Colorado Tech Online Students and Alumni
Meet Peter Gould
BSBA with a concentration in Management
Now His Résumé Matches His Skills
You'd think Pete Gould would list education at the top of his résumé now that he actually has something to put there, but he doesn't; his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Management from CTU (graduated May 2006) is tucked discreetly near the bottom. Even so, it serves its purpose.
The self-taught techno-wiz and founder and CEO of Intervale Group, a motion picture, television, and video production and postproduction company whose clients include JP Morgan/Chase Bank, Bayer Pharmaceutical, The Travel Channel, and Nokia, Pete had previously left education off his résumé, hoping clients and business associates wouldn't notice the omission. "But sometimes they would. I undoubtedly missed out on some projects because I didn't have a college degree. Television and movie production is a very white-collar sort of business and the expectation is that the people in charge—which I was as the CEO of my own company—have a degree. Now I can confidently state my education level. It's a much more comfortable position for me to be in."
And not only did his lack of degree lose Pete clients. Because of his extensive background in and knowledge of video and television, Pete has been asked—several times—to be an adjunct instructor at a college or university. "But the offers were always withdrawn when I had to reveal I didn't have a degree. No university wants to send its student body the message degrees are unimportant. That's fixed now too though."
While being automatically discounted from certain jobs solely because he couldn't list a college degree on his résumé was a big reason Pete went back to school, it wasn't the only reason. "I really wanted to learn. After I had founded The Intervale Group, I watched as the last production company I had worked for as an employee went bankrupt because the owner didn't have enough of a business education to understand how to run a business. I didn't want to make the same mistakes he did."
Pete perhaps appreciated the real-world slant of Colorado Tech Online's classes even more than the average student. "I took things from classes and could apply them right to decisions I was making and things I was doing at my own company. I can't think of a better approach to learning."
Now with his degree, the self-confidence having a degree brings, and access to CTU's alumni network—Pete is excited his CTU alum friends are scattered across the country—Pete is ready for The Intervale Group to go to the next level.
"I have absolutely no doubt that having my degree has already increased the number of positive responses I've gotten from business proposals. I could have gotten to this point quicker if I had gotten my degree years ago; rising through the ranks like I did was a much, much slower process than it would have been with a degree. There's nothing holding me back now though."
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