Volume 1, Issue 2
Chabot College, Business Department
April 6, 2016
Chabot Means Business:
Part-Timers’ Newsletter
Business Awards Ceremony
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Business Advisory Meeting
2
Equity Initiative
3
Shark Tank @ Chabot
3
Meet Noureddine Lalami
4
Chabot College
Business Department
25555 Hesperian Blvd
Hayward, CA 94545
Phone 510.723.6974
Fax 510.723.6658
E-mail
dkalyagin@chabtocollege.edu
We’re on the Web!
www.chabotcollege.edu/BUS
by Dmitriy Kalyagin & Lynn Klein
It’s celebration time once
again for the Business
Subdivision! Lynn Klein is
leading the organization
of the fourth annual
Outstanding Student
Awards and Outreach
Ceremony for the 20152016 academic year. The
photo on the right is from
the last year’s ceremony.
This year, the crème de la
crème of our students will
be awarded in nine
general categories (best
tutor, business student,
transfer student, public
service, etc.), five areas of
specialization, and 11
specific classes. We will
also award two Business
scholarships provided by
the district’s foundation.
Business FT faculty will
pick the award recipients
from the nominations
provided. You will be
contacted if your nominee
is chosen with the
instructions on how to
invite them to the event.
Hopefully, many of you
submitted the nominations
to Lynn Klein by March
27th. In early April, the
We are also extending an
invitation to all of our parttime faculty to join us at the
celebration, which is
scheduled in the Event
Center (Room 722) on
Tuesday, May 10, from 35. We have a live band,
great food, and lots of happy
people on the agenda.
Please RSVP via email,
lklein@chabotcollege.edu,
not later than April 15, to let
us know if you will be
attending the festivities.
Campus Safety Information by Catherine Pinkas
Wonder what to do an
emergency? Our Campus
Safety Department has
put together a very helpful
website. How does our
notification system
work? Where are our
evacuation routes? Where
do I find the Emergency
Preparedness
Handbook? These
questions and many more
can be answered on the
Chabot
website: http://www.chabot
college.edu/safety/
Need more information?
Contact our Safety
Officer, Steve Lowery,
Campus Safety 7237417. He's also a great
speaker for classes!
Chabot Means Business
Page 2
Business Advisory Meeting by Jan Novak
“In the era of
LinkedIn, resumes are
becoming less important
and cover letters almost
of no importance.”
The annual Business
• Degree of interest
Adivsory meeting took
from candidate in
place on March 26, 2016.
the company,
Business leaders from
passion for the
various industries, as well
work, preparation
as Business faculty, the
for the interview
dean, and DECA students
participated in a lively
It was emphasized that
discussion.
the faculty need to build
The members pointed out awareness with the
that a two-year degree or students of the types of
certificate in Business
soft skills employers want
gives students a great
and how those are
foundation, great life skills assessed. An example is
that might enable them to the ability to “tell a story”
further their skills and
when answering an
education.
interview question.
The discussion focused
on the importance
personality, or soft skills in
hiring decisions. Several
members commented that
they hire for personality or
“fit” based on the belief
that they can teach great
candidates the
competencies they need
to perform in job.
Many participants
mentioned that in the era
of LinkedIn, resumes are
becoming less important
and cover letters almost of
no importance.
The Business faculty
asked the advisory board
which skills can be taught.
The consensus was that
problem solving, conflict
Key soft skills identified by management, teamwork
members included:
skills can be developed
based on HOW the
• Fit with company classes are taught. It
culture
doesn’t have to be the
• Creativity
content of the class, but
• Problem-solving
just assigning team
• Risk-taking
projects and case analysis
• “Likability”
and written work.
• Resourcefulness
• “Life experience” At the end of the meeting,
the members were asked
• Work ethic
to identify one “soft skill”
• Oral and written
that they would
communication
skills
recommend Chabot
equips students with.
The input included:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Communication
and customer
service
Work ethic
Discipline
Willingness to
contribute to the
success of the
organization
Ethics
Interviewing, by
conducting
industry or
occupationspecific mock
interviews with
members of the
community
Reputation
management/lea
ving a good
digital footprint
Resume skills
Conflict
resolution
Accountability
Problem-solving
Networking
How to tell your
story
One member
summarized all of the
above as “giving your
students poise and selfconfidence”.
Page 3
Chabot Means Business
Equity Initiative by Jan Novak
This semester, The
Business department is
beginning an effort to
better understand the
causes and potential
solutions to a troubling
gap in African-American
student success in
Business courses vs. the
overall student success.
For the college overall,
that gap is about 10
points.
appreciate any theories you
might have to help guide
this work.
The gap is almost equally
split between nonsuccess (students earn a
D or F in the class) and
withdrawal.
Jan Novak and Miguel
Colon lead the initiative.
Please contact them at
jnovak@chabotcollege.edu
and
mcolon@chabotcollege.edu
with any ideas and/or
resources.
The department explored
many theories, but
That success gap is over
haven’t yet found a clear
20 points, with Africanexplanation. The
American success rates in
department welcomes
Business courses at
your participation in this
40.6% vs. the overall
work, and would
success rate of 61.1%.
Shark Tank @ Chabot College by Miguel Colon
Chabot’s Elevator Pitch
Competition is often
compared to the Shark
Tank, which makes sense
because the formats are
similar.
Chabot’s competition
features the ten best
students from the
Entrepreneurship
program, who all pitch
their ideas to a panel of 5
“Sharks”. And just like with
the popular TV show, our
students are pitching for
real money! But, that is
where the similarities end.
The big difference is that
Chabot’s event is a
competition where only
the top three receive
prizes.
Chabot’s competition is
designed to do two things:
First, to showcase the
best of the best. As many
as 50 students compete in
a pre-pitch class for one of
ten spots in the full
competition. The prepitch competition takes
place during
Entrepreneurship-16,
Making the Pitch, a class
designed specifically to
help students prepare for
the competition.
Second, the Elevator Pitch
Competition helps prepare
our aspiring
Entrepreneurship students
for the real world where
the “Sharks” are more
likely to bite than help.
While the “Sharks” in
Chabot’s competition are
heavyweights in their own
right, (investment bankers,
lawyers, angel investors,
college presidents), they are
there to help and guide our
students as much as judge
them.
Chabot College’s 5th Annual
Elevator Pitch Competition
will be held on Monday,
May 16th in room 722, 6:008:30 pm. Both you and your
students are invited!
Attending the pitch could
also be a great extra credit
opportunity for many
Business classes.
For more information,
contact Miguel Colon at
mcolon@chabotcollege.edu
. Also, guide your students
to the Entrepreneurship
program’s website at
http://www.chabotcollege.ed
u/entr/.
“As many as 50
students compete in a
pre-pitch class for of the
top ten spots in the full
Elevator Pitch
Competition.”
Page 4
Chabot Means Business
The Chabot Business department serves over 3,000 students per year. We offer
classes in Accounting, General Business, Management, Marketing, Entrepreneurship,
Healthcare Management, and other areas of Business Administration.
Our innovative programs, flexible schedules (classes are offered online, on campus at
different times, and in hybrid format), and dedicated faculty serve students’ needs of
Chabot community. Our programs prepare students for transfer to four-year
universities. We also constantly update our curriculum and work with the industry
professionals to meet the growing employers' demands for workers with two-year
degrees and certificates.
We host the 2nd most popular transfer degree, AS-Transfer in Business Administration,
most popular AS degrees (Accounting, Business-General, Business-Marketing,
Business-Management), as well as degrees in Retail Management, Entrepreneurship,
nine certificates in Entrepreneurship, and 13 certificates in various areas of Business.
Meet Faculty: Noureddine Lalami
Prior to working in
education, Professor
Lalami worked as a
marketing manager for a
start-up Internet company
where he was in charge
of developing marketing
strategies to promote the
company's overall
operations.
Chabot College
Business Department
25555 Hesperian Blvd
Hayward, CA 94545
Phone 510.723.6974
Fax 510.723.6658
E-mail
dkalyagin@chabtocollege.edu
We’re on the Web!
Noureddine Lalami has
been teaching at Chabot
since the fall of 2006. He
teaches a full range of
business courses mostly
online. Noureddine also
occasionally teaches on
campus classes, which
he really enjoys because
of the in-person
interaction and
discussions with
students.
www.chabotcollege.edu/BUS
Long before joining
Chabot as an instructor,
Noureddine took a couple
of classes here. His
educational credits also
include an MS in
Educational Technology
Leadership from CSU,
East Bay (2005), a Single
Subject Teaching
Credential from National
University (2005), an
MBA from SFSU (2001),
and a BS in International
Business from SFSU
(1999).
Noureddine is married;
his wife, Hind, is a nurse.
Interestingly, she
graduated from Chabot
College with an AA
degree and a Medical
Assistant Certificate. The
couple has an 18-monthold toddler who is very
active and takes up a lot
of their time.
When not teaching,
Professor Lalami enjoys
traveling, reading
business and technology
publications, baking, and
learning new technology
skills.