About Us
Centralina Career Headlight Links Our Region’s Workforce, Education and Job Market
Launched in April 2014, Career Headlight is a first step in implementing the award-winning “Jobs, Workforce and Education Alignment Strategy for the Greater Charlotte Region,” in the region’s “Prosperity for Greater Charlotte Economic Development Strategy.”
Career Headlight received an Innovation Award in 2014 from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO).
Career Headlight fills a gap in our region because:
- Employers want a better way to match people’s interests with the skills required for available careers in the region, and link them to local education and training.
- Half of the region’s workforce crosses a county line each day so the region needs one tool that gives region-wide career and education information.
- Communities want to retain their workers and young people when they graduate, and the region wants to retain its talented workforce.
- When career seekers pursue areas of high job growth in the region, it supplies local business and industry with needed qualified workers.
- It provides a one-stop resource that covers occupations and education in the 17-county, two-state region with more than 50 high education institutions, seven workforce boards and dozens of economic development agencies.
Career Headlight is Fast and Easy to Use
Features include:
- An award-winning software platform that provides:
- Up-to-date county-level job demand and education data not found on any other career tool.
- Top careers ranked by salary, growth, and other metrics for each county or sub-region.
- Careers filtered by level of education required (one-year certificate, two-year Associate’s, etc.) and career field (medical, business, etc.).
- A list of educational institutions and their certificate and degree programs matched to each career.
- A two-minute survey that lets users pick their top skills on 20 sliders and see a list of matching careers.
- A user-friendly interface with:
- intuitive dashboards
- user-manipulated sliding scales and dropdowns
- tablet-friendly design
- The ability to bookmark education and career choices, using a password- protected account.
Testimonials About Centralina Career Headlight
“Centralina Career Headlight is the only career tool in the nation that provides locally-based occupational demand forecasts and wage rates matched to locally available certificate and degree programs. That’s a critical advantage to our students and career seekers, our education institutions, and our regional economy.”
-- Keri Allman, Director
R3 Career Services Rowan-Cabarrus Community College
“Easy to navigate, informative, and a nice eye-catching presentation for any job seeker. I also sent this site to several recent college graduates that are seeking employment.”
-- Joann P. Diggs
Contract Manager Youth and Family Services Salisbury Rowan Community Action Agency, Inc.
“Career Headlight opens the window of opportunity with just a few clicks. It gives students and job seekers control, connecting them with real jobs in real-time and with the educational institutions that provide skills and certification needed to improve their value as an employee.”
— Bill Thunberg, Chairman
Centralina Economic Development Commission
“Today’s students, their parents and educators need current information about available local jobs
as well as the education and training needed for them. Career Headlight brightens the pathways for prosperity for our youth.”
— Michael Realon
Career and Development Coordinator Olympic Community Schools
“The information under Top 20 jobs has single- handedly provided us with what we need to work with our seniors to determine local hiring needs, utilize work based learning opportunities, and inform job seekers, especially as it relates to needed education and experience in our region.”
— Natasha Pender, Senior Employment Program Manager
Centralina Area Agency on Aging
“Career Headlight is helping make our youth successful in today’s competitive workforce. They’re matching their interests with in-demand careers in our region and learning about the required certificates or degrees for their targeted careers.”
— Shenita Russell
Youth Development Specialist Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency, Inc.
“Career Headlight has been an amazing tool for both myself and the customers I serve. It allows me to pinpoint career choices for customers in high demand fields, specific to this region, after a short assessment, and training requirements. It was also spot-on for me for my career choice!”
— Amy Weatherman
Talent Development Counselor Supervisor Centralina WDB NCWorks Career Centers
“I’ve demonstrated Career Headlight with job seekers at the Job Networks and gotten positive feedback. I’ve been able to show them pertinent labor market information, growth of industries and particular occupations in the region, pay scales, and knowledge and skills needed to move to higher positions.”
— Amie Coffey, MBA
Employer Services Consultant Centralina WDB NCWorks Career Centers
