There’s a direct disconnect between education and employability in the U.S., where employers view universities and colleges as the gatekeepers of workforce talent, yet those same institutions aren’t prioritizing job skills and career readiness. This not only hurts employers, but also sets the average American worker up for failure before they’ve even begun their career, as new employees who have been hired based on their four-year educational background often lack the actual skills needed to perform in their role. To create change as an industry, we must provide greater credibility to alternate education paths that allow students to gain employable skills. Now is the time for employers to increase credibility for skills-based hiring, to remove stigmas around vocational education, and to move forward to create equal opportunities for all students.
In an age of unpredictable job evolution, it is hard to argue that the knowledge acquisition historically associated with a university degree is still relevant. But as university qualifications become more commonplace, recruiters and employers will increasingly demand them, regardless of whether they are actually required for a specific job. Research shows that the correlation between education level and job performance is weak, and that intelligence scores are a much better indicator of job potential. If we were to pick between a candidate with a college degree and a candidate with a higher intelligence score, we could expect the latter to outperform the former in most jobs, particularly when those jobs require constant thinking and learning. Having said that, universities could substantially increase the value of the college degree if they spent more time teaching their students critical soft skills. As the impact of AI and disruptive technology grows, candidates who can perform tasks that machines cannot are becoming more valuable. There is a huge opportunity for colleges to restore their relevance by teaching their students emotional intelligence, resilience, empathy, integrity, learnability, and leadership skills.
Our team of experts with extensive research and practice has established that: 1. A person remains persevering & persistent in work if his/her interests match with the content of the job (person-passion fit, we can say). With a higher fitment, the person’s curiosity continues and ultimately makes him/her the expert, thereby increasing his/her earnings. 2. Learning pays off only if it is relevant to one’s area of passionate interest. E.g. Someone has high interest in writing or communication, then he/she will excel in it, resulting in more respect & rewards. 3. Many people have added 10s of certificates to their CV but have forgotten what they learned. People remember only that course content where they have real interest in the domain. 4. In case of higher studies (PG, PhD), benefits can be reaped if the area of specialization is matching to one’s interest. 5. There are other kinds of learnings that people need more than academic topics. E.g. they need to learn people management, articulate communication, data analysis, data interpretation, attention to detail, being interactive and so on.