The changing nature of work, the workforce, and the work place brings new challenges and opportunities to those involved in human resource management. Many organizations, for example, are more involved in assisting workers in making the transition from educational settings to the workplace by putting in place career planning and development systems. In this workshop, a current initiative in this area sponsored by the federal government will be described. This system enables prospective employees to learn more about themselves, their work-related skills and career interests, and to conduct target job searchers for employment opportunities. In addition to discussing the advantages to the user, the workshop will also focus on the benefits of such systems to the organization. Issues relevant to both research and practice in the area of career planning and development systems will also be discussed.

Dr Gowing was awarded her Ph.D., summa cum laude, in 1992 from George Washington University in the field of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She is presently the Director of the Personnel Resources and Development Center of the U. S. Office of Personnel Management where she is a member of the Senior Executive Service. Her research has involved (a) assisting in the development of the Standard Occupational Classification framework to describe all jobs in the national economy, as well as the competencies required by a subset of those occupations; and (b) the development of automated systems (USAJobs, USACareers) to assist students in making the transition from school to the world of work. Other research interests involve assisting the Vice President in reinventing government to establish a government that works better, costs less, and provides results that Americans care about.