If you’re looking for a sign, this is it! I interviewed current apprentice, Geraldo Alvarez, to get the inside scoop.

Do you have a plan to build your professional career? Do you even know where to begin? Or what goes into developing a career with relevant skills? And where do you start? An important skill in managing your career is communication!  Communicate how your work is adding value to your organization, your boss and stakeholders. The timing in communicating your work/deliverables includes frequent updates as you hit (or miss) milestones in your work and when you have completed the work.  A couple of tips to remember as you communicate your progress: 

1. Notice how you are building your knowledge, skills, experience during a project/task. These tasks are building blocks to your “technical” skills.
2. Provide frequent updates to encourage feedback from your boss and stakeholders on your progress. Creating awareness on where you are in the work, allows you to pivot and remain in sync on the latest priorities that could present an opportunity to build your skills.
3. Be aware of how you are leveraging your strengths. For example, if your strength is to be a bridge builder, share how you were able to obtain feedback from the team and or your customers to forge and or strengthen relationships toward the completion of the work/task. 
4. Ultimately, the goal is to share how your skills and strengths are being multiplied or leveraged, to continuously improve and grow the organization, as you serve your boss and internal and external customers. 

Keep in mind that the core message in completing the work is not on "technical" skill alone, you need to include "interpersonal" or "emotional intelligence" skills.  Combining your technical and interpersonal skills build defining moments in building the leader that is within you - these skills eventually becomes your brand. The benefit of communicating these messages over time will help you build a pathway to grow your career.

Article By: Erika Woods 

Infographic By: Rachel Mathison

We sat down with Aurora Geis, the Director of National Strategic Partnerships at Digital Creative Institute to discuss how millennials are shaping their communities and workplaces. She gave us great insight into what top characteristics really stand out for this generation. These are eight key values that shape the millennial mind.

I interviewed DCI's Director of National Strategic Partnerships, Aurora Geis, and this time we got to talk all things millennials. She provides invaluable knowledge backed by years of coaching and digital marketing industry experience.

I sat down with DCI's Director of National Strategic Partnerships, Aurora Geis, to talk all things coaching. She provides invaluable knowledge backed by years of coaching and digital marketing industry experience. We dove deeper into questions such as, "what are the key differences between leadership coaching versus performance coaching?" and "how is coaching different from traditional mentoring?"   

Before I deliver my reasoning for hiring DCI apprentices, it would be helpful to note that I was a member of San Antonio’s Cohort #3 prior to hiring an apprentice of my own. My first-hand experience with the program offered me the confidence that hiring from within the same program would deliver the best results and my experience to date validates that resolve.