All posts by Destinymarie Alicea

Certificate programs: Reasons why it can benefit you

students holding up their graduation caps outdoors at a school
Career Exploration, Events, Featured, WebApproved, Workforce, Community, and Corporate Partnerships

Most of the time people will gain opportunities and experience through employment. But then there are other people who would take the chance to go back to school to challenge themselves or gain knowledge in learning a specific skill set. Certificate programs can help fill the gaps in your knowledge or experience that are keeping you from reaching your career goals. There are many benefits in earning a certificate at any point in your life, whether it is your first choice before earning a higher education degree, or a post-graduate decision, or a continuing education opportunity.

These are the times when you can benefit from a certificate program:

  • If you need a career boost – whether it is to transition to a new career or advance in your career. A certificate program can give you an opportunity to develop expertise within your current career or in a new field you hope to enter.
  • If you need to refresh on a specific knowledge. Reconfirming what you already practice or received a degree in and continuing education within a certification program can keep you up-to-date.

St. Petersburg College offers certificate programs of all sorts to support your career and/or educational growth. An amazing perk in taking courses towards a certificate is that you be able to apply credits towards an associate, bachelor’s or even master’s program within that academic area. An additional bonus: it can save you money and time too. SPC also offers short-term training to boost your career skills through our Workforce Institute. Working towards a certification demonstrates your commitment to professionalism and continued learning.

There are support resources at St. Petersburg College that will help you to earn a certificate:

PITCH – for African American men, ages 18-24, who live in St. Petersburg, FL can earn a certificate in arts, technology, social and human services, public safety, or business that will help you get a job.

St. Pete Works –Ultimate goal is to help more community workers train for and secure new and higher paying jobs.

Make sure to connect with a Career and Academic Advisor to get registered for the second 8-week summer term session or the fall semester.

Innovative in a workplace

Chalkboard reading: Think outside of the box
Employment Preparation, Featured, WebApproved

 Innovative in a Workplace 

When you think of innovation, what comes up? According to How to Jump-Start Your Innovation: 8 Ways to Be More Innovative article, it states that each of us can be more innovative. Contrary to popular opinion, it can be learned, encouraged and even incented. A recent University of California, San Diego study demonstrated monetary incentives helped overcome psychological barriers to innovation and led to a more diverse group of people to offer innovative ideas. To read more on this article click here.

Being innovative can increase your creative thinking skills and allow you to resolve problems strategically. Although it is a leadership quality to create an innovative environment, there are still ways you can develop your innovative skills. Here are some advice from the Career Services Team on how to be innovative in your workplace based on their experience.

Be Curious

To be innovative, you need to expand your horizons. You do that by asking questions, trying new things, and learning from your mistakes. You want to familiarize yourself with certain skill sets and learn about as many as you can. This goes beyond your workplace too. As students, here are some good innovative questions to help you think about what you think: Are there any other similar answers you can think of with alternative routes? Why does that answer make sense to you? Why do you think this works? Does it always? Why? How does this relate to current events? To find more helpful innovation questions check out this article: 50 Questions To Help Students Think About What They Think.

Be Around Inspiring People and Environment

As a Career and Academic Advisor, I aim to surround myself with inspiring people or areas that allows me to explore my creative thinking. I am influenced to be innovative by listening to several conversations from colleagues on how they go about engaging with students. As for my environment, I make sure to amp myself up to ensure my creative outlook for the day. I do this by starting off my morning listening to my favorite songs or motivational podcasts. Doing this unlocks positive and creative thinking before entering my workplace. My suggestion is to find that specific motivator that will stimulate your innovative mind before work.

Do Not Stop Learning 

When you are learning you are growing. When you are learning you are developing your brain to think more innovatively. You can do this by attending webinars and trainings, or joining like-minded organizations. There are many free student memberships! Take advantage of free certificates and options available within the community (i.e. St. Pete’s Works, Workforce Institute, CareerSource, any many more). If you still need assistance in finding your passion or career to become innovative check out our Career Coach assessment tool.

Collaborate with a Diverse Group

Collaborating with a diverse group produces amazing results. As a Career Outreach Specialist within the Career Services team, transitioning to the virtual world was a team effort. It was easier to work as a group, developing many innovative techniques that still engaged and educated our students. We focused on our current situation and how we could improve it. We updated current workshops to make them more creative and interactive for the students. In addition, within a diverse group, you may find a colleague that you feel comfortable sharing ideas with or encouraging to try new things.

Innovation varies. It comes in different structures, sizes, and appearance. Being innovative should always be a part of your professional approach. In order to be innovative, you need to give yourself the opportunity to start building! Put your thoughts into words, your words into action, and your action into patterns and good habits.

You should have a LinkedIn account

Individual working on a laptop at a desk with a notepad and coffee.
Career Exploration, Events, Featured, WebApproved

Do you have a LinkedIn account? If not, did you know that LinkedIn is known as one of the most powerful networking platforms? Why is this? LinkedIn allows users to connect with unlimited professionals, seek job opportunities, and market their personal brand. In addition, you can advance in your career by learning specific skills in LinkedIn Learning.

Here are some key reasons as to why you should create an account:

You can connect with companies and professional groups

Many companies have their own LinkedIn pages where you learn about the company’s information, updated news, see who the current employees are, and what jobs are open. As far as professional groups, you can join a community with your LinkedIn account that shares your personal and professional interests. Within the groups, you have the ability to network, gain insight on the trends/updates within the industry, find a mentor, or simply join in on conversations.

You can build and market your brand

Having a LinkedIn account can help you highlight all your professional experiences and showcase your key strengths. Building your brand on LinkedIn is an additional way to make yourself more visible. Not only does this platform allow you to build your brand, but your brand will also gain credibility through the tools within LinkedIn. You can learn more about that in the Power of LinkedIn workshop hosted by SPC Career Services.  

Have access to recruiters and job opportunities

Although there are many job search websites to help you find job opportunities, the LinkedIn job search board is very effective. You can search jobs by position keywords i.e., Assistant, Coordinator, or Manager, followed by location. You can set an alert on your job or keyword interests to receive updates on open positions. If you have a premium account, you can compare yourself with other applicants, review salary, as well as directly communicate with hiring managers and/or recruiters.

There is power in being a part of an effective online networking community that will help you professionally. As a student, LinkedIn can be a powerful tool to help you prepare to enter the professional world, transition to a new career path, or build your professional brand/network. So do not wait, create an account today!

If you need any further support or information about LinkedIn, please reach out to a Career Services Team member. Also, make sure to join Career Outreach Specialist Monica Roberts, and Career and Academic Advisor Destinymarie Alicea on Wednesday, April 14 to learn more about The Power of LinkedIn at 11:00am or 6:00pm.

Essential Skills for the Virtual World

Different virtual skills
Career News, Employment Preparation, WebApproved

As remote employment continues to rise in many industries like, healthcare, teaching, customer support, and more, the entire world discovered that there are essential skills needed to succeed working virtually. Besides being able to work in the comfort of your own home, there are few skills you need, whether as a student or an employee, to be successful working at home.

Strong Communication

I think we all can agree that our work productivity has increased as we experience more emails, virtual meetings, and calls than normal. It is now important to excel in your writing skills to make sure you are conveying your message clearly and concisely. Remote workers whether in management co-workers and/or colleagues are relying on communication complete projects and tasks. A helpful tip to improve your communication skills is by using the 7Cs of communication. The 7Cs are: clear, correct, complete, concrete, concise, consideration, and courteous. The 7Cs has a checklist to make sure that all forms of communication are clear and succinct.

Time Management

When working from home, you just have yourself to stay on track with your workload and meeting deadlines. It is very vital for you to maintain time management, not only for work but for all aspect of your life. They’re different ways to find what type of time management works best for you. But the overall reason to excel in your time management skill is to find flexible methods and systems to get the job done. Some tips to help with your time management skills are: Use a wall calendar or day planner to list your upcoming tasks, have a goal setting, gain coping skills, and making decision-making to name a few.

Technical Knowledge

In the virtual world it is a given that having technical knowledge is needed. Living in today’s century, technology is all around us and a lot of business wouldn’t exist without it. Learning and knowing the right tools and software will help make many projects and tasks easy. Having technical knowledge shows your employer how well skilled you are in software. Something employers appreciates because it cuts training, time, money, and resources that they would have to invest in if you did not know.

Collaboration

The last but, not least essential skill needed is collaboration. Virtually, you only have the internet to communicate with your co-workers, colleagues, and management to complete projects. Because of that, it is important to learn to work with one another efficiently and effectively. Working in your virtual team you gain consistency, reliability, and trust with yourself and your peers. How you collaborate with others shows others what is like to have you as an employee and co-worker.

Working virtually is a complete different world for us all. Now you have a brief understanding on few essential skills needed in the virtual world. Be sure to work with your Career Services Team so you can enhance on the skills you need to succeed in your virtual world.

Currently looking for an internship or employment opportunity? Join Handshake, our customizable online tool for career and internship opportunities. There you can discover new employment opportunities that are right for you based on your major, interests, and skills. Take a moment to explore SPC’s Handshake portal today.