By Kate Jonuska
Throw out the script and forget what you’ve been told about call centers, says Joy Zuckerman, Freedom Communications call center manager. Often called the “special forces” department of Freedom advertising, this vibrant call center headquartered in Colorado Springs handles the special advertising needs of seven Freedom Communications properties including operations in Colorado, California, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and the Rio Grande Valley.
“It’s never boring. We move where the money moves, and the newspaper business is always exciting. There is always something new on the table,” says Zuckerman. The call center was created in November of 2008 to handle the ever-changing and miscellaneous needs of its newspapers. Now celebrating its first anniversary, the call center’s success has created a need for talented new agents.
“We’re in a state of constant, consistent and immediate growth,” Zuckerman explains. “We started with 11 call center agents and myself. Now we’re hiring up to 44 call center agents and we have team leads and managers, and we’ll have more management positions opening next year.”
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in the Nov. 8, 2009 Springs Jobs.
By Kate Jonuska
“Great leaders are born, not made,” goes the oft-heard idiom, but J. Stephen Kirkpatrick begs to disagree. As the dean of the School of Organizational Leadership at the University of the Rockies, it’s his job to sculpt students into successful leaders every day.
“The idea that leaders are born? No. Leadership behavior is something you can observe, get feedback on and learn to do better,” Kirkpatrick says, explaining that the University of the Rockies ― a graduate-level institution specializing in the various fields of psychology ― founded the School of Organizational Leadership in 2007 in order to train professionals in the psychology of groups and how to make those groups successful.
“When we say organizational leadership, we’re talking about leading any type of organization, whether that’s in the military, in the private sector in a corporation, or in a non profit or a religious group,” he explains. “We distinguish leadership from management because we believe management is about scheduling, budgets, resources. Leadership is about influencing other people to help you accomplish the organization’s goal, objectives and strategies.”
Using psychology and social science, organizational leadership graduates learn to understand others, find what motivates them, bond teams and develop strategies for success in any industry, because every industry involves people. And with 11 specializations within the School of Organizational Leadership ― including executive coaching, mediation and conflict resolution, business psychology, non-profit management and more ― the University of the Rockies can prepare students to take any career to the next level.
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published on Oct. 25, 2009 in Springs Jobs.
By Kate Jonuska
Stocks may rise and stocks may fall, but there are certain careers that are guaranteed to always be in demand, according to IntelliTec Medical Institute, a fully accredited healthcare training facility since 1966. After all, the human body will always need care and trained professionals to provide it, and one field that’s especially promising in healthcare is dental assisting.
“Everyone has to go to the dentist,” says Alexxia Wood, dental assistant program supervisor at IntelliTec. “Dental assistants, believe it or not, are very highly paid and are ranked as one of Top 10 professions via the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the real beauty is that if you graduate from an ADA (American Dental Association) program, you’re eligible to go to any of the 50 states and get a job and be very marketable immediately.”
The ADA has accredited 232 institutions in the United States and only four in Colorado, of which IntelliTec is one. Their 11-month, 19-day certificate program in dental assisting offers a 12- to 15-to-1 teacher-to-student ratio and a heavy emphasis on clinics as well as courses covering professionalism, communication and even psychology. It’s a curriculum sculpted by IntelliTec’s advisory board of industry professionals, who make sure graduates become assistants they want to hire.
“Dental assisting today is not just about the glorified spit sucker. We’re actually the right arm of the dentist and a vital part of the office team,” says Wood, who explains that assistants are not only technically trained to care for their patients’ mouths. They also work in financing and billing, compose treatment plans, juggle scheduling and more.
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in Springs Jobs on Oct. 18, 2009.
By Kate Jonuska
There are definitely telephones involved and employees are grouped in one place, but don’t dare call a PRC office a “call center,” says Jarome Fowler, human resources manager at the Colorado Springs PRC office.
“Our centers are strategic outlets, not call centers,” Fowler insists, explaining that rather than the boring, repetitive and mechanized idea of call center life, the PRC office in the Springs is a team of excited and talented sales professionals. It’s a team that’s looking for a lot of new members. “We’re looking for individuals with a high energy level, with great communication skills, and someone that’s assertive, motivated and a truly dedicated sales person.”
PRC is one of the largest outsourcers of customer service and sales in the U.S. and boasts several Fortune 500 clients, with the Colorado Springs branch dedicated purely to sales. But hold the phone: Another word that has a different meaning at PRC is “sales.”
“Once a community hears ’sales,’ they automatically tend to disregard openings or choose not to further investigate. The typical person automatically assumes it’s going to be cold calling, door-to-door or some type of marketing,” says Fowler. “But here we do only inbound sales.”
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in the Sept. 27, 2009 Jobs section.
By Kate Jonuska
At Colorado Technical University, their dedication to the military isn’t an advertising ploy. Their support for active-duty service members, veterans and their families isn’t recent or superficial. Founded in 1965 by two military veterans, CTU’s mission has always included a strong focus on the military population of their students and of the wider community, and the school couldn’t be more excited about supporting the Yellow Ribbon program, the expansion of the G.I. Bill for post-9/11 service members.
“The military has always been part of our identity. It’s part of who we are,” says Greg Mitchell, president of Colorado Technical University, who is thrilled with the growing numbers of Yellow Ribbon students already on campus ― about 75 percent of students who started in August, he estimates.
“We’re seeing a tremendous uptick in the number of military as well as spouses and dependent children who are taking advantage of the program,” he says. And with Colorado Tech’s fall start for classes on Oct. 5, he expects that growth to increase.
Knowing how amazing the benefits of the Yellow Ribbon program would be ― tuition, a housing allowance, and full transferability to spouses or dependents ― CTU’s staff has ensured that Colorado Tech is ready to help incoming military students put those benefits into action now, for the fall semester.
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in the Sept. 5, 2009 Springs Jobs section.
By Kate Jonuska
One of Forbes Magazine’s America’s Best Colleges, awarded Best University in the Southeast by Princeton Review, with 60 campuses in 17 states and 11 countries. And yet, most students looking to attend or return to college are not acquainted with Troy University, a problem that Western region director Dr. Louis Fletcher is planning to remedy.
“It’s a comprehensive university with a main campus in Troy, Ala., founded in 1887,” says Fletcher, who explains that in the 1960s, Troy expanded to satellite campuses on nearby military bases Fort Rocker and Maxwell Air Force Base, then continued growing, mostly near military populations. “Troy had a vision to get beyond Alabama, beyond borders, to be a great university that’s not just for Alabama, and now we have 60 teaching sites.”
Troy has taught on Fort Carson for 12 years, has headquartered its Western region office in Colorado Springs for five years and is planning a new campus at Research Parkway and Explorer Drive set to open in the next few months ― all open to both the military and the general public.
“Troy has always been a partner with the military. A lot of military people especially have degrees from Troy University,” says Fletcher. “That is our history and we’re still honoring that, but when you talk about the future, we want to get the message out to the Colorado Springs community and the entire West that Troy is here for them, as well.”
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in the Aug. 30, 2009 Springs Jobs.
Yellow Ribbon program opens doors of prestigious private university to veterans
By Kate Jonuska
It’s not only families who welcome home troops with yellow ribbons, tied around oak trees or magneted on cars. In recognition of their service and sacrifice, Regis University is proud to feature a Yellow Ribbon of its own, Yellow Ribbon being a G.I. Bill program that offers post-9/11 veterans an outstanding opportunity to study at Regis’ award-winning private university.
“Regis is recognized as a top private university, and we’re really pleased that through some of these programs, our pricing can be adjusted to be something very much in reach as of any other college in the state,” says Bill Husson, vice president of the Collage of Professional Studies. Unlike some previous educational benefits for veterans, Yellow Ribbon doesn’t discriminate between public and private universities, and allows participants the freedom to utilize those benefits at high-caliber private schools like Regis.
“The recent changes in effect will allow veterans to take courses at the undergraduate level at no charge from Regis University … At the graduate level, it means a deeply discounted tuition for veterans,” Husson explains. “Doing some of the math, it looks like the veteran would be paying in most cases possibly just a little more than a quarter of the tuition for our graduate programs, although it varies by program.”
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in the August 9, 2009 Springs Jobs.
By Kate Jonuska
For certain industries and professions, recent economic conditions have made the future look murky and uncertain, causing many people to scramble toward new, more stable careers. But one profession the nation cannot do without, in good times and bad, are the engineers who design, build and shape our world — especially in tech-oriented, government-driven Colorado Springs.
“The employment outlook is rosy, very positive, for engineers in Colorado Springs,” says Scott Van Tonningen, dean of engineering and vice president of educational quality at Colorado Technical University. “Engineering is always in demand, always vibrant.”
Van Tonningen has the numbers to prove it: CTU counted 195 students in graduate and undergraduate engineering programs in the 2008 school year, almost 10 percent of the campus’s total students. This spring’s graduates went on to work for 20 different commercial companies and several government agencies, including NORAD, the military and the state of Colorado.
“For Colorado Technical University, nationally our largest employer hands down outside the military is Lockheed Martin,” says Van Tonningen. “If you look at the employment opportunities within Colorado Springs, it’s the military and Lockheed Martin and similar companies that are strong employers, and that gives Colorado Springs engineers an excellent job market.”
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in the Aug. 2, 2009 Springs Jobs.
By Kate Jonuska
Since its establishment in 1931, DeVry University has been dedicated to providing a quality education to its students by evolving with the times: adapting to new technologies, molding curriculum to changing job markets and providing flexible schedules to meet the needs of any potential student. In an effort to continue that commitment, DeVry Colorado is now making higher education accessible to a new group of learners with the creation of several exciting new day programs.
“A lot of our programs here at the University Center are focused on evening schedules, geared toward career changers and upgraders who are working during the day,” says James Caldwell, president of DeVry University Colorado. “But what we see as a large and growing group of students are the career starters. They are busy during the evening because they have outside responsibilities but have daytime hours to go to school.”
Whether it be the military spouse, military personnel, parents with school-age children or recent high school graduates wanting a traditional college experience, this widened schedule allows those with free daytime schedules to pursue several interesting and in-demand programs, including associate degrees in Accounting or Web Graphic Design.
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in the July 25, 2009 Springs Jobs.
Medical staffing agency booming — and hiring! — despite the bust
By Kate Jonuska
Don’t let the dour evening news or frightening financial pages fool you. Despite a downturn that’s affecting many sectors of the economy, there are still busy — even booming — businesses where rewarding jobs are just waiting for the right candidates, businesses like Interim Healthcare, an agency that connects healthcare personnel of all skill levels with opportunities in a wide variety of settings.
Founded by the Ringling family in 1976 as a branch of the well known national organization, “We’ve gone from one office location in Colorado Springs to having five offices across the Front Range,” says current CEO Devin Ringling, citing locations in Pueblo, Denver, Ft. Collins and Louisville. Proud of the family company’s growth, he continues, “We currently cut 800 checks a week, and that’s people working anywhere from two hours a month to forty hours a week.”
Looking to fill a niche in medical staffing as successful employment agencies do in other fields, Interim Healthcare is able to offer employees work where they want, when they want.
CLICK HERE to read the full text of this article, which published in the July 12, 2009 Springs Jobs.
