As an employer what would you choose first?
I totally agree with educating and investing in the future of our young people. However, I believe there’s miles too much focus on exams and high grades in education.
The Government and the education sector seem to treat high grades like the holy grail. I believe they focus on it to the detriment of other things – including students’ mental health.
Ask any employer what they are desperate for? I guarantee you won’t hear them say ‘More A*’s or more first class degrees’! What they really want is people who can drive the success of their business and be true to it’s values.
What Employers Want
In a recent conversation with a CEO, Entrepreneurial spirit was top of his wish list. Closely followed by his people taking ownership and accountability. These were the main things that were missing and stopping revenue growth.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m passionate about education and learning. I absolutely believe our young people are our way out of the perfect storm the pandemic has created because they are the ones who are going to drive the economic recovery.
But to help them do that we’ve got to teach skills that create an entrepreneurial work force. Not just people who’ve studied hard to get good grades in exams. Tests that often don’t bear any relation to the real world problems they will face in life and the workplace.
My top tips for nurturing the entrepreneurs of the future:
- Stop focusing on exams and grades because they only give a snapshot at one point in time. Often, the top people don’t excel or exams aren’t the best way to uncover their true ability.
- Teach skills that will help them be instrumental in a business’ success. Think about your best people and what makes them a great asset to your company. For instance, is it things like financial know how, commercial awareness and the ability to work with a variety of people?
- Make things like work experience, volunteering and intern projects part of students’ grades, as as well as pure academia. As a result you’ll get the whole picture of what they can do for you and your organisation.
Academic integrity is part of a University’s registration commitment but entrepreneurial flair isn’t as far as I can see.
If you’d like to find out more about how we build entrepreneurial spirit in the organisations we work with then please get in touch – cathy.bennett@verticalsales.co.uk
And don’t forget to subscribe for all the latest news, advice, tips and special offers straight to your inbox!
Here’s to your success!