College experience, focus on these topics to land a job offer

You have a degree, but do you have the skills to land a job?

Required topics for the college experience  

Last week, we posted on how gaining specific skills during the college experience can impact a corporate career. The college experience has its pros and cons.  The cost of an education is astronomical, and I often wonder how parents and young people manage.  In my position, I see many young people struggle to secure a job after college that leverages their hard-earned and expensive degree.

Last week’s post provided business reasons why effective public speaking is so important to a corporate career. Not only does the ability to speak in front of others help you with your job interview (think panel interviews and stressful presentations), but it will also put your career on a completely different trajectory. Effective public speaking will set you apart from those who either dislike or avoid public speaking. Opportunity will come if you have a reputation for being an effective public speaker. 

This week, I will write about four more topics that are critical to a career in the new economy. 

English

A few years ago, I posted a blog for candidates who are veterans to help these candidates as they try to enter the job market.  My father-in-law was a Colonel in the US Army. I asked him to proofread the post before sharing it publicly. I intended to receive counsel on the content. My goal was to ensure I wasn’t offending anyone in the military or misrepresenting this demographic.  I hit the content, but the redlined document I received back reminded me of my grade school days. Corrections in red markers were everywhere.

It didn’t help that I had forgotten that my father-in-law taught English at West Point and served with General Colin Powell. I realized then and there where the terms “mark up” and “redline” originated in Microsoft Word. While grading the paper, I am sure he wondered why his daughter married an illiterate monkey. Yes, I insulted the monkeys. I remember saying out loud and in disbelief:

“WTF is a Dangling Participle!” 

There is a reason that English is more important than ever. It isn’t to learn about the dangling participle.  Twenty years ago, we didn’t have email, text messaging, voice-to-text, or various forms of instant messaging/chat. I estimate that 80% of my communication is conducted via email, and most of my “thought leadership” is provided through written communication. (Thought leadership is in air quotes with rolling eyes.) Many of us chat with co-workers who sit right next to us.    

Make no mistake, I am not recommending an English major if you aspire to a career in corporate America.  Thirty years ago, an English major could land almost any entry-level job.  In 2014, colleges should ask students to sign an English Major Waiver. This document would acknowledge that the student understands the repercussions of approaching corporate America with an English major. This is similar to asking our employees to sign a waiver acknowledging that we serve alcohol in the workplace. Both waivers have their place and their reasoning. It’s likely to get ugly. You are probably “going to see some shit go down,” so proceed at your own risk and think about your tolerance for the consequences.

Most communication is written 

With so much communication done over email, it isn’t just updates and general correspondence anymore.  Ideas are only as good as the message delivered. You can have a great idea, but you might as well be mute if you can’t articulate yourself. Effective writers can type their message once and be done with it. Others require multiple drafts, while others should have their fingers removed.  Polished writing has its place in corporate America, and poor grammar will give you unwanted visibility. 

Accounting

Both for-profit and non-profit companies must hit a bottom line and answer to a Board of Directors.  If we don’t know where we are financially, what’s the point of the business?  After the crash of 1999 and 2008, we should ALL know how to read a financial statement.  We should all be aware of the direction the companies that write our paychecks are heading.  This is a stretch, but if we understood basic accounting principles, we might not have so much credit card debt and mortgages we couldn’t afford. 

There is nothing more impressive than an employee who is deeply immersed in their discipline and understands the business. Individual contributors understand their discipline. Sr. managers and execs have mastered their discipline and understand the business. They can see the big picture and will only be given a budget if they know how to manage one.

Microsoft Excel  

All candidates are familiar with Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint and Word.  When I ask about Excel, the usual response is, “Yes, I know Excel.”  When I follow up with “What can you do in Excel?” the usual response is “Lists, sorting, and basic functions, yes, I know Excel”.  

If I could go back in time and buy a bunch of Google stock, I would.  Since I can’t, I will consider the next best alternative. If I could return to school and do it all over again, I would focus on Excel or some other database skill set.  Electronic storage costs have changed the game in terms of how much we value data.  Recent innovations in the field of Big Data have raised the bar on how companies and managers view analytics. I don’t expect a recent graduate to be familiar with Tableau or MySQL, but understanding pivot tables, joins, sorts, and advanced equations will put a recent graduate on the map.

HRNasty has a weakness

This is my Achilles heel, and I continue to take classes to improve my skill set. Had I paid more attention in class, I might have saved myself a lot of heartache.  

Next week, I reveal what I believe to be the MOST important class to take in college to land a job. 

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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