Enhancing Your Virtual Presence, Re-careering, or Seeking Employment? We’ve Got it Covered!

Are you looking for a new job or considering a career change? Do you believe your personal brand or virtual presence would benefit from a tune-up or overhaul? Are you feeling like you could use a hand navigating the reality of a changing world? AARP Connecticut is offering a series of free virtual events and programs with information, resources and essentials designed to meet you where you are in your career.

In addition to free online workshops, AARP Connecticut is offering scholarships for those who are interested in transitioning from a corporate to a nonprofit career and would like to enroll in UConn’s 2021 Encore!Connecticut virtual four-month program.

Show Up for Success
This four-part series, of which any or all may be attended, is designed to build interactive skills for job seekers and others who interact frequently with the public, and need/want to build additional skills to thrive in a virtual setting. Individual registration for each session is required.

Understanding Personality Using DiSC
Personality preferences (ours and others’) impact how we communicate, the speed at which we process info and make decisions, and much more. During this session, participants will learn the basics of personality type as well as a few keys to detecting type in others. Noticing type supports effective interviewing.
DATE: Saturday, October 17, 2020
TIME: 9 to 10:30 a.m.
REGISTER: Register

Resilience and Adapting to Change
“Normal” shifts each day, sometimes several times each day. In this session participants will learn a four-part model for acknowledging and accepting what IS and managing what they can control. The purpose of this session is to increase participants’ emotional self-awareness and self-management.
DATE: Saturday, October 24, 2020
TIME: 9 to 10:30 a.m.
REGISTER: Register

Laugh & Lighten Up!
Play, energetic engagement, and focusing on what is good and positive lights up the brain and floods our bodies with chemicals that support creativity and joy. Participants in this session will engage in playful exercises that challenge them to smile, be in the moment, and support one another.
DATE: Saturday, October 31, 2020
TIME: 9 to 10:30 a.m.
REGISTER: Register

Online Interviews
Candidates and professionals interviewing online have the ability to positively impact their outcomes based on choices that are in their control: lighting, position of camera, ease/difficulty in using technology, etc. This session will cover physicality, eye contact, importance of understanding communication using online platforms, and showing up professionally.
DATE: Saturday, November 7, 2020
TIME: 9 to 10 a.m.
REGISTER: Register

Work at Age 50+: Strategies for a Successful Job Search
Workshop participants will learn the essentials any 50+ jobseeker must consider and hear about free resources available from AARP and others. Specific focus areas include digital and social media platforms, personal branding, networking and age-proofing your resume. This session requires registration to receive the secure link provided by AARP Connecticut.
DATE: Wednesday, October 7, 2020
TIME: 7 to 8 p.m.
REGISTER: Register

Personal Branding for the New Decade 
The future of work is here! Are you ready to embrace it? Six MEGA Shifts that would normally take a 20-year span to prepare for are all happening right now.

Over the last few months, America has experienced a wake-up call unlike anything we’ve witnessed before. Business as usual is unrecognizable. How and where people work has changed. Masks have become a new normal for the entire globe. How long will this last? More importantly, what's next and what should we be doing now to help make our "New Normal" careers, gigs, and startups as successful as possible?

In two special presentations, Loretta Ann Stevens, CEO and Brand Leverage Expert at Competitive Edge Branding, will show you how to anchor your Personal Brand for the New Decade and shift how you think about your personal brand for your career advantage. Each interactive session will offer participants an opportunity to engage with comments and questions. You are invited to attend either or both sessions, but registration is required.

It's a New World

• Manage Your Mindset Principles
• 6 MEGA Global Shifts for Jobs
• Leverage Your Personal Brand Career Portfolio

DATE: Wednesday, November 4, 2020
TIME: 7 to 7:45 p.m.
REGISTER: Register

The Rise of the Gig Economy

• Becoming a Knowledge Broker
• Using Linked In, Facebook and Zoom to your advantage
• Your 30-Day Marketing Plan - Kickstarter

DATE: Wednesday, November 11, 2020
TIME: 1 to 1:45 p.m.
REGISTER: Register

Move From a Corporate to a Nonprofit Career with Encore!Connecticut
For eight years, AARP Connecticut has been offering AARP members scholarships to enroll in the Encore!Connecticut program that provides professionals and managers age 50 and older assistance with transitioning their corporate experience and expertise to full and part-time managerial positions in the Connecticut nonprofit sector.

Encore!Connecticut is a four-month education and Fellowship (executive internship) cross-walk experience from the corporate to the nonprofit sector. The former day program – known as Encore!Hartford and Encore!Fairfield County – is now held on Saturdays to better allow employed professionals interested in transferring to the nonprofit sector to engage in the program. Additional optional, extra-learning, Friday programs are also included. Due to COVID 19 social distancing precautions, all learning of Encore!Connecticut 2021 will be conducted using live online virtual learning. Applications are being accepted for the January 9 through April 10, 2021 Encore!Connecticut class.