to learn more about my profession and to better assist each of the individuals that put their trust in me.

Prior to returning to graduate school to obtain my Master’s Degree at San Jose State University in Counselor Education, I was a career and staffing consultant for 9 years here in Silicon Valley. This experience has given me insight into the hiring process, which I often draw upon to assist my clients.

I am available for individual, group, or corporate clients:
• Certified Career Development Facilitator
• Career Workshops
• College Success

Current work includes:
• Career Development Facilitator
• Author: James Van’s Career Blog
• Contributing Author: Career Action Now

Available for individual, group, or corporate clients

Specialties
• Counseling (Career, Transfer, Academic, Personal)
• Workshop Creation and Implementation
• Teaching and curriculum creation
• Personal branding, social media, social networking, SEO, online privacy
• Career transitioning

Work History

• UC Berkeley Career Center
• Career Counselor
• Febuary 2011 to Present

• •Provide individual career counseling to undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni
  •Advise and counsel students how to effectively apply for graduate schools
  •Critique student resumes and cover letters
  •Facilitate career exploration and research
  •Teach students in job and/or internship search, and related skills
  •Assess student interests, values, and ambitions via Strong Interest Inventory and SkillsScan

• Golden Gate University
• Adjunct Career Advisor
• March 2011 to Present

• •Provide individual career counseling to undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni
  •Critique student resumes and cover letters
  •Facilitate career exploration and research
  •Teach students in job and/or internship search, and related skills
  •Assess student interests, values, and ambitions via Strong Interest Inventory, SkillsScan, and CareerLeader

• Foothill College
• Career/Transfer Advisor
• October 2009 to July 2010

• •Advise students on resume and cover letter writing, career exploration, interview, and job search skills in appointments
  •Plan and present career workshops as needed
  •Educate students on transfer process to four year private and public colleges and universities
  •Review and critique personal statements for transfer application
  •Guide students through IGETC and CSU course articulation by using such online tools as Assist.org and Eureka.org
  •Plan and create promotional and informational web videos for career website (Camtasia)
  •Review and update content on Career Center website

• UC Berkeley Career Center
• Counseling Intern
• August 2009 to May 2010

• •Provided individual career counseling to undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni
  •Advised and counsel students how to effectively apply for graduate schools
  •Critiqued student resumes and cover letters
  •Facilitated career exploration and research
  •Taught students in job and/or internship search, and related skills
  •Assessed student interests, values, and ambitions via Strong Interest Inventory and SkillsScan
  •Co-created, planned, and implemented series of workshops for all incoming Freshman students designed to educate and stress the importance of online professional networking, how to get started, and maintain online presence

• Fischer Middle School-Alum Rock School District
• Counselor
• September 2008 to August 2009

• •GEAR UP is a federally funded program whose aim is to increase college enrollment with at-risk students at identified schools by collaborating with existing administration, teachers, and counseling staff by providing additional counseling.
  •First year goals included increased parental involvement, student CST scores in both Language Arts and Math, student attendance, GPA, homework completion rates, and decreased average rates of disciplinary action
  •Advised and counseled Seventh Grade students.
  •Taught incoming 8th Grade Algebra class in Summer Session.
  •Organized and ran after-school programs for Seventh Grade students.
  •Conceptualized, planned, and ran two parent/student college nights
  •Planned and executed Saturday Academic Academy for Seventh Grade students.
  •Created material for and ran parent workshops, student enrichment activities, and student field trips and retreats with administration, teachers, and counseling staff.

• Foothill College
• Counseling Intern
• September 2008 to June 2009

• •Collaborated with a team of counselors to provide academic, career, transfer, and personal counseling sessions for students by appointment and drop-in basis
  •Co-taught Career Life Planning 70 (CRLP 70) class
  •Co-taught students in major and career exploration
  •Created curriculum for 3 unit CSU transferable course
  •Assessed, interpreted, and discussed MBTI and Strong Interest Inventory assessments
  •Taught informational interviewing skills, resume and cover letter writing, and interview skills
  •Assisted students in various topics, including resume writing, interview skills, job placement, and career exploration, in the Career Center
  •Participated in the annual Job Fair on campus
  •Presented "NuResume" at the annual Community College Career Consortium
  •Created material for, and conducted “Workshop On Wheels” workshops
  •Created material for, and implemented Lunch & Learn Workshops

• Trinite Inc.
• Staffing/Career Consultant
• September 2003 to September 2008

• Stormtech Search
• Recruiter
• April 2000 to August 2003

Education

• San Jose State University
• M.A. Counselor Education
• 2008 - 2010

• UCSB
• B.A. History, B.A. Black Studies
• 1990 - 1995