Ten years ago, a little book called They Don’t Teach Corporate in College was written in a second-floor apartment in eastern Long Island, New York. At the time, I was working as a PR manager for a Fortune 500 software company and was engaged to my college sweetheart. My career had finally hit its stride after years of setbacks, and more than anything, I wanted to share the lessons I’d learned with twenty-somethings who were just beginning their business world journeys.
In 2004, there were no other books like They Don’t Teach Corporate in College, and I was very fortunate that the content seemed to resonate with people. A new career was born.
Throughout the next 10 years, I became a spokesperson and researcher on issues and trends facing modern employees. I wrote for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and worked with companies like American Express, DeVry University, Deloitte, Intuit, and Microsoft. I traveled around the world, from Budapest to Sao Paolo, sharing my learnings with audiences as small as 10 and as large as 1,000, and I consulted with the U.S. Department of Labor on an online course called JobSTART 101. Last, but certainly not least, I got married and had two children.
I wanted to get my message of career readiness out as widely as possible, because with the 2008 recession, twenty-somethings needed more help than ever. Young professional unemployment and underemployment soared. The most driven and qualified college graduates were sitting on the job market for years at a time, struggling with displaying an effective online and offline personal brand and competing with dozens of candidates for every available position. Even those who were gainfully employed experienced an unprecedented level of stress as their organizations flattened and downsized, technology accelerated, and work/life boundaries blurred.
When general hiring resumed to somewhat normal levels last year, the job market for young professionals remained stagnant. At least in part, the reason is an ever-widening skills gap. According to the Job Preparedness Indicator research conducted by my nonprofit organization the Career Advisory Board, only 15 percent of hiring managers feel that current candidates have the requisite skills to fill open positions. And college grads are some of the worst offenders, lacking highly desirable traits like basic business acumen and communication skills.
In honor of our 10th anniversary, I’m doing what I can to address this skills gap. This new edition is jam-packed with new content, including advice for navigating a business world that is increasingly global, virtual, entrepreneurial, and unpredictable. You’ll hear current thirty-somethings sharing wisdom with their twenty-something selves, and will hear my take on the most frequent questions asked by They Don’t Teach Corporate in College readers in the last 10 years. But, as I said back in 2009, life in the business world hasn’t changed in the 80 years since Dale Carnegie talked about getting people to cooperate, so many of the original lessons are intact.
To all of you who have supported me from the very beginning, thank you so much. If it wasn’t for you, recommending They Don’t Teach Corporate in College to your friends, family members, colleagues, and managers over and over again, none of my work would be possible. Please keep in touch always!