ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601310095
SECTION: NRV ECONOMY PAGE: 28 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
NO MATTER WHAT THE JOB, the employee must be able to use the rapidly changing technology.
Of all the lessons Mary Fain teaches her students, one is the most important when it comes to finding future jobs: Get experience.
Her students in the Blacksburg High School family studies class receive credit for their part-time work in day-care centers or restaurants. But it's the experience and knowledge, says Fain, that are the best assets when they're trying to find a job.
According to work-place experts and job placement people, Fain is giving her students the key to future employment.
"Employers can't afford to hire people and bring them into training programs or explore different options," said Jim Malone, director of Virginia Tech's placement center.
Gone are the days of corporate giants such as IBM and General Electric that took young graduates under their wing, trained and employed them for life. Now and in the future, students have to sell themselves as valuable additions.
"Make yourself distinctive," suggested Deidre Sepp, director of the Marist College career services center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "Find out what's going on in the field that's new, innovative or needed. ... Do projects, research, anything tangible to present to an employer as an example of what you are capable of accomplishing."
In general, employers are and will be looking for people who have experience and are willing to continue learning. And, no matter what the job, employees must be able to use the rapidly changing technology.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the top two fastest-growing jobs are computer scientists and systems analysts.
But even in other fields, employers want computer knowledge, says Wheaton College's life planning director Dan Golden. Advertising or public relations employers will be looking for Quark or other design program experience; social science graduates should know statistical computer programs, said the director at the Massachusetts college.
Much of the research for this story, in fact, was done using Prevent searches via e-mail.
Malone said many Tech students are even creating their own home pages for potential employers to view.
The downside of this technological revolution is a decrease in unskilled jobs. Less-educated workers, analysts said, need to learn more knowledge-based skills before computer automation takes away those industrial-age jobs.
No matter the technology, employees will have to know how to communicate.
In the future, Golden said, everything will be changing and it's up to the employee to keep pace.
Employees who can set goals, solve problems with minimal supervision, assess their own performance and readjust goals have an edge, he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB