Effective communication skills are essential in every aspect of life - especially in our work with students. This course provides a foundational understanding of all forms of communication and offers new techniques to improve admissions performance. In addition, a communication hierarchy provides participants with an advanced understanding of rapport building and connecting with today's students.

Whether your admissions personnel work exclusively by telephone or use the phone for setting a face-to-face appointment, they need a tool kit of powerful telephone techniques to be successful in working with students. This course provides best practices for both inbound and outbound calls. Admissions professionals learn how to project professionalism and a positive attitude in their telephone personality and identify methods for conducting effective and appropriate calls.

Success in helping students begins with “connecting” in a meaningful way. These connections are formed through our ability to understand generational experiences and preferences in communication. Additionally, a better understanding of ourselves helps us connect with students. This course explores how to work better together by using common collaborative principles and improving teamwork.

Ethical behavior in recruitment is essential to student and institutional success and is a crucial component of a compliant institution. This course provides a framework to evaluate your current admissions interview process and offers new tools that allow for meaningful connections with today’s students. An ethical enrollment process will help your students make their own best decisions and will increase the effectiveness of your admissions personnel.

Let’s face it, today's students have a plethora of information at their fingertips; but can they truly understand in a meaningful way all that your school has to offer? This course takes product knowledge and presentation skills to a higher level with enhanced tools and techniques to improve your "sales" skills. Additionally, advanced methods for presenting the attributes and benefits of your institution will be explored, along with successfully addressing challenges and resources.
In this course, we will examine the fundamentals of value, benefits, and worth. In addition, we will utilize techniques and tools to prepare and present the value of your institution. Finally, we will review tips and best practices to maximize your value presentation. Once you have completed the course and activities, you will be prepared and ready to best serve your students and school with your value presentations.

The most successful admissions professionals are those who maintain a positive attitude and energy, but maintaining that positivity each and every day can be tough. This course focuses on the importance of understanding and building your personal attitude and energy to maximize your effectiveness. You will have the opportunity to assess your attitude and energy and manage these elements to maximize your performance. In this course, we will examine the fundamentals of attitude and energy and understand why they are so important to your success. In addition, we will utilize assessments to look at your current attitude and energy levels. Finally, we will review tips and best practices to enhance your energy and attitude output. Once you have completed the course and activities, you will be prepared and ready to best serve your students and school by maximizing your personal attitude and energy.

Today’s admissions professionals need expanded methods to adapt to where the prospective student is in the decision-making process. Whether you work with students online, face-to-face, or a little of both, adding variety will help you successfully connect with your students. In this course, you will discover ways to improve your connections with prospective students, best practices for inbound and outbound communication, how to address challenges in the moment, and methods for effective follow-up that improve your effectiveness as an admissions professional.

Questioning and listening are essential elements of communication—especially when working with students. This course provides an in-depth understanding of the purpose of skillful listening, and how this is necessary to be the most effective in your position. In addition, this course provides an in-depth understanding of the purpose and types of meaningful questions. You’ll be introduced to the fundamentals of both questioning and listening, as well as new tools and techniques to help you refine your questioning and listening skills.

The purpose of this course is to improve the relationship and dynamics between the admissions representative and prospective students to ensure an educational goal is soundly met. The relationship cycle, the importance of relationships, and the process of finalizing the enrollment are discussed. The goal of this course is to help develop a better understanding of the topic and produce tangible resources to help implement plans, strategies, and ideas at your school. In addition to lecture videos, links to possible resources, and assessments, you will be able to utilize the Journal and Learning Activities.

This course offers strategies to provide employment and job search skills training that enables students to seek jobs in the field for which they are trained. You'll learn how to offer comprehensive career services regardless of whether your career services department is staffed full- or part-time. The course provides strategies for an institution to set up a Career Services Department, enhance and run it, and measure results. It describes how a successful career services department can ensure that your students have the skills and self-confidence to succeed in the workplace. You'll learn techniques to increase placement rates and reach out to the community to meet and maintain relationships with hiring decision-makers.

In this course, you will be given tools to help your students find the job that's right for them, present themselves impressively on paper, and interview with ease. This course is designed so you can successfully support your students in four phases of their job search: doing a targeted job search, writing a powerful resume and cover letter, presenting professionally, and developing effective interview skills.

Social media is critical tool for career services professionals to interact with and reach their constituent groups yet many career professionals aren't aware of how to develop a purposeful social media strategy. Without a social media strategy, career services departments risk losing relevance with their audience, and they also lose the opportunity of harnessing social media to achieve department goals. This course describes the phases of planning and implementing a social media strategy for your career services department. Each module is based on the fundamental steps of preparing a comprehensive and measurable plan to achieve the goals of the career services department.

Educational institutions have opportunities to create unique alumni associations which will look and feel more like alumni communities. This course will show you how you can create active alumni communities to increase enrollment, retention and placement for your entire institution. You will learn how to provide your alumni with valuable services and how to seek their help to enhance your educational programs and career services, as well as marketing and admissions. From getting started to setting up an alumni data base management system and determining the institution's return on investment, this course provides you with operational strategies for establishing an effective alumni association.

Although job developing requires a mix of critical skills, many career advisors are forced to learn them through the “sink or swim” method. They’re often asked to immediately make a specific number of cold-calls daily. They learn that “job developing” is synonymous with cold-calling. It isn’t. This course covers how to properly prepare for job developing, how to prospect, prioritize employer contact, and communicate with employers to address objections, get job orders, manage them to completion, and continuously engage employers and candidates to develop long-term partnerships. Job developing should be more comprehensive than a simple list of employers to cold-call.

In today's world where jobs are posted online, matching algorithms screen digital résumés, and recruiters source candidates online, students must market themselves online. Writing a résumé and cover letter alone is no longer an adequate skill set for career seekers to successfully find and secure employment as well as manage, advance, and transition their career throughout life. Students must know how to digitally market themselves, and 21st century career advisors must know how to advise them. This course will help you advise students on developing digital career-marketing strategies for career success.

Students with disabilities represent a unique minority group within higher education. Despite being the largest minority group in the world, all too often their access to and inclusion in programs and services comes as an afterthought. Career services practitioners pride themselves in their ability to serve diverse populations, yet many remain untrained in working with disabled students. This course helps career services practitioners understand federal legislation basics as they relate to disabled students, the unique challenges they face, and characteristics of the population as well as practical resources and career services strategies to help overcome their unique barriers to employment.
**While the course addresses interaction considerations for those with deafness, blindness, learning disabilities, acquired brain disabilities, and physical disabilities, it shouldn't be expected that the course will cover all possible disabilities you may want to specifically learn about. It provides a broad overview.

There are millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) job seekers struggling to find careers and even hold down a job, due in part to their sexual orientation and gender identity. What amplifies this issue is the fact that many college career advisors who are supposed to help struggling jobseekers are not trained to address the unique struggles their LGBTQ students face in their career development. This course equips career advisors with the perspective, knowledge, and practical skills necessary to provide quality career services for their LGBTQ students, who greatly need their assistance.

In the most competitive economy ever, crafting powerful job search documents, communicating strategically with employers, and presenting evidence of one’s qualifications won't even necessarily get candidates jobs – it’ll barely get them interviews. This course covers advanced writing techniques, shows examples, and offers detailed strategy explanations to help career professionals enhance their ability to teach students how to craft modern job search documents and strategic employer communications. You'll be able to more effectively advise students on how to use impactful strategies that differentiate them from competitors through résumés, letters, portfolio evidence, and strategic post-interview correspondence. *This course also contains several downloadable resources to be used in your career center.

Effectively coaching students to achieve their goals in a way that builds autonomy, confidence, and accountability is fundamental to the role of a career services professional. Despite this fact, many career professionals have never engaged in professional development to build their coaching skills. This course helps career services professionals develop fundamental coaching skills so they can act as a catalyst and facilitator in assisting students to work towards their self-identified goals, with the belief that self-identified goals lead to increased student buy-in and motivation for attainment. Learn to put practical coaching techniques into action to maximize your results with students. *This course is relevant to a variety of career support professionals regardless of titles such as career counselors, advisors, coordinators, or "case managers" serving a variety of populations which may include students, out-of-school youth, or dislocated workers (youth or adults).

School hiring events are staples for many institutions, whether ground-based or virtual. They are a large undertaking. However, when done correctly, these events should yield many positive results for students, employers, and the school. This course examines each part of the process involved in a school hiring event: from the planning and ideation phase, to budgeting, staffing, logistics, marketing, student preparation, and a complete process for post-event surveying and follow-up. Beyond practical tips, ideas, and strategies, this course will provide a resource of documents that will help support a robust and dynamic school hiring event.

Establishing, developing, and maintaining employer relationships is a large aspect of a career-services practitioner’s responsibility. This involved process requires insight into your institution, your department, and your industry, as well as an understanding of key strategies that can assist in the building and nurturing of employer relationships. From acquiring industry knowledge to marketing your services and identifying opportunities for long-term employer engagement, this course can assist you in providing a roadmap intended to move you from a potential cold-call relationship to understanding an employer’s perspective on return on investment and gaining effective and long-lasting employer partnerships.

Nearly every career education institution needs to establish an effective Advisory Board; a group of employers and industry leaders who help maintain the requirements of existing programs, directing curriculum to meet industry needs and advising toward the creation of new programs. This course addresses the planning, operation, and management needed in the development of an Advisory Board. From prospecting for and nominating new members, to developing bylaws, conducting meetings, managing members, and sustaining your Board, this course covers the process for establishing your own Advisory Board while also providing a handful of supporting reference materials created for your use.

Professional networking is an essential career development skill that can lead to new job opportunities, higher salaries, and valuable relationships. Despite the numerous advantages of networking, many learners are unaware of its importance and not equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively build and maintain professional relationships. Career professionals must be able to teach learners how to build the social capital they need to gain access to opportunities, information, and resources that drive career success. This course provides a structured, practical approach to helping learners develop the knowledge and skills needed to foster professional relationships that will assist in career advancement for years to come. *The course contains multiple done-for-you resources for download and use with learners.

Personal branding is about communicating and presenting one’s unique promise of value. It’s an essential skill that must be learned, not only to facilitate seeking employment opportunities, but to help one navigate professional transitions throughout their working life. But for most job seekers, developing and communicating their brand is extremely challenging. Educators and workforce professionals must be empowered to guide their learners through a process that makes personal branding easier to understand and implement. This course describes a structured, practical approach to helping learners communicate who they are, what they can do, and how they can add value in the workplace, through offline and online methods. *The course contains multiple done-for-you resources for download and use with learners.

With new recruiting technologies, increasingly selective hiring practices, and the prevalence of remote work, it’s clear that job searching has fundamentally changed over the years. Yet outdated and ineffective job search methods persist. Career educators and workforce development professionals must be equipped with the latest knowledge and techniques to help learners navigate a modern, competitive job search landscape. This course provides a structured, practical approach to helping learners develop the skills needed to execute an effective job search strategy while building resilience in the process.

Help students ace the interview with successful tactics to showcase their qualities and make them the best fit for the job. A career management specialist will be able to master the appropriate actions for students to take before, during, and after the interview. These tactics can then be implemented in a career management class or during the preparations for prospective job interviews. The goal of this course is to help develop a better understanding of the topic and produce tangible resources to help implement plans, strategies, and ideas at your school. In addition to lecture videos, resource links, and assessments, you will be able to utilize Journal and Learning Activities, which will continue to be useful after successful completion of the course.

This unique interview preparation course provides a comprehensive program that helps job seekers turn interviews into offers with a structured and repeatable process. Unlike broadly prescribed interview tips, this course emphasizes actionable, step-by-step training that empowers job seekers to improve their self-awareness, align their strengths with specific employer needs, and persuasively articulate their value. Career professionals will gain frameworks, communication models, and practical resources to implement a full-fledged interview preparation program that enables job seekers to confidently tailor their responses, back them with evidence, and leave a lasting impression in nearly any interview setting. Don’t settle for generic advice—equip job seekers with a competitive edge for interview success.

In today’s digital labor market, a strong online presence is a necessity. As the world’s largest online professional network, LinkedIn is a critical platform for anyone serious about building their professional online presence and advancing their career. However, many learners may not know how to make the most of this powerful tool, and as a career professional, it’s your job to help them succeed. This course will equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to teach your learners how to create a standout LinkedIn profile, expand their professional network, and tap into valuable resources that can help them stay ahead in their field. *The course contains multiple done-for-you tools and resources for download and use with learners.

Career professionals play a crucial role in empowering job seekers to set goals, overcome challenges, and access vital career development resources. Unfortunately, most career professionals lack adequate training in the art of helping, which can hinder their ability to effectively guide and support others. This course bridges the training gap, equipping career professionals with essential tools and techniques to become effective helpers in guiding learners to success. Whether you are coaching individuals through career transitions or offering ongoing support, this course enhances your ability to create positive and transformative experiences for those you assist. Gain invaluable insights into effective helping techniques, communication strategies, and discernment of individual needs for providing tailored support. Elevate your skills today and empower others on their journey to achievement.

As a career support professional, you’re well aware of the diverse challenges individuals face on their career journeys, from choosing the right path to navigating the job market. Understanding resilience and knowing how to cultivate it in those you assist is key to their success.

In this course, we’ll delve into the science and art of resilience, equipping you with practical strategies to guide learners effectively. We’ll explore the core elements of resilience, offering evidence-backed approaches to help individuals persist in the face of adversity. In today’s dynamic professional landscape, resilience isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a must-have competitive advantage. Enroll now and chart a course to mastery in resilience.

Remote work has been on the rise for decades and is now shaping the way companies everywhere do business. To work effectively in remote environments, you must learn new skills, tools, and mindsets that enable you to communicate, collaborate, and connect with colleagues you may never physically meet. This course will teach anyone considering or currently working in a remote position how to boost their productivity, balance work-life demands, and build meaningful professional relationships regardless of place, proximity, or time zone. With the knowledge and skills developed in this course, you’ll be better equipped to thrive, or help others to thrive, in remote work settings.

Although empowering learners to set and achieve career goals is the essence of career guidance and education, many professionals have little training on the science of motivation and goal setting. As career professionals, it is crucial that you understand these principles in order to effectively support learners who are navigating the complexities of career planning, including setting and achieving goals, maintaining motivation, and adapting to changing circumstances. Decades of research show that when goals are matched to your learners’ interests, values and abilities, their motivation and achievement are more likely to increase. This course provides essential knowledge of motivation and goal setting that equips professionals to help learners strive for career success. *The course contains multiple done-for-you tools and resources for download and use with learners.

In today’s dynamic career guidance landscape, it’s no longer enough to simply place learners in jobs. Modern career support professionals are tasked with empowering clients to excel in their chosen paths. This course, rooted in positive psychology and strengths-based coaching, prepares you to guide learners in discovering and harnessing their unique strengths. It goes beyond recognizing what they excel at. It’s about helping them unlock their full potential. In this course, we’ll delve into the nuances of strengths-based coaching, offering practical strategies, tools, and insights to create a lasting impact. By course completion, you will be transformed from a job placer into a trusted guide, empowering learners not only to excel and achieve their goals but to thrive in their careers.

In today's dynamic career support landscape, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly gained prominence and is poised to become even more prevalent. For career support professionals, embracing this technological shift is not merely advantageous; it's essential. Generative AI offers the capacity to create personalized assessments, optimize resumes, and provide immediate responses, making it a powerful tool in empowering learners on their career journeys. Proficiency in generative AI is no longer a choice; it's a fundamental skill that defines the modern career support professional. By mastering generative AI, you not only invest in your own professional growth but also elevate the support you provide to learners. This course will elevate your career support skills, ensuring you excel in the AI-driven era.

Today’s job seekers need more than advice to thrive. They must be equipped to leverage their strengths, envision their ideal future, and develop an action plan to achieve it. This solution-oriented approach fosters self-reliance and resilience, propelling them toward lasting career success. In this course, you’ll learn how to apply solution-focused coaching to guide learners through their career journeys. From effective goal setting to exception seeking to crafting powerful coaching questions, you’ll master techniques to guide learners toward their preferred futures. By the end of the course, you’ll be a more resourceful and impactful career support professional, equipped with the skills to facilitate positive change and enhance learner outcomes. Enroll now to elevate your coaching effectiveness and make a lasting impact.

This course is an introduction to the foundation of work-based learning (WBL). Quality WBL is about a continuum of opportunities for students to connect to business. As a WBL coordinator, your roles are numerous and varied, but the position is rewarding when you can help students gain awareness to their future. WBL delivery models that are designed to provide WBL experiences for students in different community settings will be shared. Strategies for model implementation will be provided to facilitate WBL opportunities to and for all students.

This course covers the components needed to establish a work-based learning program. Included is information about expected outcomes for students, employers, and the school. A section of the course focuses on liability and risk management strategies that can be used to ensure that all those involved in the WBL program are aware of how best to establish a comprehensive program with minimum risks. The role of the coordinator is identified in relation to school and community settings and how the coordinator can be a resource to both students and employers. Program improvement and evaluation methods are shared to promote ongoing program development.

Career support professionals often encounter learners struggling with motivation during their job search and career development. This course teaches you how to apply motivational interviewing (MI) techniques to enhance learners’ motivation, helping them overcome ambivalence, clarify goals, and take actionable steps toward their career aspirations. You will learn to partner with learners in ways that foster confidence and minimize resistance. By the course’s end, you’ll possess a deeper grasp of motivation, see yourself as a powerful change agent, and wield advanced coaching skills to significantly boost your learners’ motivation. Enroll now to empower your learners, elevate your coaching effectiveness, and make a lasting impact.

Derived from the feedback of over 100 institutions, empirical research, and case studies, course participants are presented with specific strategies and best practices that promote graduate employment. This course is for all education professionals seeking to understand the institutional practices that maximize graduate employment outcomes. Because employment outcomes are as much a function of institutional behaviors as they are of student behaviors, this course is based in systems thinking, which challenges participants to examine the interdependent relationship among institutional infrastructure, student career-readiness, and graduate employment rates.

Accurate representation of graduate outcomes is critical to upholding institutional integrity. All involved in employment reporting must continuously identify ways to strengthen their system for tracking, collecting, and verifying employment data. When documentation is both a quality and a compliance matter, staff must understand the verification program as a whole, the role they play in continuously improving it, and how to use professional principles and best practices in documentation. This course is designed to encourage participants to critically analyze their own employment reporting practices while sharing ideas and best practices that can help lead to the highest level of data integrity.

This course provides a blueprint for running an effective financial aid office in an educational institution. You will learn to optimize the performance of your financial aid office with a minimum of waste, expense, and unnecessary effort. The course covers the cornerstones of an efficient financial aid office: timeliness, accuracy and customer service. You will also be advised of pitfalls to avoid in the realm of Title IV compliance. You will learn the key points to building an effective business office processing procedure. Reports and notifications required by the Department of Education are also explained. In addition, you will be given pointers on preparation for the annual Student Financial Aid (SFA) compliance audit and alerted to the most common triggers for Department of Education Program Reviews.

This course offers proven-successful techniques that ultimately prevent student loan delinquencies and defaults. Because there is not one miracle that reduces the chance of student loan defaults, this compilation of ideas and practices collectively greatly reduces those risks by giving ownership of the loan responsibilities to the students who benefit from them. By integrating effective borrower education and interaction from the day your students walk through your front door, your students will embrace the state of mind needed to give them lifetime accountability for their Federal Student Loans obligations.

This course is designed for the financial aid representative who is familiar with the financial aid process, and the campus manager seeking to learn more. The course provides a detailed review of the FAFSA to ISIR/SAR application process, concentrating especially on the technical aspects of the process beyond timeliness and accuracy. The importance of documenting verification and clearing comment codes will be explored, in addition to your role in using professional judgment.

With a seemingly endless stream of new laws and regulations, institutions have become burdened with ensuring they are compliant, while continuing to give great customer service to their students and families and all while achieving larger institutional goals. The role of the Financial Aid Office in compliance cannot be underestimated, but the Director of Financial Aid cannot ensure compliance in a vacuum. This course is designed to examine the fundamentals of law and regulation, and of the enforcement process. More importantly, this course provides tools for School Directors, Chief Financial Officers, Enrollment Managers, and Financial Aid staff to develop and build compliant practices that don’t interfere with effective operations, customer service or institutional goals.

This course will help participants to interpret the many rules and regulations that are required by educational institutions offering Title IV funding. It will aid in preparing management and faculty in recognizing that compliance is the responsibility of the entire institution and is not just the job of the Financial Aid Office. Course content will also aid the individual in building a “culture of compliance" which will encourage teamwork and secure the cooperation of others on campus.

What will your institution look like in five years? Growth takes change and the commitment of the stakeholders in your organization. A five-year plan is essential for any owner or director of an educational institution, no matter how long they have been in the business. It includes various elements such as your enrollment goals for all programs, plans for new programs, new profit center potential, fees and all financial aid opportunities, enhancement of student services, faculty and staff planning, marketing and development strategies, and planning for physical space to support your expansion goals. Also, development plans are often needed to satisfy licensing and accreditation requirements. This course covers the essential components and techniques involved in developing a comprehensive five-year plan. We will show you an effective step-by-step planning process that involves the participation of representatives from your institution including staff, instructors, students, graduates, and the employers who hire your graduates. The process encourages participants to share their knowledge and ideas, and everyone who participates in the process ultimately becomes a stakeholder in making the plan work. The course includes planning worksheets that you can download and use to help you develop your institution’s five-year plan.

Educational institutions need to be aware of emerging employment opportunities in new and expanding fields if they are going to continue to attract students. Most licensing and accrediting agencies ask an institution for some form of feasibility study when submitting new program-add applications. The research involved in this step often requires proof of need for the program, number of anticipated job openings, and input from employers. This course outlines ways to collect data to make an effective decision and show regulatory agencies proof of employment opportunities. Step-by-step directions are included to assist institution staff in conducting effective research and preparation of curriculum to meet employer specifications.

Vital advisory and governing boards create additional opportunities to enhance operations within an educational institution. Well-prepared board members engaged in appropriate and timely activities can make a substantial contribution to operational, financial and management success. Creating, managing and maintaining effective advisory and governing boards can be a demanding yet rewarding process. Board members have to be identified, recruited, and trained to be effective and to understand their role as individual contributors and as members of a group of advisors. To gain maximum leverage from a board, members must also remain motivated and retain a concentrated focus on the institution's mission, purpose and goals. This course will provide a blueprint, with accompanying checklists, for establishing and maintaining effective advisory and governing boards in an educational institution.

This course shows you how to hire high-quality instructors and orient them to your institution. The skills also apply to hiring staff. It's easy to hire someone to do a job. But it can be difficult to hire the right person. You want instructors who are top notch. They represent your institution and interact with the most people at your campus and particularly your students. This course starts with how to determine exactly what type of people you need as your instructors. Then it shows you how to recruit and hire them. Once hired, you'll learn how to introduce them to the working environment at your institution. By the time you finish this course, you'll be recruiting, hiring, and orienting quality instructors. You'll see results in improved enrollments, student achievement, retention, and completion.

It is no longer news that predictive learning analytics are changing online classroom instruction. This course teaches current trends in locating, hiring, monitoring and retaining the best professionals that specialize in online instruction. More importantly, this course provides insights for using the new predictive analytic approaches to optimize management of online faculty. Generalized "best practices" are waning in favor of real-time monitoring for individualized qualitative and quantitative analyses. This real-time approach provides significantly increased student success and retention. Also addressed in the course is how to build a strong faculty management team, continuing faculty development recommendations and various business considerations.

This course explores the critical differences between management and leadership. Participants will be introduced to definitions and myths about each area as well as how management and leadership must coexist for an organization to operate effectively. Participants will explore their own management/leadership tendencies through exercises to see leadership and management in action.

Not everyone is suited for, or desires, a leadership position. One of the first steps to being an effective leader is to understand the desire to lead in the first place. Participants will explore their motivation to lead and develop a deeper understanding of their leader style(s).

To improve your impact and effectiveness as a leader, you must not only understand the role of a leader, but you must also take into consideration the followers and the situation. This course defines leadership impact and explores the interactional framework for leadership.

The higher education industry provides a wealth of opportunities and challenges for those seeking leadership positions. In this course, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the higher education sector and themselves. The importance of higher education institutions will be explored along with developing a personal leadership legacy.

Get ready to add a number of skills to your toolkit as you develop as a leader! This course focuses on increased self-awareness in communication styles and learning; developing deeper understanding through empathic listening; and motivating through innovation.

This course provides you with a framework to put your self-discovery and learning into a workable plan to further develop your leadership skills. A step-by-step process is offered to help you create a meaningful Personal Leadership Development Plan (PLDP) complete with the development of SMART Goals and advice from some of today's leaders in the higher education sector.