Job Postings Tell Us Something About Needed Technology Skills from Graduates

One big question often asked is what technology skills do graduates need in order to find their first marketing job. There are lots of ways to look at this problem but using job postings is a great idea for understanding what employers are seeking. It is they who do the hiring so it is they who have some level of expectation from graduates.

After an analysis of job postings it was determined that basic skills needed by graduates was analytic skills, life long learning mindset, ability to work independently (Schlee & Karns, 2017). The categories were Excel (31%), other software (30%), project management (29%), database skills (27%), data analytics (24%), and web analytics (21%). Employers also wanted graduates to have some type of internship and experience.

What we see is that marketing graduates need general ability to function on their own and look at information critically. Yet they also need to use basic tools in the marketing industry successfully and have some experience doing so. Offering graduates these opportunities may well position them to align to job criteria.

Yet this may also be somewhat dependent on what type of job graduates expect to have, what area, and at what pay. However, as a basic entry point this knowledge is helpful because curriculum can be adjusted to provide more exposure to these needed skills. Still...the student will need to list that on their resume to have it noticed.

Schlee, R. & Karns, G. (2017). Job requirements for marketing graduates: are there differences in the knowledge, skills, and personal attributes needed for different salary levels? Journal of Marketing Education, 39 (2).

Albert Einstein's 129th Bday-What We Can Learn About Genius

The genius who invented the Theory of Relativity turns 139 today....assuming he was still alive. A few weeks ago I read a book on his life and thought it is not what you expect to find when thinking of genius. He didn't fit the standard prototype of a prodigal child and had some serious ups and down in his life. It was the way he thought that made the biggest difference.

Einstein was seen as a genius a little later in his life. Most people thought he was relatively dumb in his first part of his childhood. He wasn't even much of a good student and nearly failed a class. Yet later on in life he bloomed and started to write papers. Even then he had a hard time finding an academic post and continued to work in a patent office.

While very intelligent one of the most important things I believe he said was...

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Genius is a way of thinking it isn't the simple recall of information. Standardized tests only sometimes capture genius but usually miss out on more creative abilities and complexity of thought. As long as you can memorize steps you can give the right answers but genius sometimes have a problem with the standard answer. 

Whether you are in business or just solving personal problems you should learn that to tackle a problem and find a more holistic solution may require you to think about those problems in a new way. With some mental training and good brain circuitry you may be the type of person who can discover new ways of tacking an issue. 

Enjoyment of Contact Sports Like Kenpo and Boxing

There is something to be said of contact sports and the adrenaline that comes from engaging in them. While I'm not an adrenaline junky I do believe that such sports are useful on a physical and psychological level. While maybe not everyone's "cup of tea" I feel that putting them into your fitness activities can be helpful in the process of rounding out your personality and abilities.

The first think you can think of is the fitness side of it. Yes boxing specifically will get you into shape while much of the background work must be done at the gym. So it gives you a focus for your workouts. Getting better and stronger takes a level of commitment.

It is also a useful skill. While one should not walk around like they are a "god" among men it is a useful skill if one is attacked. We hope we live in a safe world but we sometimes come across physical intimidation by others who have not learned other ways of handling conflict in a non violent manner.

There is also the psychological aspect that comes with both fitness and the ability to defend oneself. There is higher inner confidence because you know you can hold your own. This is important in the way you talk, walk, think and engage with your environment. Confidence and arrogance are two different things and knowing the difference is important.

Ok...so the few stings of a practice beating with an opponent does sort of stink yet the overall benefits outweigh the few bruises you might receive. Learning against a bag is one thing but having a practice opponent is another. To get a feel for the weight of another person, seeing their movements, and preempting their attacks teaches body language skills.

Making Graduate Employment Promises-Better Job Placement Services

Universities can offer promises of employment. According to an article in Inside Higher Education DePauw University has a 95% student placement rate and now is promising full job placement; even with a liberal arts degree. As a Methodist based school of 2,200 it promises that students will either get a job within 6 months or get another semester of tuition absolutely free. There are other things universities might be able to do to offer this guarantee without taking huge risks in the process. What can schools do to learn from this offer?

Offering jobs is not really the main business of universities but more along the lines of educating people to expand their knowledge base and helping them fully develop their minds so they can be highly functional people in society. The job is a result of this higher knowledge and functioning that often leads to employment and better pay. There has been a greater push in years to ensure that students that graduate are actually able to achieve full employment even though much of this is based on the attributes of both the graduate and the labor market.

To offer guarantees of employment means that universities would have to act a little more like job agents and recruiters. They will need to have a very strong job placement and career development department that actively seeks to attract businesses and promote their graduates to potential employers. There will need to have much more active engagement in the labor market beyond job postings, job search engines, and job interview skills.

The second method would be to improve corporate-university partnerships to fuel curriculum development and fill job gaps. The university would need to engage with these employers and offer them real value to develop potential employees based on their specific needs. Corporate engagement in the curriculum development and university performance would be a new way of thinking about how higher education functions and teaches. Of course there are a few detractors to this approach not discussed here.

For some universities promises are not hugely expensive if what they are offering is a free semester of school. Consider a student who graduates and then leaves to go find a job. Even a free semester may not necessarily draw them back to the school so only a small percentage of people who can't find a job would likely return to create a liability for the school. Alternatively, it is possible to offer free job finding seminars, submission of resume to job search engines, or even limited-time partnership with recruiters to help those students who are having difficulties.

The "job guarantee" can be helpful in recruiting potential students and raising the standard of the university. Because this is an important government initiative and something that impacts universities nation-wide it can be helpful to provide these types of guarantees without necessarily impacting the financial security of the school. While some students may be holding out for a high paying offers, may not want to actually get a job because they are self-employed or homemakers, or simply don't have the motivation or skills to get past the interview offering a secondary placement service could be helpful for those who want but cannot find employment.

New "UFO' Sighting----Well Maybe or Maybe Not

I'm definitely not a UFO guy. Never thought much about them other than it is possible and plenty of rumors and conspiracy theories for decades. Of course no one can say one way for sure either way. It is all theoretical and hypothetical. I'm still thinking it could be some technology developed somewhere else but it does sort of open a lot of questions. December saw a previous releasing.