Worker attributes needed in the new economy - Assignment Example

Worker attributes needed in the new economy Lecturer: Synthesis of Attributes The job market is one that has dramatically changed over the past few years. There are thousands of students who graduate from university or college with good grades with the hope of getting good jobs so as to become independent as well as sustain them. However, that is not the case since out of these thousands of students, only a few get the chance to get the good jobs that are available in the market. The majority are those who get jobs that are not in their line of study. For example; in some instances some graduates have to do jobs that are not in their line of study such as cleaning, serving food, waiting tables and so on. It is without doubt that students who graduate out of school are taught that the market will be in a position to accommodate them. However, that is not the case for a large number of students who clear from college or university as hopefuls. There are a number of attributes that have contributed to this job decreasing trend, the major one being the global economy. The global economy in most countries had taken a turn for the worse and in some instances, some nations’ economies have become worst where the labour market has been completely affected and there are no jobs that come by easily. A good example is the USA; over the past few years the economy has been affected by a variety of events such as financing of US soldiers to different parts of the world in a bid to propagate peace, interest accumulations from debts and the changing trends of the global economy in terms of access to energy and natural resources. The extent to which the labour market has been affected is not reversible. This is due to the reason that more and more graduates are completing school and falling into the same problem. Additionally, a majority of graduates who graduated almost two years ago are still looking for their preferred jobs. Even those who manage to get their first job out of campus still do not get satisfied with the salaries scale. In a 2009 to 2010 study that was conducted based on the salaries that fresh graduates received after a four year college course, it was realized that on an annual scale, a majority of these graduates earn approximately $ 27,000. When compared to the same survey that was conducted in 2006 to 2008, there was a $ 3,000 decline (Rampell, 2013, p. 175). The reason that could be attributed to this decline is the availability of too much labour while the job openings are less. There are some strategic solutions that some graduates always opt for. Majority of them always go for further education; that is graduate school, with the hope that they will be at a better chance to gain access to better jobs once they get additional certificates such as a Masters degree. This option could have its own implications. For example, an individual who has opted to pursue a Masters degree could now be having more education qualifications; however, they could lack the experience needed. It is without doubt that a majority of companies always go for students or individuals who have experience in their field of study. This happens to be a channel to prove that the individual is not only knowledgeable in “books” but they also have workplace hands on experience. At times graduates who have more education qualifications and they lack hands on experience after their first degree, may face challenges with regard to salary scales. That is, they could be paid more than a fresh graduate however; they would still be paid less with comparison to an individual who had experience as well as the Masters Degree qualifications. In some instances, all may not turn out for the best with regard to salaries. This is due to the reason that some employers may take too much time to revise salaries of their employees. Apparently, 70% of employers still are not up to the possibility of increasing the pay scale for new graduate entrants (Johnson, 2013, p. 178). Regardless of the above statistics, there are a number of attributes which can optimize on success in the new economy. These attributes include: An individual should seek to study courses that are tailored for the market. Additionally, the choice of courses should be equally competitive. Some of the competitive courses with this new economy are: Computer sciences – however these should be technical skills as well as software skills; Business; Education and teaching; Health care. It is important for a student to know which courses have higher unemployment rates so as to avoid them at all costs. Some of these courses include: Architecture; Humanities, Liberal arts; Arts (Carnevale et al., 2013, p. 180). The second attribute for success would be to enrol for further education; that is graduate school. Apparently, the unemployment rates for individuals who have their second graduate degree stands at 3% while for those who still hang on to their first degree if 5% - “Graduate degrees tend to outperform BA’s on employment”. This is because of the fact that these workers are certain as to what they want to do with regard to their careers – they clearly know what career path they want to take (Carnevale et al., 2013, p. 181). Another success attribute specifically suggested by Blinder is that individuals should learn to be leaders as well as innovators (Blinder, 2013, p. 202). Workers should aim at developing leadership skills so as to have an added advantage in management. Additionally, workers should also be critical thinkers so that they can promote innovation in the different fields that they are in. Blinder also suggested that the skills that an individual has are very essential. Apparently, the better the skills that an employee has plus their level of education, the better they are at having a stable job. With that mentioned the skills and education that an individual has developed through time acts as an attribute for their success in future. In a bid to make this process easy to implement, it is the work of educators to ensure that their students are taught skills based on the emerging trends in the economies (Blinder, 2013, p. 201). On the other hand, to attain success with regard to work, individuals should be engage in work that is related to the service industry (Kessler, 2013, p. 204). This is due to the reason that a majority of industries and businesses are now offering services to their customers. For example, food and beverage companies are businesses that are always started by a lot of individuals. This is because there will not be a time when there would be no people getting a snack to bite or a drink. As a result, this is an industry that is on the right foot. Another example is that of Google; this is a multimillion company that offers web services to their customers each and every day. Apparently, in 2011, they announced that they were going to employ up to 6000 workers who would offer their array of web services to their customers as well as potential clients. The growth of the use of ICT has also increased. Apparently, unemployment has also been caused due to the introduction of ICT. For a worker to be successful, they need to gain some form of ICT skills so that they can be competitive as compared to other workers who have not gained any ICT skills (Krugman, 2013, p. 207). Technology has taken over a lot of industries rendering people jobless. Apparently 26 million Americans do not have jobs while others have been underemployed due to the changing economic trends as well as globalization. Kessler added that there are a number of jobs that should be avoided since the introduction of ICTs have led to higher unemployment rates. These include: teller jobs, stock market jobs and librarian jobs. An example portrayed is that Google has taken up most of the Web research. That is; if an individual wants to search for information Google can be in a position to provide it in approximately 0.14 seconds. As a result, majority of individuals who do their research through the internet would prefer to use Google and other search engines as compared to utilizing the services of librarians. Kessler adds that, individuals should stop confining themselves to the ideology of blue collar and white collar jobs. Instead they should be creators – who seek to create and not servers who work beneath the creators (Kessler, 2013, p. 203). Self-Analysis of Key Attributes To what extent do you possess these attributes now? The mentioned attributes are very essential for each and every student. It is the responsibility of the student to determine what attributes it is that they should seek to learn and implement so as to avoid getting into the lack of jobs slump. With that stated, personally, I took the initiative to study a course that has been favourably tailored to the current market. Additionally, the course is equally competitive since if an individual has completed their course they are prone to gain access to a variety of jobs. On that note, the unemployment rates for my course are not high since workers in my study area are actually needed to offer their services. With that, it is a positive check that my selected and preferred choice of study is in line with the mentioned success attributes. I have gained a variety of leadership skills through the class tasks that we are handed at the university. The aim of this attribute would be to help me be practice good leadership while at the university and later on while I am at work. In addition to that as a leader, I am prone to be an innovator in a variety of aspects which may in actual sense be implemented to the work place that I will be attached to. Based on the argument that was put forward by Blinder (2013), students should seek to learn the essential leadership skills and styles so as to be better at managing a variety of aspects in the environment that one is in. It is also important to know that the skills that an individual acquires and their education qualifications are the most important ingredients for success. With that, I feel that I am on the right foot with regard to learning all the essential management attributes. Class instructors as well as our professors at school teach us cutting edge skills that could help each of us be best prepared for emerging trends in the economy. The importance of this step would be to prevent fresh graduates who after clearing school they realize that all that they learnt at school cannot be implemented anywhere in the job market. Additionally, our educators have focussed on teaching us service based courses which will enable us to be in a position to offer our educational skills in the form of services to individuals who are in need them. Due to the fact that ICTs have become the core and/ or backbone of all workplace operations as well as procedures, personally, I have taken the initiative to learn a variety of ICTs skills while I am in school and during my free time so as to ensure that I gain the skills needed to ensure that I remain competitive while I am attached to my preferred workplace. To what extent will your intended course of study prepare you to develop these attributes? My intended course of study will help me develop the above success attributes through teaching me the essence of management as well as the required attributes of a successful employee. Management entails a variety of factors which may range from how to handle employees, how to relate to other employees, leadership traits and leadership styles. It is without doubt that my selected course will teach me on the essence of management and how best I can apply my management skills while I am at work. In addition to that, my preferred course will help me develop the preferred attributes of a successful and competitive employee. Some of the attributes of a successful and competitive employee include: decision making, responsibility, creative thinking, strategic thinking, innovation and keenness. In addition to that, a competitive employee always seeks to learn more and develop their skills for their job position and the one above them. This could come in handy during a promotion. As a result, my intended course will ensure that I clearly know what is expected of me if I am to be a competitive worker. My intended course will also give me an insight into what it is that I would want to major in. The essence of majoring or doing an additional course would be to gain better education skills that will truly act as a strategic tool for success. As such, after clearing my first degree, I have plans to enrol for graduate school in a bid to advance my degree and make myself more competitive in the employment sector. The essence of this is that a total of 3% of graduates are unemployed while 5% of graduates who still have their first degree are still on the pavements looking for jobs. As a result, taking an additional course will ensure that I am equally competitive and I will also set a higher bar while I look for a job in my preferred line of study. Works cited Behrens, L., and Rosen, L. J. (2013). Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, Brief Edition. In Rampell, C., Johnson, L., Blinder, A. S., Carnevale et al., Kessler, A., and Krugman, P. (Eds.), Chapter 6: The Changing Landscape of Work in the Twenty-First century (pp. 175 - 208). London, England: Longman. Read More