Dr. Phil Gardner
Collegiate Employment Research
Institute
at
Michigan State University
www.ceri.msu.edu
Labor Markets,
Preparation, and A
Common Goal:
Making a
Successful
Transition into the
21st Century World
Current College
Labor Market
Situation
• Improving: able to withstand
inept politicians
– 40% requesting “ALL MAJORS”
• Sustainable: thank the
Boomers and the little guys
and gals
• “This too will pass”: NOT
– Not enough jobs
– Alignment issue
• Bottom line
– It’s all about skills not the
specific degree
The College to Work Transition
Circa 1950 to 1988
21st Century
Setting Higher Expectations
◦ Initiative: The Holy Grail
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Build and sustain professional relationships
Analyze, evaluate and interpret data
Engage in continuous learning
Communicate through persuasion and justification
Plan and manage a project
Create new knowledge
Seek global understanding
Mentor and develop others
Build a team
 Paper is available at www.ceri.msu.edu (check under paper
archives)
The Search for Balance
• Continuum: very liberal to very specific
• 48% Balance between liberal and technical
• WE HAVE TWO CHOICES
– Technically savvy liberal arts graduates
– Liberally educated technical graduates
TODAY
College graduates must
come to the
organizations as a
STAR PERFORMER!
Employer Expectations:
“Not What They Used To Be!”
Yesterday’s
Full-time Outcomes
are
Today’s
Intern Expectations
What else counts?
Internships
Leadership in a
professional
organization
Study
Abroad
Supervised
civic
engagement
Leadership in a
nonprofessional
organization
Scholarly
research
with faculty
International
Internship
Faculty
supervised
Consulting
project with
company
An Ivy League Lament
The Challenge
• All students, especially A&S, do not know how
to date
• Do not know how to tell their stories
• It is a language problem
• It is an integration problem
Employers’ Perception of A&S
Students
Adaptive innovators:
T-shaped Professionals
With
Jim Spohrer
IBM Labs
The “Right” Purpose
• Purpose
–Make my university the best in the
world for the growth of talent
• Objective
–Instilling in each undergraduate the
capacity to succeed in the 21st century
career
Robert Kegan ‘s& Lisa L. Lahey’s, Immunity to
Change (Cambridge: HBRP) helped frame these
thoughts from earlier presentations.
MUST BE
– Committed to promoting the development of
comprehensive professional competencies, attitudes,
and behaviors in each student
– Committed to encouraging self-directed, active
learning in our students as preparation for becoming
life long learners
– Committed to enhancing integration of liberal
learning, disciplinary, interdisciplinary & co-curricular
concepts into a professional foundation
– Committed to expanding students’ ability to deal with
unexpected, emerging issues
Robert Kegan ‘s& Lisa L. Lahey’s, Immunity to
Change (Cambridge: HBRP) helped frame these
thoughts from earlier presentations.
The Options
Technical: Staying the course
Can be challenging – tools are known
Do not necessarily help solve adaptive challenges
Adaptive: Crossing the Rubicon
Transform our mindset -- complexity
Confronts our identity
• Truisms from the past (assumptions that limit students,
faculty, academic units, institutions) must be directly
confronted – hold us hostage
• Everyone’s responsibility
Robert Kegan ‘s& Lisa L. Lahey’s, Immunity
to Change (Cambridge: HBRP) helped
frame these thoughts from earlier
presentations.
“One’s grasp exceeds one’s reach.”
Robert Kegan