{"id":3711,"date":"2015-09-10T03:57:28","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T03:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keblog.demoapp.xyz\/?p=3711"},"modified":"2022-10-19T03:46:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T03:46:22","slug":"the-skills-college-graduates-need-for-white-collar-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/the-skills-college-graduates-need-for-white-collar-jobs","title":{"rendered":"The Skills College Graduates Need for White-Collar Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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During a recent career fair, an HR head of one of the multinational companies in attendance shared a valuable nugget of wisdom to the applicants on hand. \u201cWhen we graduate, we think our time to study and learn is over. The best part of working is that you continue to learn.<\/div>\n
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Working is the beginning of another university. Enjoy learning because this is how you grow. Enjoy being a lifelong learner,\u201d she said. Depending on one\u2019s perspective after reading this\u00a0article by the Wall Street Journal\u2019s Douglas Belkin<\/a>, such piece of advice may be viewed as comforting and encouraging or a stern warning to aspirants, employers, and employees alike.<\/div>\n
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Belkin details the results of an exam called the Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus that, once you\u2019ve digested its findings, may encourage readers that the lifelong learner route is an essential option to take<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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The reason lies below:\u00a0Four in 10 U.S. college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work, according to the results of a test of nearly 32,000 students.<\/em>\u00a0The Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus measures the intellectual gains made between freshman and senior year. The test doesn\u2019t cover subject-area knowledge; rather it assesses things like critical thinking, analytical reasoning, document literacy, writing and communication\u2014essentially mimicking the baseline demands for professionals.<\/em><\/div>\n
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No matter what area code you are in while looking for work, we now know why skills such as critical thinking, communication, and problem solving are important. \u201cBut how does this affect me? It\u2019s a US-based study!\u201d one might add. But wait! Interestingly, a\u00a02012 study by the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP)<\/a>\u00a0shares that four of ten fresh graduates and young job seekers are not hired due to the lack of three key qualities \u2014\u00a0critical thinking, initiative, and effective communication skills<\/strong>.<\/div>\n
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\u201cFirms across various industries consider those three qualities as \u2018soft competencies\u2019 job seekers must possess to get hired,\u201d said PMAP director for academe-industry linkages Gigi Alcasid. Sensing a pattern here? It\u2019s not just a U.S. thing.<\/div>\n
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As far as wake-up calls go, this may be a pretty loud one. The findings add weight to perhaps the most important factor why applicants remain in the unemployment line, and\u00a0it\u2019s not necessarily because they came from a certain school<\/a>. A cause for concern? It depends on one\u2019s disposition.<\/div>\n
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The best attitude to take right here, right now, regardless if one has a dearth of soft skills or not, is to\u00a0take on the hard work of\u00a0building these skills one step at a time<\/a> and to focus on highlighting these competencies during the job interview and eventually, at work.<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s better than being too hard on yourself, right? Critical thinking exercise: What are your personal soft skills that need to be developed further? What is your plan for improvement?\u00a0 Discuss. You can also share in the comments section below.<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a recent career fair, an HR head of one of the multinational companies in attendance shared a valuable nugget of wisdom to the applicants on hand. \u201cWhen we graduate, we think our time to study and learn is over. The best part of working is that you continue to learn. Working is the beginning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":3712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}