It’s out! Your resume-writing how-to guide, available now from smashwords.com. Click here to get this e-book (just $.99) : http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/412651 Find out what “the liberal arts skills” are that employers want. Describe your skills in business language. Learn how your skills make businesses money. (Available for Kindle, Nook, iPad, Sony Reader, also as epub, PDF, Pam…
There are three things employers despair about finding in the workplace today: Employees in their midst (1) who are capable of critical thinking, (2) who can negotiate difficult emotional territory and (3) who can write. In short, employees who can cogitate, navigate, communicate. It doesn’t often occur to hiring managers to turn to humanities…
Florida’s Governor Rick Scott rides again. Last year, he announced he didn’t believe in funding a liberal arts education, and now he’s done something about it. This morning’s New York Times reports that, in Florida’s state-funded schools, Governor Scott is substantially reducing the cost of four-year science/tech/engineering degrees. You know, then, what that does to…
Hiring managers, well-meaning family members, and media pundits continue to assume the liberal arts are the educational breeding ground for the exploratory and artsy, producing graduates who have neither job skills nor job prospects. Instead of crisp technicians ready to crunch numbers and take home bonus pay, these misguided people think liberal arts majors are…
For faculty and advisors: When was the last time you told your liberal arts students that knowing how to develop a cogent essay is the best preparation in the world for business writing of all kinds? Okay, maybe there’s a bit of hyperbole in there, but not much. The fact is anyone who can write…
A few weeks ago, Florida’s Governor Rick Scott proposed cutting the funding for liberal arts programs in his state’s public universities. His predictable argument, guaranteed to inflame those of us who know better, goes like this: the only students worth hiring are science, technology and math grads; the liberal arts are frivolous. Governor Scott…
Recently, I attended a session where psychologist Ken Nowack talked about the ins and outs of management feedback at work. Dr. Nowack’s research looks into how managers and supervisors who deliver feedback badly can actually cause physical harm to the employees they’re criticizing or advising. Study after study proves that how feedback is delivered directly…
In our culture, we believe that personal development is a matter of acquiring skills. The more skills you acquire, the more capable you are. We identify just about everything as a “skill”—basic motor skills, interpersonal skills, supervisory skills, negotiating skills, presentation skills, parenting skills, carpentry skills, sewing skills, culinary skills, social media skills. Frankly, I…
We hear this over and over: humanities and social sciences majors are developing what in today’s employment parlance are known as “leadership skills.” This phrase describes a collection of characteristics and abilities that employers are desperate to find in both candidates and employees. But the phrase is a little misleading. That word—“leadership”—suggests being…
I talked this week with Diana Patten, Director of Career Services and Internships at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Their term just ended, and commencement was last weekend. “We call this our ‘breathing week,’” she said, with relief. Aaaah, yes. Breathe in, breathe out. Then what? Start planning for fall! How will you inspire…
Someone asked me the other day why I do what I do, why I work with students, speak on campuses, research and write about the usefulness of the liberal arts in business, why I offer consulting services—all to connect liberal arts students with careers in business. I have two answers to that question: 1) There’s never been…
At Whittier College, Director of Career Planning and Internships Linda Ross told me a scary story, the kind of story I can picture liberal arts students sharing around a campfire after all the marshmallows are roasted. It goes like this: Fifty graduate students at a nearby university, pursuing master’s degrees in something like “Student Affairs,”…
Confidence. Empathy. Emotional awareness. Collaboration. The ability to “read” others. Political awareness. Adaptability. These are some of the characteristics that comprise “emotional intelligence.” If there’s one thing people at work struggle with perhaps more than any other, it’s navigating the emotional terrain on the job. If you haven’t worked in business you may, from a distance,…
I teach in the School of Business at Portland State, a class called “Advanced Business Communication” aimed at helping about-to-be accountants, supply chain managers, marketing staff, financial analysts, and operational managers be better writers and speakers in their future jobs. I’m always happily surprised by the business students’ level of engagement, not only about my class…
It’s spring, that time of year here in the northern hemisphere when trees push out new leaves from dormant limbs, days get longer, and snows turn to showers (unless you’re in the northeastern part of the U.S., still waiting for the day you can put away the snow shovel!). It’s also the time of year…
The Liberal Arts Advantage 