Category Archives: Employers

An ‘A’ for Job Readiness?

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From Melissa Korn, At Work Blog, WSJ.com:

“Nearly 80% of current college students say they’re “very” or “completely” prepared to put their organization skills to work, while just 54% of hiring managers who’ve interviewed recent grads would agree, according to a survey of 2,000 U.S. college students and 1,000 hiring managers, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of education company Chegg.

Students overestimate their abilities by at least 10 percentage points on each of the 11 criteria measured in the survey, according to the findings.”

From the study:

Assessment characteristic

Students view

Recruiters’ view
Making decisions without all the facts

47%

37%
Ability to communicate with bosses and clients

70%

44%

The study also found that collaboration, managing up (i.e., managing your manager(s)), making persuasive arguments, and critical thinking in general, were unprepared for. The feeling that more hands-on and applied learning would be supportive to both students and employers.

Methinks starting more ‘hands-on and applied learning’ in middle- and high-school would also be supportive.

Research on Grit and Self-Control Recognized in “Genius Grant”

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JTF Grantee Awarded 2013 MacArthur Fellowship

As an associate professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Angela Duckworth’s work focuses on studying competencies beyond general intelligence and opportunity that predict academic and professional achievement. She is perhaps best known for her work surrounding the concepts of self-control and grit, and how those personality traits are better indicators of success than factors such as IQ and socioeconomic opportunity.

Click here to see 5 videos of Dr. Duckworth answering these 5 questions about her work and findings:

What is grit?

Are there virtues that are precursors or closely associated with grit?

What role does humility play, if any, in cultivating grit?

How has your personal story been a window into your research on grit?

What advice would you give to a parent who wanted to cultivate grit in their children?

How well does your school meet student expectations? Take this quiz to find out.

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The idea is that learning should be student centered. To do that we need to be clear on the expectations students have about their schools. The following diagram outlines the ten expectations which young people want from their schools.

Read more about these expectations and watch short videos of students discussing them in action here.

Lisa Nielsen created a ten question quiz based on these student expectations of school. This is a terrific conversation starter for transforming schools.

You can read the complete article here, take the quiz, and see how your school stacks up.

Factory Model for Education No Longer Working

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Factory Model for Education No Longer Working

Here’s a quick summary of the article. This won’t be surprising if you’ve been reading on the subject, but it is a worthwhile reminder.

  • Industry has been implementing new technologies for 30-40 years
  • Education continues using systems created in the 1900s
  • Teaching the same subjects in the same way at the same pace to a roomful of children
  • In the 1900s, 17% knowledge workers were needed; today it’s 60%
  • Simply techno-cramming is not effective and not efficient without personalizing for individual learning,
  • Utah and Florida performance-based contracting examples are worth looking at:

Read the full article here.

2/3 of job openings thru 2020 will require HS degree – or less

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The findings of this study probably apply to Albuquerque and Bernalillo County as well.

University of Wisconsin Center for Economic Development

The Skills Gap and Unemployment in Wisconsin: Separating Fact From Fiction, February 2013, by Marc V. Levine

Executive Summary

The ‘skills mismatch,’ it is argued, is the central reason why unemployment remains high, even as job vacancies remain unfilled.

This widely held view, however, is incorrect.

  • The consensus among top economists is that the skills gap is a myth. High unemployment is mainly the result of a deficiency in aggregate demand and slow economic growth, not because workers lack the right education or skills
  • This conclusion, rejecting the skills gap/structural unemployment theory, has been confirmed in numerous recent studies
  • Even if every unemployed person were perfectly matched to existing jobs, over 2/3 of all jobless would still be out of work. And this calculation understates the jobs shortage, as it does not include discouraged workers or those involuntarily working part-time.
  • Beyond the anecdotes of local employers, the Wisconsin and Milwaukee labor markets show no statistical evidence of a skills shortage:
    • Wages:  Wisconsin wage “growth” lags the national rate, another sign that there is no labor shortage here.
    • Hours: Average weekly hours worked in Wisconsin are down 4.3 percent compared to 2000.
    • Occupational Projections: Occupational projections for the state reveal that 70 percent of projected openings through 2020 will be in jobs requiring a high school diploma or less.
    • Underemployment and Workforce Over-qualification is the inverse of the one commonly put forward: it is a mismatch of too many highly educated workers chasing too few “good jobs.”
  • The study concludes with a brief analysis of: 1) why the “fake” skills gap, as The New York Times‘ Adam Davidson has called it, holds so much sway over policymakers in Wisconsin; 2) how the skills gap meme deleteriously diverts attention from other, more salient factors explaining joblessness here; and 3) why new workforce development policies, responding to an imaginary skills gap, will do little to improve the jobs situation in Wisconsin and in Milwaukee.

Anthony Carnevale of Georgetown, whose research is often cited
by skills gap proponents, put it this way: “Training doesn’t create jobs. Jobs
create training. And people get that backwards all the time. In the real world,
down at the ground level, if there’s no demand for magic, there’s no demand
for magicians.”

The complete report (1.7mb) is available in Adobe’s Acrobat format. Acrobat Reader is required to view the file. Use Adobe’s web site to download a free copy of Acrobat Reader.

 

 

Employers increasingly emphasizing ‘soft skills’

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A recent Associated Press article by Paul Wiseman says that top employers want college graduates with skills that don’t show up on school transcripts. I am hearing the same thing from local small and medium businesses about high school and community college graduates. So it’s across the board national and local.

Good potential employees have acquired the necessary knowledge and/or technical skills; exceptional potential employees also have ‘soft skills.’

So, just what are these ‘soft skills?’

  • works well in a team environment – gets along with co-workers
  • can write and speak with clarity and be understood – articulates ideas
  • adapts quickly to changes in technology and business conditions – solves problems on the fly – thinks on their feet
  • can interact with colleagues from different cultures and countries

And that’s the disconnect between what can be taught in a classroom and tested for to show progress for students, teachers, principles, school systems to state agencies and legislators – and what can’t be easily classroom taught or tested that employers are looking and needing to hire.

Solution: above my pay grade, but I can see and appreciate the problem.

“Education” versus “Learning”

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“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between lightning and  lightning bug.” – Mark Twain

In the spirit of Mark Twain, let’s begin with dictionary definitions –

ed·u·ca·tion – noun

  1. the imparting and acquiring of knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at a school or similar institution
  2. the knowledge or abilities gained through being educated
  3. training and instruction in a particular subject, for example, health matters
  4. an informative experience
  5. the study of the theories and practices of teaching

learn·ing – noun

  1. knowledge acquired by systematic study in any field of scholarly application
  2.  the act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill

Education sounds like something done to or for you; educators have something that you don’t have, and you need to go through them to get it.

Learning , on the other hand, sounds like an inside job – no one can do it for you and you can’t do it for someone else; it’s up to each individual to learn.

Seems to fit here: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make her drink.” But if you happen to  find a horse that is thirsty – that is quite a different matter!

What if kids – students – are naturally learning thirsty?

Isn’t that where those clouds of early child questions come from? Why is the sky blue? What is that? Why do I have to do that? How does that work? What happens if I touch my little brother in the back seat of the car? Does touching with my elbow count? Or my toe? Are we there yet? …

Observe your little learning machine in full action!

And there’s yet another saying that applies here: “To appear masterful or powerful, ride the horse in the direction it is going.”

In Jiu-itsu and Tae Kwan Do martial arts, one learns to use the opponent’s momentum to their advantage. Don’t stop or block your opponent’s movements – embrace their momentum and allow them to sweep past you harmlessly, effortlessly in a direction you intend.

So, what’s the point? What is a take-away for kids, parents, teachers?

  • “Education” may or may not always promote “learning.”
  • “Education” may not always be optimal for, or supportive of “learning.”
  • “Learning” occurs in a different domain.
  • Recognizing this can have a desirable outcome for the child, the parent, the teacher, the system, business, society at large.
  • Shifting the conversation and focus could empower the miracle and gift that each individual is, be she parent, teacher, or child.

Compare this with what we complain about now:

  • Missed opportunities for both children and for society
  • Increased and increasing costs of incarceration and recidivism
  • Family, personal, and institutional heart-burn and head-ache
  • Having to pay for the same thing over and over: didn’t get it by 3rd grade; didn’t get it in high school; still trying to get it via UNM/CNM remedial whatever
  • Employers having to “fix” new hires before they can get meaningful work done
  • Burnt out superintendents, principles, teachers, kids, parents

Maybe purposeful shifting orientation from “a little more school education”  to  “a little more kid learning” might be worth more than a few little trials. My guess is, the best teachers already know and are doing this. What do you think? How do we support making such a shift happen?