by Nasir Ismail | Feb 17, 2022 | Blog, Myth vs. Fact, Resources
Often after high school or the completion of a GED, former students might find themselves unsure about their career plans. The societal pressure to attend a four-year bachelor’s program, in a time where several workplace environments demand certain post-secondary credentials, can leave students lost when considering a career path. While colleges may provide you exposure to new ideas, paths, and schools of thought, if you believe your career won’t require a four-year degree, then pursue a credential in something else!
Finding What’s Right For You
Several programs exist for the development of your trade skills and hands-on work, but not many people take advantage of these. For example, if you love to cut or style hair, it would be wise to enroll in a barber program to obtain licensure, rather than a bachelor’s program in an unrelated field. That way, you can gain the credentials/license you’ll need to follow your passion and level-up your career! As you will see, the benefits and the reward of going to a two-year trade school program are real, applicable, and sure to leave you with a job! How come, though, people attach a stigma to this kind of education?
Misconceptions
A common myth states that trade school isn’t worth the time or money. While usually only two years long, and for a fraction of the cost of a bachelor’s degree, this claim can not be more wrong! Although, it is true that trade school may not be the right fit for everyone. Generally, professions in the trades require more manual, skilled labor, and can be physically demanding. Professions include carpentry, electrician, plumber, mason, painter, construction worker, welder, and more!
The Facts
Although, there is real value in two-year degrees, credentials, and certificates! The average entry-level NJ Trade School Graduate earns $57,000 after they complete their two-year degree program. This is around the same amount as entry-level Bachelor’s Degree holders earn after four years of school! New Jersey has over 120 trade schools to choose from throughout the state, depending on your location and career preferences, so it shouldn’t be a hassle to find the right program to get you started.
Why You Should Consider Trade School
Trade schools have the unique ability to teach you hands-on, real-world, immediately-applicable skills that will get you employed the second you start looking for work! So for a fraction of the cost, and for half the time that it takes to get a bachelor’s degree, Trade school offers several amazing, competitive benefits.
by Nasir Ismail | Feb 15, 2022 | Blog, Resources
In general, writing about yourself can be a bit difficult. Trying to persuade your audience into believing you’re the best candidate for a position might seem especially daunting. Keeping just a few pointers in mind, learn how you can breeze through your personal statement to convince any reader why you’re the right candidate for the scholarship, job, or admission of your preference!
Choosing a Topic
Like any writing task, the most common part during which people find themselves stuck is simply when deciding on what to write about. To make it easier, some great topics to write about include: Career interests, Overcoming challenges, Community Service, Leadership, and Perseverance.
Use these to inspire how you decide to tell your story. Honesty is compelling. Before choosing a topic, ask yourself the question, “why do I deserve this,” and be sincere in your response. It’s all about how you present yourself.
Questions to Answer While Writing Your Essay
The reader of your essay wants to know why you want to pursue your studies in the major, career, or field of your choice. Questions to answer include: What have been your life’s biggest inspirations and influences thus far? How do these affect the way you see the world? When did you learn about your passion, and what experience do you have with it, if any? What personal qualities about you will improve your chances of success in your anticipated career, field, or major? For any example, always try to offer proof, and apply how your experience relates not only to the outside world, but towards your academic interests as well. Admissions counselors want to make sure that you really want to go to their school.
Telling Your Story
Here are some general guidelines to follow as a framework for your essay:
- Explain what this opportunity means to you.
- Express your interest and motivation overtly.
- Describe how you spend your free time, your hobbies, and your achievements.
- Identify your long-term goals (personal, educational, career).
- Predict how your education will align with your future goals in great detail.
- Make sure your career goals align with the industry you want to work in.
Proofreading
Have a few sets of eyes read over your essay, and make sure that it is coherent, cohesive, and free of any grammatical errors.
Representing yourself through your writing is one of the most important skills that a person can utilize and leverage to make the most of their opportunities. Following these four steps, you can elevate your personal statement to the next level! These strategies will help you ensure that your value never goes overlooked!
Adapted from United Negro College Fund
For additional resources, please visit: www.uncf.org/scholarships
by Nasir Ismail | Jan 12, 2022 | Blog, Resources
If you’re searching for jobs or applying to schools, chances are: people out there are searching for your information to help make a decision about you.
In this day and age, the internet and social media give others a very wide lens into your life. With this in mind, it’s crucial to keep track of just what information people can discover about you online.
Before you continue, try and Google yourself! Become familiar with what you see, and take note of the results you like, and the things you would like to see added, modified, or removed.
Search engines allow people to find out whatever they want to about you. People might do this to help make judgments about your character, or just to find out more about your identity. Whatever the case may be, nowadays, a digital online identity is something almost everyone has–that almost everyone can search for and see.
Therefore, it must be maintained deliberately and handled with care!
Digital Footprints
You have what is called a “digital footprint” on the internet. Your digital footprint consists of things like the names of your social media accounts, photos and videos that you post, content that you are tagged in, and accounts you interact with online.
Social media activity has the heaviest influence on the modern digital footprint. This is due to the stark rise in–and the mass adoption of–online social networking over the last decade. But also, it means: you need to be cautious about how you behave on social media!
So as an applicant striving to compete for a position, whether at a new company, organization—or a new school, keeping track of your digital footprint is the best way to accurately express and control your digital identity.
Now, it’s true that social media is sometimes a scary space to navigate: There is a major lack of privacy. Nothing you post ever really disappears. People freely publish and share loads of false information. Some platforms steal your attention and leave you incapacitated for hours.
It’s not all bad, though.
The great thing is, you are actually in full control of most of the factors that can positively affect your online identity. Social media sites are a place for people to tell their stories! Users can introduce themselves online, build a network of peers, and show off their skills. So, rest assured, learning how to use social media properly–and to your own advantage–will seriously benefit your personal branding. As a result, it should provide you with better networking opportunities–and thus, better career opportunities.
Below, we have outlined three strategies that can help you best represent who you are using social media.
Developing a Digital Identity
Carefully planning and developing the presentation of your identity is the first step. This is key in letting others know who are and what you can do.
Make sure that you are aware of all the content that ties to your name. As mentioned earlier, Google yourself!
Know what’s out there and start thinking about how you want to represent yourself. Put yourself in the shoes of a hiring manager or admissions counselor, and try to visualize what either of them would want to see in an applicant. Although this might require some research, it’ll set the foundation for you to build a noteworthy digital identity.
When thinking about what’s important information to display to others on the internet, make sure it’s accurate and informative. You might see something that you don’t want others to see online, like an embarrassing photo or post. Or there might exist some kind of misleading information, like a hacked or fake account, misrepresenting your brand and identity. Very fortunately, you can almost always update your privacy settings on the respective platform so unwanted information stops showing up in searches. If this doesn’t work, you can always send an email or chat with their support teams to resolve the matter.
Be sure to purposely engage on social media. Be sure to interact with content and people that you like. Your online habits tend to reflect your character. For example, imagine someone who openly expresses hate towards certain groups of people online. They make rude comments and repost offensive content. Employers will feel that this person will behave the same way within their workspace. They will thus be hesitant to allow this behavior at work or on campus. Make sure your values are reflective of your social media accounts. Know what to publicize, and what to keep private.
Building Your Online Brand and Portfolio
People often switch their accounts to private mode so that fewer people can find them online. There will always be information about you online though. Sometimes, it is even a disadvantage to keep all of your information private.
If you are looking to gain exposure for your skills online, it’s certainly better to keep your posts public. Otherwise, it will feel like trying to be seen after turning yourself invisible! This way, whoever is looking for you online can find what they need to know about you with ease; be it an employer or an admissions office.
Social media is like a canvas where you can display your skills, talent, and reasons people should desire these skills and your talent. After developing your online identity, it is important to use it to convey a story: your story. Nothing much will happen if you only tell people what you do. In order to make an impression, you must display, present, and demonstrate your story as much as you tell it! This means: if you have created some kind of content that exhibits your skills, make a website about yourself! Don’t be afraid to show others your work. Create a portfolio!
Your portfolio can highlight things like your art, writing, services, products, or whatever you want to showcase. A portfolio is your opportunity to show the world what you have offered others, and thus, what you can offer to the world. Look to leaders in your industry and field to gain inspiration on how to go about creating and presenting your portfolio. Although, be sure to stay original, creative, and innovative. Your portfolio should set you apart from your competition. It should not cause you to blend in.
Building Your Network
Okay, you have built your social media identity and have created an online brand for yourself. You made a portfolio that showcases your skills and talents. Now, in order to really spread the word about–well, yourself, it’s time to network!
Most people use social media just to connect with family and friends. Several people fail to realize that the people you need are just a search and a click away. Follow with your influences. Research and connect with people working in the fields or industries that you want to work in. Link yourself up with peers who are in the same shoes as you are. Making and maintaining these connections can provide tremendous help if and when the need arises. Furthermore, following your influences and the thought-leaders of interesting fields can continually inspire and educate you.
Having a network that is appropriate to you can also expose you to an incredible library of resources, like virtual workshops and educational resources. You don’t even need to consciously or actively be pursuing these things! The beauty of these online places is that they are immersive. Proper use of these platforms can set your life in a better direction just by exposing you to a variety of ideologies that suit your lifestyle and beliefs. This way, you can use social media to even ask for help if and when you might need it. You can use social media platforms to gain the inspiration you need to keep moving forward with your passions.
Will this make a difference? (spoiler alert: most definitely.)
You might be wondering, why does any of this matter? Admissions offices and HR teams can’t possibly look through every person’s social media account.
The surprising truth is, according to research by Christine Koenig as reported in the Chicago Tribune, 67% of schools admitted using google to search for more information about a prospective student. Nearly 86% of these schools admitted to researching students’ social media sites. As for job-seekers, another report suggests a staggering 80% of employers are googling applicants to gain more information than may be shared in a resume and cover letter.
So, if you believe managing your digital identity bears no importance on how your future college or employer will see you, you might want to take a second to reconsider. Using the three strategies mentioned above will let you effectively and efficiently build up your digital identity while using it to your competitive advantage. With the evolution of social media today, your digital identity is almost as important as your physical identity… and it is certainly more telling.
Connect with The Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Linkedin to stay up to date!
