Word Travels Fast in a Small City...

Charleston: The capitol city of West Virginia. While there are many things to mention when it comes to our reputation, we can be sure that one word would not be included. That word is “BIG”.

We are not a big state and Charleston is not a big city, by any means. With this means a few things…

First, if you have a good reputation, it spreads quickly. Whether it is the West Virginia Junior College’s reputation for providing quality, employable students to area employers or if it is an individual student’s reputation in their field of study, the point is, word travels fast in a small city.

What does this mean?

We will start by looking at the school’s reputation. We send out students during their final twelve weeks enrolled to complete externships at local facilities in their field. Students must meet a required number of hours with hands-on experience, but in addition to this, there are rules they must follow. These rules include specific items such as dress code, conduct, behavior, attitude, professionalism, etc.

Why do we make your professional image such an important part of your externship? The answer is simple. All it takes is one ‘bad apple’ sent to an externship for someone to tell someone else to tell someone else, so-on, and so-on to ruin our reputation.

For example, if we send one Medical Assistant student with a bad attitude and poor attendance to a Doctor’s Office for their externship and they get removed from the facility, this is what happens: The doctor goes golfing with his other doctor buddies that weekend and talks about the horrible student that WEST VIRGINIA JUNIOR COLLEGE sent them.

When this type of scenario happens, what does that do to the reputation? Well, the next time that particular doctor’s friend is hiring for a Medical Assistant and YOUR resume shows up with “WEST VIRGINIA JUNIOR COLELGE” listed under your education section, you can put your best bet on the employer throwing it in the trash.
It takes one bad student to ruin the reputation of the entire school and while we make efforts every day to improve our reputation and to show that we produce the best students for hire, it is difficult when students aren’t on their “A-GAME” when they enter their externships.

In addition to the effect a bad performance at your externship or first job does to the school’s reputation, you can also take a look at the individual reputation for yourself that you are ruining. If you quit a job without notice or perform poorly at an externship, you are burning your bridges with potential references for the future.
If you leave a position under bad circumstances, this greatly affects your future for employment. As mentioned before…we live in a small city. Everyone knows everyone and just like the example above regarding the externship, the same goes for your name. Word gets around quickly and you want to make sure both your name and your school are on the high end of those words…not the bottom.

So, give your name and your school a GOOD reputation in the Charleston area. Have excellent attendance, a good attitude, be dependable and show the skills that you have learned as a student at West Virginia Junior College so we can build a professional and positive reputation together.

-JT