Liberal Education and Career Preparation

Employers have a very clear idea of the types of skills they are looking in prospective employees. Were you to search the internet for lists of such skills, you would find that employers throughout the world are pretty much in agreement about what they are seeking. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has surveyed employers and found that job applicants need the following skills in order to be competitive:

Communication skills
Strong work ethic
Teamwork skills
Initiative
Interpersonal skills
Problem-solving skills
Analytical skills
Flexibility/adaptability
Computer skills
Technical skills
Detail-oriented
Organizational skills

Michigan State University's Collegiate Employment Research Institute has developed its own list of "12 Essentials for Success." They are as follows:

1. Working in a Diverse Environment
Learning from people who are different from you - and recognizing your commonalities B is an important part of your education and essential preparation for the world you will join.

2. Managing Time and Priorities
Managing how you spend your time, and on what, is essential in today's world. Learn how to sort priorities so you stay in control of your life.

3. Contributing to a Team
In the workplace each person's contribution is essential to success. Having the ability to work collaboratively with others is vital. This includes identifying individual strengths (yours and others) and harnessing them for the group building consensus, knowing when to lead and when to follow and appreciating group dynamics.

4. Navigating Across Boundaries
Life is filled with boundaries - good and bad. Discover how to avoid the boundaries that become barriers so you don't hamper the ability to collaborate with other people.

5. Acquiring Knowledge
Learning how to learn is just as important as the knowledge itself. No matter what your future holds, you'll continue to learn every day of your life.

6. Thinking Critically
Developing solid critical thinking skills means you'll be confident to handle autonomy, make sound decisions, and find the connection between opportunities you have to learn and how those opportunities will affect your future.

7. Performing with Integrity
It only takes one bad instance to destroy years of good faith and good relationships. It's important to develop a code of ethics and principles to guide your life.

8. Developing Professional Competencies
The end of college is the beginning of a new education. Build on what you already know and keep learning new skills - your job will challenge you to grow and develop in ways you haven't imagined yet.

9. Communicating Effectively
Developing listening, interpreting, and speaking skills is just as important as reading and writing.

10. Solving Problems
You may only have thought about problem B solving when you're faced with a crisis. Understand the process and mind-set of successful problem-solving and you'll more easily handle the bigger challenges that come your way.

11. Balancing Work and Life
You've got a lot to accomplish in limited time. How do you get it all done and still stay sane? The key is maintaining balance among the different parts of your life.

12. Embracing Change
Just about every aspect of life is in a constant state of change. Sometimes it may seem that no sooner do you get caught up than you have to start all over again. No matter how you feel about change, you have to learn to deal with it.

Michigan State has prepared a very useful booklet that offers a lot of practical and valuable suggestions for achieving these twelve essential skills.

So these are the sorts of things that employers say they are seeking in prospective employees. They are "people skills" that should help you in anything you do, either as a member of the community or as an employee. Please note that these are not rigidly discipline-specific or vocationally oriented skills. Now take a look at a chart describing the differences between high school and college. If you are still wondering why college needs to be so different from high school and why colleges and universities do things the way we do, think about what employers say they are seeking in prospective employees, and ask yourself which environment, high school or college, is best suited to preparing you for the work world.

You may well have been very successful in high school, but what worked for you in high school is just not enough when it comes to being successful in college. What's more, it is just not enough when it comes to having what employers want. You may well be very comfortable and familiar with doing what it took to be successful in high school, and you may want to keep doing it because it got you where you are today. But if you give some thought to what employers expect to see in prospective employees, it should be clear that the approach taken by colleges and universities is much more relevant to your having a successful career. As time goes on, you will see not just that college and high school are different, but why college is different and why this difference will really help you to prepare for the career of your choice.

So what do you do? Do that internet search if you like. You will find lots of lists of skills that employers hope to see in prospective employees. You will also find that these lists are in substantial agreement as to what employers want, whether they be in India, Great Britain, Canada, or the United States. What should all this tell you? That if you want to be competitive for the job of your choice, you need to acquire the skills listed above. You can major in whatever you like, but you definitely need to acquire these professional skills.

Now what? If you have these skills you still need to demonstrate to employers that you really do have these skills. Now is the time to think carefully about how to get yourself where you want to end up. What jobs, what academic and co-curricular activities will position you so that, by graduation, you will have these skills, feel confident in your possession of these skills, and be able to show prospective employers that you are ready for prime time?

Remember. It is not enough merely to select a particular major and assume that all will be well. Picking a major that matches well with your interests is very important. But do keep in mind that, in addition to selecting a major, you still need to be very deliberate and reflective about acquiring these professional skills. You can be as expert as you like in your major, but you need to show employers that you have what they are seeking. Notice that they didn't mention picking a particular major!

One last point. A college education is not a matter of mere vocational training. Your teachers want you to be a well rounded, well educated person. And you should want this for yourself as well. Now the things employers say they are looking for just happen to be key elements of what it takes to be an educated person in the 21st century. So there is really no conflict, no gap between being a liberally educated person and being a person well prepared for a successful career.