In an article by Thomas Friedman, he references an interview of Lazlo Bock, the person who heads up Google's hiring process. Unsurprisingly the expectations of Google largely parallels the views of Tony Wagner in his book "The Global Achievement Gap." That is, grades and degrees are increasingly less important than actual tangible skills or the application of such knowledge. In schools and colleges, people learn several things and become so-called "experts" in certain fields. However, what Google is finding, along with just about everybody else, is that the majority of these people either end up not knowing how to use their knowledge or they allow their expertise to hinder their versatility as an employee. Conversely, according to Bock, Google values the ability of someone to learn on the fly and be adaptable. The ability to take separate pieces of information, apply it, and perform a job is far more useful than simply knowing the pieces of information. In fact, more often than not the information is relatively easy to learn to anybody who has attempted to learn it. The issue comes when knowledge needs to be put to use. In addition to this key characteristic, Google also values leadership, humility, and ownership over expertise as well. In other words, they want employees who take the initiative while simultaneously being open minded to ideas other than their own. In contrast, Bock describes, those with expertise are often stubborn and closed minded. They are set in their ways and therefore are less prone to innovation. Again, like Wagner's 7 essential skills, it seems that these aspects of prospective employees are thing that are less formally learned as opposed to indirectly trained.
As a math teacher I can relate to this last idea. There is more or less an epidemic in math of students who are by many educational standards adequate and even experts. Many students can often use formulas and solve equations, yet, when it comes to applying the math to a scenario, the majority of them are stumped let alone know how the formula is derived. I can also relate on a personal level. As someone who has been through an engineering program and came out on the otherside an "expert" of theoretical electrical engineering concepts, I had no idea how to apply the knowledge without actual work experience. It can be an incredibly futile or inhibiting background when entering the job world
As a math teacher I can relate to this last idea. There is more or less an epidemic in math of students who are by many educational standards adequate and even experts. Many students can often use formulas and solve equations, yet, when it comes to applying the math to a scenario, the majority of them are stumped let alone know how the formula is derived. I can also relate on a personal level. As someone who has been through an engineering program and came out on the otherside an "expert" of theoretical electrical engineering concepts, I had no idea how to apply the knowledge without actual work experience. It can be an incredibly futile or inhibiting background when entering the job world