You say there are 10 things employers want you to learn in college. Are they stuff like calculus and literature, or are these more general skills?
They’re general skills that you should have no matter what your job, from being a doctor to being anything else. They’re not technical.
What kind of skills are you talking about?
It ranges from your own self-organization — I call it taking responsibility — to physical fitness. Communicating in writing and verbally. Influencing people. Gathering information. Using quantitative tools. Solving problems. It ranges across the board.
What’s the most important?
The first is taking responsibility — the ability to motivate yourself and organize your time and money. If you can’t do that, then you can’t really practice and develop the other skills. As far as importance, I would say working directly with people — building good relationships, working in teams. I’m a big fan of Excel. I like to tell my students, ‘Excel is life.’ It’s an interesting skill area, because you wouldn’t normally think of it as being applicable to a range of things — but it is. No matter what you do, you need spreadsheets.
Are college students having a problem developing these skills in an environment many people think caters to a sense of entitlement?
Students think a college degree will get them a job, but a college degree and four quarters will get you a dollar. High grades just don’t do it. A lot of kids go to college as a very expensive summer camp. Those kids are hopeless. Those who want to develop something should be focusing on skills. And skills are not just taught in the classroom; in fact, they’re more taught outside the classroom.
What are these outside-the-classroom forums?
Getting along with your roommates teaches you to get along with people. [So does] getting involved in student activities. Even your job — let’s say you’re in food services, and you work hard and you show interest, you become a manager. Then that manager title goes on your resume, and you’re more likely to be hired. Think of college as four years of activity to develop skills both inside and outside the classroom.
Are these skills so important that they obviate whatever someone’s major might be?
A major really isn’t important as long as you build these skills. A major isn’t that critical unless you’re going into accounting or something more technical.
How do you signal to employers that you have these skills?
Putting them on your resume doesn’t count. What counts is giving them experiences on your resume and in your interview that demonstrate skill. For example, if you want to say you’re a good writer, you should have on your resume “reporter for the college newspaper for two years.” It’s the experiences you have that demonstrate the skills. Saying you have the skills is useless.