My credits form Valencia transfer to all the schools I am considering, I’ve checked with everybody’s admissions. They do “direct connect” to UCF, which is pretty well respected. I am not interested in them however for the reasons that they are just in the infancy of ramping things up on all their degree programs and online capabilities. I am fully geared towards getting my Associates Degree and leaving Central Florida to move south… exactly where depends on the best opportunity I can find. I’m looking closer at Miami-Dade College (a C.C. that offers Bachelors), FAU, FIU, and Broward. They all offer full online options in addition to campus classes, I’d love to do campus classes but work may have me needing to do Online. The only school I eliminated from consideration was the University of Miami, mainly because I was given constant sales pitches that attempted to get me to drop everything and enroll with them right now… felt like I was buying a used car from Saul Goodman.
Compmom:
Thank you so much for sharing your personal experience. I feel it is a similar situation I am in. I know some have said load up on coursework, but at the end of the day I have personally felt that who you know is just as important as what you know. I am well aware that my first career job will not be a high ranking, high paying position… those are earned and go to the proven. I need to prove I am worth the entry level position, and so many of them now require experience. I believe that a shining recommendation from an internship or two will help compensate the experience factor, in addition to some good words form former coworkers and managers could give me that edge.
Gouf78:
I am well aware work ethic is huge when landing a career job. What I have learned in my area is that anybody in the service industry long term has a very negative label placed on them. We are looked at as uneducated, lazy, unskilled, and lacking drive to succeed first and foremost. The culture of hospitality is also marred by very unprofessional practices bribery, stealing, cooking the books to make bonuses, and unprofessional relationships to name a few. Sadly I have not worked in a hospitality establishment where I have not witnessed this going on… I just move on when it becomes so unethical that I feel I risk legal trouble just being there. Employers in the area have been burned so many times they toss a resume like mine after looking at my work history. The few interviews I have gotten are swayed away form my work experience and towards my volunteer experience and education, and what I can tell them is nowhere near enough to consider me over others. I go into every interview with an open mind and smile, but am on high alert to attempt to insert my positive ethical qualities, when I know I should be focusing on other things during this golden face time. I know I am worth their time, otherwise I wouldn’t have applied, and the fact that I can land an interview without any industry specific experience tells me I am able to market myself pretty well. I just simply lack the credentials that others applying have, and my work history is a big red flag.
I didn’t outright dismiss Publix, I simply said that they are not in my list of top companies I am applying for. Like you said, research the companies that value work ethic, and I have. Knowing people personally who work for the company is a great resource, and when they don’t talk their job up that resonates pretty big with me. I know those people, and I know their drive and work ethic and if they don’t feel valued there I probably won’t either. I have many friends who are proud of their companies and won’t stop talking about it… those are the kind of employers I want to seek out as well. Starbucks is an interesting notion, and if they offer college assistance. That’s something I have to look into. I worked for Aaron’s Sales and Lease as an Accounts Manager, good pay, decent benefits, high turnover so opportunity to move up, and tutition assistance… only problem 55 to 60 hour work weeks M-S revolving schedule and will not work with a school schedule. Online schools a possibility, but I don’t trust myself enough of an independent learner to succeed college courses under those conditions.
As far as the money being in hospitality, it used to be about years ago. I used to make 40 to 60k a year easy. I’m now netting 20 to 25k, and doing better than many of my peers, while working other odd jobs (Animal Care, Fitness/Personal Training, Scuba Dive Instructing) just to get by. Back then, the economy was great, people were traveling here without looking at the prices, and people in the industry were good at what they do, things have changed drastically. People are coming here less, spending less, learned the art of complaining to get free things or threatening to gripe on yelp. Our response as an industry is to slash prices, overstaff (employees at service industry wages), and give away the house. The worst thing of all the upper mgt/corporate expect the same returns they got form 8 years ago, and threaten mid to lower mgt with their jobs at every turn. This just promotes cooking the books to turn a profit. It’s an overall unsustainable business model, and everything connected to hospitality (vendors, agents, partners, ect) is starting to learn the reality of it, at least here it, as turnover is staggering now. I feel more blessed than my peers who graduated college years ago, since they have the burden of explaining why they didn’t obtain industry specific training after so many years from graduating. My experience may lie with hospitality, but I have had many years to see the writing on the wall with the direction of the industry is going and know it is time to get out. This is the main reason I am going back to college, I need a fresh start and this is why I am on here asking for advice. Thank you for post, it really helped me further think and delve into the reason I am working so hard to make a change.