02/01/2023

Celebrating 20 Years: Career Convergence Recognizes its Founders, Editors and Contributors

By Melanie Reinersman, Career Convergence Editor

In 2002, then NCDA President Roger Lambert asked the new website editor, Melanie Reinersman to create a new electronic/online publication. According to Lambert, it should support practitioners in a variety of work settings, by offering applicable, easy to read monthly articles. In February 2003, Career Convergence debuted on the NCDA website!

Fast forward 20 years. Everyone working in the field of career development can benefit from the 207 issues and over 1500 online articles that have been published. The conception and historical evolution of the web magazine may be useful to others who wish to create such an impact, but more important, inspiration and empowerment may multiply through the development and connections shared here.

^{The new Career Convergence logo as of February 2023
created in celebration of the 20th anniversary.}

Origins of the Departments and Articles

The first articles published in Career Convergence settled into eight departments, including: Features, Post-Secondary, Organizations, Non-Profit, K-12, Government, Independent Practice and Special (which included two types of articles: “A Day in the Life” and “First Jobs”). Now, there are seven departments that have evolved into Features, Counselor Educators & Researchers, Post-Secondary, K-12, Workplaces, Independent Practice, and NCDA News, with a bonus section, called Tech Tips. Articles are still limited to about 950 words so as to give the audience a short read and the detailed Submission Guidelines are posted online. References and the occasional graphic support the article. A keyword search of the entire web magazine is available on the home page or can be executed by department, after entering the select department archives. Articles with significantly high hit rates are too numerous to mention, but timeless articles abound, such as “30 Tips for New Career Counselors” contributed by Maureen Nelson (2014).

A Team Effort

The team of Career Convergence volunteers began with a few NCDA members at the 2002 conference who accepted the editor's invitation to serve as associate editors. Many of these people went onto bigger roles: both David Reile and Debra Osborn became future NCDA presidents and Marilyn Maze received the NCDA Eminent Career Award in 2022! The current team of volunteers includes 13 co-associate editors and field editors, so as reach a diverse audience and gather significant contributions. The team is linked on the Career Convergence Editor's webpage and includes Natasha Barnes, David Dietrich, Linda Evans, Melissa Fickling, Vonya Hodrick, Kyle Inselman, Amy Pierce-Danders, Mason Murphy, Elyse Pipitone, Janine Rowe, Willa Smith, Billie Streufert, and Jerilyn Wagner.

Award Winning Articles

In 2014, Career Convergence won the APEX Award for Publication Excellence. Since 2007, Career Convergence has given an annual Recognition Award. The list of winners is below. While admitting that it is nearly impossible to select a single best article each year, the team of editors casts a vote for a recent article that supports the submission guidelines (e.g., audience appeal, practicality, professional content, and reader development) while demonstrating a high quality of content, ease of applying the topic, and significant comments/interactivity.

While 20 years and 20 award winners only begin to represent the quality and pervasiveness of the web magazine, no doubt Lambert, Reinersman, the editorial team and the hundreds of authors contributing to Career Convergence hope this reflection will inspire and empower both seasoned and novice career development professionals.

List of CAREER CONVERGENCE RECOGNITION AWARD WINNERS

These articles have been recognized for their significant contribution to the NCDA web magazine and can be found www.careerconvergence.org or www.ncda.org While the earliest award winners were selected based on a certain focus of the article, since 2014 the winners have been the editors choice awards.

2023 -Helping Clients Incorporate Self-Care During Job Loss - By Vonya Hodrick and Elyse Pipitone

2022 – Natural Hair is Good Hair: The Crown Act and Ending Hair Discrimination in the Workplace - By Whitney McLaughlin

2021 - Career Check Up: Implementing a Campus-Wide Screening to Assess Students’ Career Needs - By Jessamyn Perlus and Nicholas Debernardi

2020 - Using Adlerian Counseling Strategies to Help Career Clients Design Their Futures - By Mariagrazia Buttitta and Marion Cavallaro

2019 - Creating Positive Spaces for Career Counseling with Transgender Clients - By Sue Motulsky and Emily Frank

2018 - What Career Counselors Need to Know About Refugees - By Shadin Atiyeh

2017 – Employment Coaching for the Veteran at Your Door: Practical Insights from a Non-profit - By Paulette M. Risher

2016 – What's Love Got to Do With … Careers - By Tara Iagulli

2015 – Career Planning for Individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome - By Barbara Bissonnette

2014 – editor's choice award: The Goldilocks Challenge: Getting Postsecondary Education Advice Just Right - By Janet Wall

2013 – awarded based on a focus on disabilities: Career Development Keys to Post-School Transition Success for Students with ADHD - By Jessica Sniatecki, Marvin Lalin, Abiola Dipeolu

2012 – awarded based on a focus on current economic issues: Career Development Opportunities Can Be Found By Looking at Own Job - By Maggie McCormick

2011 – awarded based on a focus on green careers: Current Careers in Energy - By Helen Harkness

2010 – awarded for an article covering an international population: Cultural Blindspots in Career Counseling with International Students - By Satomi Yaji Chudasam

2009 – awarded to an article covering a unique population and written by a graduate student: Military to Civilian: Assisting Transitioning Army Personnel in Navigating the Civilian Job Market - By Natesha Smith

2008 - (2 awards, 3 winners) First, an article of significant impact written by a graduate student: 30 Tips for New Career Counselors by Maureen Nelson; Second, an article with the highest hit rate for the first 30 days online: Career Development as Retention Tool by Wendy Becker-Jamison & Wendy LaBenne.

2007 - (2 awards, 3 winners) - Graduate student with the highest hit article: Facebook: Put Your Best Face Forward by Martina Sternberg & Marie Soto and for the first article published: Career Counseling Specialty: Out with the Old and Bring in the New by Peter Manzi.

Watch for more 20th anniversary celebrations throughout the year, including the results of a content analysis, an interview with the founder, Roger Lambert and editor, Melanie Reinersman, and special article posts on social media! See also Career Convergence's Top 20 over 20 Years! Tell us how Career Convergence aided your work as a career development professional! Leave a comment below.

Melanie Reinersman, MA, is the Website Editor for the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the Editor of NCDA’s web magazine, Career Convergence. She is also the Publications Development Director for NCDA. From 2007-2010, Melanie was the Editor of Career Developments, NCDA's members' print magazine. Previously, she worked in career services in higher education for over ten years and as a private practitioner. She has been awarded the JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey Award for Excellence in the Field of Technology in Career Development, and the NCDA Presidential Recognition Award. She has been published in the ACA Encyclopedia of Counseling, the Career and Adult Development Journal, and the World Book Encyclopedia. Her Masters Degree is in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in Counseling from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She can be reached at webeditor@ncda.org