What Employers Want: Skills And Character

By Dana Alexander

Director

Career and Life Planning

Westmont College

 

Dierdre, a senior, sat in my office recently, concerned about her future. I asked her to tell me about the internship that was listed on her resume and which she had participated in through our San Francisco program. It involved three full days a week in a placement setting, in her case the public defenders office. Her eyes lit up as she described the interesting and challenging things she was able to do, including interviewing prisoners in jail, writing reports, participating in investigations, sitting in on court cases - far beyond what she expected as an English major with little previous exposure to the legal field. Not only did she have a great experience and gain a tremendous amount of information about an area that interested her, but as the semester progressed she was increasingly seen as a valuable and contributing participant in the public defenders office.

But as she sat there something shocking happened. When I asked her to brainstorm jobs she might look into for the year following graduation (while she considered long term options and graduate school), her countenance fell and she came off as hesitant and insecure. Then came the words I too often hear from liberal arts students: “I don't think I really have any skills that anybody would want.” I resisted the temptation to yell at her, “Wait a minute; what did you just describe for me a few minutes ago!” Instead I (patiently I hope) pointed out the significant transferable skills she had utilized and developed further in her internship: writing, interviewing, researching, presenting. Beyond that, she had a superb letter of reference and the strong encouragement from one of her supervisors to apply for a position in the investigation office. All that with “no skills!”

Too often liberal arts students under-value the skills they bring to the workplace and reflect instead what I call the “liberal arts inferiority complex,” which no employer finds appealing. It not only shows a lack of confidence and poor self-knowledge, but also a failure to connect one's skills to the needs of various work environments. Every senior needs to be able to confidently articulate the skills they bring to the work environment, and truly value what they have to offer. A large part of any interview should consist of describing and illustrating (through real-life examples) significant skills.

But as I read her reference letters I noticed something else she was overlooking: Dierdre was clearly a person of character. What came through in my observation of her, backed up by her reference letters, was someone who brought to the work place reliability, a high degree of responsibility, hard work, a teachable spirit, ease in relating with others, flexibility, timeliness, and integrity.

“Character” seems to be one of those words that go in and out of vogue, but now it clearly is in. Everyone from parents to school administrators to employers are trying to figure out exactly what it means and how it can be developed. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “moral or ethical strength,” but in the career counseling field we would say that character is synonymous with what has been variously described as “good worker” traits, adaptive skills, personal management skills, or perhaps, a strong “work ethic.” When college career professionals get together and talk about the feedback they get from employers and recruiters, character is an issue that often emerges. What in the past a boss might have assumed from any employee, is not necessarily a given any more. And generally speaking, these are not qualities that can be taught or that a company or organization wants to be responsible to “train into” an employee. An employer can teach you a new computer program but not how to have a cooperative attitude toward your colleagues.

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