On Tuesday, April 23rd, I participated in the Mira Costa Business Dept. Advisory Board Meeting with Tom Severance (Chair) and Rita Souza (BUS COMM instructor).  It’s always interesting to me to see what our sister college is doing with its business programs and the college overall.

1)  Tom talked about the launch of the Social Media for Business Certificate.  This is similar, but more narrow in scope, to Palomar’s E-Marketing degree.

2)  We also learned about Mira Costa’s Community Programs in which they are providing concentrated training in manufacturing and security skills to enable students to be prepared for high-technology jobs.

3)  In our breakout session, we talked with industry leaders about the skills they see LACKING in today’s 20-somethings who are applying for jobs.  Communication skills, writing skills, team working, and other social skills topped the list.  The irony to me is that today’s 20-somethings are the leaders in social media – yet they seem to lack true basic social skills.  This is something to think about!

The evening ended with some socializing and beer tasting (the meeting was held in a local brewery, Latitude 33) and I met a new contact, Amy, who works for Sempra Energy.  Overall, it was time well spent.