IF YOU’RE STILL IN COLLEGE

These are the kind of skills you should be demanding to learn.

Dr. Robert D. Atkinson, head of a D.C. think tank, has laid out his gripes with the current American educational system. And he’s not complaining that recent grads don’t type fast enough or are bad at answering the phone (the latter of which is one of my personal complaints). Dr. Atkinson likes to give applicants little tests before he’ll bother giving them an interview. Apparently the results have been dismal.

The questions are pretty simple: “Go to this person’s bio online and write a three or four -sentence version of their bio for us to include in a conference packet,” or, “Enter these eight items in a spreadsheet and tell us the average for the ones that end in an odd number.”

It blows my mind that only 1 of 20 people could do this. (That’s 5% if you’re keeping track!)

Now of course, if you’re still in college, you’re only there to have fun and earn a degree, who cares what you actually learn there, right? I know, I know, you’re incredulous, “Psh, no. I’m here to learn. Seriously.” But sometimes you just want to get the work over with and do the very minimum to pass the class. Guess what, this is America and while a degree from a hoity-toity school might connect you to a huge alumni network, you still have to back up that degree with actual skills. Since you’re probably paying a ridiculous amount of money to actually LEARN things, maybe you should take a minute and make sure that at that fancy school of yours you’re actually learning how to write coherently, communicate, and work in a group. Also, get an internship while you’re at it.

Now I don’t agree with Dr. A. that there should be a national test of graduate skills. 4-year colleges are not entirely about training you for the job market. It’s called higher education for a reason and should be expanding your mind on many levels–in and out of the classroom. I think his proposal for a national survey of employers, so that graduates know what certain job skills are valued and what companies are looking for, is a fantastic idea. And the radical reorganization of colleges sounds great too, but much harder to implement. Then again, he’s the man with the think tank, so if anyone could do it…

But until he gets those implemented, I do think, and this was my personal experience, that while you’re learning about American Culture in the 1960s or World Religions or whatever, you should also be learning–AND PRACTICING– how to write coherent prose. Almost everyone will have to do that in his or her professional life. Even sometimes engineers.

Times Opinion Page: Any job better than no job at all?

I think this is a really great debate to be having and I’m glad the Times brought in a wide range of people to give their opinions on the topic. However, it’s mostly people waxing philosophical and theorizing about what employers think. I would have really liked to hear from some actual employers who actually do the hiring to hear what they have to say. If you’re a person who does the hiring, what do you think? Is any job better than no job?

Meanwhile, as someone who had a retail job, a dog-walking job and an internship–simultaneously–right out of college before finding full-time employment in my desired field, I think the argument that you should sit around waiting for the perfect entry-level job ‘if you can manage it’ is pretty off-base.

Economist Ken Goldstein argues that it’s ok to turn down a job if you are

someone who believes waiting will bring a much better opportunity than that being presented at the moment

Unless that job offer comes with a minimum time commitment, there is no reason you shouldn’t take it to gain workplace experience and pay your rent while still searching for that *perfect* job. Other potential benefits are insurance, 401k and unemployment benefits if you get laid-off.

Edwin Koc, who does research about these sorts of things, agrees with Goldstein that delaying employment to go to grad school is a great idea for recent graduates, because

added education will provide them with additional credentials that should make them more attractive to employers when they do enter the market.

In my research in the Real World, talking to both employers and peers who have advanced degrees, a Master’s degree without any WORK experience is not very useful, since what employers see is someone who is considered more expensive because of said degree, but is not yet worth the money because he or she doesn’t have any hands-on, real-world field experience.

Sociology professor Katherine S. Newman argues that having a job like retail or waiting tables will “scar” your resume. But which, my dear readers, do YOU think looks worse, working a marginal job and supporting yourself while looking for the right job to start your career, or having no job at all? I think the former at least makes you look like a go-getter and a hard worker, while the latter has the potential to shade you as lazy or overly-picky. Also, if it’s that embarrassing, leave it off your resume.

Research professor of psychology Jeffrey Jensen Arnett thinks that today’s graduates

are confident enough in the power of their diploma to hold out for a job they really want rather than taking the first opportunity that comes along. This seems not spoiled but wise.

Not to repeat myself, but a diploma by itself is not enough to make you competitive in today’s job market. Everyone has had internships and relevant summer jobs, so while your diploma is something to be proud of, you definitely shouldn’t see it as the golden ticket to The Best Job Ever.

I think Professor Jean Twenge has it dead-on when she quotes Stephen Colbert

Say ‘yes’ as often as you can. … ‘Yes’ is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say ‘yes.’

What all of these pundits who are telling us to say “No” are implying that our parents should let us linger at home for as long as possible while we search for that perfect job, or any job, as a new Huffington Post article is reporting as a trend. I would not be a self-sufficient human being today without the help and support of my parents, and they helped me pay rent for a couple of months after I graduated, but what happened to kicking the birds out of the nest? The hunger to prove myself (and, you know, actual hunger) was the driving force behind everything I have accomplished so far in my career, and probably life. It’s good to know that if I ever absolutely needed to, my parents would welcome me home, but they already helped me pay for college and we’re still paying off the loans, so I would feel so guilty going back on the family payroll.

What do you think of all this? Did you turn down your first job offer in the hopes a better one would come along? Is Mom/Dad/Grandma supporting you while you look for that perfect job? If you are one of the 80% (according to the Huffington article, though that number seems ridiculously high to me) of graduates this year living at home, would you be willing to take ANY job offer that would help you become a self-sufficient adult?