Most Important Skills for a Program Coordinator at Mt. San Antonio College
Yolanda, a Program Coordinator, emphasizes patience and perseverance in dealing with student responsiveness as crucial skills. A deep understanding of institutional systems, like the "navigate" system, coupled with compassionate relationship-building and the ability to share stories to alleviate student anxieties are also key to success in the role.
Patience, Perseverance, Understanding of Systems, Relationship Building, Compassion
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Yolanda Haro
Program Coordinador
Mt. San Antonio College
UCLA 1990
SIT, Master’s degree
Political Science, American Studies
Education
Operations and Project Management
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Immigrant, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Patience and perseverance in communicating with students
2. Understanding and navigating institutional systems
3. Compassion and relationship-building skills
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
Patience is essential because students don't always get back to us. You try to reach out to them to provide help, but they don't always respond. So, patience is one key quality.
Perseverance is also important; it means being willing to call them again, reach out, and follow up. I think understanding the process is also really important, understanding the systems and knowing how to use them.
In this case, we're talking about a new system called Navigate, which came to our institution about three years ago, but not everyone is trained on it. We're working on training everyone to use it and will be rolling it out campus-wide this fall. That's a lot of work in progress right now.
So, learning the language of the system, understanding how it works, and building relationships are key. This, along with a compassionate heart when speaking to students, is crucial. You want to make them feel that you're trying to help them and not alienate them.
A lot of compassion and understanding, sharing stories with them so they can normalize their fear, anxiety, and the imposter phenomenon, is also really key.
Advizer Personal Links
Impactoleadership.com