Invest in Your Success – Backpack to Briefcase Workshop: TOP Jags Workshop

Top Jags week was last week here at the Bluff. To celebrate the week, the organization put together a large variety of events and workshops for Southern University to participate in.
Top Jags partnered with major companies such as Capital One, Baker Hughes, Boeing, and Care South to sponsor these affairs. Students were urged to come out and seize the moment for some excellent opportunities to network and learn.
Capital One held an event here at P.B.S. Pinchback Hall on Tuesday named, “Invest in Your Success- Backpack to Briefcase Workshop”. The workshop began with students being split into groups and introducing themselves to the representatives from the Capital One team, as well as other Southern students as a slight icebreaker. The Capital One representatives then explained the focus of the event was to explain the importance of certain traits for being successful in the workforce and behavioral interviews.
Students learned about the significance of phrasing past experiences and how it can help to showcase preparedness for the workforce. The representatives allowed the participants to have the opportunity to practice answering open ended questions that they might experience in a real world interview.
When asked about why SU should have these workshops, Top Jags advisor, Heather Tanner, stated that “The workshop was to give students opportunities and assist in cultivating their skills. Internships, job placement, scholarships, and sharpening their soft skills. This was the first many years of support with Capital One.”
The traits discussed during the workshop were collaboration, time management, adaptability, leadership, good work ethic, and project management. These skills are known as soft skills. Soft skills are traits that a core skills that can be used and are necessary for any type of profession. Each group of students had to state and create examples of where they have seen these skills showcased in their daily life and the representatives presented moments where they had used the skills in the workforce.
“I really liked that we were able to hear from the representatives real world examples of using the skills we discussed,” explained junior computer science student Kennedy Browne. Browne continues to say, ”You always talk about these skills but it was cool to hear how they actually help once we all graduate and try to get jobs.”
This event was one of the many that Top Jags was holding in partnership with Capital One. Capital One representatives stated that students could create a network with them by adding their respective Linkedin accounts. Also students could ask about any upcoming opportunities to work with the company.
Ashley Brice, event coordinator for HBCU/HSI colleges at Capital One disclosed, “We actually do these workshops because a lot of times there isn’t enough resources and sometimes people don’t get the opportunity to build on these skills and network. So it’s very important for us to come and do these workshops to invest in your success, invest in yourself and we actually want you to ultimately come and work for Capital One but that’s not the end all be all.” Brice then stated, “We want to support you and have you be able to go anywhere so you could feel confident and that is why we love to do this. We’ll be back next year.”
Southern students, look out for future workshops or events with Capital One and take the time to invest in your success.