At the closing of my office hours, a college student asked, “How can I become more professionally competitive before graduation?”.   When I inquired about her unique skills and experiences, she simply responded, “Well, I’ll soon have a college degree. Isn’t that enough?”.

Unfortunately, her response is quite common among college students.  Why do they think that a college degree equates to being valuable in the job market or even entitles them to a job after graduation?  IT DOESN’T!  Passing a class does not mean you have the qualifications to lead and administer many jobs. If fact, I would not hire many of my graduating college students.

A University colleague had mentioned that a basic college degree is just that, basic. He noted that many employers complain about how their new college graduate employees lack basic skills and struggle keeping up in today’s evolving business climate.  An increasingly popular expectation…