Category: News
Certifications Matter
Why Certifications Matter?
According to Microsoft.com: Getting certified gives you a professional edge by providing globally recognized industry endorsed evidence of skills mastery, demonstrating your abilities and willingness to embrace new technologies. Verify your skills and unlock opportunities with certifications.
Get Ahead
On average, Microsoft certified technologists earn 15% more than their uncertified peers. What’s more, certified employees are often entrusted with supervising their peers—putting you on the fast track for a promotion.
Get Hired and be Productive Faster
Microsoft Certified Professionals spend less time interviewing and more time driving value. Adding a Microsoft certification to your resume helps you stand out and get hired—faster. What’s more, certified new hires are fully productive an entire month sooner than their uncertified peers, making your skills clearly stand out.
Get Recognized
91% of hiring managers consider certification as part of their hiring criteria.
Microsoft, Microsoft Certification Program Satisfaction Study, April 2012
39% Certified new hires reach full productivity 39% faster than their peers
IDC/Microsoft, The Business Value of IT Certification, November 2015
38% of IT professionals claimed certification helped them perform complex tasks more confidently.
Pearson VUE, The Value of IT Certification Survey, January 2016
Employees who are certified are ideal for a cloud-related position.
Employability – Do you Have It?
Developing Grit!
So, what is ‘grit’ anyway? In recent years the term is popping up in books, tv shows, articles, and social media across industries. Grit describes the personal qualities of individuals who successfully overcome adversity while displaying optimism. A person’s mindset goes hand in hand with overcoming challenges, accomplishing goals, maintaining a positive outlook, and displaying confidence even under difficult circumstances.
There are several key qualities needed to develop the ‘grit’ trait:
1) Define your purpose
2) Know your game
3) Get back up after a fall
4) Unwavering commitment
Each of these qualities is essential to finding your passion, persevering, overcoming challenges, accomplishing goals, and seeing each task as necessary to achieve what you envision. Here at Brighton College we have the career programs to arm our students with the skills needed to accomplish their professional goals. Coupling your program with personal ‘grit’ will yield positive results while learning about yourself every step of the way.
Brighton College Announces New Employability Resource Center
Brighton College is pleased to announce it is now offering employability learning resources for all students who graduate any of our programs, at no cost! This program is geared to take students/learners through four (4) critical steps that enable you to: learn how to leverage your natural talents, access quality employability skills training on over a dozen topics, create an employability portfolio to share with potential employers and mock interviews along with access to hundreds of employability partners/employers. As students enter their final course, they are provided access to these employability learning resources and encouraged to take advantage of them.
“Career Services needs more focus helping people find an entry level job in their career field”- Says Sean Dixon, Director of Student Services for Brighton College. Our goal is to provide resources that are specific to gaining those important employability skills not always taught in the classroom”, Dixon goes on to say. Learning these skills is important to today’s leaders as a recent Business Round table survey of CEOs (June 2017 Work in Progress Report: How CEO’s are helping close America’s skills gap) has identified three major categories of skills lacking in the workforce that include: Fundamental employability skills, including basic math, technical reading, communication, teamwork and problem solving.
Our goal is to provide everything possible to help our students become “employability ready”. You can learn more about these excellent resources and get more information here!
By:
Jeff Coruccini
“Improving Employability Everyday”
CEO
Take our Free Employability Talent Assessment!
Are you maximizing your natural talents? Would you like to learn how this can help you in your quest to gain or improve your employability potential?
Brighton College is pleased to offer eLearningPlanner.com, a free online employability talent assessment that enables you to learn about your natural talents and access to a video based training course, so you can leverage them all the time.
Our goal is to help students and learners gain the employability skills that lead to in-demand jobs and there is nothing more beneficial then learning about yourself, so you can align yourself in a job that provides you with high satisfaction.
So, take three (3) minutes to take our free employability talent assessment and start learning today. Upon completion please, take the course and use the workbook as it is easy to follow and something you can refer to in the future.
Please contact us and let us know if we can help you in your career planning as well.
Time Management
The Key to Being Successful in College and Beyond
Time management is one skill that we must all learn to master. This will make school, homework, work responsibilities, and taking care of families so much easier. Prioritizing your time in a more efficient way can decrease your stress and increase your productivity. That sounds pretty great, right? Let’s get started!
- Create a “To-Do” List
- Simply by writing down all the things you need to accomplish can help you organize your thoughts and complete the tasks at hand more efficiently.
- Add a timeline to your list so you can finish the most urgent items first and get to the others later.
- Utilize a Planner
- This is where you can write down upcoming appointments, tests, projects, events, classes, or meetings.
- Use color codes that help you remember important information or dates. For example, write urgent items in a bold color so they cannot be overlooked.
- Plan long term. A month long calendar can help you stay organized and see what upcoming deadlines you have. This allows for further planning and preparation to decrease last-minute stress.
- Identify Helpful Resources
- Are you struggling with an assignment or project? Ask the expert. Contact your instructor or a Brighton Team Member that can clarify your concerns.
- Get a tutor or study with a friend. Sometimes incorporating the ideas of others can help you see problems in a new light. A discussion might be all you need to get the ideas flowing.
- Collaborate and delegate with coworkers, friends, and family that can support you and ease your stress in busy times. Sharing the responsibilities with those around you is a good way to manage your time.
- Create a Dedicated Study or Work Space
- Finding a place free of distraction is crucial. This will allow for full concentration as well as creating structure. These are both important for creating efficient work habits and establishing a routine.
- Have a back-up space that you can go like the library or bookstore. This can provide a change of pace as well as offer you with additional resources.
- Use Your Free Time Wisely
- What are you doing as you drive in the car or walk the dog? How about when you take your children to their weekly activities? Think about how you can restructure that time to get some extra studying in. Bring some flashcards, review new information that you just read and think of how you are going to apply it. Take notes from memory to see what items you need to revisit.
- Turn lull periods in your day into productive and positive ways to manage your time. All it takes is a new way of thinking!
Tips For Creating A Standout Resume
Crafting a standout resume in today’s job market is an absolute must! When applying for a position you are likely competing with dozens if not hundreds of applicants. You must ask yourself, “Why would they choose me?” Give prospective employers every reason to contact you. Showcase your experience, attention to detail, and skills that make an employer eager to know more about you and what you can bring to their team.
- Incorporate keywords and phrases that that make you a standout candidate. Showcase your experience, skills and talents. Buzzwords like “team-player”, “accomplished”, “managed”, “created”, and “initiated” are some great power words to incorporate.
- Adapt your resume to the job you are applying for. You might need to revise your resume multiple times to fit a variety of job positions. Explain why you would make a great contender for the specific position you are applying for. One version of your resume is not going to fit for every position that you apply for.
- Use a modern and professional format. Clear, concise, and easy to read is always the way to go.
- Proofread, proofread, proofread! This is one of the most important components. If you have typos, spelling mistakes, and errors in your resume likely potential employers will toss your resume aside. They are looking for individuals that are careful and thorough with their work. They want those that will represent their business well.
- Use a header. At the top of your resume let prospective employers get to know you. Define who you are and what position you are seeking.
- Keep it professional. Do not include negative information about previous employers. Also, do not include information like your hobbies or interests. That is something that you can discuss with them later. Stick to your career achievements and highlight your strengths and positive talents.
- Include a cover letter. This will showcase your writing skills and really let the employer know why you are interested in the position. Showing the employer that you have done some background research and know about the company you are applying for can make or break your opportunity for an interview. Always go above and beyond.
- Have someone else look over your resume. An extra set of eyes that can help you proofread and edit the information is always a good idea.
If you have any other questions about creating a standout resume or you would like someone to look over what you have feel free to contact Student Services or one of your professors. We are here to help you succeed!
Managing the Work-School-Life Balance
Tips for Managing the Work-School-Life Balance
1. Track your achievements
Don’t minimize your experience. Give yourself the credit you deserve and use your accomplishments as leverage.
2. Put in extra effort
Go above and beyond and your hard work will be noticed and rewarded. This includes efforts for work, school, and personal relationships.
3. Build a network
Learn and grow from the people all around you. Acquaintances, friends, coworkers, and professor. Foster important relationships so you have a good support system. If you don’t know something, ask! If you need help, ask! That’s what networks are for.
4. Be intentional with your time and efforts
Focus on gaining skills and knowledge that push you towards your ultimate goal
5. Communicate
Let those around you know about your goals so they can support and encourage you
6. Create a schedule
Make a schedule that enables you to have a healthy balance between school, work, and family. Prioritize and commit!
7. Set clear expectations
Make your academic priorities clear with your employer, family, and friends. This should provide you with a flexible and supportive community of people that understand your goals.
8. Ask for help
Contact Student Services or your Professor if you need help, have questions, or if you are falling behind. We are here to help!
Common Cents: On-Campus vs Online
When it was time for me to choose a college, everyone – friends, family, the lady standing behind me in line at the grocery store – EVERYONE had to put in their own ‘two cents.’ They would ramble on about large student loan debt and the surge of unemployed graduates. It was enough to discourage anyone from applying to college at all… including myself. It was a few years – and a few minimum wage jobs later – before I realized I could achieve my dream of earning a college degree and I could do it debt-free.
It Came Down to Cents
My research showed that the cost of a two year degree at a state university would have cost me upwards of $12,000 and that did not include books and additional fees. But my Associate’s Degree earned online through Brighton College was a fraction of the cost — $3,900, which included all books and fees. It didn’t take a mathematician to figure out which option would be more cost effective!
It Came Down to Time
We all have busy schedules. I was working two part-time jobs and had a child and husband at home. My calendar was always full of appointments, extracurricular activities, and work functions. Finding time to attend classes at a physical university was nearly impossible. I needed to be able to make my own school schedule. While I will admit that the idea of sitting in a classroom surrounded by fellow students who were interested in the same course of study that I was sounded great, I just didn’t have the time. My accredited, online college offered quality education on my schedule. And as far as the student interaction went, I was surprised to find that it was easy to connect with my peers through Brighton College’s social media.
It Came Down to a Career
While trying to decide between an online university or a traditional university, I never forgot my end goal: to be employable. I quickly learned that with a traditional university, I would be held to their schedule — a long and drawn out schedule. But, Brighton College online offered flexibility which allowed me to earn my degree faster. Trust me: the faster you earn a degree or diploma the faster you will join the workforce.
It Came Down to Brighton College
If you are considering an online university, consider Brighton College. Brighton College offers associate degrees in high demand portable careers such as allied health, business administration, and criminal justice. The cost of credit hour for Brighton’s degree programs is $65.00 per credit hour. This means you can earn your degree for less than $4000.00 (and graduate debt free, like I did). This amount includes all tuition, books and fees. Brighton College also allows flexibility, work at your own pace courses which fit seamlessly into your busy schedule. An additional perk, Brighton College is includes an HP Notebook with tuition for all as part of all diploma programs. What a great way to begin your online college experience! Want more information about the benefits of Brighton College? Simply click here to send an email.
Written by Kellie G.
Evaluating A Course by Course Approach to College
Should You Finish Quickly or Efficiently?
As a teenager it was an overwhelming task when my mom would tell me I could hang out with my friends only after I would clean my room. If you were anything like me as a teen (or any other typical teen) then your room looked like it should be on the list of places a tornado devastatingly tore through. Trust me, I used that excuse for the state of my room to my mom and for some reason got no sympathy. She would tell me, “Cinch by the inch.” I would start in one corner and not move on until that corner was completely clean. This approach stayed with me in most things I have done in my life, including getting my college education.
Cinch by the inch.
I took one class at a time until my certification was complete. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t it take you forever?! I come across that question more than any other with this approach. My answer? No. Here are the reasons why a course by course approach can be extremely beneficial — And I’ll go ahead and add into the list why choosing an online school can benefit you as well, because my mom also taught me that the more you give the more you get in return! — If I give you more great advice I get more readers…no?
- Course by course allows you to focus on one class at a time. You get more out of that class because your mind isn’t crammed with two or three other subjects simultaneously. With all of your focus on that one class you are more likely to get a better grade. By making it an online course you can focus on this class when the time is convenient for you and your schedule.
- Most colleges set up their programs so that the second class you take is relevant to the first one you took, the third is relevant to the second you took, and so on. This can give you a better understanding of the class you are working on. Once you are done with each class, that previous class will benefit the following class.
- You can take the classes at your own pace. If you bang out a class a month then you will be done in no time! However, if you are working full time, a parent, a working parent, or even just work at a slower pace naturally then having one class to focus on will relieve some of the pressures of assignment deadlines. I reiterate that by doing this online will allow you to do these assignments when you are able to.
- Online benefit: There is no time limit to when you have to graduate! In high school it’s usually frowned upon if you don’t graduate in four years. However, in college no one cares how long it takes you! Your slow pace may be what works for you and an online school is very supportive of that. If you work at a quicker pace then an online school won’t withhold your next class until the next semester. You determine your graduation pace.
When I was asked did it take me forever to finish my certification with a course by course approach I didn’t just answer with a “no.” I would say that time spent on education is never a waste of time. Going to college is a big decision. Why would I want to rush through and not give it my all? If you put the time and quality into your education then you will come out with a better quality of job prospects. Most jobs won’t even glance at a low GPA resume. Don’t be that person that finished the fastest just to say you’re first. If we are talking about a hot dog eating contest then finishing fastest will get you the win. In school that’s not quite the case. Take your time and get it done right.
Cinch by the inch.
Rachel G.
Military Spouse Education Advocate