Career agility
A recent article in the Telegraph revealed some startling habits in respect of the migration patterns of young people. 19 out of 20 graduates will have changed jobs at least once by the time they are twenty four.
Is this simply a characteristic of a generation who need to be hyper-stimulated? Who unless they are handling multiple devices / dialogues concurrently feel they are suffering sensory deprivation?
More likely it reflects the reality that the clock speed of life and business is now fuelled with amphetamines. What looked like a good economic bet going into college is not necessarily so on graduating. What looked like a promising company during the graduate induction is now terminally disrupted by a free app from Google.
This is a challenge for the next generation. So rather than teaching specific job skills we need to ensure they are acquiring broad digital economy skills that can be applied to wherever they rest their mortar board.
Such skills include:
- Mental agility
- Innovation
- Commercial
- Self-management
- Teamwork
- Self-promotion.
No longer can graduates stroll from the campus of learning to the campus of a large multi-national knowing from day one that if they keep their nose clean they can have a pleasant life followed by a comfortable requirement.
Today’s graduates need to develop the hunter gatherer mind set such that when they hit the market they have the skills to survive and thrive in what is the digital jungle.
