Things Kids Have to Know Today

This past week I read 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College by Bill Coplin. I was curious to see what was being advised to college graduates today as opposed to what was expected when I got out of college a couple of…oh…some years ago. Now, when I graduated, I was not aware of any advice offered like those being offered today because we did not have the Internet back then. I read magazines like Time magazine or Newsweek. Back then, Wall Street Journal was the most often mentioned national newspaper; I was not was well aware of the New York Times. I wanted to see what I need to know today that was not expected of me back when I graduated. Unsurprisingly, there are a couple of new things to know.

So in this post, I am going to briefly compare what is expected today versus what I think was expected back when I graduated. I won’t go into all of the details of the book such as the recommended courses to take and suggested extracurricular activities to pursue to pick up those required skills – you can read the book for that. Instead I’m going to focus on what is new today.

No surprise here although I would imagine being ethical is more stressed today because of the Enron debacle and the lead up to the Great Recession.

Staying healthy and looking good, which I take to mean to dress appropriately and not something superficial such as being a great beauty, are no surprises. The bit about typing well is a new one. Back then I associated typing with secretaries so there were never an emphasis on being able to type. Of course, (I’m dating myself here) we didn’t have computers on every desk back then. I remember those deck of punch cards that you had to be careful not to drop and get out of order.

Using visual displays is the interesting one here. We were expected to be able to write well and present ourselves well but I don’t think visual displays were a critical element, at least, I was not aware of it. Today, I think design is playing a larger role in business today than it did back then. It could be because we now have PowerPoint today and back then, it wasn’t even on the horizon.

Again, the advent of computers on every desk means that editing and proofing, using Word, and mastering on-line communications such as Twitter and Facebook, which in the author’s definition is related to marketing and content creation, are now expected of everybody. I’m a little surprised about web design and WordPress in this category. I wouldn’t have thought that companies expect you to know about web design and website development. Also included in this category is using Google Doc and Photoshop. Would Gimp do as a substitute for Photoshop because Photoshop can get pricey?

I believe this was an unspoken requirement so nothing new here.

I’m under the impression that back then, companies were looking for people with leadership potential which implied some bit of influencing capabilities.

Oh boy, this one is a loaded one. Most people today definitely need to work on this. Right now it appears people are unable to assess whether a source is credible or not. The author says that Google and Wikipedia are a good starting point, although I have read articles discussing about research showing bias in Google’s algorithms, so you have to be careful when using Google. Stick with the major publications that have been around before the internet because they will generally have journalistic rules on reporting. New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, BBC, The Guardian, Newsweek, The Times are probably good choices; Fox and Friends, Sean Hannity and Infowars are not good choices.

We did not have Excel or even Lotus when I graduate so this is definitely a new requirement. Not a surprise here.

According to the author, this one is part of the critical thinking. I don’t believe this is new because back then it was expected that we learn how to think broadly, not just learn a career, and part of thinking broadly is knowing how to ask questions and do research.

Nothing new here. Of course we were expected to solve problems.

And there you have it: 10 skills employers expect new graduates to have versus what I faced many years ago. The major difference centers around the impact of technology has had on our society: desktops, Microsoft products, social media and the Internet. I’m surprised that coding was not part of the list unless coding will be just like reading, writing and arithmetic. I suspect everybody is going to need to know a little bit of coding, so add that into your repertoire.