 |
|
Our Weekly NewsBlast
Dec. 14, 2016
|
|
Read our online
Journal
and much more at
|
|
|
|
|
What Credentials Do Employers Really Care About?
|
|
|
Busteed |
"What the whole world wants is a good job," according to Brandon Busteed.
"That comes ahead of everything else that is important to human beings: health, happiness, safety, family. ... We see accomplishing all of those things through having a good job."
Busteed is the director of education and workforce development at Gallup Education, famed for its polling. He told the audience at NEBHE's recent Talent 4.0 conference that the planet's real unemployment number is 1.8 billion, because that's how many people want a good job and don't have one. Even in the U.S., many people have stopped looking for work. And a lot of people lost high-skilled jobs and took lower-paying jobs. "One of the fundamental mission statements that ought to be part of higher education," he said, "is helping people find meaningful work."
Busteed asked who in the NEBHE audience had a college degree. Almost everyone did. "This is a very elite group," he warned. "If you step back, you realize that only 40% of U.S. adults have one of these things that pretty much everyone in the room has." Busteed added, however, that firms such as Goldman Sachs have moved away from hiring Ivy-only, because they worry about missing out on diverse talent pools. Moreover, few employers care about what discipline a prospective employee studied in college. They care much more whether the prospective employee had a job or internship related to the job they were seeking, according to Busteed.
On the same panel focused on employers' changing skill demands, David Leaser,
senior manager of strategic initiatives at IBM, noted that the computer giant used to sell its software on CDs and deliver it every 18 months; now with cloud development, that turnaround has dropped to 60 days. "So how is it possible that you could train someone in college or even in a code school and have them stay up to date if the changes are every 60 days?" asked Leaser. When thinking about credentials, he said, we need to look at "making sure people have verifiable achievements and marketable skills." He proposed "liquid skills" be added to college degrees.
Steve Lynch, director of workforce and economic development at Burning Glass Technologies, said the firm's goal is to crack and map the genome for jobs. Despite attention paid to the proliferation of "badges" and "microcredentials," Lynch reported that among job ads that explicitly request credentials, most requested just one of 50 specific creds. "It's really challenging to create and grow a credential that has labor-market demand."
|
|
NEJHE
Check out our newest commentary and analysis from New England's higher education leaders
The new
annual directory produced by NEBHE, in association with
Boston magazine, lists key data for New England public and independent colleges and universities, including application deadlines and acceptance rates; faculty-student ratios; enrollment breakdowns; cost of attendance; and degrees offered. The 2017
Guide also provides tips on choosing a college and accessing financial aid resources. NEBHE distributes the
Guide widely throughout New England including to all high schools and public libraries.
Visit Boston magazine's website to view and search
the 2017 Guide in a new interactive digital format.
|
|
Newslink
Keeping up with news and events in higher education
|
|
News Around NEBHE
See what our other programs are up to at nebhe.org
|
|
Joblink
|
|
Blasts From the Past
|
|
NEJHE NewsBlast
is a summary of
NEJHE
content and other news around NEBHE prepared weekly by
NEJHE
Executive Editor
John O. Harney
and emailed every Wednesday to opinion leaders and practitioners. When responding to
NEJHE
content, please make sure that your remarks are relevant, courteous and engaging. Individuals are responsible for their comments, which do not represent the opinions of the New England Board of Higher Education. We urge commenters to briefly note their occupational or other interest in the topic at hand. Please refrain from offensive language, personal attacks and distasteful comments or they may be deleted. Comments may not appear immediately. Thank you for staying engaged. Join Our Mailing List!
|
|
|
|
|
|
