Seminole State College is launching BLAST, a practical, for-credit professional development series designed for employers seeking to upskill teams and for individuals looking to strengthen their résumés. The course runs during the second eight weeks of the Fall 2025 semester and offers both college credit and digital badging for a program cost of $100. BLAST (SSC course code BA2301) delivers weekly, skills-focused sessions led by SSC faculty, industry partners and community leaders.

Programs like BLAST are increasingly valuable as employers struggle to find people with the right skills and as job requirements change quickly. ManpowerGroup’s 2025 Talent Shortage survey reports that 74% of employers globally are struggling to find the skilled talent they need, underscoring the need for practical, work-relevant training.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2025 finds employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030, making continuous learning and targeted upskilling essential for both organizations and workers.

Learners and hiring managers also see value in short, targeted credentials that carry academic credit. Coursera’s 2025 Micro-Credentials Impact Report shows 85% of students who earned a microcredential say it improves job prospects and 91% believe it will help them succeed on the job, and employers widely agree that microcredentials strengthen a candidate’s application. In higher education, more than half of leaders report offering microcredentials for academic credit, signaling durable momentum for credit-bearing short courses that stack into degrees.

At the same time, evidence suggests “skills-first” hiring is still uneven in practice—one analysis cited by SHRM found that in 2023 fewer than 1 in 700 hires came through a truly skills-based process.

The Fall 2025 lineup includes the following sessions and presenters: Oct. 15, Team Management with Brad Schatzel, SSC Business Assistant Professor, and Cory Crabtee, Mayor of Seminole; Oct. 22, Leadership Essentials with Ray McQuiston, Fulfillment Center Director at Wrangler/Kontoor; Oct. 29, Present Like a Pro with Brad Schatzel and Digital Presence with Josh Hutton, SSC Director of Communication; Nov. 5, Professional Communication with Brad Schatzel and Cory Crabtee; Nov. 12, Sales with Brad Schatzel and Cory Crabtee; Nov. 19, Customer Service Excellence with Brad Schatzel; and Dec. 3 and Dec. 10, Human Resources Foundations with Kendi Cox, Human Resources Manager at Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative.

BLAST is built for employers who want turnkey, college-level training that maps directly to high-demand workplace skills and for professionals who want to add college credit and verified digital badges to their résumés.

To enroll, visit sscok.edu. For details or group enrollments, contact Talina Lee, Business and Industry Coordinator, at t.lee@sscok.edu or (405) 382-9546.