Communication is EVERYTHING!

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

The single biggest skills gap in recent college graduates is verbal and written communication. So let me be concise here and provide several recommendations to build both of those communication skills.

Verbal

Always be aware of your own emotions when having a conversation. You need to control your reactions, think clearly, breath steadily, and focus on listening. Without strong listening skills, you will never be a great communicator.
Practice having hard conversations by debating a subject and being willing to adjust your perspective. Stubborn, strong minded people typically are not known as effective communicators.
Take advantage of every opportunity to speak in public.
Practice eliminating filler words by picking a random topic and speaking about it immediately for 3 minutes. For example, avoid saying: “He like didn’t like say what he like meant very like concisely.” Also, silence is okay but filling silence with “Ummmmm” or “Ahhhhhh” is not effective communication.
Control your nerves by 1) controlling your breathing (steady breathing), 2) before you start, think of something that makes you smile (it will release dopamine which calms you and makes you happy), and 3) preparing — always prepare to speak in public!

Written

Read challenging texts like textbooks, trade journals, peer-reviewed research, and high quality publications (not newspapers).
If you come across a word you don’t understand, look it up!
Practice using new words in your conversations.
Practice writing and proof your work 3 times before you submit.
Use a professional editor who will review his or her edits with you.
Get extra help. Students are always provided extra help with writing! You just need to ask.
Read, practice, and repeat!

A strong communicator will no doubt be a very strong candidate for college admissions and for employment. However, you will not become a strong communicator if you just do what is expected of you in your high school and college courses. It will take a strong commitment on your part, a consistent multi-year effort, and an unrelenting determination to learn. Good news is, research proves that anyone can develop their communication skills! Finally, start now!

Steven J. Harvey, Ph.D.
CEO & Founder, My College Max, Web Site: www.mycollegemax.com
Executive Director, The WNY Consortium of Higher Education, Web Site: www.wnycollegeconnection.com

What are the skills employers are looking for in college graduates?

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

Nace – The National Association of Colleges and Employers has identified and defined the following skills that employers expect college graduates to possess.

Critical Thinking/Problem Solving: Exercise sound reasoning to analyze issues, make decisions, and overcome problems. The individual is able to obtain, interpret, and use knowledge, facts, and data in this process, and may demonstrate originality and inventiveness.
Oral/Written Communications: Articulate thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively in written and oral forms to persons inside and outside of the organization. The individual has public speaking skills; is able to express ideas to others; and can write/edit memos, letters, and complex technical reports clearly and effectively.
Teamwork/Collaboration: Build collaborative relationships with colleagues and customers representing diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, religions, lifestyles, and viewpoints. The individual is able to work within a team structure, and can negotiate and manage conflict.
Digital Technology: Leverage existing digital technologies ethically and efficiently to solve problems, complete tasks, and accomplish goals. The individual demonstrates effective adaptability to new and emerging technologies.
Leadership: Leverage the strengths of others to achieve common goals, and use interpersonal skills to coach and develop others. The individual is able to assess and manage his/her emotions and those of others; use empathetic skills to guide and motivate; and organize, prioritize, and delegate work.
Professionalism/Work Ethic: Demonstrate personal accountability and effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, and time workload management, and understand the impact of non-verbal communication on professional work image. The individual demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior, acts responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind, and is able to learn from his/her mistakes.
Career Management: Identify and articulate one’s skills, strengths, knowledge, and experiences relevant to the position desired and career goals, and identify areas necessary for professional growth. The individual is able to navigate and explore job options, understands and can take the steps necessary to pursue opportunities, and understands how to self-advocate for opportunities in the workplace.
Global/Intercultural Fluency: Value, respect, and learn from diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, sexual orientations, and religions. The individual demonstrates, openness, inclusiveness, sensitivity, and the ability to interact respectfully with all people and understand individuals’ differences.

To learn how to build those competencies, visit your Career Services office or look into www.MyCollegeMax.com, an online tool that is designed to build the above skill sets and help college students succeed! Bottom line, the students will need to proactively seek out different experiences to build these “higher order” skill sets that will prepare them for today’s job market. The more they do, the more skills they develop, the more competitive they will be.

How to Plan for Medical Emergencies in College

Posted on September 7, 2017 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

A medical emergency, either minor or major, can occur at anytime. There are a handful of steps students (and parents) can take before heading off to school in order to ensure they are prepared if emergency strikes. A recent article in The Buffalo News highlights important healthy and safety preparations. Be sure to put the following information in a file or on your phone:

Health Insurance Card (picture of front and back!)
Emergency Contacts
Primary Care Physician
Pharmacy (both at home and at school)
College Health Clinic
Campus Safety
Local Urgent Care
College Counseling Center

In addition, the following are useful supplies to pack for your college residence:

Digital Thermometer
Ibuprofen
Bandages
Heating Pads
Ice Packs
Prescription Medication
Sunscreen
Topical Antibiotic Ointment

As a college student, it can be stressful dealing with these situations while away from home for the first time. Take these precautionary actions in order to avoid some of the disorder associated with being sick while at college. Also, be sure to check out our blog “The Importance of Health and Wellness” for other tips to staying healthy during the school year!

Why Former College Students have Regrets after Graduation

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

Most former college students have regrets after graduation. A recent survey by Gallup and Strada Education Network finds that half of former students would change at least one of three decisions: the type of degree they pursued, their choice of major, or the institution they attended. Out of 90,000 respondents, 28 percent would chose a different institution,

36 percent wish they chose a different major, and 12 percent would have pursued a different level of degree. On the other hand, former students are happy with the quality of education they received.

Students primarily have regrets due to incomplete understanding of the following:

Employment Opportunities
Earning Potential
Long-term Student Debt

It is important for college bound students to utilize available resources in order to make the right decisions. Make sure to visit My College Max and explore the tools to help prepare for college and career. Go into college with a plan in order to avoid unnecessary regrets!

5 Secrets of Powerful Teachers and Why They are Critical to Our Society

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

We live in a society that often “villianizes” teachers and fails to recognize the powerful role they play in the upbringing of our nation’s children. While I’m not saying the profession is perfect what I am saying is that this imperfection places them at par with the rest of us. However, par is not really the goal we as one of the greatest societies in the history of the world should set for the status of the greatest catalyst for our society’s future. So, bottom line is teachers should be positioned on par with surgeons, attorneys, professors, and corporate leaders. Yes that’s right, on par! Here are five reasons why:

It is often a teacher that is cited as a life changing mentor who many attribute to their individual success. There is likely no other profession that is cited as often as teachers are as critical to the success of so many.
Teachers can and often do prepare young people for success by cultivating those “intangible” yet so valuable skill sets that are the markers of leadership and emotional intelligence. No other adult enjoys the kind of access a teacher has to our children as he or she prepares our kids to become responsible and capable adults.
Teachers are often the only force fighting on behalf of our children when political fears and/or “educational movements of the moment” put our kids at risk. There is no other adult like teachers willing to fight as hard as we are for our children
Let’s face it, teachers keep our kids from going “rogue” or from going all “Lord of the Flies” on us. While it’s not always a parent’s favorite thing to hear, teachers know how to put our children in place when they break the rules. Teachers may even be our greatest ally in our pursuit to raise children who are respectful, caring, and good to one another.
Finally, its extremely hard to find a teacher who doesn’t care deeply about our children. The teaching profession is one of the most educated professions in our society and many can find other jobs that are more lucrative and certainly less challenging. Yet they persist. I don’t know one employer who wouldn’t want an employee who persists through the kinds of challenges teachers face on a daily basis.

Ultimately, teachers deserve a status at par with those who we place at the top tier of our society. After all, aren’t our kids and future worth it?

13 Essential Leadership Skills

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

Guest Blogger: Kayla LaForest

A recently published article by Forbes reveals that new leadership skills are required as different generations move in and out of the workplace. Leaders need to be constantly updating and improving their skills if they want to be successful in the modern work environment.

The 13 must-have leadership skills of today are:

Executive Presence: Leaders must embody composure, charisma, confidence, and credibility. However, more than just those traits, Executive Presence shows up in the way leaders are trusted and how they communicate, develop strategy, and carry themselves under pressure.
Resiliency: Great leaders can bounce back from defeat and manage personal and business anxiety effectively and calmly.
Culture Management: Leaders need to be able to create a culture in their office that makes people excited to walk through the door. Employees want to feel as if they are a part of something bigger than themselves.
Navigation of Ambiguity: Fast paced and ever-changing work environments have made it essential for leaders to remain relaxed and inspire their teams in uncertain times.
Hybrid of Skills: Gone are the days of developing a singular expertise. Today’s leaders must have adaptability across different areas of business in order to continue climbing the ladder.
Multigenerational Management: Since the current workplace ranges from Millennials to Baby Boomers, leaders must be able to manage the strengths and weaknesses of different generations.
Collaboration: Leaders must use their skills, including clear communication, when working with others who may have different agendas.
Emotional Intelligence: Emotionally Intelligent leaders are in tune with their own emotions as well as the emotions of others.
Social Media Presence: Leaders should develop an online presence to connect with others (i.e. LinkedIn) and be able to demonstrate professionalism on social media platforms.
Authenticity: It is now essential for leaders to be present and connect with all levels of their team, both personally and professionally.
Mastery of Crucial Conversations: Leaders need to be able to engage in critical conversations, including emotionally charged ones.
Leadership of Virtual Teams and Independent Contractors: Today’s leaders need to have the ability to lead team members who are both present and not present (i.e. remote employees).
Co-Creative Leadership: In order to get engaged teams and better results, leaders need to be able to co-create with their employees and produce change with them.

Start honing your leadership qualities in college so you can take your skills to the workplace. Visit MyCollegeMax to help create an individualized path for career success!

How to Make the Most of Career Centers

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

Completed by Guest Blogger: Kayla

According to Inside High Ed, a survey of recent college graduates found that 61% of students who graduated between 2010 – 2016 visited a career center at least once. This number has increased in recent years. However, ONLY 17% of students found their college career center to be “very helpful.” Another 26% reported that the career center was “helpful.” Taking advantage of your college’s career center is so important because it can lead to employment after college. Students who visited their career center at least once were more likely to be employed full time after college than those who did not visit.

In order to make the most out of career services, students should:

Educate yourself about career services: It is important to know what resources career services offers so you can take full advantage of them.
Visit career services early and often: Everything cannot be accomplished in one meeting. Visit career services serval times starting freshman year.
Attend career fairs: Many career centers host career fairs to directly connect students with future employers.
Learn how to get hired: Career services can help you create a cover letter, resume, and teach you valuable interview skills in order to land a job after school.
Understand your role: While career centers have a lot of important resources, it will be your job to make sure you take full advantage of those resources.

Career services offers many essential tools for college students to utilize. Also, be sure to check out My College Max and use the Career Readiness Scale. The Career Readiness Scale can help you build your resume and demonstrate your experiences, abilities, and leadership to make sure you are on the right track to becoming employed!

What is a college student’s “currency” in the job market? The answer may surprise you.

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

When a student chooses a career path, they are really selecting a major that will lead to that career. That’s the easy part. The hard work starts when you begin your college career and find that your chosen major may not be the best choice for you. Then you start to question your direction and the stress begins.

To avoid this trap, keep things in perspective.

Most people will have multiple careers which means you will jump from one field to another. For example, you may be a teacher, sales person, trainer, and financial planner all in your lifetime!
It’s more important to select the right major than it is to select the “right” career. Why? Simple. Your major will be what offers you your foundation while your college will offer you a world of opportunities outside of your major to build your expertise, skill sets, and passion, as well as explore multiple careers (Register with your career services office as soon as you get onto your college campus!). For the knowledge economy, your skills are what’s important and what will be your “currency” in the job market. Focus more on developing those transferable and high demand skills and you will ultimately create more opportunities for yourself.
There are likely many jobs that you will enjoy, many of which may not even exist when you are in high school. Again, it’s not about the job as much as it is about the right major. Most majors will lead to 100’s if not 1000’s of job opportunities; as long as you play your cards right.

So what is the most important thing you can do for your future, spend the time to examine your interests, values, and the kind of job environment you want to be in; meet with people in careers you are interested in and interview them (why did they choose the career, what is the best part, what is the worst part, would they do it again, etc.); do an internship in the field (may not be feasible); shadow for a day (more feasible than an internship); research the job market and whether or not a particular job will be high growth or offer no opportunities (O*Net will tell you that); do a site visit; go to employer events; and more.

If you don’t know how to move forward, that’s okay! Go to your school counselor or check out MyCollegeMax.com to see what you can do to take charge of your future because it’s YOUR future!

Steven J. Harvey, Ph.D.
CEO & Founder, My College Max, Web Site: www.mycollegemax.com
Executive Director, The WNY Consortium of Higher Education, Web Site: www.wnycollegeconnection.com

Managing Up: A critical skill for students and adults alike.

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

There are many skills that can help you advance in your education and career. One of the more critical skills is “managing up.” This process is key to advancing in your career and something you can begin to practice as a teenager in high school. The idea of managing up is simple: in an emotionally intelligent manner, communicate with those who control your opportunities to move forward by developing a mutually respectful relationship built on transparency, honesty, and strong communication. So who do you do this with and how? You manage up with teachers, bosses, and anyone who you are “doing something” for that is of educational or professional value. How do you do it? Simple:

Understand who you are (self-awareness) and manage your emotions (self-management),
Recognize how the person you are engaging feels and what their expectations of you are (social awareness), and
Manage the relationship by being honest, transparent (don’t hold back but be professional in doing so), and through very strong communication (relationship management).

Number three requires some more information. First, be honest with yourself and with the person you are managing up. This means, own your mistakes, express you uncertainty, ask for clarity if you are unsure, and carefully express your frustration (again owning your mistakes). This is critical because people like to work with people they trust. By being honest, you build trust. When you build trust, you build respect which is a critical component of any relationship. Second, everyone has good days and bad days, engrained expectations, and biases. Before you approach anyone you are going to manage up, first ask yourself, “How would I feel about the situation if I was (my teacher, my professor, or my boss)?” If you are honest with yourself, you will begin to better understand how you need to approach the situation. If you are unsure, ask a mentor! Third, every relationship is built on three critical things: communication, communication, and communication. So do not assume that your “teacher, professor, or boss” knows how you are feeling or what the situation is. Also, keep a steady stream of communication with anyone you are managing up. In doing so, you will be in a better position to deal with a difficult situation as it arises.

Managing up is a respectful way of knowing yourself and your emotions and respecting those you are working with or for. Communication plays a critical role in that process. For more information on this, go to www.MyCollegeMax.com or speak to a mentor! Mentors are fantastic resources that every student should take advantage of!

Good luck!!!!

Steve

Steven J. Harvey, Ph.D.
CEO & Founder, My College Max, Web Site: www.mycollegemax.com
CEO & Founder, The Center for Educational and Career Advancement, Inc., Web Site: www.stevenharveyceca.com
Executive Director, The WNY Consortium of Higher Education, Web Site: www.wnycollegeconnection.com

True leadership only exists if people follow when they have the freedom not to. James Collins

Why high school students are tired, stressed, and bored!

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Steven Harvey, Ph.D.

On October 23, 2014, the USA Today had an article entitled: Our high school kids: tired, stressed, and bored. The first thing I thought was, “Um….no kidding.” Like this deserved a headline because it was breaking news. There’s nothing new about unengaged students. However, this article used a study of 22,000 students across the U.S. to prove once and for all that instead of challenging, engaging, and motivating students, our educational system does the exact opposite. Some statistics from the article further prove this point:

39% of students were tired;
26% of students were bored; and
29% of students were stressed.

Following these statistics the article stated, “Parents and educators should be alarmed by these findings.” Just 3 days later the White House and Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan released a statement saying:

First, our kids should only take tests that are worth taking – tests that are high quality, aimed at good instruction, and make sure everyone is on track.
Second, tests shouldn’t occupy too much classroom time, or crowd out teaching and learning.
And third, tests should be just one source of information. We should use classroom work, surveys, and other factors to give us an all-around look at how our students and schools are doing.

So I think it’s fair to say that the powers that be are finally listening to parents and teachers. The real problem however, is that even if you decrease the number of tests, teachers will still feel pressured to “teach to the test,” and will not use the free time to do the kinds of things students need to develop higher order skill sets. So consider the following to help your child, beyond what schools do, in order to increase their likelihood of future success.

Teach your child to do the kind of things responsible adults do like budgeting, cooking, laundry, shopping, scheduling their time, and other household responsibilities. Then make them do it!
Have your child engage in career planning like www.mycollegemax.com or O*Net so they begin to focus on their future.
Engage your child in volunteer work that they can be passionate about instead of just meeting high school requirements.
Encourage your child to be creative, explore life around them, do things they might never do, and develop a healthy sense of curiosity.

Long story short, DO NOT wait for schools to prepare your children for life. That’s your job. Schools are there to provide one aspect of preparation. In some ways, they have the easy part. However, if you put the full responsibility of preparing your child for life on the backs of schools and teachers, your child will never realize his or her full potential. It’s your job as a parent to teach AND provide opportunities for your child to grow, expand her or his horizons, and become the kind of adult every parent would be proud of.

Additional Resources:

Good luck!