Summer is right around the corner, and if you're anything like me when I was in school,thinking about lounging in the sun for three months is one of the most prominent things in yourmind right now. It's important to let your mind and body relax after completing a school year ofhands-on, rigorous training and learning at Pickens Technical College, but you also have to thinkabout your skills and your career after graduation.PTC makes it easy to transfer knowledge from the classroom to the job, but it's up to youto learn and maintain the skills that will make your career. Summer vacation is the perfect timeto identify areas that you might not be as strong in within your field and focus on those weakpoints to round out your abilities.This is especially helpful and important if you're in the middle of a two-year program orif you plan on getting more education in your area later on. Maintaining your skills also helpsyou stay sharp for the fall, when Human Resources folks, hiring managers, and other companyofficials come back from their vacations ready to hire new blood.Remember elementary school, when the teachers or librarians would challenge you witha summer reading list? As much as I love reading, I didn't particularly care for the idea ofhomework over the summer. But there was a reason why teachers did this. They didn't want tohave to essentially start all over again with their students when they returned to school in the fall.The more reading their students did over their three-month vacation, the better prepared to learnthey were in the fall.In a specialized field like the one you're likely training for at PTC, staying sharp is evenmore important. Even with all the advantages you get from earning a certification at PTC orcompleting a program there, you'll still be competing with who-knows-how-many other job-seekers when it comes time to use your skills to start a career. So the sharper you are when itcomes time to hire people, the better chance you'll have of getting that job.If you're returning to school, either at PTC or another college, you'll be ready to learnand pick up where you left off if you spent time working on the weaker areas of your skills. Justlike the NBA players who shoot hundreds of shots by themselves in the gym, developing musclememory is highly important for many of the skills PTC teaches.There are many ways to approach this. Check in with your instructor to see if they haveany kind of summer availability in PTC shops or other hands-on learning environments. If you'rein the Automotive Technology Program, for example, see if you can get in for a few hours towork in the auto shop on campus. Another option is to look for internships or volunteeropportunities at organizations outside of PTC. Seek out a few of the companies you're likely toapply to and try to get a foot in the door, even if it's just meeting someone for coffee, that's avaluable connection.Don't work yourself too hard this summer, but remember that your skills could alwaysuse improvement, and everyone's competency needs to be maintained with practice. Summervacation is the perfect opportunity for this.
