GOED explains Individual Career Mapping: VR, assessment and credentials

Carson Huys, senior director of innovation and strategic programs at the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, told the board the Individual Career Mapping program was designed to help individuals navigate four concurrent challenges: personal circumstances, Nevada’s changing sector mix, demographic shifts and rapid technological change.

“We, really started this, Tammy always refers to it in a lab,” Huys said, describing ICM as an innovation-based approach built around three core building blocks: immersive exploration (including virtual reality), assessment of career readiness and connections to industry-recognized credentials. The presenters said the method grew out of pandemic-era work and has been adapted for statewide reach through library systems.

Huys and other presenters emphasized that libraries function as a distributed, trusted network to reach populations often left out of traditional workforce channels—reentry populations, rural residents and those with low labor-market literacy. Presenters said the VR component can simulate workplaces and help participants “see” what a day in a job looks like before committing to training.

Presenters also said the program is aligned with Nevada’s economic diversification goals and that GOED has been coordinating credentials and handoffs to training providers; they described the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate (WorkKeys) as one baseline credential used in the model.