10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College, Revised: The Skills You Need to Succeed Paperback – July 31, 2012

The most popular review says this book is only for liberal arts. I strongly disagree. I agree only in that the book has both good and bad (or fluff as they called it.) Granted the suggestions on how to improve skills are coming from what the author knows best, but the fact is these 10 skills are wanted in every field. In fact, the thinking that engineering/medicine/law majors don't need these skills is why I think everybody should read this book (again, with a grain of salt as not every section is relevant to every person, and some of the links and references may not be to anybody.) For example, you may think that an engineer may not need to learn to influence people, write well or communicate clearly. This is folly. You can come up with a brilliant design for a piece that will revolutionize the automotive industry, but if you can't convince your team/boss/company to implement it, then you've wasted your time. If you study medicine you may need the same skills when you find a cure for a disease and need to convince people to invest on its research. Perhaps you can find different methods of achieving the skills than those presented by the author, but identifying the needs is the key part. Adapting the method to your career and personality is something you should be doing anyway as not every school will have all the options presented (for example, you may be getting your college degree online.)As an employer of both science and arts degree holders I can testify that every person that goes to college should invest in developing these skills. And people that don't plan to go to college should invest in developing these skills as well.In all honesty the last section of the book is less relevant to me because I read this 15+ years after college. But now I give this book to every new employee for them to identify skills they can improve. Nobody I know is well rounded in all 10 skills. The book continues to be relevant throughout all stages of your adult life as some of the skills are important even if you don't work for a paycheck.

This is definitely one of the best college guides I've read. It gave me skills that I can look back on. I originally checked this book out from the library on my first day of college orientation. Instead of going to orientation I sat and read this book for hours! I was instantly hooked! I loved the book so much that I HAD to purchase my own personal copy. I've recommended this book to my teachers (those who haven't already read it) and my professors who have read it couldn't agree with me more that it is something that every student should read. I've also recommended it to every one of my friends!I am a business major so everything in the book applies to me. But if your not a business major everything in the book can still apply to you.I would mostly recommend this for either incoming freshmen or for freshmen on winter break to read.But this is a book that EVERY COLLEGE STUDENT SHOULD READ

I read this not for myself but for my sons in college. I fully agree with the author's recommendations on what employers want you to know or be able to do. The full truth, though, is that you don't need college to learn this stuff, and much of the book is about how college students have to go out of their way to learn what is actually important in the future careers. A book about what you need to learn in college should, ideally, be limited to what is unique about college and not what you can learn just anywhere, but there would probably not be enough material to fill a whole book.

I'm an academic adviser at a large, 4-year institution and would definitely recommend students to read this book the summer before the start their college career. Students who graduate unprepared for life after college are those who didn't make the most of their university resources, who chose to rarely (if ever) to go to the Career Center or follow university recommendations. I don't know of any college/university that doesn't regularly solicit student participation in career preparation workshops, student organization and internship involvement, yet many college students graduate never doing any of these things. Saying that college didn't prepare them is the same as saying the gym didn't help them tone up when all they did was go to the gym and sit at the juice bar. College can prepare people for life as a professional if they use the resources and "work out," which means doing all the work that is expected while juggling all the other responsibilities in life and exercising self-control.

I used this book when writing a thesis in college about, "Why I feel going to college is important". This book helped give me a list of reason why it is important to go to college and what employers look for in a person coming straight out of college. There are things that you need to know in order to land the great jobs. Landing a low paying job at a fast food restaurant or waitressing anybody can do (Maybe not today in this economy), but if you want to land a great paying job, you really need to have your stuff together in order to achieve that or your job search will be a very long one.

This book is a great present for any high school graduate! The best investment you can make in life is in yourself! Great book! Great Price! Great Gift! Help your fellow graduates out and give them the gift of knowledge and add 50$ at the beginning of the first chapter! $50 after the last chapter and they will be happy! Packed well and shipped fast!