To start, I don't have a degree. Unless we are talking about the deodorant, then I have two. Just bought a twin pack at Target the other day, so now I have two degrees!
Fresh out of high school, I enrolled at Rio Hondo College, while working full time. I was helping to manage a small court reporting agency from 8-5 weekdays, then taking classes at night, and studying in between. As my responsibilities grew at the agency, my time to juggling shrank. Soon, the agency owner's husband recruited me to assist him with starting up a golfwear company. I was forced to juggle more. As I learned more and more about the ins and outs of the clothing industry, suddenly my planned Art History degree seemed less of a priority. Weekends started to involve golf conventions tournaments and events, and my grades started to suffer. Looking towards a changing future, and prospects of getting in on a company from the ground up, I put my college plans on hold after a year and a half trying to juggle all.
Between the court reporting agency and the golfwear company, I was kept busy. Then the cracks started to show. the stress of the startup company started to affect my bosses marriage. Soon, I was caught up in the middle of their divorce. I was asked to follow the husband to the golfwear company, which was struggling, or to take the path of security with the well established court reporting agency. I took the more secure path. Through the process, my boss leaned on me to pick up the slack not only at the company, but with her personal life as well. I was an emergency backup for picking up her kids, picking up dry cleaning, and babysitting. After things settled and a new sense of normalcy came over her family, I knew it was time to move on.
Thereafter, I fell into property management, a temp assignment with Birtcher at Xerox Centre, a 16 story tower in Santa Ana. I fell in love with it and was determined to follow that path. 18 years later, I have never looked back. But as I market myself to secure a position with a new company, it has become apparent that more and more companies require a degree to join their company. For some companies, a quick review of a resume without a degree listed is passed on. What about work experience? I have all of the other qualifications, and my experience on the job has taught me invaluable skills that no college course can teach me: How to shut off a Sloan valve on my own, the inner workings of a cooling tower, and how to deal with an irate tenant. Those talents allow me to hit the ground running, so how is that conveyed?
In a future post, I will give some further thoughts. In the meantime, if you have any tips or ideas, feel free to share in the comments section!
Fresh out of high school, I enrolled at Rio Hondo College, while working full time. I was helping to manage a small court reporting agency from 8-5 weekdays, then taking classes at night, and studying in between. As my responsibilities grew at the agency, my time to juggling shrank. Soon, the agency owner's husband recruited me to assist him with starting up a golfwear company. I was forced to juggle more. As I learned more and more about the ins and outs of the clothing industry, suddenly my planned Art History degree seemed less of a priority. Weekends started to involve golf conventions tournaments and events, and my grades started to suffer. Looking towards a changing future, and prospects of getting in on a company from the ground up, I put my college plans on hold after a year and a half trying to juggle all.
Between the court reporting agency and the golfwear company, I was kept busy. Then the cracks started to show. the stress of the startup company started to affect my bosses marriage. Soon, I was caught up in the middle of their divorce. I was asked to follow the husband to the golfwear company, which was struggling, or to take the path of security with the well established court reporting agency. I took the more secure path. Through the process, my boss leaned on me to pick up the slack not only at the company, but with her personal life as well. I was an emergency backup for picking up her kids, picking up dry cleaning, and babysitting. After things settled and a new sense of normalcy came over her family, I knew it was time to move on.
Thereafter, I fell into property management, a temp assignment with Birtcher at Xerox Centre, a 16 story tower in Santa Ana. I fell in love with it and was determined to follow that path. 18 years later, I have never looked back. But as I market myself to secure a position with a new company, it has become apparent that more and more companies require a degree to join their company. For some companies, a quick review of a resume without a degree listed is passed on. What about work experience? I have all of the other qualifications, and my experience on the job has taught me invaluable skills that no college course can teach me: How to shut off a Sloan valve on my own, the inner workings of a cooling tower, and how to deal with an irate tenant. Those talents allow me to hit the ground running, so how is that conveyed?
In a future post, I will give some further thoughts. In the meantime, if you have any tips or ideas, feel free to share in the comments section!