Jason Seckel dropped out of high school in his junior year and worked in food service to pay the bills. Now he has his sights on a career path with more growth – he hopes to leverage a certificate into a job in the booming field of Purchasing and Supply Chain Management.
Seckel has worked at Whole Foods Market since 2008, and is currently employed as a Buyer for the company. “I realized a few years ago I may be heading towards a dead-end, career wise,” said Seckel. “My good friend, Robert Light, used to work for Shoreline Community College and encouraged me to earn my GED there. I decided to go for it.”
He took night classes to prepare for the GED exams and succeeded in passing them in 2019. After that accomplishment, Seckel decided he could do more. “I wanted to build the additional skills and credentials that would enable me to leverage my existing experience when pursuing higher levels of employment.”
Now, he’s earned the Purchasing and Contract Management Certificate of Completion and is working toward earning a Purchasing and Supply Chain Certificate of Proficiency.
“I was not entirely sure I could handle the workload mostly because I did not know what to expect,” he said. “But after settling in, and really planning out my study time, I was able to work a full-time job and take two classes each quarter.”
Seckel said he found the program challenging but manageable. It helped that the teacher “was supportive and responsive to any questions that I had along the way, offering thoughts and analysis to completed assignments.”
It also didn’t hurt that Seckel is fascinated by the field. “It is just so interesting to think about the complexity involved with the movement of goods and how important operational systems are to be successful in its efficiency,” he said. “Plus, I am an ultra-organized systems person.”
Job prospects in the field of Purchase and Supply Chain Management have been on the rise for the past several years, but the recent COVID-19 pandemic has brought the need for qualified practitioners even more to the fore.
“This type of work is becoming an important part of organizations’ ability to remain competitive and profitable,” said Seckel. “With the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, we all are seeing firsthand the effects of broken supply chains and capacity constraints.”
His advice to anyone heading back to school after some time off? “Stay organized and take your time with the reading assignments to absorb the information.
Also, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact the instructor.”
He’s excited to see where his new credentials will take him, but hopes a job with long-term growth potential is on the horizon.
The Purchasing and Supply Chain Management program at Shoreline has options for a range of certificate types with varying lengths of study and is one of the only programs of its kind in the Puget Sound area. Courses can be taken completely online. Learn more about the program.
Unemployed or low-income workers may be eligible to have their tuition for the program completely paid for through Workforce Education funding.