{"id":7494,"date":"2016-10-17T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=7494"},"modified":"2018-08-09T12:55:05","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T16:55:05","slug":"life-after-college-transition-to-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2016\/10\/17\/life-after-college-transition-to-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"Life After College: Ensuring a Smooth Transition to the Workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in the September issue of\u00a0Public Relations Tactics<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Public Relations Tactics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt used to be that you\u2019d go to college, maybe go to graduate school and you\u2019d be done \u2014 along with some professional development along the way,\u201d said \u201cThere Is Life After College\u201d author Jeffrey J. Selingo<\/a>. \u201cBut now, you have to constantly be in a learning mode, and that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean formal education \u2014 going back and getting certificates or graduate degrees \u2014 but it\u2019s really this idea of \u2018just-in-time\u2019 learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selingo, an award-winning columnist and best-selling author, spoke with Ray Kotcher, Fellow PRSA<\/a>, on Sept. 21 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., for the first \u201cLife After College\u201d webinar. Kotcher is professor of the practice of public relations at Boston University\u2019s College of Communication, non-executive chairman of Ketchum and senior counsel to PRSA\u2019s Board of Directors. (He will serve as the moderator for the \u201cLife After College\u201d webinar series<\/a> presented by PRSSA.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this idea of lifelong education, but the reality now is \u2014 because the economy is fast changing\u00a0\u2014 entire careers are coming and going with massive amounts of change,\u201d said Selingo, who\u2019s seen a similar evolution in journalism with print and digital.<\/p>\n

He noted that professional education today can often mean Googling a search term or watching a YouTube video. \u201cThe students who have that kind of learning mentality, and are what I call \u2018a learning animal,\u2019 are going to be the ones to succeed because they\u2019re prepared to do jobs that are going to change every day, every year \u2014 and the employer is going to have the confidence that they are going to be able to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selingo highlighted some specific areas that students should focus on to find success as they move on from college and into the real world:<\/p>\n

Continuing to learn<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, he says, it begins with your mentality \u2014 you have to be curious.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people in communications are curious by nature. They want to learn about the world and explain it to other people. It starts with that foundation and having a growth mindset, and wanting to learn something every day. If you have that, you\u2019re ahead of the game. Then you look for the resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

He refers to that as the formal learning economy, like colleges and universities that offer certificates or master\u2019s degrees. But, Selingo says, a new learning economy has emerged over the past few years, which encompasses three buckets of continuous learning resources:<\/p>\n