Beyond the College Degree: Job Skills

By now, you’ve probably heard about Trina Thompson . In case you haven’t heard, she’s suing her alma mater, Monroe College, because she feels that the career center hasn’t been doing enough to find her a job. She’s only been looking for a little more than three months. In this economy, she’s just begun her job search. But Trina’s story does more than bring our attention to the fact that college career centers can be great resources on the job hunt . It brings our attention to a few realities about the job hunt:

• A college degree is not enough to guarantee you a job . Perhaps it used to be, but it’s not right now. Patrick at Cash Money Life pretty much nails it: “To expect a multitude of job offers in a difficult economy, when people with years of experience have been unemployed longer than you have had a degree, is grossly naive. To sue someone because you haven’t been able to find the job you desire shows a sense of entitlement that is disturbing.”
• You aren’t entitled to a job, just because you have a piece of paper . Patrick’s point is valid. We have reached a point where, for some reason, we think that we are entitled to a dream job (preferably with six figures) because we “paid our dues” in college. That’s not really how things should be. Most of us start with crap jobs out of college and work up to something better, with better pay.
• Your performance matters . Ms. Thompson apparently graduated with a 2.7 GPA. And she’s griping that students with higher GPAs are favored. Well, duh. Your performance does matter. The fact that she had excellent attendance does little beyond let us know that she showed up. Any warm body can do that. But can you produce results?
• Skills are important . You need to bring some skills to the table. At this point, with unemployment at 9.4%, there is plenty of competition that can do a decent job and show up. What employers are looking for right now are people with skills . You need hard skills and soft skills to show that you are a good fit.

In the end, getting a job is still about distinguishing yourself, working hard, and turning in a solid and useful performance.

Image source: Milliron Photography via Flickr