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Business Skills Stay Sharp With Cutting-Edge Corporate Training
By Gretchen Cain
 “Our business model is to create business solutions that reflect our business community needs.” -Anita George
“Companies must have efficient and effective methods to understand today's and tomorrow's business solutions, and then proactively implement these into their organizations.” -Tina O’Daniels.
 Just as seismologists track the tremors of an earthquake, director Tina O’Daniels and her staff at St. Petersburg College’s Corporate Training headquarters keep careful watch for vibrations that signal change in the workforce. At the EpiCenter, an impressive high-tech facility in Largo, where the program has been housed since 2005, curriculum is examined continually to ensure it is meeting the needs of the business community.
Teaching to the job market is a challenge, because no one really knows what the most lucrative careers will be in the future. It is an advantage to those enrolled in training classes that instructors are business people themselves who have an understanding of industry-driven trends and cycles. Graduates of the “school of hard knocks” themselves, they are well-qualified to give students the much-needed career edge by updating their skills in technology, and qualifying them for licensing and further professional development. With the goal of steering area employees toward career advancement, O’Daniels collects data from small companies and large corporations alike regarding the qualifications managers are looking for in an employee. She listens carefully to their predictions for future growth in job areas and also layoffs.
O’Daniels, the “trainers’ trainer,” has a Master’s in Business Administration degree and is a doctoral student with the University of Florida with a concentration in Higher Education Administration. She is knowledgeable in the techniques used to deflect problems in workplace environments and instill cohesiveness among managers and employees. O’Daniels works with employers throughout Tampa Bay to find lasting solutions, drawing on her 20 years of experience, while soliciting input from staff, and on occasion, fellow members of professional affiliations, such as the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). The Collaborative Labs, a series of innovatively designed rooms at the EpiCenter, are at her disposal to facilitate discussion and decision-making.
 “Companies must have efficient and effective methods to understand today's and tomorrow's business solutions, and then proactively implement these into their organizations,” said O’Daniels. “Do you build your own infrastructure or create a partnership? And if you partner, what will be the criterion used for selection?” Trust, value, long-term relationships, global, local, capable, and a proven track-record come to mind. St. Petersburg College Corporate Training has all of this and more,” she said.
Anita George, in charge of Program Development and Marketing, assists with delivering innovative, customized and client-specific business solutions, which includes the compilation of statistics in order to track the preferences of students. “Our business model is to create business solutions that reflect our business community needs,” said George, who has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Florida State University, and, as a former employee of AT&T and Paradyne, is a 20 year-veteran of corporate America.
One of the first “needs” the Corporate Training program fulfills is convenience. Since students are working people, course offerings are scheduled for evening hours and on weekends. Taught at the training center, as well as company locations, courses are accessible. Additionally, programs are innovative since students have the option to take most courses online (anytime, anywhere, using any delivery system) or in the classroom setting. The largest group of students enrolled is baby boomers, with Generation X (anyone born from 1961 to 1981) following closely on their heels. Being more comfortable with the use of technology overall, the Gen X group typically leads the enrollments in Online courses, whereas Baby Boomers are still more traditional classroom learners.
Every student is encouraged to embrace technology, since the majority of today’s jobs require some knowledge of computers and accessories. Each classroom is equipped with top-of-the line computers and resources. The students/instructor ratio is kept low, with the average class size being 10 to 20 students.
Computer Microsoft classes, especially Excel, fill up quickly. George predicts that with Office 2007 there will be a surge in enrollment to keep up with the new features. Fiber Optics, Business Continuity, Supervisor certificate program and Lean/Six Sigma are some of the Corporate Training program’s newer offerings that are hot right now.
 Courses that allow students to become licensed professionals are very consistent in response to the need for business people to keep current with their licenses. The market place tends to impact new licensing as well. For example, there was a wave of enrollment in Real Estate and Mortgage Broker pre-licensing and certification five years ago, when residential and commercial transactions were high. The decline of transactions over the past few years has shifted the focus to continuing education classes. Certification in construction-related professions has gone through much the same cycle.
According to George, the Corporate Training program’s greatest success is its base of returning customers. “We have never lost a corporate client and most of our business is referral business,” she said. George is optimistic about the future because of a very talented and involved advisory board, which represents diverse segments of the business community. They are charged with reviewing and guiding the program as it moves forward. Returning customers include government entities, such as Pinellas County Government, City of Clearwater, City of St. Petersburg and PSTA; and companies such as Honeywell, Linvatec, Nielson Media, Transitional Optical, CSDA (Concrete Sawing and Drilling), Bright House, St. Petersburg Times Holding, Evatone, Raytheon and Dynamet.
George said the Corporate Training program has come a long way from its inception in 1985, when a handful of computer courses were offered on weekends. Response from the business community remains positive. The principal of supply and demand for life-changing information, delivered effectively, has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
For more information on St. Petersburg College’s Corporate Training Program & Business Solutions, call (727)341-4445 or www.spcollege.edu/ct
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