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Month: July 2020

Soft Skills: A Misnomer

Soft skills. At the intersection of outstanding customer service and an energized student workforce.

By educationworkadmin
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Soft skills. At the intersection of outstanding customer service and an energized student workforce; there couldn’t be a greater misnomer.  Intended or not, the term “soft” in soft skills implies that the qualitative abilities associated with soft skills are easy to get/maintain while the quantitative abilities associated with hard skills are more difficult to master. The attributes associated with soft skills: contagious enthusiasm, responsible professionalism, problem-solving creativity and –most importantly—clear communication are by no means easily earned or mastered.

Moreover, soft skills are more important today than they ever have been. As humans, we tend to go the path of most efficiency when communicating—especially when in a professional environment. The desire to get as much information across in as little space as possible lends itself to more emails and texts than phone calls or face-to-face meetings. For our digitally native workforce, who have grown-up with all of these options on the communication table, Education at Work (EAW) makes an extra effort to coach the intangible basics associated with soft skills. Why? Because EAW believes that by focusing on these core skill-sets, we are empowering students to best serve our clients in the present and themselves in the future.

A three-fold approach is the best way coach up soft-skills with a collegiate workforce. First, we directly address the specific short fall. This could range anywhere from coaching the student in a real-time side-by-side or role-playing with them in a development session. Second, we guide students to embrace the best intangible qualities by embodying those qualities. If we want our students to be enthusiastic professionals then we create an enthusiastic, professional environment. Lastly, we consistently reinforce ideal soft skills of both EAW and our business partners. Every interaction is a reminder of our expectations and values.

By focusing on soft-skills, EAW creates a workforce that goes beyond the metrics. Those students achieve a harder task by having softer skills: solve a customer’s problem on the surface level and leave those customers with a deeper sense of satisfaction. It is this dynamic that will propel our students to success in their future careers and with our current clients.

Author

Andy has been a part of the EAW team since 2014. Before EAW, he spent the majority of his career in Japan in the education and recruitment industries. In addition to his passion for reducing student debt, his greatest attraction to working for EAW is developing the business leaders of tomorrow while providing excellent results today.

 

Student Success: Kindra Lingenfelter

Kindra is entering her senior year of college as an entertainment arts and engineering games major but that wasn’t always the case.

By educationworkadmin
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"I was really happy to get that position and show my current boss Ian that he made the right call and that I could be a person he can rely on."

Kindra Lingenfelter, a University of Utah student, is entering her senior year of college as an entertainment arts and engineering games (Game EAE) major but that wasn’t always the case for Kindra.

Kindra, originally a computer science major, started college while working at Education at Work as a customer service representative to help her pay for college.

As she finished up her first year of college, she enjoyed the computer science courses but wanted something that allowed her to be more creative. Kindra then decided to change her major to Game EAE.

While Kindra learned more about what she wanted out of college and what she wanted out of a career, Education at Work had student positions in IT open up. Once Kindra noticed, she jumped at the opportunity to start her career in IT and gain real-world experience.

“I have especially enjoyed working as IT - I get more responsibility. That was something I always found myself wanting on the floor,” says Kindra. “I was really happy to get that position and show my current boss Ian that he made the right call and that I could be a person he can rely on. “

Kindra’s team says she goes above and beyond, as she created a knowledge base on her own to help out future IT members when they are hired.

“When I joined IT, we did not have much,” Kindra says, referring to a knowledge base for new hires. “We did not have any existing articles to help someone who was coming onto IT who had no idea what was going on.”

Kindra jumpstarted the article creation with thirty articles. Her work resulted in the IT team completing 200 articles in the knowledge base. Thanks to her, the IT workflow has become much smoother.

After working with EAW for two years, Kindra has earned more than $7,000 in tuition assistance, allowing her to become successful during her time at the University of Utah.

“EAW makes up for the customer support center with its atmosphere,” Kindra says. “The capacity for upwards mobility is there. My friend that was hired worked hard and has gotten a supervisor position at EAW. EAW is that sweet spot that is in line with your career goals and goals as a student.”

After graduation, Kindra hopes to work as a UI UX Designer, preferably in the games industry.

Student Spotlight: Randall Michels

Randall Michels works in our Workforce Management department, and he’s learned all about navigation.

By educationworkadmin
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Randall, a third-year student at Arizona State University, is studying geology. Originally from Ohio, Randall navigated his way out of his home town to explore the different landscapes and canyons of the United States. He started his education in Montana before finding the geology program at ASU – and finding a job at Education at Work.

How much can a student learn from Education at Work? According to students from all different departments: a lot. Randall Michels works in our Workforce Management department, and he’s learned all about navigation.

Randall, a third-year student at Arizona State University, is studying geology. Originally from Ohio, Randall navigated his way out of his home town to explore the different landscapes and canyons of the United States. He started his education in Montana before finding the geology program at ASU – and finding a job at Education at Work.

Much like his academic path and travels, Randall was met with changes in the work place after working with EAW for over a year – he was promoted from a customer service representative to a real-time analyst in our WFM department.

“We do a lot. We’re kind of like the swiss army knife of the company – from scheduling long term or same day, processing attendance, watching real-time information … More than anything, it’s been a huge eye opener on how to communicate in a team, even remotely sometimes.”

Randall’s position includes communication with management and supervising teams on scheduling, attendance, ticketing requests, and analyzing time-management and productivity of a team.

While it doesn’t seem like an analyst position would inform him in his degree at first glance, Randall says it’s important to understand what the backend of a business looks like, and how to analyze the efficiency of a team.

Randall has earned more than $5,000 in tuition assistance after working with EAW for over three years, and he intends to keep working through his degree.

“I love the environment,” Randall says. “I love working with a lot of people my age, the sense of community we have, it’s just a really fun environment to be in.”

Student Spotlight: Lauren Whiteside

Lauren Whiteside is an ASU student who is about to start her junior year as a nursing major – but that wasn’t always the case for Lauren.

By educationworkadmin
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Lauren started college with the intent to study computer information systems and operations, and she started working at Education at Work as a customer service representative for account management.

Lauren Whiteside is an Arizona State University student who is about to start her junior year as a nursing major – but that wasn’t always the case for Lauren.

Lauren started college with the intent to study computer information systems and operations, and she started working at Education at Work as a customer service representative for account management.

Just as she got the hang of college life and finished her first year, Lauren’s career path changed for the better: she made the decision to switch to nursing – a field she’d been wanting to follow from a young age, and she was promoted to a Real-Time Analyst in EAW’s Workforce Management department.

“You really have to take a hold of yourself and perfect your time-management,” Lauren says. “This really helps me with nursing because time-management is a number one priority when you're dealing with patients. So, WFM really helped me with those kinds of skills that I need for the future.”

Lauren’s job consists of analyzing EAW’s various teams in real-time, managing schedules, and communicating requests with management in EAW’s ticketing process.

After being with EAW for three years, Lauren has earned approximately $15,000 in tuition assistance, receiving full pay-outs for her work-hours and high GPA during her entirety at ASU.

“We really are like a family,” Lauren says. “I’ve been with EAW for three years and I wouldn’t have stayed so long if it wasn’t a good company. They’re really supportive and friendly and I appreciate my job every single day.”

Student Spotlight: Christian Mickelsen

“Teaching students what they needed to know to go out onto the floor was a great opportunity.”

By educationworkadmin
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After gaining insight about the opportunities available at Education at Work during a career fair at the University of Utah, Christian Mickelsen, a finance major, applied to Education at Work. After being hired at EAW, Christian quickly found himself gaining newfound skills. Within three months at EAW, Christian received a promotion, becoming a Student Trainer for one of our current partners in Salt Lake City, Utah.

As a Student Trainer, Christian was in charge of coaching and instructing newly recruited students to help prepare them for their new roles in customer service. A typical day revolved around training, which started with icebreakers, then moved into lessons, and eventually transitioned to roleplaying and practicing in their specific positions. Christain says this role was extremely rewarding for a multitude of reasons.

"I got to interact with staff in a different way. Instead of saying 'hey, I have a problem. I need your help, I could come to them and say hey I'm a trainer, how can we help you?" says Christian. "Being able to establish that dichotomy of a relationship was my favorite part of my job."

Christian also enjoyed the special bonds created between students. "My position helped students in that we were in the trenches with them. We're student trainers, so we're going through all the same stuff they are," Christian says. As a student, Christain appreciated EAW's ability to work around his school schedule as well. He says that and the foundational skills he gained were the biggest benefits to him and his finance major.

"My people skills have really developed and it's given me the chance to improve my work ethic as well. By doing well at EAW, you're able to show other employees 'hey look, I worked here and here's what I did and got a promotion,' shows the chain of success you can have at EAW."

Over his time at EAW, Christian earned approximately $7,000 in tuition assistance. He has just passed his year mark, and will now be working full-time for the Bank of Utah as a Secondary Market Analyst.

"I really enjoyed working here. I'm sad to go because I've made great relationships in a unique environment. It set me up well to succeed in the future since they hold you accountable for your academics."

We're sad to see you go Christian, but can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

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