Pearson Students Blog

Volunteering can help you gain real world experience by giving back to your community. High school students can use volunteering as a resume booster for colleges or trade school while college students can use it to apply to a master’s program or as a steppingstone in the workforce.

But volunteering doesn’t have to be boring or merely a box on your checklist. When you volunteer, you are helping someone and that is a rewarding feeling. Everyone should volunteer at least once in their lives so they can promote a sense of community as well as gain valuable life skills by working with others.

Below are some volunteering opportunities that may be in your city/area:

1. Food Bank

Most cities and states typically have food banks or food pantries that are open for volunteers WITHOUT any experience! You can expect to do a variety of tasks such as bagging potatoes or sorting cans from food drives.

2. Community Garden

Colleges, small towns, or a close neighborhood near you may have a community garden that is open to volunteers. Although it may seem like skills are needed, the tasks are usually things anyone can do. The spring and summer months may lead to more volunteers needed due to the fact that gardens flourish in warm weather. You can expect to water plants, weed around the vegetation, or help with organizational tasks.

3. Animal Shelter

Perfect for animal lovers, your local animal shelter may accept volunteers to help them take care of the future pets! Most places require a volunteer application and may or may not require experience. Volunteers may participate in a broad set of tasks ranging from feeding the animals to daily health checks.

It is also important to note that signing up to volunteer isn’t a lifelong commitment unless you make it one. Most places that have volunteers work on a sign-up basis so you can volunteer when it’s convenient for you and your schedule. When you do volunteer, strive to give your best because whether you volunteer for the hours or volunteer for yourself you have the capability of positively impacting someone’s life.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

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Mental health has been an increasing topic of conversation today, especially around the demographic of students. Mental health is impacted heavily through the amount of movement incorporated in our daily lives. For many college students, making movement a priority can be a challenge due to having to find a balance between their academics, career goals and personal life.

With the direct influence that movement of the body has on the mind, making movement a priority can be essential in creating more balance in an individual’s life. Here are a few of the benefits that come from this and how to find ways to incorporate more movement in your life.

Benefits to circulation, digestion, and stress level

There are many benefits to health that occur as a result from movement, ranging from mental, physical, to emotional health.

• Circulation: Circulation impacts the way we digest our food and process nutrients in our body. How does this improve our mental health? When we are digesting the proper nutrients our stress levels are easily manageable, allowing the brain to enhance the way it processes, retains, and remembers information.
• Stress Management: Increased physical activity releases stress. This is one way to “blow off steam”. Stress has terrible effects on the body and the mind. The less stress we have, the better our mental and physical health will be. Manageable stress levels also have an influence on our sleep schedule. More sleep will also aid in digestion and memory. Posture, eating habits, and mood are also swayed by having a more active lifestyle. Check out this blog post to learn more ways to manage stress.

Incorporate more movement in your life

There are many ways to incorporate more habits that involve movement into one’s daily schedule. Find an exercise that works for your body, and you can see yourself wanting to do every day. This could be going to the gym, yoga, dance, or joining some sort of club sport. Or start with smaller movements. For example, setting a reminder to stand up and stretch and/or take a short 5-minute walk once an hour. Taking time to just breathe and walk helps refresh the brain. Even stretching for 5 minutes after waking up every day can make a huge difference.

Listen to your body and find ways to start consistently incorporating more movement in your life and your mental health will benefit as well!

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

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When you’re in the midst of a job search, you are actually selling a product – yourself. The ability to sell yourself to someone is an important skill. When this is done properly you can separate yourself from other people in a professional environment. Let’s talk about how to prepare to sell yourself and the key components that you should consider.

Do Your Research

Prior to meeting with a recruiter, you must do some research. It is rare that I encounter someone who enjoys doing research, but this step is critical. When talking to a potential employer about an opportunity in an environment such as a career fair, doing the necessary research can set you apart from other individuals competing for the same opportunity. Here are the three things that you need to research and understand:

• The recruiter: It is important to research how long the recruiter has been with the company, their role with the company, where they graduated from and anything else that you can find that can allow you to relate and build rapport.
• The actual company: If you are looking for an opportunity with an organization at the very least you should know the service or product that the company offers, their target market and mission statement.
• Yourself: Get comfortable speaking about yourself and your story. It is also important to practice how you are going to tie your story and experiences with the company’s culture and mission.

Researching and understanding these things can put you ahead of the curve and provide you with the confidence to speak with the person you will meet with. I will note that you will not always know these things as some opportunities might be more random than others, but it is always good to take time and ask questions to uncover facts about the company and the person you are speaking to.

Ask About What You Want

After you have completed your research, you should then think about what you want. This is known as the “ask”. People will do everything that we have spoken about to a tee but at the end they do not ask for anything. This wastes everyone’s time. When preparing to talk to a recruiter understand what you want out of the interaction and ask them for it. If you want a job, internship or informational meeting make sure that you have sold yourself well enough to have convinced them to consider granting you the request.

Practice Makes Perfect

Now that you have the necessary information to sell yourself to someone make sure that you practice before meeting with them. The more you practice the more comfortable you will be in these settings. Put everything we have talked about so far together and execute. Introduce yourself, show that you have done research on the person you are speaking with and the company, tie your story/ experience in with the company, and finally go for the ask!

I would wish you luck, but luck is for the unprepared!

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

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Setting goals is important, but sometimes it’s hard to believe it will make much of a change in your life. I felt this way until recently when I began to rethink my idea of setting goals. Not only did I find I was more motivated, but I also started seeing actual progress in the goals I set. All it took were some new strategies and a redefinition of what it means to set goals. Here are a few tips that can change the game as you race towards the finish line of achieving your goals.

Make a Goal and Make a Plan

When I realized that the sticky note of New Years' resolutions on my desk was the extent of how I set goals, I wondered if my definition of setting goals was part of the reason why nothing ever came of them. It is easy to think that setting a goal means coming up with an idea of something you want to accomplish and “setting” it by writing it down or telling others about it. In reality, that process is just scratching the surface of what “setting a goal” should mean to you.

I redefined the term to mean not only picking an end-goal, but also the process of making a plan, clearly defining the small steps that will get you there, and finding a way to keep yourself accountable. I only started seeing progress when my goals were no longer statements on a sticky note, but checkboxes in my planner, consistent physical reminders in my environment, and progress reports I made to my friends.

Consistency is Key

In terms of strategies to help you set goals that actually lead to changes, there are some tips we have all heard but need to start taking a lot more seriously. To start, goals take time. We all know that important goals can’t be achieved overnight, but that means you need to be ready to put in place a long-term plan. The steps you make should be consistent and placed into your weekly schedule, rather than having vague benchmarks that you hope you end up finding the time to meet. Your goals also need to be action-based. There are plenty of resources on how to set SMART goals or workbooks to walk you through the steps. While I sometimes feel constrained using those frameworks, the central theme that your goals should be realistic and actionable needs to be incorporated into your goals no matter what!

Find Your Why

Lastly, here are some strategies that I didn’t expect would make such a big difference in setting achievable goals. First, you need to know why you want to achieve that goal. This means getting past the desire to do something because everyone else is doing it or because other people will be impressed. If no one in the entire world ever knew or saw you reach this goal, why do you still want to achieve it? When you realize why you really want something, or that maybe you don’t actually want it, working on the steps to get there becomes a passion, rather than a chore.

Finally, I learned that sometimes it is better to set fewer goals to give yourself the time and space to invest in them, rather than spreading yourself too thin. I believe it is better to achieve one goal than to set ten and never get around to them. By picking only the goals that were most important to me, I have been able to see my available time lead to visible progress. I hope these tips help you start the race towards achieving your goals!

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

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LinkedIn is a powerful tool that allows students and professionals to connect at the click of a button. Due to this, it has become a handy platform that allows its users to utilize networking, career building, and job hunting. Here are some ways to promote your LinkedIn to create an effective page.

Professional Profile Picture

For starters, the importance of a strong profile picture and background is something you need to prioritize. A common issue is that you may not have a professional headshot. I have good news: two options can help you outside of scouting through old pictures of yourself. For instance, most colleges offer free headshots in their university career center or have specific days during a career fair or welcome week. However, if this is not available at your college or you are currently not in school, you can take a fantastic headshot at home. All you need is good lighting, a solid background, a professional shirt, and either a self-timer or someone to take the picture for you. In addition, choose a neutral background image that supports what you are interested in, such as an art piece. The profile picture and background you choose reflect your brand.

Simple Introduction

Next, the introduction should be clean, simple, and straight to the point. The headline is where you can put current info that stands out. For instance, you can put what you currently do: Pearson Campus Ambassador, Student at this University. Underneath that, you can re-enter your current position, education, location, and industry. Think of this as another opportunity to show off more about you.

Write in Your Job and Educational Background

List your work experience in chronological order in the Experience section underneath your headline. Show how long you were at a position, the location, job type, company, and add details about the position. The description section allows you to highlight the noteworthy details of your role in a brief informative paragraph. Since the section is short, highlight your achievements and the overview of what you did. The specific details are for your resume. Add anything relevant to your goals and career path. Include jobs that showcase your knowledge and experience of the industry.

LinkedIn Extras

The next sections cover education, organizations, licenses, and certifications where you can highlight what you studied. Specifically, you can list out major, minor, concentration within the field of the study section and then list out your activities and societies while there. Show off your well-rounded side and let employers or colleges see your interests. Keep this section brief and more of an ordered form. In the Organizations section, you can list the specifics, the purpose, and position. This is a great way for you to highlight your involvement. Similarly, the Honors and Awards section is where you can list out things you’ve won and where they occurred. Furthermore, if you’ve taken a separate class where you’ve gotten a certification such as being CPR trained or having a license in Excel you can place that here.

The Courses section is useful to utilize, as well. It allows employers to see if you’ve taken relevant coursework and how far you are in your degree program. Additionally, I recommend filling out the Skills section and taking the skills tests if you can. It allows you to show off your skills and what you are talented in.

I hope that this gives you an idea of how to develop your LinkedIn further to benefit you so that you can highlight yourself more proficiently and build your network.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

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What a weekend.

The first ever Pearson Campus Ambassador (PCA) Leadership Summit was held in Columbus, Ohio in April 2022. The goal of this meeting was to continue to build a top ambassador program that reshapes Pearson’s brand in the minds of students nationwide. The meeting also aimed to capitalize on the success of four outgoing student Regional Coordinators (RCs) by imparting their knowledge to the incoming leadership team.

Graduating PCAs Delaney Henson and Noah Myers made it their mission, beginning in November 2021, to demonstrate the impact an in-person meeting could have on the future success of the PCA program. They turned the once abstract idea into a set of concrete deliverables. Once final approval came through, the Student Programs team enlisted leaders from both Sales and Marketing teams to create sessions focused on sales growth in the Higher Education market.

Experience

The final product was truly an amazing experience. This summit allowed Pearson to bring together the heart of the PCA Program, which is composed of some of the best and brightest students from all over the country. It was a great opportunity to meet everyone in person. These are people I have worked with virtually for some time, so it was truly amazing getting to work in the same office as them and share meals together. The memories, laughs, and conversations I had with my fellow Pearson colleagues are something I will always remember.

The pandemic taught us that a lot can get done virtually, but the virtual work environment is not the same as meeting in person. The feeling is just different. There is a certain level of heartfelt sincerity that comes with being physically present. You can interact with your colleagues in a way that you can’t behind a screen. The connections made, the relationships created, and the friendships formed during this Leadership Summit were truly special.

I couldn’t think of a better way to share this experience than by having the voices of the other PCA attendees tell you.

“My favorite part of the Summit was getting to meet everyone for the first time. I felt so lucky to have the opportunity to form not only work relationships but real friendships with my fellow PCAs who I now look forward to working with even more.” – Rachel Schachter, California State University, Northridge

“This summit was truly a dream come true! I think my favorite part had to be the panel with the graduating RCs. I was able to learn so much from them in such a short period of time and the lessons I learned are ones that I will carry with me for the rest of my time at Pearson and beyond.” – Camryn Enloe, Oklahoma State University

“I've been working virtually at Pearson for two years and while I was looking forward to meeting everyone in person, I didn't think it would impact me SO much. We had so many incredible conversations, and I learned so many things about the other regions that will help me SO much as the RC Trainer. I think that we'll be able to make an even bigger impact moving forward.” – Laura Avellaneda, Kennesaw State University

“BEST TRIP EVER!! Getting to meet with my fellow RCs and Student Directors was so amazing. I learned so much from them professionally and personally, and it was truly an experience I will never forget. I left feeling so inspired, and I am so excited to implement everything that I learned.” – Ambyr Dack, Florida State University

“Every single individual at the Leadership Summit was super friendly and incredibly brilliant. I feel like I grew so much from talking to them in person.” – Saleem Abu-Tayeh, University of Virginia

“Nothing has been more impactful to me than having the opportunity to attend the Summit. The event allowed me not only to heighten my leadership and professional skills, but it allowed me to finally connect with so many of my peers that I have been working with virtually for months now.” – Taylor Falls, University of Alabama

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