Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Acquire Skills, Not Credentials

Don't rely on the declining value of credentialing signals: demonstrate you have the skills.
My recent conversation with Max Keiser on Summer Solutions (25:45) included three bits of advice:
2. Acquire skills, not credentials
3. Vote with your feet
Today's topic is acquire skills, not credentials.
I have written two books on this topic:
and
There is a place for credentials that act as an entry key to a profession: a dental hygiene credential, passing the bar exam, etc.
But outside these licensed professions, credentials such as four-year college degrees are fundamentally signals: they don't actually authenticate real-world skills, they simply signal that the holder of the credential completed the coursework.
It is remarkably easy to exit a university with a degree and essentially no practical real-world skills of the sort employers want and need.
That's the problem with the signaling value of credentials: in a competitive economy, employers don't want to gamble that the signal in a credential has value, they want evidence of real-world skills, i.e. the ability to profitably solve problems.
That's the problem with signaling: some signals might be noise. Employers don't want a signal, they want hard evidence of skills.
It is assumed that successfully navigating the institutional processes of higher education will impart professional working skills: showing up on time, performing as promised, being accountable, and so on.
This assumption is false: performing well in institutions of higher learning has no correlation to performance in the workplace. This is the conclusion that Google reached after crunching reams of data.
Lazlo Bock, senior vice president of people operations at Google, made the following comments in an interview published by the New York Times in June 2013:
“One of the things we’ve seen from all our data crunching is that G.P.A.’s (grade point averages) are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless. Google famously used to ask everyone for a transcript and G.P.A.’s and test scores, but we don’t anymore.... We found that they don’t predict anything.
What’s interesting is the proportion of people without any college education at Google has increased over time as well. So we have teams where you have 14 percent of the team made up of people who’ve never gone to college.”
Doing well in college—earning high test scores and grades—has no measurable correlation with being an effective worker or manager. This is incontrovertible evidence that the entire higher education system is detached from the real economy: excelling in higher education has no discernible correlation to real-world skills or performance.
If the higher education system does not explicitly teach these skills, students will not learn them, even if they excel in fulfilling the criteria of higher education.
The ultimate purpose of skills is to profitably solve problems. Problem-solving has become a clichĂ© of sorts, and so we need to ask, what set of skills is required to profitably solve problems?
The set of necessary skills divides into two categories: hard skills in specific technologies and crafts and soft skills that enable ownership of tasks and projects, systematic application of creativity and critical thinking, and professional standards of collaboration and conduct.
These two sets of skills are essential parts of human and social capital. The ultimate purpose of education is to learn how to acquire human and social capital, and the ultimate purpose of human and social capital is mastery of the skills needed to profitably solve problems.
Problem-solving and accountability have been generalized to the point that we need to specify what they actually mean. In my terminology, they mean taking ownership of tasks and projects, i.e. accepting sole responsibility in the same manner as an owner.
Hard skills in the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) are no longer enough: professional collaboration skills are increasingly essential even in workplaces that demand engineering and scientific proficiency.
The soft skills of collaboration, adaptability, creativity, entrepreneurism and professional accountability are core skills in every sector of the emerging economy.
Soft skills are not learned by osmosis or magic; they must be learned as systematically as hard skills.
The skills needed to establish and maintain a livelihood in the emerging economy are the abilities to:
1. Learn challenging new material over one’s entire productive life
2. Creatively apply newly-mastered knowledge and skills to a variety of fields
3. Be adaptable in all work environments
4. Apply a full spectrum of entrepreneurial skills to any task
5. Work collaboratively and effectively with others, both in person and remotely
6. Be professional, responsible and accountable in all work environments
7. Continually build human and social capital
8. Possess a practical working knowledge of financial and project management
If we step back and consider the abilities needed to succeed in the emerging economy, we marvel that anyone believes the prevailing (but unspoken) assumption that coursework in the conventional fields of language, history, science and the humanities magically instills these essential skills in students who regurgitate factory-model coursework.
Rather than rely on the same signals everyone else has, accredit yourself. Don't rely on the declining value of credentialing signals: demonstrate you have the skills.
I wrote Get a Job, Build a Real Career to explain how to acquire high-demand skills and accredit these skills yourself.

NOTE: Contributions/subscriptions are acknowledged in the order received. Your name and email remain confidential and will not be given to any other individual, company or agency.
Thank you, Daniel E. ($5.25), for yet another fabulously generous contribution to this site-- I am greatly honored by your steadfast support and readership.

Terms of Service

All content on this blog is provided by Trewe LLC for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at anytime and without notice.


Our Privacy Policy:


Correspondents' email is strictly confidential. This site does not collect digital data from visitors or distribute cookies. Advertisements served by a third-party advertising network (Investing Channel) may use cookies or collect information from visitors for the purpose of Interest-Based Advertising; if you wish to opt out of Interest-Based Advertising, please go to Opt out of interest-based advertising (The Network Advertising Initiative). If you have other privacy concerns relating to advertisements, please contact advertisers directly. Websites and blog links on the site's blog roll are posted at my discretion.


PRIVACY NOTICE FOR EEA INDIVIDUALS


This section covers disclosures on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for users residing within EEA only. GDPR replaces the existing Directive 95/46/ec, and aims at harmonizing data protection laws in the EU that are fit for purpose in the digital age. The primary objective of the GDPR is to give citizens back control of their personal data. Please follow the link below to access InvestingChannel’s General Data Protection Notice. https://stg.media.investingchannel.com/gdpr-notice/


Notice of Compliance with The California Consumer Protection Act
This site does not collect digital data from visitors or distribute cookies. Advertisements served by a third-party advertising network (Investing Channel) may use cookies or collect information from visitors for the purpose of Interest-Based Advertising. If you do not want any personal information that may be collected by third-party advertising to be sold, please follow the instructions on this page: Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information.


Regarding Cookies:


This site does not collect digital data from visitors or distribute cookies. Advertisements served by third-party advertising networks such as Investing Channel may use cookies or collect information from visitors for the purpose of Interest-Based Advertising; if you wish to opt out of Interest-Based Advertising, please go to Opt out of interest-based advertising (The Network Advertising Initiative) If you have other privacy concerns relating to advertisements, please contact advertisers directly.


Our Commission Policy:

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I also earn a commission on purchases of precious metals via BullionVault. I receive no fees or compensation for any other non-advertising links or content posted on my site.

  © Blogger templates Newspaper III by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP