STUDENT SKILL SETS
Our students can do almost anything! While we focus on training students on the eight skill sets described below, we're constantly adding new skills based on the needs of the local small business community. If you need a student to do something not listed below, just contact Employment Program Chair Sammy Cortez (scortez18@csub.edu, 661-343-8629) or Faculty Advisor Jeremy Woods (jwoods7@csub.edu, 213-400-0829) and we'll find students who can help you!
Web & Application Development
Students can build a website for a company that doesn’t have one or add new pages/content/etc. to an existing website. Engineering students can also develop a variety of software applications.
Customer Acquisition & Guerrilla Marketing
Students can go out and “sell” to prospect for and acquire new customers or do social media marketing, word of mouth outreach, brochure & poster development and distribution, and other advertising activities for a company.
Patent, Trademark, and/or Copyright Research & Paperwork
Students can do internet research to see if there are existing products/services/ images like the one a company wants to register and then fill out paperwork to register a patent, copyright, or trademark. This minimizes the amount of money the company has to pay an intellectual property lawyer or paralegal. The lawyer just needs to “bless” the work the students did, rather than having to perform all the time-consuming legwork.
Competitive Research
Students can do internet research and talk on the phone/in person with various people to find out information about a company’s competitors. With databases like Reference USA and the Experian Commercial Risk Database that we have access to through CSUB, students can find quite a bit of information about even the smallest competitor.
Industry Research
Students can do internet research to identify and summarize interesting information about the trends, opportunities, technology, and changes impacting a company’s industry. There are GREAT reports out there from First Research, Marketline, Reference USA, and others that contain really interesting, value-added information. However, most small business owners don’t have the time to search around and read through this material. The reports can also be expensive if you don’t have a subscription to these data vendors like we do at CSUB.
Administration & Best Practices Research
Students can do internet research to find “best practices” that a company could be using in their management, IT systems, operations, HR, contracts, and/or legal issues or they can actually DO administrative tasks for the company. Again, there is GREAT information out there on new/easier/cheaper ways to do things. However, most small business owners don’t have the time to go searching around for interesting information about “how to build a better mousetrap” in their day-to-day operations.
Accounting & Financial Analysis
Students can prepare a variety of financial statements, analyses, and budget/financial projections for the company.
Capital & Resource Acquisition
Students can do the legwork to identify new potential investors or perform due diligence research for a company. They can also conduct research and fill out paperwork for grant applications.
