WHAT EMPLOYERS WANT FROM YOU

By: Jeff Sellingo

Author, COLLEGE (UN)BOUND | Columnist | Speaker

What Do You Most Want When Hiring Recent College Graduates?

It’s hiring season for college graduates, and as I research my next book about the transition from education to the workforce, I’ve been asking employers what they most want when they recruit those with newly-minted bachelor’s degrees. I wasn’t interested in hearing about the specific skills for a particular job, but more so about the overall attributes these recent graduates need to succeed in the workplace now and in the near future.

Many of the same characteristics came up over and over again in my conversations with employers ranging from Pinterest and Facebook to Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Vanguard. Here are the some of the qualities they think today’s college graduates should have. Do you hire recent college graduates, and if so, what do you think? Add your comments below.

Curiosity.

Today’s college graduates have been heavily programmed since they were young: their playtime was scheduled, they participated in dozens of organized activities, and their time in school was very structured. The dynamic nature of the economy today demands learning animals who are curious about the world around them, investigate new ideas and solutions, want to learn something new every day, and are willing to take risks.

Experience with Failure.

The A is now the most common mark given out on college campuses nationwide, accounting for 43 percent of all grades. Given the rapid rise of grade inflation on college campuses, most college students today have little experience with failure. They rarely have seen the iterative process that most professionals follow to eventually get to success (perhaps those of us who are writers should share our early drafts more often). College graduates who have had some experience with failure whether it’s on the athletic field, in a lab, on a research project, or just in life in general are better able to deal with it on the job.

Contextual Thinking.

I call this making the connections between disparate ideas and strategies. Most jobs for new college graduates are no longer task-based, they are contextual. Yet college students are trained how to move through their undergraduate degree in a very task-oriented way: there are defined semesters with tailored courses that have discrete time blocks each with their own syllabus. They are rarely asked to think outside of those silos and across the whole of their experience.

Digitally Aware.

Sure, today’s graduates are what we like to call “digital natives,” but they also need more awareness about the risks and opportunities of technology, and how it really works. Programming, Big Data, and social media are now at the foundation of most jobs in the knowledge economy, not just in technology.

Socially Aware.

This is a catch-all category that includes important skill sets like written and verbal communication as well as the ability to deal with negative feedback, ask good questions, speak in public, and most of all, interact on a basic human level with co-workers and clients that doesn’t involve texting with them. It’s what the folks at Koru, a new start-up that helps college graduates launch into their careers, call “polish.” I’d love to hear if you have a better name for this category of attributes.

Comment below if you have any examples of ways graduates could get these skills while still in college or if you have other characteristics you look for when hiring.