1. Trước khi bước chân vào giảng đường đại học, hẳn trong đầu bạn có biết bao hoài bão và mục tiêu to lớn. Bạn luôn nghĩ rằng:
“Tấm bằng đại học sau 4 năm là chìa khóa mở ra cánh cửa tương lai to lớn”. Nhưng thực tế…
1. Bạn cho rằng để đặt chân vào đại học chắc chắn “không phải dạng vừa đâu”.Trải qua 4 năm “tu luyện” ở đại học,
bạn tin rằng mình sẽ có 1 công việc lương cao hơn… công nhân.
Thực tế: Bạn sẽ phải “ngậm đắng nuốt cay” khi lương khởi điểm của sinh viên ra trường là 2,5 triệu đến 3 triệu và đôi khi “chấp
nhận” làm việc không lương. Thực tế, chỉ có 1 số bạn giỏi và có năng lực tốt mới được nhận công việc với mức lương ngất ngưởng.
Nhưng đáng tiếc, con số này thật ít ỏi.
Còn với sinh viên mới ra trường, sự cạnh tranh trong công việc cực kỳ gắt gao và để kiếm 1 công việc đúng chuyên ngành đã là
điều may mắn. Thế nên, không ít sinh viên để có tiền nuôi sống bản thân đã phải chấp nhận giấu bằng đi làm công nhân. Với nhiều
bạn, lương công nhân tăng ca còn được 5-6 triệu hơn đứt lương nhân viên quèn.
2. Mơ mộng nghĩ rằng, chỉ cần chăm chỉ học lấy tấm bằng đỏ chắc chắn có nơi trải thảm mời mình đi làm.
Thực tế: Nhầm to luôn. Bạn hãy nhìn thực tế mà xem, ngay cả trên các phương tiện truyền thông không ít câu chuyện bằng giỏi đi
làm osin, bằng giỏi đi làm công nhân. Bởi đơn giản rằng, cặp đôi “bằng đỏ và công việc tốt” đã cực hiếm xảy ra ở thời buổi bây giờ.
Chưa kể, việc cầm tấm bằng giỏi đi gõ cửa các doanh nghiệp cũng cực khó. Vì bây giờ bất kỳ công việc tốt nào cũng cần người có
kinh nghiệm thực tế và khả năng thực sự. Hơn nữa, kiến thức bạn học trong trường Đại học có mối liên hệ với thực tế đi làm là chỉ
10%.
3. Sau này ra trường bạn sẽ trở thành một nhân viên năng động,được đi du lịch nhiều nơi, gặp gỡ nhiều người thành
đạt và quan trọng hơn làm đúng chuyên ngành.
Thực tế: Hãy ngắt luôn điều mơ mộng viển vông đi! Ra trường kiếm được 1 công việc nuôi sống bản thân đã là điều cực may mắn
và là niềm ngưỡng mộ của nhiều bạn khác rồi. Và bạn cũng sẽ phải chịu thương chịu khó để học hỏi những kiến thức mới, đâu có
thời gian và tiền bạc để tận hưởng du lịch như “kẻ nhà giàu”. Bạn có thể gặp nhiều người thành đạt nhưng bên cạnh đó là rất
nhiều kiểu người khác nhau và đôi lúc bạn phải bật khóc vì buồn. Còn kiếm được công việc đúng chuyên ngành cũng là điều rất
khó và rất ít.

2. 4. Sau khi ra trường, bạn luôn nghĩ mình sẽ chỉ nộp hồ sơ và làm cho những công ty hàng đầu Việt Nam hay các
công ty nước ngoài.
Thực tế: Trước khi trở thành nhân viên của những công ty hàng đầu Việt Nam hay công ty nước ngoài, bạn phải chứng tỏ được tài
năng vượt trội của mình đặc biệt là ngoại ngữ phải thật giỏi. Nếu không cũng phải là du học sinh nước ngoài hay thạc sĩ,… cơ hội
để đặt chân vào môi trường đó đã thực sự khó khăn và khi đã vào được bạn còn phải đối mặt với áp lực và guồng quay chóng mặt
của công việc.
5. Ra trường,bạn sẽ thảnh thơi đi làm với mức lương ổn định, công việc nhàn hạ.Điều đó là chuyện bình thường đối
với một sinh viên đã từng “văn ôn võ luyện” 4 năm trên giảng đường đại học.
Thực tế: Đa phần sinh viên ra trường đều phải trải qua giai đoạn “vỡ mộng” với thực tại và “hoài niệm về thời sinh viên”. Bởi thực
tế, khi đi làm, các bạn phải rơi vào cuộc sống “đầu tắt mặt tối” với công việc. Đó còn là điều may mắn hơn với nhiều bạn đang rải
hồ sơ một vòng mà số công ty gọi đi phỏng vấn và nhận làm chưa đủ để tính trên đầu ngón tay. Bên cạnh đó, hầu hết sinh viên
đều nhảy việc liên tục và tâm lý khao khát tìm kiếm học hỏi công việc tốt hơn (trừ khi bạn vào nhà nước thì công việc mới nhàn hạ,
ổn định).
6. Chắc chắn sếp và đồng nghiệp sẽ nhìn bạn với ánh mắt ngưỡng mộ khi nghe giới thiệu “tôi vừa tốt nghiệp đại học
loại giỏi”
Thực tế: Sẽ chẳng có ai ngó ngàng tới các bằng “giấy” của bạn đâu, nó chỉ đủ chứng minh bạn “không mù chữ” mà thôi. Đi làm ở
bất cứ nơi đâu, câu hỏi đầu tiên của nhà tuyển dụng là “anh/ chị có bao nhiêu năm kinh nghiệm?”, bạn vừa bước ra trường có
nghĩa vạch xuất phát chỉ là con số 0. Vì thế bỏ cái bằng qua một bên và bắt tay làm việc ngay đi nhé!
7. Tốt nghiệp rồi bạn sẽ đi làm đúng chuyên ngành theo học 4 năm trên giảng đường.
Thực tế: Rất, rất nhiều sinh viên ra trường đi làm trái ngành! Nếu bạn cứ khăng khăng sẽ làm đúng nghành theo học thì bạn đang
cố chấp và lạc hậu rồi đấy. Xã hội “biến hóa khôn lường” buộc bạn phải nắm bắt và hòa nhập mỗi ngày. Hằng năm, con số sinh
viên ra trường thất nghiệp không hề nhỏ, với cuộc khủng hoảng “THỪA” như vậy liệu bạn có là một nhân tố may mắn thoát khỏi
danh sách thất nghiệp hay không chứ đừng nghĩ tới chuyện làm đúng ngành đúng nghề. Vì vậy hãy luôn sẵn sàng cho bất cứ công
việc nào đang cần nhân viên nhé!
Does college effectively prepare students for
working world? (YES)
This articlemainlyincludesdata from a 2013 survey.
Twenty-two percentofadult workersina recentsurvey saidthat a collegeeducationdoes
not effectivelypreparestudentsforemploymentinthe workforce.Meanwhile,nearlythe
same percentage—25percent—reportedthatcollegedoeseffectivelypreparestudentsfor
the workingworld.Only10percentsaid collegepreparesstudentsveryeffectively.
The April 2013 survey of more than 1,600 employed adults in the United States was conducted for
University of Phoenix by Harris Interactive. It foundthat 35 percentof workingadultswitha
bachelor’sdegreeorhigherlevelofeducationbelievethatall ormost ofwhat they learned
in collegeisapplicableto theircurrentjobs.
Of survey respondents, 7 percentsaidthat everythingtheylearnedincollegeappliesto their
jobs,while51percent indicatedthat someof the knowledgegainedincollegeapplies,and
13 percentsaidnoneof what they learnedapplies.Thenews is more encouraging among survey

3. participants whohave earned graduatedegrees,with47 percentreportingthat all ormost of
what they learnedwhilepursuingtheirdegree(s)isapplicableto theirwork.
“This survey suggests the need forhigher education to adapt to the needs of the market and
prepare students forspecific jobs and careers,” said Dr. Sam Sanders, college chair for University of
Phoenix School of Business and former human resource executive. “Thereis significant progress
being made in America to tie curriculum to careers earlier in a student’s education, but there is still
a lot of workto be done to prepare college graduates forspecific careers and grow a more
competitive workforce.”
Almostthree-quarters(74percent)of surveyrespondentshaveregretswhenitcomes to
their education.Toppingthelist—at48percent—isnotpursuingmoreeducation.In fact, 58
percentof participantswho didnot earna bachelor’sdegreeregretnotfurtheringtheir
education,while32percent ofthosewith bachelor’sdegreeswishtheyhadpursuedmore
education.
In addition, 21 percent regret not learning as much because they didn’t apply themselves; 19
percent wish they had focused more on academics; 15 percent believe they selected the wrong
major; 11 percent regret not having been an intern or getting relevant job experience during
school; and 6 percent regret not applying the information they learned to real-life scenarios.
Tip:Supervisors and managers should collaborate withtrainers to identify which workplaceskills
need to be further developed in college graduates, as wellas other new hires.
Ready or Not
Are college graduates prepared for the workforce? Only university administrators
seem to think so.
Plenty of data have shown many
students today are struggling to keep up in the workplace (if they even find jobs at all).
Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker

4. If provosts could grade themselves on how well they’re preparing students for success in the
workforce, they’d give themselves an A+.
They did, sort of, in Inside Higher Ed's 2014 survey of chief academic officers. Ninety-six
percent said they were doing a good job—but they may have been grading on a curve.
In a new survey by Gallup measuring how business leaders and the American public view the
state and value of higher education, just 14 percent of Americans—and only 11 percent of
business leaders—strongly agreed that graduates have the necessary skills and competencies to
succeed in the workplace.
“It’s such a shocking gap; it’s just hard to even say what’s going on here,” Brandon Busteed,
executive director of Gallup Education, said in an interview before the survey’s release at an
event in Washington on Tuesday.
Some of the event’s speakers had an idea or two.
“It depends on the frame of reference,” Nancy Cantor, chancellor of Rutgers University–Newark,
said. When provosts are asked how they’re doing, they think of all the great things they’re doing
with individual students on campus. But when you ask businesses and members of the public,
they think about everyone who hasn't had the chance to go to college.
“There’s a conundrum here,” Cantor said. “On the one hand, everybody knows in a knowledge
economy that a higher education credential is absolutely more critical than ever. As a result, we
can be more critical of higher education than we may otherwise be.”
While the disparity in perspectives is huge, its existence is definitely not new: Plentyof other
data have shown many students today are struggling to keep up in the workplace (if they even
find jobs at all).
“I cannot get over the fact that business leaders have such a low view of where you went to
school and what you majored in.”
—Jamie P. Merisotis, Lumina Foundation CEO
The survey includes 628 business leaders and 1,012 public citizens surveyed during November
and December.
Another of the survey’s findings is both new and surprising—and was taken Tuesday with a
grain of salt. Asked to rank the importance of four factors in employers’ hiring decisions, 84
percent said the amount of knowledge the candidate has in the field is very important, and 79
percent said the same of the candidate’s applied skills in the field.
The surprising part? Only 9 percent said a candidate’s alma mater is very important—and 54
percent said it’s not important. That would seem counterintuitive to many recruiters’ focus on the
biggest-name institutions.
“I think they want those competency-based things, but the hiring process suggests the opposite,”
commented W. Scott Swail, president and CEO of the Educational Policy Institute. “The filters

5. that are in place well before the CEO or executive level start by filtering out institutions and
institution types.”
Steve Odland, CEO at the Committee for Economic Development, admitted that many recruiters’
behavior—especially among big companies and at the entry level at least—reinforce the idea that
the alma mater matters hugely. But he also said that societal messaging is at play.
“When you’re told consistently that Harvard’s No. 1, Harvard’s No. 1, Harvard’s No. 1,” Odland
said, “you believe Harvard’s No. 1 and anywhere else is a step down.” (Odland’s kids went to
Yale and Brown universities. “Great schools, great brand names,” he said. “Were they prepared
for the business world? No.”)
Although some suggested that a lack of focus on the institution itself is a positive development,
others weren’t so sure.
“I cannot get over the fact that business leaders have such a low view of where you went to
school and what you majored in,” said Jamie P. Merisotis, president and CEO of the Lumina
Foundation, which sponsored the survey. The finding suggests colleges aren’t doing a good
enough job of showing how their graduates develop and what they bring to the table, he said.
Meanwhile, people appear to be warming up to online education. Thirty-seven percent of
Americans—up from 30 percent two years ago—believe that online providers offer a high-
quality education, and almost half of business leaders said they were very or somewhat likely to
hire a candidate with an online degree over one with a traditional degree.
“The monopoly’s over. Learning’s been democratized,” Merisotis said, admitting that he used to
be a nonbeliever in online education. “I was wrong. It’s very clear you get very high-quality
outcomes now.”
Just shy of three-quarters of Americans said a degree is important to attaining a better quality of
life, yet 89 percent said colleges need to change to better serve today’s students. While 67
percent believe higher education is “available,” only 23 percent think it’s affordable.
“The second that employers start to show that they value an online degree, I think we’re going to
see a lot of things change,” Busteed said Tuesday. If employers and the public agree that online
education is good, perhaps some of the many non-degree-holding Americans who’ve considered
college but held off—about 40 percent of the public—will actually pursue it.
How productive that research was, though, is unclear. More than half of Americans said it’s
difficult to access information on the quality of degree programs, and 44 percent said they had a
hard time finding details about financial assistance. Somewhat fewer—38 and 31 percent,
respectively—said it’s tough to find information on the price of a college and the percentage of
students who’ve graduated.
Top Comment
Here's a thought: if employers want certain skills that aren't directly addressed by college how about they hire someone in the
general field and then train them for that specific thing? More...

6. -Home Run Baker
The panelists disagreed on the extent to which President Obama’sproposed federal ratings
systemcould address that issue. “I firmly believe it’s a good place to start,” Cantor said. “I’m
perhaps in the minority among my colleagues on that.”
The ratings system would clearly help address the lack of information, Merisotis said. The
question is: Would it provide better information? (When it comes to data on learning outcomes,
he said, perhaps not.)
Somewhat surprisingly, the businessman on the panel was least receptive to the idea. “I don’t
think we need a government-directed rankings system to do that,” Odland said. “I think it’s
something every institution can provide.”
Busteed closed not by lamenting the many disparities in the data, but by stressing how they
might be closed. “We could all start pointing fingers,” Busteed said, “or we could all just start
asking a simple question: How can I help? I think this notion of shared responsibility in higher
education is an important one.”
Degree alone not enough to prepare grads for
workforce
Melanie Dostis, USA TODAY College12:51 p.m. EDT October 31, 2013
Fewer than two in five hiring managers who had interviewed recent graduates in the past two
years found them prepared for a job in their field of study.

7. A college degree is no longer enough.
A study released this w eek by Chegg, the Student Hub and the Harris Interactive found a substantialskill gap betw een
students' self-assessed readiness when entering the w orkforce and the skills employers actually w ant.
"The speed of w hich things are changing is much faster than institutions are able to change," says Dan Rosensw eig,
president and CEO of Chegg.
In a survey of 2,001 students or recent graduates — 18- to 24-year-olds — and 1,000 hiring managers, few erthan tw o in
five hiring managers w ho had interviewed recent graduatesin the past tw o yearsfound themprepared for a job in their
field of study.
In contrast, half of allstudents surveyed felt they werejob-ready upon graduation, creating a 17-point gap in the different
perceptions betw eenboth parties.
Facing a grim job market, a slow economic restoration and competition fromother graduates, college students are
scrambling to stand out.
As the study indicates, they might be going about it the w rong way: It found that students w ere lacking skills in areas such
as organization, leadership and personalfinance, as w ellas street smarts.
"Technology is disruptive to jobs and job creation. Instead of preparing our students for a particular job or career that
w ould show more predictable and linear grow th, they need to learn skills so they can adapt to w hatever their job
becomes," says Lesley Mitler, president at Priority Candidates, a career coaching service for graduatesto land their first
job.
The question for most students, employers and schools is: w ho does the responsibility fallon to prepare students?

8. For Chegg's Rosensw eig, continualchanges in the types of skills employees need is a national callfor colleges to
modernize their curriculum.
"We're moving in the w rong direction and it should frighten us," he says. "This is fixable fast. Institutions have a role to
update their curriculum ... This generation speaks a w hole different language and communicates diff erently and they
(schools) need to update themselves."
Yet, the data didn't surprise many career experts.
"At its core, college prepares you to learn, to be enthusiastic about learning, to manage your time, and to w ork
independently or w ith teams to solve problems," says Susan Davis-Ali, president of Leadhership1, a professionalcoaching
company. "Being successfulon the job takes that and so much more."
This means internships, extracurriculars and online classes as students are constantlytold to be w ell-rounded in their
talents, to expand their résumés and set themselves apart by applying their learning outside the classroom.
To bridge that 17-point gap, experts say schools should make activities and experientiallearning readily available, but
students still need to have the initiative.
Alice Harra, the interim director of career servicesat Northw estern University, saysa balance needs to be achieved
betw een what the schoolcan do and w hat students take upon themselves.
At Northw estern,the schooldoes case interviewswith employers, mockinterview swith alums and w orkshopsfor students
but "students should make time to educate themselves," she says.
For Amy Homkes-Hayes, coordinator for the Career Center at the University of Michigan, bridging the gap betw een
employer and student perceptions requires allparties to come together to help the student in the rapidly changing career
market.
"I don't think there is one single 'best' w ay to bridge the gap," she says. "Rather, I w ould argue employers, career centers
and academic units need to collaborate in multiple w aysto prepare students foran increasingly complex w orking w orld."
With an abundance of schools emphasizing w orkexperience,stressing a balanced education and offering online courses
or leadership seminars, there is no one solution to ensuring the w orth of a college degree.
One thing w as certain, however, for Chegg's president after this study.
"When I left college, w hat Ilearned w asenough w hen Igraduated to get a job. That's not the case anymore for students
today," Rosensw eig says. "People could not be more w rong when they callthem(Generation Y) the lazy generation. They
are motivated students ... We should be concerned w ith building them into great citizens."
How the Lessons, Skills, and Values You Develop in
College (and Maybe Even High School) Prepare You for
the Job Market
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by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., and Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
In other ar eas of QuintessentialCar eer s, we discuss some of the key skills and values employ er s seek fr om college gr aduates, including
communications (wr iting, speaking, and inter per sonal), teamwork, analyticalability, multitasking, or ganization, leader ship, pr oblem-solving,

9. tenacity, and dependability. [For mor e infor mation, see our ar ticle,What Do Employer s Really Want? Top Skills and Values Employer s Seek fr om
Job-Seeker s]. Wor ker scan develop these skills and values in a var iety of differ ent ways, but college is the place wher e many inex perienced and
gr een teens tr ansfor m themselves into highly desir able college gr aduates and pr ospective employees.
The key to that tr ansfor mation -- and why it is so impor tant to put your hear t and soulinto your college ex per ience -- is how ser iously you take your
college education. Which of these two for mer students do you want to be most like?
Bill, a r ecent gr aduate still on the job mar ket looking to find his fir st job since gr aduating with a finance degr ee, admitte d r ecently that he alr eady
r egr ets that he did not put mor e of an effor t into his college education. He admits cutting cor ner s on pr ojects so that he co uld spend mor e time
with his ex tr acurricular activities. He avoided leader ship oppor tunities and found pr ocr astination to be something he r ar ely overcame. Some
pr ofessor s called him a slacker , while other s labeled him as someone with unpr oven potential. While he gr aduated with decent gr ades, he str uggles
to find a job post gr aduation -- and finds it difficult showing pr ospective employer s he r eally does have the skills and values they seek.
Nancy is also a r ecent college gr aduate, but she's had her job-sear ch completed for many months. An accounting major , Nancy in many ways is the
opposite of Bill. While she would admit that she cer tainly does not possess some of the natur algifts that Bill is for tunate to have, she pushed
her self to make the most of her college car eer . She was a gr eat leader and multitasker , always pr epar ed wellahead of deadlin es, and she never
had to offer an ex cuse for a subpar pr oject or paper . Her str engths shine thr ough on her r esume and in job inter views. Her pr ofessors spea k
glowingly of her wor k and her work ethic. She too gr aduated with decent gr ades, but thr ough her mastery of her college ex per i ence, she was able
to showcase to pr ospective employer s that she has the skills and values they seek.
Let's look at the top lessons students should learn and perfect in college that will make them attractive candidates to prospective
employers.
1. Speaking/OralCommunication/Presentation. One of the best elective classes you can take in college is a public-speaking class, which helps all
students get mor e comfor table speaking befor e a gr oup. If your school does not offer such a class, you can wor k on impr ov ing your speaking
techniques by speaking up in class and volunteer ing to lead gr oup pr esentations. Too many students avoid making pr esentations while in college,
and yet most will need to do so on the job -- whether to one or two clients or co-wor kers or to lar ger audiences. Get in the habit of feeling
comfor table speaking befor e a gr oup. Look for oppor tunities in college to lear n how to put on an engaging pr esentation and en hance it with audio-
visuals.
Her e ar e some useful ar ticles about impr oving your pr esentationsfr om our sister site, MyCollegeSuccessStor y.com:
 Pr esentation Skills Checklist
 Tips for Class Pr esentations: A Baker 's Dozen
2. Writing. Wr iting wellis one of those skills that will benefit you for the r est of your life, both per sonally and pr ofessionally. We hear too often
students complaining about having to wr ite paper sand r epor ts -- believing that once fir st-year English r equirements are met, students should be
ex cused fr om ever wr iting again. Learning how to write -- and not just to wr ite, but also the pr ocess of wr iting (which involves wr iting, editing,
r ewriting, and pr oofr eading) -- is a skill that willhelp you get jobs and get pr omoted into better jobs. Employer s complain the loudest about the
weak wr iting skills of many college gr ads, so take an additional wr iting cour se or two and lear n to make your writing sparkle.
Her e ar e some useful ar ticles about impr oving your writing fr om our sister site, MyCollegeSuccessStor y.com:
 How's Your Wor d Usage? Common Wor d Usage Er r ors That Students Should Avoid
 Impr ove Your Wr iting With These 25 Wor ds That ar e Sur e to Impr ess Your Reader s (and Your Pr ofessor s)
 Punctuation and Gr ammar Do's and Dont's: Avoiding Pesky Mechanical Er r ors that Hur t Your Wr iting Grades
 Tips for Polishing Your Wr iting: A Baker 's Dozen
 The Top 15 Wr iting Flaws That Can Lead to Lower Gr ades
3. Leading and Working in Teams. Some students pr efer working alone on pr ojects because student teams ar e often fr aught with pr oblems, such
as social loafing and poor communication. Despite student-team pr oblems, the best students lear n how to motivate their other team members so
that the team actually does what it is designed to do -- oper ate at a higher level than any one per son could do. But beyond simply accepting that
you must wor k in gr oups, you should go the nex t step and volunteer for leader ship positions. (This advice also holds tr ue out side the classr oom --
for any student or ganizationsyou belong to in college.) The r eality of the wor kplace is that employer s use all sor ts of teams, both tempor ar y and
per manent, and these employer s seek to hir e college gr ads who have ex per ience working in -- and leading -- teams.
Her e ar e some useful ar ticles about impr oving your teamwork fr om both QuintCar eer s.com and our sister site, MyCollegeSuccessStor y.com:
 Master ing the Ar t of Teams and Team-Building: 10 Tips for Top-Quality Teamwor k
 10 Tips for Wor king in Student Teams

10. 4. Time Management. Ever notice that some of the busiest students ar e also among some of the best students? The ability to juggle multiple tasks
and pr ojects with multiple deadlines is a top skill employer s seek, thus one of the most impor tant self-impr ovement activities you can under take in
college is lear ning how to manage your time effectively. For tunately, college pr ovides the per fect labor ator y for lear ning to manage your time.
Unlike high school with its fair ly r egimented schedule, college pr esents many blocks of fr ee time that students must lear n to make the best use of.
And, of cour se, college also r equir es a heavy workload that students must l ear n to or ganize and manage. Besides or ganization -- which is cer tainly
a key to time management -- you'll also have to lear n how to pr ior itize multiple pr ojects and assignments, as well as the ar t of br eaking down
lar ger assignments into smaller , mor e manageable par ts. Finally, you may need to take steps to br eak one of the har dest habit s for many students
to br eak -- ending (or at least r educing) pr ocr astination. (Resear ch indicates that 40 per cent of college students put off impor tant academic tasks.)
You can have all the deadlines you want, but if you ar e r ushing at the last minute to complete the tasks, your wor k willbe compr omised. Employers
want college gr ads who can juggle multiple tasks AND deliver high-quality r esults on time.
Her e ar e some useful ar ticles about impr oving your time management fr om our sister site, MyCollegeSuccessStor y.com:
 A Student's Guide to Making the Most of Your Time
 Time Management Do's and Dont's: Conquer ing the Time-Management Monster
 10 Tips for Time Management
5. Org anization. Conquer ing the time-management pr oblems you face is only half the battle because any system you develop for managing
multiple meetings, deadlines, and pr ojects must also include some method to help you keep tr ack of all of your obligations -- some or ganizational
scheme. Some of the mor e common methods of keeping ever ything or ganized include to-do lists, planner s, and PDAs. If you str uggle with keeping
tr ack of all your obligations, tr y one or mor e of these methods -- and keep ex per imenting untilyou find the system that wor ks best for you. Once
you have developed a system, it should be something that can easily be car r ied over into the workplace. Even if or ganization does not come
natur ally to you, you can show employer s how you tur ned this weakness into a str ength.
Her e is a useful ar ticle about impr oving your or ganization fr om our sister site, MyCollegeSuccessStor y.com:
 Five Tips for Managing Multiple Deadlines
6. Research/Investigative Skills/Knowledge Management. Employer s want new hires who can assess a situation, seek multiple per spectives, gather
mor e infor mation if necessar y, and identify key issues that need to be addr essed. You need to know how to find and evaluate t he most up-to-date
infor mation. No place is better than college for teaching you these skills because var ious r esearch assignments -- paper s, pr ojects, and mor e -- ar e
centr al to the cur r iculum at most colleges and univer sities. Her e, too, is wher e you'lldeploy the analytical skills that emp loyer s also seek. While
you may be tempted to look for shor tcuts when you get r esear ch assignments, you willpr epar e your self far better for the work force if you tr uly
lear n how to gather , analyze, evaluate, and apply r esear ch mater ialand infor mation.
Her e ar e some useful ar ticles about impr oving your research abilities fr om our sister site, MyCollegeSuccessStor y.com:
 Identifying, Under standing, and Evaluating Resear ch Sour ces
 A Student's Br ief Over view of Using Keywords to Sear ch for Resear ch Sour ces
 Using Resear ch Sour ces Effectively
7. Tenacity. Some students str uggle to succeed in college, but sometimes these weaker graduates make the best employees because they've
lear ned the impor tance of per sever ing -- of never giving up. Employer s comment that many new college gr ad hir es have to be taught the
impor tance of tenacity and r ising above challenges and hur dles they face in tr ying to complete their tasks. The best way to s tr engthen your
tenacity is to for ce your self to face the tough challenges -- choose to take a cour se with the "har d" pr ofessor , volunteer to complete pr ojects no
one else dar es to, and fight the tendency to give in to the easy way out of tough situations. Once you've conquer ed one or mor e of these battles,
you can pr oudly discuss the accomplishment in job inter views.
8. Work Ethic/PersonalProductivity: Sur vey after survey shows that employer s seek entr y-levelhir es who ar e dedicated and willing to wor k hard.
The issue has become mor e sensitive because many employer s per ceive the millennial gener ation as having a poor wor k ethic. In r eality, Gen Y
wor kforce entr ants just want a balance between wor k and the other par ts of their lives. College cer tainly pr ovides a gr eat tr aining gr ound for
cultivating a str ong work ethic. The measur e of wor k ethic and per sonal pr oductivity in college is good gr ades. In the wor k w orld, the best
measur es ar e the accomplishments, dr ive, and initiative that lead to pr omotions and climbing the car eer ladder . College students have an amazing
oppor tunity to develop themselves as pr oductive wor kers. While gr ades ar e unimpor tant to many employer s, being the kind of achiever who ear ns
good gr ades should also make you the kind of wor ker employer s willwant to hir e.
Final Thoughts on Skills Learned in College
The good skills and habits you develop in college -- thr ough your cour sework and ex tracurricular activities -- can go a long way to not only
impr oving your gr ades and per sonalsatisfaction in college, but also pr oviding a big edge over other job-seeker s who have not developed some of
these key skills and values in demand by employer s.

11. What happens when colleges fail to
prepare graduates for jobs?
It’s a question that both high schoolseniors about to pick a college and eventhose ready to graduate
with a bachelor’sdegree oftenhear around this time of year:What are yougoing to do with a degree
in philosophy? Or English Literature? Or sociology?
As the price tag of college skyrockets and the job market for recent graduates tightens, students and
their parents increasingly view college as training for that first job out of college rather than a broad
educationfor life that providesthem with the ability to learn and move through multiple jobs and
careers.
[Just how high can college tuition go?]
The result is that far fewer college students these days pick majors in the traditional arts and sciences
(English, math, and biology, for example). The number of undergraduate credentials in those fields
has tumbled fromalmost half of those awarded in 1968 to about 25 percent today. Most degrees are
awarded in occupationalor vocationalareas such as education, communications, and business,
which is now the most popular undergraduate degree.
Even those with practicaldegrees, however, are finding the job market out of college challenging.
The so-called“underemployment rate” is 44 percentfor graduatesaged 22 to 27, meaning the jobs
they have don’t require a bachelor’s degree. With many big companies now hiring former interns as
full-time employees, students who have a bevy of internships on their résumés often have a leg up in
the job search.
But the vast majority of soon-to-be college graduates — particularly those with liberal-arts degrees—
face the difficult task of translating their college experience to something useful in the workforce. The
problem is that most college seniorsare simply not ready for professionaljobs. They either they don’t
have the hard skills in computer coding and data analysis, or more important, the soft skills

12. employersare seeking, such as problemsolving and the ability to communicate and collaborate with
co-workersand customers.
[Why are so many college students failing to gain job skills before graduation?]
To fill those gaps between what’s learned in college and what’s needed in the workforce, anew group
of education providershave emerged to give students real-world skills in short chunks of time,
sometimes just a few weeks, as an added experience to college. These so-calledboot camps, which
include FullBridge and General Assembly, as well as those that are specific to schoolsat Dartmouth
College, Middlebury College, and the University of Californiaat Berkeley, teacheverythingfrom
project management to reading a financial balance sheet. And, of course, they come on top of four
yearsof college tuition, with price tags that are in the thousands of dollars.
I recently visitedone of these boot camps in Seattle run by a relatively newcompany called Koru. Its
three-and-a-half-week program, which costs $2,749, putscollege studentsand recent graduates
through a rigorous real-world project that is commissioned by a localemployer. The project focuses
on developingbusiness skills not oftenpracticedin college, such as interviewing customers, coming
up with product ideas, and presenting to executives, andall of it is done on the tight deadlines
frequently foundin the business world. The project is supplemented with career coachingand short
classes on business communication, networking, and small-group discussions with hiring managers.
“It’s not that these skills are not learned in college, they are not taught,” said Josh Jarrett, a former
officialat the Gates Foundation, and a co-founder of Koru. “They are too oftenlearned by osmosis,
and we’re focusedon them explicitly.”
Take a business presentation, for example. When students do presentationsfor a class in college they
are oftengraded on the content, not on how it’s delivered. They also usually only do it once, so they
never get a chance to immediately apply the feedback they hear to improve on their work. Polishing
communications skills is one of the areas of focusin the Koru program because, as Jarrett explained,
it is one “skill easiest to improve in a short amount of time.”

13. At Koru, students practice variousbusiness skills almost like athletics, by repeating them over and
over again, with each session followedby feedback givenin the moment.
The day I was in Seattle, the 16 students in the program were working on a project to design a social-
media campaign for a localcompany, Porch, that connectshome owners with contractors. Working
in groups of four, the students developedsurveys, fannedout into the city to interview potential
customers, and studied competitors. Inpractice sessions for their presentations, Koruleaders
evaluatedeverythingfromthe students’ language to how they dressed and their non-verbalcues. At
times, it was tough feedback that clearly the students had never heard in four years of college.
Kristen Hamilton, a co-founder, said Korudevelopedits curriculumby talking with employers,
particularly growing companies that have a need for recent college graduates who couldmove
quickly throughan organization. “We asked them to show us who are best entry-levelemployersand
asked why they succeeded,” she said. “We wanted to know what it was about them that made them
stand out.”
One of those employerswas Zulily, the Seattle-based online clothing retailer. The company has
partnered with severalcohortsof Koru students on projectsto help build its men’s business and
better attract expectant moms. Karen Jobe, a human-resources manager, told me that Koru“teaches
students how to fail,” a skill needed in start-up companiesand definitely not taught in college.
“They have gone through college and told they’re great and then come into a job and don’t know how
to receive feedback andimprove on that feedback,” Jobe said. Zulily has hired about a dozen Koru
graduates so far.
As I spent the day with the Koru students in Seattle, I wondered why they didn’t have such boot
camps when I graduated from college 20 yearsago. Maybe it’s because we didn’t need them.
Employersdid a lot more on-the-job training back then, and college seniors were much more
prepared for the job market than they are now.
Today, asI have found interviewing students for my next book on transitioning to the workforce, too
many college students are wandering through schoolunsure of their major or what they want to do

14. in life. As a result, many of the students who haven’t workedmuch fail to pick up the needed
experientiallearning opportunities, such as internships, to stand out in a tough job market.
Meanwhile, collegeshave showered students with posh amenities and added a ton of advising
servicesto help them solve nearly any problem they face without forcingthem to figure it out on their
own. Many graduates end up drifting through their 20s underemployedand frustratedin dead-end
jobs, or unemployedaltogether.
Programs like Koru give students real-world experience in a short amount of time, and perhaps more
important, the confidence and context they need for today’sjob market. Given the amount of money
parents and students spend on a degree, there is no reason collegesshouldn’t do the same by
providingboth a broad education that helps someone eventually findtheir fifth job and the specific
training and skills needed for their first one.
Survey: Colleges aren’t
preparing graduates for jobsby JON MARCUS
September 17, 2013
Nearly two-thirds ofAmericans think the higher education system is doing only a fair or poor job of
preparing graduates for the workforce,according to a new poll.
So firmly does this beliefappear to be held that 60 percent ofthosepolled said employees with some
work experience but no college degrees are likely to perform betterat a job than college graduates with
no full-time work experience.

15. Nearly 90 percent ofthe public
thinks the U.S. higher-education system needs to changefor the nation to maintain a globally
competitiveworkforce,a number that has been climbing steadily in each ofthe threeyears the survey
has been conducted.
Joining a wave of sudden skepticism about widely acclaimedmassive open onlinecourses,or MOOCs,
only a little more than a quarterofrespondents said they think MOOCs providethe same quality of
education as in-person classes.
In the survey, conducted for Northeastern University by FTI Consulting,traditional liberal-arts
education also continued to lose out to more practical training, adding fuel to an ongoing debateabout
the very roleofcollege.
The proportion ofpeople who said appliedtraining was moreimportantthan so -called “soft”skills
such as verbal and written communication and problem-solving crept up to 44 percent this year, from
40 percent last year. The percentagewho said it was more important to be well rounded than to have
job-specific skills fell from 7 3percent to 65 percent.
Nearly 60 percent believe it’s more important to have math, scienceand technology skills than to be
creativeor abstract thinkers, a significant increase over the 37 percent who thought so last year.
The poll of1,000 adults was conducted in mid to late August.
While respondents said they don’t think colleges are doing a good job readying their graduates for the
workforce, 79percent said their own college educations prepared them well for their careers. But more
than half said today’s graduates are less prepared than students10 to 15 years ago.
Are Colleges Preparing Students for the Workplace?
by Lynn O'Shaughnessy on February 26, 2014 in Academic majors, Academic quality,Academics, Careers
A new Gallup survey that polled business leaders on higher-education issues revealed that executiveshold a low opinion of the
ability of colleges to prepare students for the w orkplace. American adults also believe just as strongly that higher-ed institutions are
not readying students for employment.
According to the survey, which was conducted in partnership with the Lumina Foundation, only 11% of business leaders “strongly
agree” that today’s undergraduates are leaving college w ith the skills and competencies that they need to succeed in their
w orkplaces. Fourteen percent of Americans believe the same thing.

16. You’ll see some of the business leaders’opinions in the chart below :
A Clash of Opinions
What I find fascinating is the disconnect betw een the perceptions of college administrators and business leaders. Every year Gallup
surveys college provostsand chief academic officersand in the latest poll, w hich wasreleased last year, 96%of college
administrators, said they were “extremely or somew hat confident” in their institution’s ability to prepare their students for the
w orkforce.
In addition, 72% of college administrators said their institutions w ere “very effective” in providing a quality undergraduate education.
Here is a snapshot the college administrator survey:

17. When asked to comment on the huge disparity of opinions, Brandon Busteed, the executive director of Gallup Education, said in an
interview with Inside Higher Ed, observed that “it’s such a shocking gap, it’s just hard ot even say w hat’s going on here.”
I suspect that the true answ er – are students being prepared for the w orkplace – lies somew here between these two extreme
positions.
Another interesting result of the new Gallup survey, just 9% of business leaders said that w here job applicants obtained their
degrees w as “veryimportant.” In contrast, w hat wasmost important w as the job candidate’s “applied skills in the field.”
What I also found fascinating is that only 28% of business leaders said that a graduate’s college major w as “veryimportant”
considering how obsessed parentsand teenagers are about picking the “right” college major.
Is College Adequately Preparing Students for the
Workforce?
by Kate Rogers
Published May 20, 2014
| FOXBusiness
The job market isn’t looking promising for grads leaving college w ith a degree in liberal arts.
In fact, a new report finds only 2% of companies are actively recruiting these graduates. What’s more, 49% of people across
generations say there are “no jobs” for those w ith liberalarts degrees.
Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firmreleased a new report Tuesday, “The Multi-Generational Job Search” in
conjunction w ith Beyond.com, an online career netw ork. The survey was conducted nationally among 2,978 respondents.
Those graduating w ith engineering and computer information systems degrees are in higher demand, w ith 27% of companies
looking to hire them, follow ed by business degree gradsat 18%.
Dan Schaw bel, founder of Millennial Branding, says liberalarts degrees don’t translate as neatly into post-grad careers as more
structured majors like engineering.

18. “The classes they take, or enroll in, are not as relevant to some of the positions that are open,” Schaw belsays. “If you are a recruiter
and have tw o applicants, and all things are equal, one is a liberal arts graduate and the other has a business degree—you’d rather
take (the business degree), because the classes are likely more relevant to the job that’s open.”
And w hat’s more, the survey finds there are 4 million open jobs in the U.S., and at least three applicants per job.
“You can be more picky than you have been in years past, because you have more applicants,” he says.
But the survey points to a more disturbing trend for recent grads looking to breakinto the job market—employers don’t feelcollege
is preparing students for the w orkforce (73%). This is eye-opening as college debt in the U.S. tops $ 1 trillion and college tuition
continues to rise at a faster pace than inflation.
But Schaw belsaysthis also falls on employers, w ho are not able to properly communicate their needs; 61% of companies said their
talent needs have changed over the past tw o years, but 54% haven’t communicated those changes to the student marketplace.
“Millennials are living w ith their parents longer, there is a skills gap, so partially it is the school’s fault, but employers also aren’t
communicating their needs, so it’s partially their fault as w ell,” he says. “Schools are being held to a higher standard.”
This is making students think more about the type of degree they get, and w here they go to school, he says. Thirty-one percent of
student respondents say a degree isn’t w orth the cost, and 53% say colleges should be responsible for helping students get jobs.
“The return on investment for education doesn’t justify the cost,” Schawbelsays. “Yes, a college degree w illmake you more money
over your lifetime. But it’s not like these schools charge less money over the next five to ten years. It’s a broken system.”
When hiring managers are choosing employers, culturalfit is the biggest factor, the report finds, with 43% ranking it a priority. The
top three characteristicscompanies w ant when hiring are those w ith a positive attitude (84%), communication skills (83%) and an
ability to w orkon a team (74%).
“Managers last year said that one of the top three things they w ant is a positive attitude,” Schaw belsays. “This has a lot to do w ith
culturalfit—if the company and culture w orkfor you, you willnaturally be happier. It w illalso probably cost the company money to
replace you if you are unhappy, because you w on’t stay there long.”
More data show students unprepared for work, but
what to do about it?
Submitted by Allie Grasgreen on October 29, 2013 - 3:00am
As more students have struggled to find a place in a depressed job market
and questions about the employment value of a college degree have
intensified, so too has concern that new graduates are not equipped to
function in the work place and are not meeting employers’ expectations.
A new survey [1] reaffirms that quandary, but the group that commissioned it
hopes the findings actually teach students something.
“We’re going to go directly to students and help them understand what this
gap is,” said Dan Rosensweig, president of the learning company and
textbook rental giant Chegg, which runs a service connecting graduating high
school students with colleges and scholarships. “We appreciate the fact that
this dialogue is going on right now. We thought, however, that somebody

19. really needed to frame what the issues really are and what is addressable,
and help figure out the best way to address it.”
In the report, "Bridge That Gap: Analyzing the Student Skill Index [2]," only half
of college students said they felt very or completely prepared for a job in their
field of study. But even fewer employers – 39 percent of those surveyed –
said the same about the recent graduates they’d interviewed in the past two
years.
Even wider gaps of varying size emerge when the survey zeroes in on about a
dozen different skills. Students and employers consistently disagreed on how
prepared new graduates were to employ a dozen different “business basics.”
Those include “creating a budget or financial goal” and “writing to
communicate ideas or explain information clearly” (each show a 22
percentage-point gap), and “organization” (25 percentage points). In the
widest gap, at 27 percentage points, 77 percent of students but only half of
hiring managers reported preparation for “prioritizing work.”
Students fared the best at “making a decision without having all the facts.”
About 47 percent of students said they were prepared to do that, and 37
percent of hiring managers said the same of recent graduates.
Chegg surveyed about 2,000 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in two- and four-
year colleges, and 1,000 hiring managers.
Rosensweig believes that higher education’s slow response to technological
advancements and employers’ neither hiring nor training new graduates have
contributed to a disconnect.
“We think liberal arts is still incredibly important and incredibly valuable and
the survey shows that. But it also shows we need to modernize some in how
we’re teaching the curriculum,” he said. “We think that businesses, working
with schools, can build that curriculum.”
The information revealed in surveys such as Chegg’s has prompted colleges
of all different types to come up with new and better ways to prepare students
for careers and life after college. But just because people are only observing
these differences now doesn’t mean they’re new, said Andy Chan, vice

20. president for personal and career development at Wake Forest University.
Researchers have only been tracking these sort of data for about five years.
“I’ve heard this general complaint among employers that the students aren’t
good enough – aren’t qualified enough – for a long time,” Chan said. The
difference now is that the job market is “much tighter than it has ever been,”
and at the same time students are either unwilling or unable to accept true
entry-level positions that they view as dead-end jobs.
Chan and others have argued that colleges aren’t doing enough to prepare
students for the work force. In most cases, career services is an isolated,
overbooked office that can go underutilized or flat-out ignored, Chan said in a
report [3] he co-authored this year. Instead, colleges should be embedding
career development into the fabric of undergraduate education. Not only
would this better prepare students for life after college, it would help to justify
the value of a liberal arts degree.
Some colleges are adding programs in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Summer business programs are growing in popularity. And other professional
schools are doing more to provide co-operative curriculum development such
as internships.
The skills gap has also created an opening for new models [4] like the
Fullbridge Program and Dev Bootcamp that teach additional skills and traits
such as business analysis and research and forward-thinking and persistence.
For students who can afford to pay for them (Fullbridge costs between $5,000
and $10,000), these courses can provide a leg up in the interview process.
The Association of American Colleges and Universities, meanwhile,
started LEAP (Liberal Education and America’s Promise) Employer-Educator
Compact [5], an initiative seeking to ensure students get the experiences and
knowledge base they need to succeed in the work place. On Monday in
Boston, AAC&U and LEAP co-sponsored one of several regional forums [6] for
educators, employers and policymakers to “chart a plan of action” for creating
more successful college-to-career pathways.
While the prolonged economic recession has caused hard times to fall on
graduates of all types of institutions, liberal arts education has faced particular
scrutiny from the public, media and politicians. But Chan notes that some
research has found those students are actually better-skilled in what the
Chegg report deems “office street smarts.”

21. A survey [7] out of Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment
Research Institute found that the people interviewing liberal arts students for
jobs believe recent graduates have the work place competencies they need,
but could not articulate or demonstrate their abilities and lacked several key
technical and professional skills. While arts and sciences students ranked
higher than their peers in skills including working in a diverse environment,
communication and innovation, they lagged being in areas such as utilizing
software, analyzing, and evaluating and interpreting data.
The Chegg survey found that science, technology, engineering and
mathematics students were “slightly better prepared” than their peers. Those
students fared better among employers in skills including preparedness to
explain information and preparedness to solve problems through
experimentation.
The findings contain a lesson for colleges, students and employers,
Rosensweig says. Colleges need to make sure their curriculums align with the
way companies work today, with fast-paced technology and social media
changing data collection and communication. Employers should articulate to
colleges what they’re looking for in employees, and help make sure the what
they’re teaching is useful. And students shouldn’t just take what’s handed to
them in the classroom, they should do all they can to supplement their
education with additional skill-building.
“Because of the global economy, unemployment and high tuition, part of the
responsibility of all of us should be to make sure students are qualified to get
career-based jobs,” Rosensweig said.
Real Grads. Real Advice. Real Stories. Real World
'How Well College Prepared Me for My First Job'
Shar e on facebookShar e on ketnooiShar e on tumblr Shar e on twitter More Shar ing Ser vices12
Quintessential Careers conducts ongoing research into the job -search experience of new college graduates as they enter "The Real World." Go
to the Real World Home Pag e.
Attention college administr ators! Our survey showed a major disconnect between college cour sewor k and the pr epar ation needed for the r eal
wor ld. Does that mean colleges ar en't doing a good job of pr epar ing students -- or ar e some students failing to apply themselves? Ar e college
educator s ex isting in ivory towers and out of touch with the r ealwor ld of wor k? Or ar e students just not wor king har d enough in school to see the
value of their education? Or per haps they simply chose the wr ong major ? We don't know the answer s, but with some ex ceptions, few of our sur vey
r espondents felt their college cour sewor k had pr epared them for their first jobs.
"For the job I have, school didn't teach me. I am still looking for a job in the field I was taught in school."
-- Anonymous

22. "Cour sewor k is more fun than r ealwor k!!"
-- Anonymous
"College is gr eat times but not anywher e even close to the r eal wor ld."
-- biology gr ad
"I think the cour sewor k gave me a basis for under standing what I do; however , no class can completely pr epar e you for what you willencounter in
the wor kplace."
-- Anonymous
"My cour sewor k prepared me r eally well. The Univer sity of Dallas taught me how to wr ite and think. You can figur e the r est of the r ealwor ld out on
your own."
-- Anne Johnson, economics gr ad
"The cour sewor k is alljust water under the br idge. You have to take the cour ses to get the piece of paper , which then gets y ou the job. Ther e ar e
all sor ts of little bits and pieces lear ned thr ough schooling that helped me to be successful at what I do. The main thing is that a company will
teach you ever ything that you need to know to be successful at your job."
-- business-administr ation gr ad
"The wr iting and cr itical-thinking skills helped."
-- Anonymous
"[My cour sework pr epared me] not at all, but wor k ex perience pr epared me. I studied political philosophy in school, and I wor k in the medical
staffing industr y."
-- political philosophy major
"My cour sewor k has become ir r elevant."
-- math gr ad
"My cour sewor k didn't pr epare me at all. I wish I had chosen a differ ent degr ee."
-- Anonymous
"I knew that my degr ee would not be ver y pr acticalin the r ealwor ld. However , while I was pur suing my liber al-ar ts degr ee, the economy was doing
well, and liber al-ar ts gr ads were getting good jobs. That unfor tunately changed dur ing my last two year s of school."
-- philosophy and r eligion gr ad
"What I have lear ned at univer sity helped a lot. Especially the pr actical subjects. I think that ther e should be mor e pr acticalwor k in the field that
you ar e studying. Mor e field ex per ience willhelp."
-- Anonymous
"My cour sewor k made me over -prepared. My skills wer e mor e advanced than what was r equired of me in my job. Some cour ses I should have placed
mor e of an emphasis on ar e finance, business wr iting, and pr ocess impr ovement."
-- Anonymous
"[My cour sework had] zer o influence. I wish I had continued with envir onmentalstudies, instead of tr ansfer ring to history in my sophomor e year. A
note to all futur e and cur r ent college students ... study something useful in college, such as any of the sciences, engineer ing fields, or a specific
such as gr aphic design or medicine. Do NOT waste your time acquir ing a B.A. unless, of cour se, you TRULY desir e to teach hist or y, English, for eign
language, etc., AND, if that is your cour se, be sur e to enr oll in a pr ogr am that willallow you to obtain your teaching cer tificate upon r eceiving yo ur
B.A. Other wise, major in a B.S., with a minor in a liber al ar t ... you'll do your self a wor ld of good."
-- histor y grad
"I think school pr ovided a good foundation; however , each company has differ ent pr ocedur es and ex pectations that r equir e adjusting , par ticular ly
with technological changes."
-- Anonymous

23. "The cour ses that helped me wer e business communications, public r elations, infor mation systems classes, and wr iting classes. I wish I would have
taken an accounting class because it is impor tant to know that."
-- Anonymous
"My cour sewor k was ex cellent pr epar ation for the r ealworld. The only thing I need help with is or gani zation."
-- education gr ad
"I think my cour sewor k in school was not up to date with the tr ends in the computer wor ld. You need to be awar e of what's hap pening on the
outside and apply that to what you'r e lear ning on the inside. If the two don't jibe, then you have to ask questions and maybe make a change. If the
economy is good and jobs ar e many, maybe you can get away with it and lear n mor e on the job, but if the economy is bad, you n eed to be r azor
shar p in your knowledge of your pr ofession."
-- Anonymous
"Being able to wr ite ... whether analyticalor thoughtful ... you have to convey your thoughts in wr itten for m [and skills wi th] computer s give you
an edge with differ ent gener ations."
-- gener al-business major
"Cour sewor k willnever dir ectly cor r elate to what you do. The best education you can r eceive as an under gr ad is lear ning about your self, your likes
and dislikes, who you ar e and who you would like to become. Ever ything else in a job can be lear ned."
-- English gr ad
"My cour sewor k prepared me some for the wor k I am doing. My most useful tool, however , has been my knowledge of computer s. That's something I
lear ned thr ough ex perience and not cour sewor k."
-- Jo Smith, psychology gr ad
"I wish my "Computer s in Business" cour se was mor e r obust. Focusing simply on the Micr osoft Office suite and one statisticalanalysis pr ogr am just
doesn't cut it."
-- mar keting and Japanese gr ad
"My education has no cor r elation to the wor k I am per for ming. I wish I had major ed in something that is mar ketable and could enable me to find
wor k that I enjoy."
-- Anonymous
"College was a total waste of time and money. Computer cour ses ar e bor der ing on obsolete by gr aduation. Ther e wer e not near ly enough computer
cour ses in my degr ee pr ogram. I gained no skills to get me a job."
-- computer infor mation systems grad
"My cour sewor k prepared me well, but I would say ther e wer e some things that I did not know. Ther e ar e some cour ses that I wi sh my college
offer ed because that is what some of the employer s ar e looking for ."
-- electr onic engineer ing technology gr ad
"[My cour sework] helped me only in the sense that it caused me to think analytically and to be cr itical of what I'm ex posed t o. The actual mater ial
has almost nothing to do with what I'm doing now or inter ested in."
-- anthr opology gr ad
"I took a management-consulting cour se that was invaluable. Not only did it give me a chance to hone my analytical skills, but it gave me a gr eat
deal of insight and pr actice in cr eating and deliver ing pr esentations."
-- Anonymous
"[My cour sework pr epared me] ex tremely well. The Regent Univer sity cur riculum for the MA in or ganizationalleader ship is incr edibly pr actical, and
it helped me tr emendously to set up my own business -- and to utilize my knowledge and ex per tise in my client or ganizations. It's been a r ealvalue-
added ex per ience!
-- Mar io Teix eira, MA gr ad in or ganizationalleader ship
"I felt pr epar ed, but many of the skills ar e developed and honed once you get her e. My college pr ogr am could have left some cour ses out and
r eplaced them with mor e r elevant ones."
-- English education gr ad

24. "You lear n 10 per cent at college and 90 per cent in the wor k for ce."
-- Anonymous
"I have had all the tr aining, but cannot find a position in which I can use that knowledge."
-- Anonymous
"In the education field, I feel you ar e thr own out to sink or swim. You ar e on your own, but you will be judged as if you hav e been in the car eer for
year s."
-- education gr ad
"I found most of the cour ses that I have taken in the past to be ver y theor eticaland not ver y r ealistic. My advice is to lear n mor e fr om companies
and take on pr ojects in the industr y that you want to get into."
-- Anonymous
"I do not plan to go to gr ad school. The r eason is simply because I find that I have lear ned mor e on my job in the last seven months than what I have
lear ned in all my five year s of education. I find that wor k is a bit differ ent fr om school -- being able to do well in pr ojects does not dir ectly
tr anslate into success at wor k. The r ules ar e differ ent."
-- Anonymous
"I lear ned tr emendously about job-hunting pr ior to gr aduation because I was involved with a co-op pr ogr am at my univer sity. It has helped me to
look into the challenge of competing with other candidates for differ ent positions, r esume-writing, and r eally polishing up on r esear ch in or der to
get your foot in the door . Salar y negotiation was a bit har der as gener ally most people I knew simply took on any positions t o gain the ex per ience
fir st r ather than negotiating for salar y up fr ont. This is an ar ea that I wished I had lear ned mor e about."
-- Anonymous
Why this CEO believes an MBA is
worthless
 COMMENTARY by
 Tien Tzuo
 @tientzuo
APRIL 27, 2015, 12:30 PM EDT
 E-mail
 Tweet
 Facebook
 Google Plus

25.  Linkedin
Share icons
We’re going through a once-in-a-century transformation in
business that is throwing out all the existing rules.
The Leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and
influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and
leadership. Today’s answer to the question “What advice would you give someone looking to
start their own business?” is by Tien Tzuo, CEO of Zuora.
The first piece of advice I would give anyone starting a new business is to forget everything
they learned in business school. Or better yet, don’t go to business school. Why? Because
right now we are going through a once-in-a-century transformation in business that is
throwing out all the existing rules. And that includes everything that the MBA programs are
currently teaching their students. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at how business has been
taught for the past 100 years. It is a truth universally acknowledged that the fundamental

26. goal of business is to create a hit product. You then sell as many units of that product,
thereby spreading your fixed costs over as many units as you can, and you compete on
margins. Well, in my opinionthat’s all worthless. Those days are gone.
If you’re starting a new business today, it’s highly doubtful that you’re selling a physical
product on a per unit basis. You are probably launching something online in order to deliver
great services, not sell widgets–think of all the new delivery services like Instacart,
BloomThat, Washio, or PostMates. This is because the world is shifting from selling
products to selling subscriptions, and in the “subscription economy,” companies are focused
on generating recurring revenue. So it’s not about the price of the product and the margin.
It’s about delivering value to customers, so they don’t want to switch services. But in order
to manage this effectively, you’re going to have to do five things, and answer one very
important question:
Define subscriber metrics
You’re going to have to think about measuring annual and total contract values, payments
and declines, monthly and annual recurring revenue, and relationship retention. Stuff they
don’t teach in Accounting 101.
Understand your consumer
People now expect products to adapt to their specific needs. They expect ongoing value and
unique experiences. And they’re not as interested in methods as they are outcomes. Stuff
they don’t teach in Marketing 101.
Personalize your service
The product economy is dead–products can’t be personalized. A product can’t learn your
behaviors and preferences. A product can’t be constantly upgraded, so that it gets better—
instead, it becomes obsolete. Stuff they don’t teach in Manufacturing 101.
Customize access
People now define ownership as managing the decline of a physical asset. They’re opting for
access over ownership: ride shares, streaming services, and subscription boxes. Stuff they
don’t teach in Design 101.
Create a great experience
You have to create services that can learn and adapt based on behavior. Services that can
improve themselves autonomously. Services that can be truly customized. There’s no MBA
class for that.
And finally, the key question isn’t “What product can I sell?” but rather “What do my
customers really want, and how can I deliver that as an intuitive service, rather than a
stand-alone product?” Answer that question and you’re on your way.

27. What should I do after University?
Classic interview questions
Ewan Marshall, Co-founder of SpeakSet, Entrepreneur First 2012 lays down
the post-university options.

28. The three choices post-university
1. Academia.
2. The world of work.
3. Something silly.
Top tip
Work out what is really important to you, whether that is your research, the academic world, corporate process or something else entirely, and completely
focus on it.
What should you do after University?The world beckons enticingly. What to do next? This is too often thefirst real life decision
you will ever take having been on thepath towards A-levels, further education and University pretty much since birth.
Well if you are anything like me there are three choices;
1. Double down, go further into study, get a phd.
2. Go and work for a large (or small) established company.
3. Do something silly.
I did something silly with SpeakSet (helped by Entrepreneur First), I’m going to tell you why you should too…
Choice 1 – Academia
The obvious choice for after university is of course more University! PhDs look great on the surface, you become an expert in a
subject you love, you have a steady source of income and you see all thecool technology 10 years before anyone else. What isn’t
so well advertised is theacademic arms race that this puts you onto.
What’s your exit strategy?
Unless you are extremely lucky the research you do is not going to be the next big thing so you can’t exit to the privatesector that
way and the skills and knowledge you possess are so focused you will have narrowed your job pooland limited your
advancement possibilities. Becoming a professor is extremely competitive. Unless you really love academia and your specific
research and desperately want to be an academic I do not see the point in getting into this endless cycle.
Choice 2 – The world of work
A sensible choice. Earn a salary, pay back your debts. You are taught about how the world really works, gaining valuable skills
and contacts. Maybeyou are learning skills you want to put into practice in your own business one day. Someone is paying you
to learn all the secrets of thetrade! You start to move up theladder towards your dream job. You have a disposable income, get a
girlfriend, wife, kids, house, stability and death.

29. There are some problems with this model. The world of work is changing and peoplewill swap careers more frequently.
Freelancing is becoming more and more common. If you freelance how can you learn on the job and progress? If you swap
careers how can you know everything you need to know about a specific business and move upwards.
Look at a grad scheme from one of the big 4 banks or professional services company that will have been recruiting at your uni. If
you do one you will learn a huge amount and meet a lot of amazing people, but think of the pyramid you have to climb. Then
think about how many peoplefrom the grad scheme have to be let go for the group to progress to the next level of the pyramid.
Imagine this at every level. Your chances of ever working up to being CEO without being let go are so incredibly slim!
Choice 3 – Something silly
This is what I went for after weighing up my options. I am have built my own business (pretty much) straight out of University. I
was lucky enough to be supported by Entrepreneur First and they allowed me to find a great team and build an amazing startup.
Why would I try to fight my way up the pyramid when I could build it beneath me? Getting a job may increase your likelihood of
being able to start a business related to it, but it increases your risk as well. When you have stability you have more to lose. Your
downside increases very quickly with experience.
As a graduate fresh out of university you have the chance to take a massive gamble and try to do something with a huge potential
upside. You have nothing to lose at that point and everything to gain. Imagine it doesn’t pay off and you have to work for
someone else, the downside of failing is actually an upsideof developing your own network, knowing peoplewho may succeed
in your place and having a wide ranging experience for the working world. In thevery worst case failing becomes a quick route
up the pyramid from choice 2.
There is however a theme that runs through these three choices. If you simply work out what is really important to you, whether
that is your research, the academic world, corporateprocess or something else entirely you should do that and completely focus
on it. My third choice option is as applicable to being a standup comic, or being a rockstar as it is to running a business, just do
what you love. I love running SpeakSet and you need to find your real passion too.
Well-Prepared in Their Own Eyes
January 20, 2015
By
Scott Jaschik
WASHINGTON -- It turns out that college students are being well-prepared for their future careers -- at least in
their own minds. Ask employers, and it's a very different picture.

30. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) asked groups of employers and college students a
series of similar questions about career preparation. They could be scary reading for many students and the college
educators who are trying to prepare them for careers. AACU is releasing the survey results today, in advance of the
annual meeting at which the group will mark its centennial.
Student-Employer Gap on 'This Week'
Debra Humphreys of the Association of American Colleges and Universities will discuss the group's surveys Friday
on "This Week," Inside Higher Ed's free news podcast. Sign up here to be notified of new "This Week" podcasts.
Consistent with past AACU surveys, this one found that employers are concerned about new graduates having a
range of skills in areas like communication and team work -- and that employers aren't as obsessed as some
governors with questions about students' choice of major. This year, AACU did a companion survey of college
students -- 613 students at public and private two-year and four-year colleges. The employer results come from
400 respondents whose organizations have at least 25 employees and report that 25 percent or more of their new
hires hold either an associate degree from a two-year college or a bachelor’s degree from a four-year college.
As shown on the bar chart below from AACU, students consistently rank themselves as prepared in areas where
employers do not agree. The area where students and employers are the closest to being aligned is in staying
current with new technologies, where 37 percent of employers think students are well-prepared and 46 percent of
students think that. But in a number of key areas (oral communication, written communication, critical thinking,
being creative), students are more than twice as likely as employers to think that students are being well-
prepared. And these are the kinds of qualities that many colleges say are hallmarks of a liberal education.

31. "When it comes to the types of skills and knowledge that employers feel are most important to workplace
success, large majorities of employers do NOT feel that recent college graduates are well prepared. This is
particularly the case for applying knowledge and skills in real-world settings, critical thinking skills, and written and
oral communication skills — areas in which fewer than three in 10 employers think that recent college graduates
are well prepared. Yet even in the areas of ethical decision-making and working with others in teams, many
employers do not give graduates high marks," the AACU report says.
Other parts of the employer survey may be more encouraging to many college educators, especially those who
endorse the AACU view that there is more to college education than picking a major in a hot career field.
Employers were asked whether it was more important for new hires to have training in specific skills for a job, a
"range of knowledge" or both specific skills and a range of knowledge. "Both" was the clear winner at 60 percent,
followed by range of knowledge with 25 percent and specific skills at only 15 percent.
Further, the survey found that large majorities of employers at least somewhat agree with statements that suggest
support for general education and a curriculum that extends beyond job training.
Employers Who Strongly or Somewhat Agree With These Statements

32. Statement
Strongly
Agree
Somewhat
Agree
All college students should have
educational experiences that teach
them how to solve problems with
people whose views are different
than their own.
59% 37%
All college students should gain an
understanding of democratic
institutions and values
32% 55%
Every college student should take
courses that build the civil
knowledge, skills and judgment
essential for contributing to our
democratic society.
33% 53%
Every college student should acquire
broad knowledge of the liberal arts
and sciences.
29% 49%
All college students should gain
intercultural skills and an
understanding of societies and
countries outside the United States.
21% 57%
Education Should Prepare Students For Work,Life
By Larry Alvarado | Owner, Your Success In School

33. Higher education institutions need to make their programming more relev ant to the needs of the job market. Otherwise students wind up under- and
incorrectly prepared to enter the workf orce. Photo by Mike Johnson.
Students putlots of money and time toget a college degree today and they should know what they can get from it at any particular
institution.Just as we cannow buy stuff from anyone anywhere in the world, because of the online offerings, we should have more
clear choice and know what we cando withwhat we getfrom colleges.
There are debates about whethercollege is worththe time and cost, whether a degree is relevant anymore, and storiesof college
graduateswho don’t have good jobs. So muchinformation in manyfieldsis passé after 4+ years ofcollege sowe have to learn even
m ore—learnhow to learn. It takes most students more than4 years to finishso it’s costly and students missopportunities if they got
a degree sooner and the money that comeswith a good job.
What would I want changed? I wantmore businesses involved in decidingwhat needs to be taught and what they need from college
graduates, even if they fund some of the training or course offerings. Rightnow it’sup to those tenured professors, some of whom
have friends in the real world outside the ivory towers butmost don’t know how to make a living outside of a university. Thingsin
the businessworld are changingso rapidly thatcollegesand universities aren’t keepingup with the technology, the demands and the
knowledge base need. It’s importanttoknow the 3Rs of course—if you can’t read well or write well or dodecent math, you are
handicapped in careers(that’s part of the problem withK-12 education—drop outs, unprepared graduates, those needing remedial
help in higher education). For community colleges, more prep and training for those whowantcareers thatdon’t require a four-year
college degree.
We need professors, but perhaps differentkind of professors—not so lofty thoughstill theoretical and idea driven and research
based—butmore practical onesto educate studentsfor what’s going on now. Smart students canovercome teacher, professor,
instructor limitations in anygrade. It’s the average students whoneed more help—the world isrun by C students, the daily workers.
Right now manycolleges focuson great facilities, sportsteams, good living quarters—but people need careers when they finish.
Ju st a few thoughts—lots ofotherthings need tochange too;technology, ways to prove studentspasscoursesor are qualified, ways
to learn, usingtop professors on taped lectures to be viewed on demand asa whole or in 5-10 minute segments, ebooks and
m aterialsthat don’t cost anarm and a leg,internships and experiences, etc.
Society and businessneedsare changingat record speeds there must be some better preparation for studentsso they canfunction
w ell whenthey starttowork.