Critical Questions to Ask Every Potential College Student

Thomas Berger, the great American novelist once said,

“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.”

What are the critical questions we need to be asking every potential 21st century college student?

First, what makes these questions so important?

The clueless student responses to these questions must become the catalyst to ignite a sense of urgency within them to thoroughly prepare for constant change in their workforce but also to focus on their future career development.

Educators and career counselors must have a sense of urgency to grasp the changing needs of today’s employers and to respond quickly by developing tools to teach the skills necessary and needed by employers.

Employers are the driver of our economy. Now they must also be the drivers of our educational reform.

The beginning of quality improvement is the intentional vision we cast for students as they strive for professional readiness to enter the workforce.

All high schools and universities across the board from academics to student services must build partnerships to help students test newly developed employability skills much like a baby bird exercises its wings for future flight. By building a strong nest of career development, internship opportunities and mentoring relationships, educational institutions must merge knowledge and experience to help students soar.

A key to a student’s successful entry to employment rests in the combined and collaborative partnerships high schools and universities build with employers.

Another key is the intentional choice of the student to engage in the opportunities offered by employers whether it be a full-time, part-time, paid or unpaid job.

Feedback is crucial

The purpose of feedback is not to remediate weaknesses or injure their budding confidence. It is to establish and build upon the natural strengths of each student. A mentoring style of feedback will establish a positive foundation of work experience for the 21st century student. Intentionally customizing a co-op or internship experience to learn from a successful mentor who validates their strengths could revolutionize the way students view work.

Another way to say this is, every time we offer mentoring relationships that affirm and build their natural strengths, we become the talent managers of our most motivated students.

Career counselors are the forecasters for students, letting them know what to expect as they enter college or the workplace and build their professional identity. Yet, certified career counselors are not in the school system to guide students through a maze of possible choices.

A guidance counselor and career counselor are not the same occupation.

Our greatest challenge and demand for career counseling

A recent poll of 305 graduates of the 2014 class, indicated 67% reported being employed. Of the 67% of employed students, 51% of this group is working in jobs that didn’t require their degree.

Upon reading this interesting statistic, I wondered how the other 33% are doing and why are they not working.

Maybe some have gone to graduate school or are on an overseas adventure for a year. However, it is safe to say there are some who are simply stuck in the mud of joblessness because of woeful unpreparedness for life beyond graduation. At least 25% of young adults between the ages of 18 to 35 are still living at home.

Of course this may be due to difficult economic challenges and family dynamics. However, there are likely some young adults who didn’t consider the complexity of preparation for a job offer and don’t have the income to sustain independence.

I wonder if these students ever considered experiencing the benefits of a career counselor?

The highly important questions I pose are questions I ask recent unemployed college graduates who seek my services as a private career counselor.

Many of them ask me, “Why didn’t I learn this in high school?”

A major reason they walk into my office is because their parents find me when they type “desperately seeking career help” on an Internet search engine.

For me, questions are the platform to engage young adults in meaningful dialogue as they prepare to enter the workforce.

From each individual response, strategies can be developed and action plans implemented to equip students with quality learning experiences that build and affirm sustainable skills for the future.

Questions by their very nature provoke conversation. If asked in a non-defensive, non-judgmental way with an open posture of acceptance and rapport, questions help students investigate, explore and better understand the importance of being intentional and thorough in their planning and preparation for professional success.

Recent labor statistics:

At least 500,000 job openings remain unfilled due to current skill gaps primarily in the manufacturing sector

Over 8,549,000 workers are unemployed as of April 2015

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) projects 1,855,000 students at the bachelor's degree level will graduate as the Class of 2015.

A 2013 report released by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity found that the number of college grads will grow by 19 million between 2010 and 2020, while the number of jobs requiring that education is expected to grow by less than 7 million

Over all, the Labor department also reports that national unemployment rates have fallen to the lowest levels since our last recession in 2008.

Suffice it to say, graduating college seniors are entering a job maze of great challenges.

They face:

Significantly lower wages than they anticipate. Our salaries have not significantly increased with the cost of living expenses. To strengthen this reality, a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute, indicated entry-level wages for graduates are expected to be no better than they were 15 years ago.

What will make the difference for students to successfully land a job offer rather than remain unnoticed as a perpetual jobseeker?

How can we educate our students on how to negotiate and achieve a job offer representing the fair market value of their skill set?

Students pursuing career development assistance, co-op opportunities, internship experience during their collegiate years, position themselves above and ahead of their peers.

In addition, when those students engage in meaningful dialogue with mentors and employers, these highly important questions brace them for a fast changing, agile and turbulent job market.

Question #1 has two parts:

Part 1:What does the word career mean to you?

Part 2:Do you know the word career is now transforming from a noun to an action verb?

A career is defined as “an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress.”

Today “a significant period of time” now means an average of three years or less in a particular work role.

The average worker changes jobs at least 10 to 12 times. Most of us in this room are doing work today that wasn’t written in the job description of our original offer. Such is the 21st century workplace of shifting paradigms related to emerging business strategies, new products and services for a consumer base whose demographics constantly change and trend.

Add that to our surging global market with innovative technology creating a complex revolution of the workplace and those who work in it.

Using the word career as an action verb indicates we are willing, open and adaptable to the force of change and the impact it will have on our work life including the processes, systems and organizational structure we put into place.

The noun career is derived from the French word that means “racetrack”.

You know when a career becomes just a job. It happens when we believe the racetrack just goes round and round with no finish line in sight.

When we see the word “career” as an action verb we run the race with endurance, strength, fortitude, cooperation and the wisdom of professionals who go before us.

Especially, when change happens.

Change is the most consistent thing in work and life.

How are we preparing our future workforce for the inevitable turbulence they will experience?

Keep in mind; we cannot prepare students for change we’re not prepared for ourselves. Therefore, we must also ask, how are we preparing for the same turbulence that may occur in our own career?

Career as an action verb describes us as determined runners at full speed.

We too face challenges to adapt and change strategies to meet the needs of students and the employers who will hire them.

A student who understands career as an action verb will do the following action steps:

Learn how to make career decisions based on their natural strengths, interests, skills, values and temperament

Be intentional about gaining experience and proving its value Have a mentor to guide them through career exploration and the

job search process Connect to a vast array of employers and industry experts while

learning best practices for their chosen profession

Today, career as a noun is no longer a one-time decision determined in college, but an intentional process of making wise choices when it comes to work opportunities.

Students need to be empowered to see work not as a ladder to climb but as a trellis to support their professional and personal goals of achievement, growth and contribution.

If we don’t ask them this highly important question of how they see career as an action verb or challenges their views if they only see it as a noun, students are likely to stray off the narrow course they may run in circles.

Question #2Can you describe how you’re a solution to the employer’s problem?

Graduating seniors for the most part, lack an accurate perception of what it takes to land a job offer.

The necessary time, energy, follow-up, and resilience to find the right fit is much longer and more complicated than they anticipate.

College graduates also instinctually believe the job is solely about the skills they’ve learned and now offer to the employer without any consideration of the employer.

Their flawed assumption of the minimal amount of effort and due diligence it takes to get a job rapidly undermines their confidence and momentum.

Most will throw a last minute resume together, apply online to multiple posted openings and wait in the vortex of anxiousness for their cellphone to ring.

The majority believes their educational achievement is enough without any consideration to what an employer needs, or how experiential learning is highly valued as they progress in school.

Students don’t instinctively recognize a job opening as a gap, dilemma or problem in the employer’s current workforce. In addition, students lack the ability to identify and describe their skills with high outcome results as a solution to the employer’s need.

They may craft a stellar resume with a 4.0 GPA, but unless they connect their education, experience and skills to the employer’s gap, they’ll continue to kick the can of applying for countless jobs and settling for underemployment or no job at all.

The experiential learning of a co-op, internship or career counseling is critical for students to see themselves as a solution and be able to describe exactly how.The feedback received by the employer can realistically prepare them to land a job offer.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve helped many college graduates in 15 years of private practice. Usually, their stories have similar patterns. They work for minimum wage and cannot break into their dream jobs. Their nightmare experience of futile job search typically correlates to the disparity between their earned degree and lack of work experience to back it up.

Their inability to conduct a thorough analysis of labor market information and industry trends to see how they fit into a company’s future doesn't even cross their minds.

They are clueless about how to identify employers who need their skills.

The students who seek my services failed to seek career counseling, pursue a co-op experience or internship in college that offered a gateway from classroom instruction to the world of work.

They never utilized the services or career readiness programs their university provided to assist them.

The light bulb moment for the unemployed college grads I help usually occurs when they hear these words:

“The best resume you will write is not about you. It’s about the employer and how you’re a proven solution to a gap.”

A student can only become the solution for an employer when he or she knows the problems to be solved with the experiential learning gained in the classroom and tested in the workplace.

A recent NACE survey indicated the top five skills employers are looking for in college graduates. These skills include:

1. Ability to make decisions and solve problems2. Ability to verbally communicate with persons inside and outside the

organization3. Ability to obtain and process information4. Ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work5. Ability to analyze quantitative data

How are we preparing our students to be the solution to an employer’s gap?

Students become valuable solutions through the means by which universities prepare them. From there, students are challenged to communicate their value by describing the high quality outcomes they offer throughout their professional endeavors.

Question #3 Do you know your college degree isn’t an automatic ticket to a job?

Career experts agree that at least 80% of today’s job market demands a highly specialized skills-set typically offered in a vocational-technical setting such as a community college for the industrial or manufacturing trades supporting our economical infrastructure. These jobs include automotive technologists, construction workers, electricians, plumbers, and protective services such as police and firefighters.

Today’s job opportunities for college graduates are fiercely competitive. One reason for this is the over supply of graduates compared to the number of job openings requiring a bachelor degree.

A 2011 study by Harvard called Pathways to Prosperity concluded roughly half of all Americans reach their mid-20s without the skills or credentials essential for today’s demanding economy.

Students who gain exposure to the world of work from a co-op experience during their university years are much more likely to have deepened their understanding of career options best suited for their skill-set.

Students who experience a co-op experience or internship also discover the ticket to a job is not the degree as a stand-alone, but includes the experience learned in a workplace setting while achieving the degree.

Employers today need workers who achieve quality outcomes for their company or organization with a solid return on their hiring investment. These outcomes include performance, outstanding customer service and time efficiency.

How are we preparing students to articulate the skills employers’ need with the results that prove the fair market value of our graduates?

The National Association of Colleges and Employers 2013 survey of employers reinforced that internships and cooperative education programs are an essential component of their college recruiting programs. Co-op hiring was anticipated to increase by 5.8%.

Employers made full time offers to 56.5 percent of their interns. This rate rose 10% from the previous year.

A college degree must be coupled with job experience to position our graduates ahead and above their competition.

Question #4

Do you know at least 25% of the job opportunities that will be available to you ten years from now, have yet to be created today?

This question is the lighthouse for a sea of opportunities for our students.

A global economy combined with rapidly expanding technology has formed the womb of an unseen yet formidable workplace on the horizon for today’s 21st century student. The world is now their customer and no longer are they confined to a brick and mortar space.

Galaxies yet to be explored, emerging energy solutions, healthcare challenges, science and technology’s discoveries are all converging at warp speed. Combine this with an exponential explosion in the world’s population to create an endless stream of new opportunities.

How are we preparing students to be adaptable and ready for such an amazing future?

Let’s revisit the definition of entrepreneurship.

The Latin origin for the word can be translated as “to carry one’s weight”.

We must instill an entrepreneurial spirit inside our students from the very beginning of their educational journey.

Students need to understand exemplify the definition of entrepreneurship is to work, volunteer, pay taxes and build their lives upon community principles.

Every student can learn to become an entrepreneur with or without venture capitalism.

This is such a simple question but so imperative to consider.

As we all know, students focus on the immediate demands of papers, projects and tests and typically do not think ahead to what is crucially important.

They need forecasters to prepare them and prevent potential fallout of unpreparedness for the world of work that is in front of them. You have

the opportunity to be an influence they will always remember when they look back at the process of getting their first “real” job.

You have the privilege of igniting a sense of urgency to become a solution to the employers needs today. Remember, every encouraging word you share to challenge them is a seed well sown.

In conclusion,

Remember, there is power in the questions we ask to ignite new thinking and new ways of approaching the word “career”.

Students who see career as an action verb, and can demonstrate how their skills are the solution to an employer’s problem, are well on their way to a journey of professional achievement.

Students who recognize their diploma is not enough to land a job offer and understand the value of a co-op internship not as an option but as a choice are positioned for a bright future.

There are many variables impacting a student’s ability to find and sustain meaningful employment. Some variables such as a volatile job market or many challenging economic conditions are clearly beyond their control. Yet, the most important variables are within their control.

Making the decision to learn about career readiness and the importance of learning more about their natural strengths is crucial.

I began with Thomas Berger’s quote, “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.”

I want to end with this addendum to his original words:

“The art and science of asking highly important questions for 21st century students serves as fuel to ignite their sense of meaningful work and future success.”

All of us who mentor and guide them must be willing to share our knowledge in a joint effort to empower their entrepreneurial spirit.”

Wouldn't it be amazing for every student to be so excited they couldn’t wait to carry their weight?