11/8/2009 - SetFocus successfully places 39 candidates in one month!!!

Most people who know me, know that I work as a full-time contract trainer and courseware author for SetFocus, LLC.
SetFocus is a Microsoft Gold Partner that provides learning solutions and career placement services in the Microsoft technology space.

I've been working with them since early 2007, focusing in their Business Intelligence and SQL Server curriculum areas.

SetFocus offers career placement services, which is the subject of this post. Over the last several months, even amidst all the economic problems and challenges, the SetFocus career placement people have been doing an incredible job of placing students in different I.T. positions. These positions have been for software/Business Intelligence Developers, Data Analysts, DBAs, etc.

Well, just a few days ago, I learned that SetFocus placed 39 candidates in October 2009. You can read the press release here.

I know a number of the 39 candidates, because they were students of mine. So believe me, this isn't hype, not one little bit (and those who know me well, know that I'm not one to promote sales hype) - this is the result of some truly remarkable effort and dedication.

I play a role, one of many roles in the SetFocus process, and I'm very proud to do so. We're all raised to believe that business "is business", and therefore shouldn't be personal. However, the people who promote this concept have overlooked something: business isn't conducted by robots and machines, but by human beings. And what could be greater than giving other people a hand to help them get jobs (or better jobs) to support themselves and their families?

From 2004 to 2008, I penned The Baker's Dozen series in CoDe magazine. Job demands and new family demands (now that I'm a daddy, haha) have kept me from writing, but I still think in terms of 13. :)

And so, in celebration of SetFocus pulling off this impressive achievement, here is a special Baker's Dozen: 13 reasons (in no order of importance) why SetFocus could be right for you

1. They utilize video-conferencing for their training. It's normal to have a class of 12-15 people from Seattle to Vancouver to Phoenix to Atlanta. So just because you live three time zones away doesn't mean you have to travel to their corporate location in New Jersey to attend training - they'll come to you. At least 80% of our students participate via our GRID online training system.
   
   When I started with them, I admit I was skeptical about this - but I realized very quickly that their infrastructure for remote training is amazing. After the first day, you realize just how close it is to a "single physical classroom". Click here to learn more about their online training.
2. Their career services/job placement people bust their butts. You can't pull off those kinds of placement numbers without some serious hard work and skill.
3. The general curriculum has a substantial amount of hands-on. There are full project weeks to apply what you've learned.
4. SetFocus has a growing network of business partners, and has been on the Inc. 5000 list.
5. They've been around since 1997. Now, to some people, sheer longevity numbers don't mean very much. At one time I might have agreed - but the last 8 years have taught us that the economic survivors have been far more than just lucky or fortunate.
6. I've worked as a developer/consultant in this industry since 1987. Many times I've met people who graduated from technical schools that claimed they taught "XYZ". Well, I worked with them long enough to be rather suspicious about technical schools in general. All my life, even when I was a contractor and an author, I wanted to be a teacher - and swore that if I ever had a position of influence in a technical school, I'd do things very differently. Well, here I am, as a full-time trainer and curriculum author, and every day for the last 3 years that's been my goal - to arm students to the teeth with information about software tools and how to use them in different business application settings.
7. The trainers and technical support staff are incredibly dedicated - these people are almost constantly putting in time in the evenings and weekends to help students.
8. We don't stand still. We often receive feedback from alumni on ways to improve the program, on content we should add in the future.
9. We prepare people for technical interviews. Several of our instructors have previously been on both sides of the interview table.
10. SetFocus is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner for Learning Solutions.
11. We will challenge you - we will throw a large amount of content on your plate - we will push you - sometimes you will love us for it, and some days you won't love us for it. Yes, that is the price of success. But as much as we possibly can, we are here to help. (Remember that old line - if something were easy, everyone would be doing it!)
12. The sales reps/placement people will do everything they can to help people get enrolled in the classes that are right for them. On a regular basis, reps will ask people from the training team to talk to potential candidates, either to answer questions, address concerns, etc. The reps will stay in touch with you throughout the training, whether you take a 1 week class or a 2 week class or the full-blown 10 week Master's program.
13. The classes are NOT cookie-cutter style classes. You will get perspectives from people who have used these tools in production.

Now, there are more than 13 reasons why SetFocus could be right for you. But if you are looking for training in different Microsoft technologies, hopefully this will help you in your decision-making.

So again, SetFocus (and to the 39 students), congratulations on this huge achievement. Two thumbs up!

KG