Are You Really Getting a Deal?

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. We are about to be inundated with “Holiday Sales”. But how do you know if you are really getting a deal? The short answer is you need to get education. Click here to listen in…. You’re welcome.

BTW, Black Friday isn’t a thing. Don’t believe me? Click here.

Why You Should Visit Your Career Coach

As unnerving as having my face on screens all over the college can be, it helps me get to know a lot of students. No matter where I am in town, there is a good chance I will run into a student who recognizes me and strikes up a conversation.  Because I tend to be a creature of habit who shows up at the same places a lot, I get to know some of those students pretty well.

One of my frequent stops, is my local CVS. It is about 40 feet from where I live and because I’m a less than prepared grocery shopper, I end up running over there about five times a week to pick up something. This is how I got to know Miguel. Miguel is a graduate of our economics program who has been looking for a job in data analytics.  It’s been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for him. He didn’t have the job he wanted right after graduation, but he has been persistent.

Last week, when I went in to pick up something, Miguel had a big smile on his face. He had landed a job in data analytics with a firm in Jacksonville. From our conversation, it sounded like it involved forensic accounting/finance. He went on to note: “I really owe this success to my career coach, Denise. She really helped me do the kinds of things I needed to land a job like this. I start in January.”

These are the days it’s good to be dean. It’s great to hear from hardworking students, that they are accomplishing their dreams. It’s great to hear that our career coaches are making a difference and that our students are realizing the benefits of the resources we have here in the College.

It’s only one student story and it’s easy to forget at times like this that we have 9,000 more of them, but I’m sharing this story because I want there to be many more Miguels. He used the resources available to him, built a relationship with a career coach, took their advice and it paid off.

I’m going to miss our chats, Miguel. Charge On…

And Now for the Hard Part….

I was trying to come up with some witty story to illustrate why success on the job is more difficult to achieve than success as a student.  I failed.  But trust me.  It is.  There are a number of reasons: (1) The rules aren’t as clear as a syllabus.  (2) The tasks aren’t as well-defined.  (3) There isn’t always a right answer. (4) The feedback can be much less frequent. (5) Not everyone always wants you to succeed (i.e., the internal competition).  (6) Sometimes its about being in the right place at the right time. And (7) the ability for you to engage in self-delusion about your performance can be far greater.

Tuesday, we hold Careerfest to help you start to think through your transition from school to a successful career.  You can see the schedule of topics by clicking here.    Don’t assume that success as a student will immediately translate into success on the job.  As my first paragraph suggests, school is more about rule following and showing mastery of subject matter than the real world.  You need a different kind of street smarts to succeed in your chosen profession.  Alums are coming to help you out.  Come and learn how.

 

How Your Military Service Thanks You Back

UCF has about 2,000 students with military service, including this semester’s failure competition winner Kevin Velazquez. About 25 percent of our vets are women. Most of our Vets are in their 20s and 30s, having come to UCF after completing four to ten years of military service right after high school. This gap in their formal education might lead Vets to think that they are behind and at a disadvantage relative to their younger classmates.

But in reality, Vets are ahead. They have already acquired many of the mindsets and qualities we try to develop in our students here in the college that are important to employers including:

• A mission mindset that defeats a fear of failure and opens a path to success.
• Experience in adapting to new situations. Soldiers are required to react quickly and precisely to new information in fluid, high-pressure situations where lives are on the line. If this isn’t data-driven decision-making outside your comfort zone I don’t know what is.
• Excellent, concise oral communication skills that conveys what people need to know to get the job done. The battlefield demands this.
• A record of Integrity. Many veterans are trained to meet the highest standards when it comes to ethics, safety and other organizational imperatives. Some even have high level security clearances.
• Experience working with people who are different from you. Vets usually have years of practical experience working with teams of diverse individuals, frequently in international settings—a distinct advantage in our globalizing economy.
• Leadership. Military service creates individuals who work to earn the respect of others and understand how to bring people together to achieve common goals.

Oh, and a bias toward doing rather than being. It is in giving you these qualities and experiences that your military service thanks you back. Use them. Here at school and during your job search. They will continue to place you on a winning team.

Happy Veterans Day. Thank you for your service. Now, charge on.

Winner of our Failure Competition

Congrats to Kevin Velazquez for winning this semester’s failure competition.  Second place went to Sam Kotenko and third place to Petrice Cineus.    If you haven’t listened to their stories, you can hear them by clicking here.

Failure, by the way, is only “a thing” if you learn something from it……