University of Tennessee

Dr. Bob Greenberg
Director, Career Services

"What we hear from employers, over and over again, is that new college graduates simply have not developed effective communication skills. From my experience, I find this is the #1 difficulty reported by employers of recent graduates."

"The ability to get along and work well with others--individually and in groups--is critical to career success, regardless of the field a student chooses to enter."

"The key here is the student's record of past achievement. More and more, employers are taking a 'what have you done' approach over a 'what can you do' when it comes to selecting new employees. It is very important that students recognize that their potential future performance will be evaluated largely on their prior experience. In order to develop an impressive track record of accomplishment during college, its also important not to start your senior year. The process must begin much sooner--as early as freshman year, in fact. Become involved. Have a positive impact."

"As to the question as to whether skills are learned or inherent, this is one of the great questions of the ages. Therefore, its very difficult to answer. However, in my opinion, an awful lot of learning takes place. For example, it is possible to learn the skills necessary to become an effective leader--developing organizational skills, setting short and long-term goals, or managing group activities. No one is born knowing how to do these things. I think the reason many people assume someone is either a born leader or not is due to the concept of 'charisma'. This is a natural trait. However, not all charismatic people are effective leaders and vice versa. There seems to be a higher percentage of learning associated with being an effective leader.

"Most students do not spend enough time preparing for interviews. They simply are not prepared to go into an interview and talk about themselves. They don't know how to use their past experiences in order to effectively sell themselves."

"One area students often overlook is networking. I think a lot of students are either not comfortable with it or are simply not familiar with how to effectively utilize this technique."

"Also, there is often poor planning, in general. A large percentage of students simply do not put the necessary time or energy into this process. In fact, most new graduates will spend more time shopping for a new car than they will on planning for their career."

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