Skills-Based Advising Strategies to Enable Job- Seeking College Students to Be Hired, Be Promoted, and Keep Their Jobs Drew C. Appleby, PhD Professor Emeritus of Psychology Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

College students—and especially psychology majors—need all the help they can get to navigate the complex maze that leads to a meaningful job in today’s highly competitive job market. Unfortunately, many psychology faculty who serve as academic advisors to job- seeking students lack the confidence and/or competence to advise them because they will not follow the professional path their advisors traveled (i.e., preparing for and entering graduate school and eventually gaining employment in academia).

Your ability to help your advisees successfully navigate this maze by identifying, developing, and demonstrating the skills employers value can mean the difference in the expressions of the interviewers in the following two pictures.

The 5 th goal of APA’s new Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major (Professional Development) states that psychology majors should be able to: Articulate the skill sets desired by employers who hire people with psychology backgrounds and Develop evidence of attaining skill sets desired by psychology-related employers.

Successful job-seeking college students can provide clear, correct, complete, confident, and convincing answers to the following seven questions.

1. What occupations can I prepare to enter with a major in psychology, and what is the nature of these occupations? 2. What knowledge, skills, characteristics, and preparation will I need to enter and perform well in these occupations? 3. What skills do employers say they value in potential employees during the hiring process? 4. What are the skills whose presence produces positive on-the-job consequences for new college hires? 5. What are the skills whose absence produces negative on-the-job consequences for new college hires? 6. How can I use both the curricular and extracurricular components of my undergraduate education to develop these skills? 7. What strategies can I use to convince prospective employers that I possess these skills once I have acquired them so they will hire me?

The purpose of this presentation is to provide you with information that will enable you to help your students become savvy job-seeking psychology majors who know—or who know where to find—the answers to these seven crucial questions. The remainder of my presentation is organized into three sections, which are designed to enable you to help your students answer these questions.

Section #1: The Jobs Question #1: What occupations can I prepare to enter with a psychology major, and what is the nature of these occupations? Question #2: What knowledge, skills, characteristics, and preparation will I need to enter and thrive in these occupations?

Appleby, D. C., Millspaugh, B. S., & Hammersley, M. J. (2011). An online resource to enable psychology majors to identify and investigate 172 psychology and psychology-related careers. Society for the Teaching of Psychology’s Office of Teaching Resources. Retrieved from A note on the National Impact of this publication: The occupations in this resource are contained in Appendix E (pages 65 and 66) of the latest revision of the American Psychological Association's Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major, which can be accessed online at

What Questions Does O*NET Answer About These Careers? 1. What knowledge, skills, abilities, tools, and technologies do students need to enter and succeed in this career? 2. What tasks will workers actually do in this career and under what conditions do they carry out these tasks? 3. What types of preparation (e.g., job training or education) do students need to enter this career? 4. What interests, values, and work styles (i.e., characteristics) do successful workers in this career possess? 5. How much do people employed in this career earn? 6. How many people are employed in this career, and what is the projected need for this career? 7. What are additional sources of information about this career, and what other occupations are related to this particular career?

Appleby, D. C., Millspaugh, B. S., & Hammersley, M. J. (2011). An online resource to enable psychology majors to identify and investigate 172 psychology and psychology-related careers. Society for the Teaching of Psychology’s Office of Teaching Resources. Retrieved from

Section #2: The Skills Question #3: What skills do employers say value in potential employees during the hiring process? Question #4: What are the skills whose presence produces positive on-the-job consequences for new college hires (e.g., new assignments and/or promotions)? Question #5: What are the skills whose absence produces negative on-the-job consequences for new college hires (e.g., reprimands, disciplinary actions, or termination)? Question #6: How can I use both the curricular and extracurricular components of my undergraduate education to develop these skills?

Appleby, D. C. (2009, August). The skills we believe psychology majors possess and the skills employers value in potential employees. In R. E. Landrum (Chair), Essential work skills for psychology majors: Do out students actually acquire them? Symposium conducted at annual meeting of the American Psychological Association convention, Toronto, Canada. Gardner, P. (2007). Moving up or moving out of the company? Factors that influence the promoting or firing of new college hires. Retrieved from Appleby, D. C. (2014). A skills-based academic advising strategy for job-seeking psychology majors. In R. Miller & J. Irons, Academic advising: A handbook for advisors and students, Volume 1: Models, students, topics, and issues, p Retrieved from

Appleby (2009) identified the following seven categories of skills that employers value during the hiring process: 1.Communication Skills 2.Critical Thinking and Research Skills 3.Collaboration Skills 4.Self-Management Skills 5.Professional Skills 6.Technological Skills 7.Ethical Skills Gardner (2007) identified the positive on-the-job consequences of these skills and the negative on-the-job consequences of their absence. Appleby (2014) provided academic advisors with advice they can give their advisees about how to use both the curricular and extracurricular components of an undergraduate education to develop these skills.

Gardner’s positive on-the-job consequences are defined as situations in which supervisors: give new hires assignments with more responsibility, give new hires assignments with promotion potential, or promote new hires.

Gardner’s negative on-the-job consequences are defined as situations in which supervisors: reprimand, discipline, or fire new hires.

The following slides are organized by each of the seven basic skill categories and include the answers to the following four questions. 1. What specific skills are valued by employers during the hiring process? 2. What specific skills can lead to positive on-the-job consequences? 3. What specific skills deficits can lead to negative on-the- job consequences? 4. What advice can academic advisors give college students to help them develop these skills?

Category #1 Communication Skills

What Specific Communication Skills Are Valued by Employers During the Hiring Process? writing in an understandable, logical, and convincing manner that is free from grammatical and spelling errors speaking in a clear, organized, and persuasive manner listening attentively, remembering what has been heard, and following verbal instructions accurately reading complex materials, comprehending their meaning, and identifying their major points

What Specific Communication Skills Can Lead to Positive On-the-Job Consequences? presenting ideas effectively in written form presenting ideas effectively in verbal form

What Specific Communication Skills Deficits Can Lead to Negative On-the-Job Consequences?  ineffective verbal communication  ineffective written communication  failure to understand and/or follow written and verbal directions

What Advice Can Advisors Give Students to Help Them Develop These Skills?  College students should understand that people employed in the management positions to which most college graduates aspire must not only write and speak in a clear, coherent, and persuasive manner, but must also attend to, remember, understand, and act upon the information they read and hear. All students are required to take basic communication courses such as English Composition and Speech. Unfortunately, most students take these courses to “get them out of the way" rather than to learn from them. Therefore, students should:  take these basic courses very seriously,  enroll in more advanced communication courses such as Technical Writing and Interpersonal Communication, and  seek out further academic experiences that will enable them to practice their ability to read, listen, write, and speak such as classes that require extensive reading assignments, information-rich lectures, demanding written assignments, and formal oral presentations.

Category #2 Critical Thinking and Research Skills

What Specific Critical Thinking and Research Skills Are Valued by Potential Employers During the Hiring Process? applying information to solve organizational problems using statistical skills to summarize, organize, and analyze data finding, gathering, and organizing information from a variety of sources creating new knowledge by integrating existing information

What Specific Critical Thinking and Research Skills Can Lead to Positive On-the-Job Consequences? thinking analytically evaluating data remaining open-minded being creative

What Advice Can Advisors Give Students to Help Them Develop These Skills? The best way for advisors to help their advisees to develop critical thinking and research skills is to encourage them to engage in research projects that will require the following six critical thinking skills.  The retention and comprehension of information about the subject of the research.  The analysis and evaluation of the body of research upon which the research is based.  The creation and testing of new hypotheses and the application of research findings to real-world problems.

Category #3 Collaboration Skills

What Specific Collaboration Skills Are Valued by Potential Employers During the Hiring Process? working effectively in groups dealing sensitively and effectively with diverse populations exhibiting various forms of leadership such as supervising, influencing, and motivating others

What Specific Collaboration Skills Can Lead to Positive On-the-Job Consequences? leadership (e.g., management skills, employee development, consensus building, and goal accomplishment) followership (i.e., helping leaders to accomplish their goals) organizational savvy (e.g., navigating the competing interests in an organization, working well with others, and fitting into an organization)

What Specific Collaboration Skills Deficits Can Lead to Negative On-the-Job Consequences?  being ineffective in teams

What Advice Can Advisors Give Students to Help Them Develop These Skills? College students must understand that employers require employees to perform complex tasks that require teamwork. No one works alone, and almost all teams are composed of different types of people. The skills necessary to be a productive member of a diverse team must be acquired through practice and the best place to practice these skills is in course-based group projects or extracurricular activities that involve working with groups composed of diverse members. Mistakes made in these educational situations are far less costly than those made in the work place. The worst thing students can do is to isolate themselves from diversity by living, working, and spending their leisure time only with people who are similar to themselves.

Category #4 Self-Management Skills

What Specific Self-Management Skills Are Valued by Potential Employers During the Hiring Process  adapting to new situations  learning new skills and information  managing time, stress, and conflict

What Specific Self-Management Skills Can Lead to Positive On-the-Job Consequences? regulating work by setting priorities understanding quality indicators of work managing stress successfully behaving in an accountable manner completing work in a timely manner

What Specific Self-Management Skills Deficits Can Lead to Negative On-the-Job Consequences? missing assignments or deadlines being late for work

What Advice Can Advisors Give Students to Help Them Develop These Skills? The best advice advisors can provide is the following, which advisees with weak self-management skills will not want to hear. Intentionally seek out challenging courses whose instructors will expect you to perform in the same responsible ways that your future employers will demand, and avoid classes taught by instructors  whose classes are perceived as non-stressful because their subject matter is easy or they do not require students to learn new skills  who reinforce procrastination and irresponsible behavior by accepting late assignments or allowing students to make up missed tests, and  who do not seem to care if their students come to class late, leave class early, or miss class entirely.

Category #5 Professional Skills

What Specific Professional Skills Are Valued by Potential Employers During the Hiring Process?  organizing, planning, and carrying out projects  managing resources  acting and dressing in a professional manner

What Specific Professional Skills Can Lead to Positive On-the-Job Consequences? organizing, planning, and carrying out projects in a competent manner managing resources successfully acting and dressing in a professional manner

What Specific Professional Skills Deficits Can Lead to Negative On-the-Job Consequences? lack of motivation or work ethic failure to take initiative

What Advice Can Advisors Give Students to Help Them Develop These Skills?  Advisors should encourage students to choose classes taught by instructors who have the same high expectations as employers, such as those  who help their students develop a strong work ethic by providing them with opportunities to work hard and receive high grades only for excellent work;  who do not allow students to make up for low performance on assignments or tests with extra credit;  who require students to create, plan, organize, and carry out complex projects;  who promote professional behavior and appearance by modeling it themselves; and  who do not tolerate the kinds of behaviors in their classrooms that are unacceptable on-the-job (e.g., texting, surfing the Web, or receiving cell phone calls; coming to class unprepared to participate; falling asleep, or behaving and dressing in a manner that disrupts the learning process).

Category #6 Technological Skills

What Specific Technological Skills Valued by Potential Employers During the Hiring Process?  computer literacy  word processing 

What Specific Technological Skills Can Lead to Positive On-the-Job Consequences? technical competence

What Specific Technological Skills Deficits Can Lead to Negative On-the-Job Consequences?  the inappropriate use of technology

What Advice Can Advisors Give Students to Help Them Develop These Skills? Although undergraduates often appear to be technologically savvy, advisors must make them aware that sending text messages to their friends, checking their Facebook page, and shopping online are not skills valued by employers. In fact, the presence of these actions on-the-job can lead to highly undesirable outcomes. Employers expect their employees to choose and use appropriate technological tools to identify, locate, acquire, store, organize, display, analyze, and evaluate verbal, numerical, and visual information. Therefore, advisors should suggest that their advisees enroll in classes that require  papers written with word-processing programs,  the organization of information with databases,  the manipulation of numbers with spreadsheets,  the analysis of data with statistical programs,  the location of information with search engines,  the enhancement of speeches with presentation software, and  communication with their instructors and fellow students via the Internet. Advisors should stress that savvy students master these computer skills in college so they do not have to learn them on the job.

According to the 2014 ManPower Talent Shortage Survey of over 3,700 employers in 42 countries, 36% of all employers have difficulty filling jobs, and a lack of technological skills is the most common reason they give for this problem. 44c33d0e2952/2014_Talent_Shortage_WP_US2.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&ContentCache=NONE

Category #7 Ethical Skills

What Specific Ethical Skills Are Valued by Potential Employers During the Hiring Process?  the ability to make ethical decisions based on appropriate ethical knowledge  the willingness and ability to act on these decisions

What Specific Ethical Skills Deficits Can Lead to Negative On-the-Job Consequences?  unethical behaviors

What Advice Can Advisors Give Students to Help Them Develop These Skills? Although this was the least often mentioned skill by employers during the hiring process, it is a crucially important skill for advisors to emphasize because of the dire consequences for new hires who fail to demonstrate it on-the-job. Advisors should make advisees aware that job interviews can include questions designed to evaluate the ability to think and act in an ethical manner, such as “Tell me about a project you worked on that required you to be aware of and act in accordance with a set of ethical principles.” The only way to answer this question in a credible manner is to have actually participated in such a project. Therefore, advisors should recommend engaging in:  research projects that require the creation of IRB protocols,  writing assignments that must conform to guidelines that prohibit plagiarism, or  an internship that involves the solicitation of informed consent from clients who may be exposed to potentially risky treatments.

Section #3: The Strategies Question #7: What strategies can I use to convince prospective employers that I actually possess the skills I have acquired?

The best way to convince employers that you possess the skills they desire is to 1. convince them you are aware of the skills they desire in your cover letter, 2. provide them with compelling evidence that you have developed and successfully used these skills in your resume, and 3. demonstrate these skills with your behavior during your interview.

Your Cover Letter

What Are the Characteristics of an Effective Cover Letter? It is professional in appearance. It is personal. It is specific rather than generic. It reflects the skills contained in the advertised job description. It provides evidence of your strong work ethic. It is flawless.

Your Resume

What Are the Characteristics of an Effective Resume? It is professional in appearance. It is specific rather than generic. For most college students, it is functional (aka skill-based) rather than chronological. It reflects the skills employers seek in new hires. It explains how you acquired your skills and the products your skills produced. It provides evidence of your strong work ethic. It is flawless.

Your Interview

What Are the Characteristics of Effective Interviewees? They are on-time. They are professional in appearance. They are courteous. They are knowledgeable about both the organization to which they are applying and the specific job for which they are applying. Their behaviors during the interview clearly demonstrate the skills contained in their resume. They are ready and willing to ask questions. They send a hand-written thank you note.

Over 2000 years ago, the Oracle at Delphi, speaking through the Greek philosopher Socrates, said... “Know thyself.”

Centuries later, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in which Polonius provided Laertes with the following piece of valuable advice... “To thine own self be true.”

Many years later, Nike (the Greek goddess of victory), speaking through her 21st century commercial namesake, says... “Just do it.”

Savvy job-seeking psychology majors know themselves when they can accurately and honestly identify their strengths, weaknesses, values, and goals.

Savvy job-seeking psychology majors are true to themselves when they use their self-knowledge to identify potential careers in which they can perform well, enjoy the work they do, and value the products of their work and create realistic plans to use both the curricular and extracurricular aspects of their undergraduate educations to prepare for, enter, and succeed in these careers.

And last, but certainly not least, savvy job-seeking psychology majors just do it when they put their realistic plans into action by actually engaging in the behaviors that will enable them to successfully carry out their career plans.