General Education Is Not the Problem. The Employability Architecture Is.
General education is not the problem. The problem is that many institutions have not designed a coherent employability architecture. Students develop the skills, attributes, and professional habits that constitute employability across general education, the major, co-curricular learning, work-related experiences, assessment, career services, and employer engagement. But these components are often managed separately, assessed separately, and […]
Five Questions Every Chief Academic Officer Should Ask About General Education and Employability
Nearly 20 years of AAC&U employer surveys confirm that employers value the development that general education promotes. Critical thinking, problem solving, communication, teamwork, and adaptability are some of the skills identified by employers as important, and these are often listed as the goals of general education programs. Despite this focus and apparent connection between general […]
Applying Employability Futures: Three Questions for Educators and Employers
In the first two parts of this series (blog 1 and blog 2), I proposed that the future of employability, exploring the skills, attributes, and professional habits that enable people to gain, sustain, and transition between employment as work evolves, deserves the same attention we give to the future of work. The future of employability […]
Defining the Future of Employability: Scope and Methodology
Future of Employability shown with future of work
The Future of Employability: Why the Distinction Matters
From LinkedIn feeds to strategic plans, discussions about the future of work are everywhere, but the future of employability is barely discussed. This gap has consequences as unemployment and underemployment remain elevated, and graduates struggle to translate education into first jobs and sustainable careers. This is not just semantics. Terms shape priorities, and the terms […]
Moving Beyond Soft Skills: Why It Is Time for a New Term
Year after year, reports highlight the importance of non-technical skills like critical thinking, creativity, and adaptability. The World Economic Forum’s most recent Future of Jobs report ranks analytical thinking as the most sought-after “core” skill followed by other skills like creative thinking and flexibility and agility. Despite their importance, these skills are often called soft […]
Bridging the Gap: How Higher Education and Employers Can Collaborate to Prepare Futures-Empowered Graduates
What Employers Want from Recent College Graduates A survey from Intelligent.com found that 6 of 10 companies surveyed fired a recent college graduate they hired this year. Why? The top reasons given for recent college graduates’ lack of success are (in order) a lack of motivation or initiative, lack of professionalism, poor organizational skills, poor […]
History Majors: Beyond the Myths and Into the Workforce
What are you going to do with that major? This is the question often posed to humanities graduates. The assumption behind it is that while it may have been enjoyable to study the humanities while pursuing your degree, you will have difficulty securing meaningful employment following graduation. Although this myth has been addressed many times, […]
The complexities of leadership in the age of AI
In this episode of Inside West Point: Ideas that Impact, Colonel Chris Mayer from the Department of Law and Philosophy at West Point discusses the importance of balancing technical competence with human skills in the age of AI. Mayer shares his extensive military and academic background, highlighting his work in integrating future force capabilities and his […]
Hacking HR Podcast: Humans at Work
Podcast Interview with Enrique Rubio. Listen to the podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hacking-hr/episodes/The-Hacking-HR-Podcast—Episode-22-ejute0
The Future of Work, Education & Leadership with Chris Mayer
In this power-hour conversation with Chris Mayer, Assistant Dean at the US Military Academy at West Point, we deep dive into the most pressing issues of Future of Education, Work, and Leadership. It is so refreshing to hear from the best, Mayer’s independent perspective on many other issues and great opportunists to elevate leadership skillset […]
Review of: The Next Rules of Work: The Mindset, Skillset, and Toolset to Lead Your Organization through Uncertainty
Gary Bolles, Chair for the Future of Work at Singularity University and a partner in the strategy consulting firm Charette LLC, suggests that “humans have worried about the future of work since the dawn of machines” (1). This worry has only intensified over the past two years as the pandemic has accelerated changes to how […]
The Evolution of the Liberal Arts (The Great Skills Gap: Optimizing Talent for the Future of Work)
To fulfill their potential of preparing students for the future of work, the liberal arts (both programs and general education offerings) must evolve in terms of their curricular and pedagogical design. While there is a great deal of work to do in this area, there are many examples of colleges and universities strengthening the connection […]