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As college students, we sometimes feel as if we know everything, only to quickly discover upon entering the real world that we don't know much of anything. Here are eight things I feel many college students don't grasp until they get an internship or job. I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
1. Meeting expectations is no longer enough- Remember the days when you could ace a class by completing the required work? If you want an A in the workplace, going above and beyond to provide deeper insight, compile more research, or initiate a project is what it takes.
2. Concepts are pretty much useless- Throughout school, a significant portion of class time is dedicated to understanding models and concepts which are mostly theoretical. In the real world, nobody cares about theoretical information if it's not going to help you become better at your job. Say good-bye to most of your college education...
3. It's not about you- Throughout school, your grades are directly correlated to your achievement as an indvidual. Although this is true at work as well, your "grade" also likely has a lot to do with how well you interact with others and what you contribute to the team.
4. A degree doesn't mean much anymore- Sure, you need it to get into a company, but once you're in, it's all about results. Nobody is impressed with your Harvard degree if you can't help your company win.
5. Dress the part- Coming into work dressed in shorts and flip flops makes you look like an arrogant asshole. If you don't agree with corporate dress code, talk to HR, don't shoot yourself in the foot at the beginning of your career by being an immature idiot.
6. Keep the PowerPoint slides to a minimum- One thing you definitely don't learn in college, or at least I haven't yet, is how to create a great presentation. Most presentations should consist of a few charts or graphs higlighting important data or trends, not your entire outline. Everyone should read Bill Lane's book Jacked Up to learn how to present. (Bill Lane was Jack Welch's speechwriter for nearly two decades)
7. Keep the writing to a minimum- These fourteen page papers we write for school are great for expanding on ideas, developing sentence structure, etc., but horrible for most business situations. Employees receive so many emails and memos throughout the day that learning to say less with more is a much needed skill.
Great post! I have had many conversations with my business professors about very points.
There's one other thing that I wish my college professors would have at least eluded to - the social politicing of the real world. It has been such a huge part of my career - all the networking, the fact that alot of times, who you know is at least as important as what you know, and the art of gracefully keeping people accountable and getting them to do what you need them to do is crucial to success.
I've learned alot of this the hard way, but I would recommend the same road to anyone - once you understand these things, you truly understand how to take charge of your career and position yourself to achieve your life goals.
#2 really hits home for me. When I was in college, I was constantly doing internships in the summer. When I'd return to school, I was outstandingly bored -- all you learn about is theory, concepts, models. None of which really mattered once you finished, because what matters is if you can think on your own.
Sometimes it's depressing to think that some of my academic education is archived in my mind for nostalgic purposes only, never to be used for any practical purpose. Fortunately, those internships helped put a LOT of learning in context and gave some of the concepts meaning. Making sure you get work experience is another thing lots of people don't learn in college.
You're on the money about the PPT slides, I cringed so many times in class when people would copy-and-paste their report, turn their back to the class and read the slides. I can read on my own!!
I particularly like point #7. I have never understood why so many professors insist on essays with arbitrary page minimums. If you can write a good paper in fewer pages, that is a valuable skill; not to mention the time that it saves the professor in reading and grading. What point is it to have a stack of essays with each one full of unnecessary BS?
I enjoyed this, and only have one point of disagreement: #2. I think a lot of jobs these days require you to employ a mix of both concrete and abstract thinking. Especially when working in any sort of competitive or cutting edge industry, the ability to see the big picture and form a strategy around it is of the utmost importance. It's also important to be able to look into history and extract trends. While the concepts we learned in school may not apply, it's still imperative for undergrads to develop our ability to pick up on abstract concepts and take action within them.
I disagree on some of your points
1. Concepts ARE useful - you just need to know how to apply them and recognize that they are useful (most times this is process subconscious - I can't tell you how many times I've related work to classroom concepts)
2. It IS about you. While we do talk about 'teamwork' and 'the benefit of the team', many people are ready to stab you in the back - politics is saddly here to stay. YES you can work as a team, and YES you can give it all for the team, but job performance evaluations focus on YOU, so in the end it is about YOU :-)
3. The degree does matter - if you are looking for a job. The specifics may not, the 'BA' does. The specifics may matter if you are in a cross-functional team and you are each training one another on what you know.
4. Meeting expectations - this falls under politics and "it's about you". Depending on the company/section/department it may be enough. A go getter from day 1 may be viewed as a threat. Knowing how to navigate the environment is important. Meeting the expectation is a good place to start, and once you sniff the place out, then you can decide which areas are best at working on that independent project to go beyond the minimum.
I agree with dressing the part, and with PPT and writing.
@ David- I have had the same experience with the concepts.
@ Rob- Great point, I never understood the reasoning either.
@ Jarred- Interesting point, I never thought about it in that context.
@ Dr. Pepper- I wasn't implying that it's not about you, I was trying to say that if you can't work well in teams, your value as an employee goes down. At the end of the day, it will liekly come down to your accomplishments, but you'll never advance to leadership roles if you can't work with others.
Also, if you read my post, I said the degree matters to GET hired, which I believe is what you were also saying.
Lastly, I agree with your point about meeting expectations to an extent. However, if your company doesn't allow you politically to go above and beyond, you should probably consider switching to a company who appreciates your extra effort.
Along with Jared and Dr Pepper, I agree that concepts are very important. The old way of doing things was strictly done through concrete reporting and analysis, but in the next generation applying concepts and theories will be of the utmost importance.
I definitely think dressing the part is a key factor in becoming successful that is not emphasized in college. You should always dress for the job you want and not the job you currently have. It's hard enough to be taken seriously as a young professional, dressing in a setting appropriate-manner helps you to gain credibility. First impressions are important, and you only get one chance for that impact. Once you have proven your self abilities, it may be okay to relax your personal dress code, but it really depends on your office culture and the norms of your industry.
I think you make very great points. I go to school online for the simple fact that most professors that teach online do so because their lives, like mine, do not fit into the classroom setting. Eventhough our papers are not 15 pages long and we do have writing minimums, I find that I am able to apply more than many of my friends who went to traditional schools can. Especially since most of them did not have a clue of what they wanted to do after college. But I totally agree with you when you stated that the internships helped. I work full time while going to school and the combination has enriched the education experience since I am able to see first hand how most theories and concepts can be used to move forward or for critical thinking.
Another great presenter is Garr Reynolds. You can check out his presentation on presenting over at Authors@Google. He takes presenting to the next level - by striping off all the unnecessary clutter.
@ Chris- I'm not sure I understand what you're saying, can you expand upon that at all?
Generally speaking, the boomers look at concrete numbers and are more detail oriented than concept oriented. They look at they ways of doing things that have worked for them and usually arent up for change.
That said, when the boomers all retire, the need for gen x and gen y's innovative ideas and new ways of thinkins will be needed more than ever to enhance processes and business in general.
Disagree on a few points:
2) In engineering and manufacturing, concepts count. You can't really design something if you don't understand the concepts that your design is supposed to be based on.
4) If you don't have the basic knowledge an engineering degree is supposed to confer, you won't make it as an engineer, unless you're the next Howard Hughes.
7) In designing something, you have to be able to articulate it. What problem are you solving? How are you approaching the problem? What concepts are you utilizing as your design base? How does it work? How do we make it and generate revenue for the company? If you can't write it out clearly and explain why it's such a great idea, no one in engineering management or manufacturing is going to care.
@jrandom- 7) You're absoltuely correct, the point I was trying to make is that less is more.
Stop using your companies pre-printed thank you notes. Hand write a thank you note! Hand writing is much more personal and it shows you care. More...
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