As a new advisor, I am still figuring out how to help students define their personal edge.
I recently decided to use the white board in my office as an advising tool.
After attending Phil Gardner’s presentation, I came back to the office and wrote the six skills companies are looking for in an employee: passion, initiative, team work, etc. During advising appointments I would look for opportunities to talk to students about those skills and ask them if their current studies are helping them to find their passion or build team work skills or how does what you’re learning right now inspire creativity.
My hope is that instead of viewing higher education as a means to an end, students will think about their personal growth through learning versus job prospects.
Taking this approach helped one student who had only declared in economics because his dad “made him” see things a little differently. He is more interested in a degree in construction management, and did not see how his economics classes would articulate to a job managing projects and accounts with a construction firm. After discussing his path thus far, and his options in the future, he was able to see what he needed to work on to reach his goals within the Economics Department.
Submitted by Nicole O’Shea, Economics Academic Advisor
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