Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Office and Health Services Career Night 4-12-2012

Do you want to explore a New Career?


Do want to learn more about being an Office Adminsitrator with Microsoft and Quickbooks?

What does a Pharmacy Tecnican do?

What does a Medical Biller do?

Would I be a good Medical Coder?

FIND OUT! come to our Career Night and Talk to our Graduates!


Bring a friend and Call Kim Gasper at 916-649-9600 to reserve your spots!

TechSkills of California- Get Your Potential Unleashed!

IT Career Night- April 19th from 5:30-7:30

Join us to learn about Information Technology

PC Clinic Flyer- Sacramento

FREE PC Repair

Monday, February 28, 2011

Necessary Endings Part 1

Hi Everyone! I'm a little late on the blog this month but for the faithful, here it is as promised! I have been going back and forth this month on topics to blog on and the more I would try to get into other subjects the more I was drawn back to this one.

I've recently started reading a new book by Dr. Henry Cloud titled "Necessary Endings", a Leadership book that addresses the necessary ending of things in our businesses, lives and relationships that all of us have to give up in order to move forward. When I first saw the title I thought to myself, "Wow, another book dealing with topics that sound great in theory but need an act of Congress and all the moons in alignment to put into practice effectively". Pleasantly, this has not been the case after reading the first 3 chapters! After scanning the rest of the book I have envisioned three seperate blogs to address these topics. So.... Here is Part 1!
I would first like to start with addressing the topic of "Necessary Endings" in our lives as it pertains to our education and careers, since it affects all of us where we stand right now. This month the TechSkills of California- Sacramento Campus team has been very busy in preparation for our upcoming Spring Graduation this May. It's an exciting time for staff and students alike. Measurements are being taken, caps and gowns are being ordered, cake designs are being crafted, photographers hired and the site is secured. Everyone is excited and success in the air! Well, for the most part......

The Graduation Ceremonies are always joyous and emotional occasions. The joy of accomplishment and success in watching the hard work our students and staff put in together pay off. But, I have noticed that there is an element of sadness, though very small and practically undetectable, it's there with some students and staff. We have all worked together toward a common goal all year and now the end is here. I've heard our students and staff ask the following questions; Why does it have to end? What's next? We have been conditioned in a lot of life experiences that the end of something is negative, scary and sometimes downright painful. Sometimes it feels safer to freeze or give up than to address the natural next step. Okay, so how does "Necessary Endings" apply? I think you're starting to see it!

In the book, Dr. Cloud makes the following statement; "In your business and perhaps your life, the tomorrow that you desire and envision may never come to pass if you do not end some things you are doing today." When our students enroll with a TechSkills of California (Sacramento, San Jose or Las Vegas) Career Program, they and the staff have a clear picture of where their education is going to lead them and we share that common goal together. That goal does not stop at graduation! Oh, no no.... It goes through graduation and well into each of our students finding employment in the field that they've passionately pursued all year long. The TechSkills of California- Sacramento Campus and our graduates have earned a placement rate average of 80% across the board for our Vocational Programs. The point here is that Graduation is not the end of the journey... not by a long shot! That being said, we (students and staff) have to "end school" and move through graduation and walk into the next phase of the journey, Gainful Employment!

Let's sum it all up! We all must to end things in our lives to move forward. In this example, we have to be prepared to end our education and the comfort zone of being in school this year, follow our graduation plan, take that last final exam, graduate and end the educational experience (A Necessary Ending). Then we must put the remaining effort into working closely with Career Services and Employers to take our education and passion and begin moving forward (A New Beginning) into the career we've been working so hard for. This is truly a "Necessary Ending" that can only lead to great things in our lives. Now it's up to all of us to make the conscious choice to move forward into our future and gain the benefits we've earned from all of our hard work. Let's attack our "New Career" together!


If you would like to discuss goal setting or changing your career/life through education and training, please feel free to contact me. I'd love to talk with you.

Thanks,

Scott King
Director
TechSkills of California
1215 Howe Ave
Sacramento, Ca. 95825
(916) 649-9600
http://www.techskills-ca.com

TechSkills of California is committed to delivering vocational training programs that correspond to the ever-changing needs of businesses in Northern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. We offer career programs in Information Technology, Health Services and Business Skills. We provide the training you need to get the skills for an exciting new career. Your future is calling! For more information on getting started with your new career contact Scott King at 916-649-9600.

* Source: "Necessary Endings" Copyright 2010. Dr. Henry Cloud is a leadership coach to CEOs and business executives, and a clinical psychologist with an extensive background in both clinical and professional consulting worlds.
http://www.drcloud.com/

Sunday, January 2, 2011

The "New Year"... Make it what you want it to be!

Here we are again, the "New Year"! Time for resolutions, promises, goal setting and good intentions. Okay, so where do we start in our efforts to make positive lasting changes in our lives this year? Let's start here; What are you going to change in 2011? When I look at approaching positive lasting life changes like this, I like to look at life like a pie with three areas that I feel should be our most important areas of focus. Those three areas look like this;

1. Our Emotional Health: How are you feeling? How's your health? Are you depressed, worried, anxious, burnt out or want to break a bad habit pattern? Are you suffering from low energy or some type of addiction?

2. Key Relationships: Marriage, dating, family, friendships, community or work relationships.

3. Performance: Your dreams, goals and accomplishments. Bringing your talents to fruition.

Generally, when we make New Years resolutions we tend to think in terms of "here's where I am now, and over there is where I want to be". The problem with that is, there's a big gap between our current reality and where we want to be. If we make a resolution or a goal and we don't have the natural discipline or will power to change our habit patterns completely, we can't think that just by making a resolution or commitment that were all of a sudden going to reach our goals. That being said, a lot of us try to do just that and yield the same results over and over again, year after year. Who we are now, is who we are until we do something to close the gap between who we are and who we want to be (our goals).

To close the gap between who we are and who we want to be (our goals), we're going to need two things. We're going to need fuel or a new energy source and some sort of structure or template to keep order to that new energy source. You might have goals to lose weight, workout more or develop your career through learning a new skill. You increase your chances of succeeding if you find people to support and motivate you who have already succeeded in obtaining the goal(s) you've set for yourself. Surrounding yourself with these types of successful people and organizations will fuel you and create a new energy source to move toward what you want by helping give you a clear picture of success and a strong belief that you can achieve your goals.

Now, follow a structure or template to achieve that success. Let's say that your goal is to develop your career by learning a new skill. The structure or template for success would be to enroll in school toward a specific industry and with a specific vocation in mind and then follow the schools support system and template towards success.

Here are a few tips to look for when setting your goals for the New Year.

1. When setting your goals, be clear and specific to what you want and what you want to change. Do your research and know the direction you need to go to get where you want to be.

2. Get with people who are accomplishing or have accomplished what you want to accomplish. Studies show that success and growth are contagious! I'm not suggesting that you dump all of your friends who are stuck and not moving forward in their lives and careers. What I'm suggesting is that you associate yourself and build relationships with people who are moving to or are where you want to be. It's motivating and will give you the fuel, energy and structure you need to be successful. Success Breeds Success!

3. Expect and don't be afraid to fail! No one gets it perfect all of the time. Sometimes we're so afraid of failure, we don't even try. If you don't try you'll NEVER succeed.

4. Why hasn't this worked before? We don't need new ways of failing, the old ways work just fine. What are we going to change in 2011 to make it different than 2010? Set the time aside in your life to work on accomplishing your goals. There are plenty of people who want our time. Set clear boundaries to protect what you're trying to build. So when you set your schedule, you need to figure out where are the power drains that have created the patterns of failure to this point and say "no" to them. Your goals are your gift to yourself. Make the time for them and protect them.

5. Have sub-goals while keeping the main goal in mind. Give yourself small obtainable goals as checkpoints along the way to your overall goal. It will give you another source of fuel and motivation.

6. Choose goals that matter and that will fulfill you. Creating goals that use your gifts, talents and values in building a life that will sustain you and your family will be sure to give you the positive lasting life change you desire. Then, watch the other areas in your life improve and fall into line. Remember, "Success Breeds (more) Success"!

I hope this post helps you this coming year. Small failures or set backs along the way are natural but over all success is the destination. Starting today, give yourself the attitude that 2011 will be more successful than 2010. Figure out what you want to change in your emotional health, relationships and performance this year. Set your goals and gain the fuel, energy and structure to make this "New Year" what you want it to be by surrounding yourself with success. You can do it! You have to do it! Success is right in front of you. Reach out and grab it.

If you would like to discuss goal setting or changing your career/life through education and training, please feel free to contact me. I'd love to talk with you.

Thanks,

Scott King
Director
TechSkills of California
1215 Howe Ave
Sacramento, Ca. 95825
(916) 649-9600
http://www.techskills-ca.com

TechSkills of California is committed to delivering vocational training programs that correspond to the ever-changing needs of businesses in Northern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. We offer career programs in Information Technology, Health Services and Business Skills. We provide the training you need to get the skills for an exciting new career. Your future is calling! For more information on getting started with your new career contact Scott King at 916-649-9600.

* Sources: Lou Tice the Pacific Institute (http://www.thepacificinstitute.us/v2/) and Dr. Henry Cloud ( http://www.cloudtownsend.com/)

Saturday, December 4, 2010

TechSkills of California: Not Happy at Work? (Really?)

TechSkills of California: Not Happy at Work? (Really?): "Hi everyone, Today I wanted to talk about job happiness and job satisfaction. Can you have control of your happiness or satisfaction on the..."

Not Happy at Work? (Really?)

Hi everyone,

Today I wanted to talk about job happiness and job satisfaction. Can you have control of your happiness or satisfaction on the job? I'm a firm believer that we all have the ability to enjoy what we do no matter what it is or what we're doing. But how? What's the secret?

An article was published by the Washington Post earlier this year that found only 45% of Americans were satisfied with their work which was a drop from 49% from their 2008 study. The article went on to say that the drop in workers' happiness can be partly blamed on the worst recession since the 1930s, which made it difficult for some people to find challenging and suitable jobs. But worker dissatisfaction has been on the rise for more than two decades. Workers have grown steadily more unhappy for a variety of reasons;
-Fewer workers considered their jobs to be interesting.
-Incomes have not kept up with inflation.
-The soaring cost of health insurance has eaten into workers' take-home pay.

I personally have seen customer service drop considerably over the last 5 years and it has been concerning to me. I'm very fortunate to have a staff at TechSkills of California that loves what they do and put our students and fellow staff members first in all situations. It's very rare to find this type of employment mindset in the work world today. Really? Can TechSkills of California really be that far ahead of the other 55% of American employees that are dissatisfied with their jobs? Really?

Here is my belief on the subject; There are many legitimate reasons that can cause dissatisfaction on the job, but In my experience I have found two main reasons; mistreatment or incompetence by an immediate supervisor and employees do not feel that they belong to the team or organization. Okay, so now we come back around to our original questions; How can we find job satisfaction with our current employment? What's the secret? Well, here you go......

Finding happiness and satisfaction on the job requires having goals. How can you even give yourself a chance to enjoy what you do if enjoying it is not even a goal? I believe goals are absolutely essential! Lou Tice from The Pacific Institute Sums it up nicely below:

When you give up on your goals or when you have no goals at all, your whole system slows down and eventually shuts down. You become depressed and sluggish, and you may very well become seriously ill. Humans are teleological beings. In other words, we think in terms of purpose and we are naturally goal-oriented. We move towards and become like what we think about. A teleological nature means that it is absolutely critical for us to have goals.

If we lock on to "my job stinks and I hate it", then guess what.... we hate it. If you lock on to "I'm going to excel on the job and do my best to make it the best place to work", then guess what... you make it happen. Really? Can it be that easy? For us to change and grow, we need something tugging at us from the future, something to, quite literally, look forward to.

Lou Tice goes on to say... So, if you don't deliberately think about how you want your life to be, you'll just repeat the past or the present over and over again, with minor variations. You'll end up, at best, in a rut. Once you have a clear picture of where you want to go, your teleological nature will take over and help guide you to your goal.

That's the secret! Set a goal to success and then make a habit of take the actions to lead toward that success and watch your job happiness and satisfaction increase. Oh, and don't forget about your income!! Go make it happen today. Set goals for what you want, concentrate on them daily, make them habits and watch your life change before your eyes. It's work, but it's worth it! I guarantee it!

Scott King
Director
TechSkills of California
1215 Howe Ave
Sacramento, Ca. 95825
(916) 649-9600
http://www.techskills-ca.com

TechSkills of California is committed to delivering vocational training programs that correspond to the ever-changing needs of businesses in Northern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. We offer career programs in Information Technology, Health Services and Business Skills. We provide the training you need to get the skills for an exciting new career. Your future is calling! For more information on getting started with your new career contact Scott King at 916-649-9600.

Check out Lou Tice and the Pacific Institute at http://www.thepacificinstitute.us/v2/