Accenture’s 2013 Skills and Employment Trends Survey, 5

Accountability, 61–62

Acemoglu, Daron, 146

Adams, Scott, 76, 105, 106

Adaptability, 72, 73

Agricultural economy, 54

Alternative education programs, 236–237

Amazon.com, 68

Andresson, Marc, 46

Apple’s Siri, 43

Apprenticeships, 212–213

Automation, 12, 13, 42–45

Autor, David, 29, 33, 49, 55, 146

Average is Over, 47

Big Data, 65

BLS. See Bureau of Labor Statistics

Brynjolfsson, Eric, 38, 42, 57

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 15, 24, 27, 126, 143

Capelli, Peter, 248

Career education, 208

Career goals

passionless, guide for, 116–118

professional brand, 118–121

translating passions into career options, 115–116

Career identification

brand, define, 84

breaking waves, 85

network of advisors and mentors, 84–85

passions and interests, 83

plan for contingencies, 85

primary skills, 83

skills, passions and interests, 83–84

validate career opportunities, 84

Career leverage points, 131–133

Career planning

charge of your life, 287–288

dream job, finding and succeeding in, 277–279

educational dilemma, 275–277

identifying and preparing, 273

in new normal, 270–272

new skills imperative, 274

Carroll, Lewis, 81

Casnocha, Ben, 73, 120

Certification programs, 212–213, 216–220

Chevy Volt, 32

Christensen, Clayton, 152

CLA. See Collegiate Learning Assessment

CNC machine tools. See Computer numerical control machine tools

Cognitive tasks, 57

Collaboration, 63

Collaboration skills, 62–64

College advantage, 144–150

College conundrum

college advantage, 144–150

education options, 143–144

non-college options, 157–158

value of college education, 150–154

College decision confusion, 194–198

College education

value of, 150–154

College equation

business, 176–178

finding school, 163–165

healthcare, 178

job offers, and starting salaries, 169–171

liberal arts, 178–179

secret career sauce, 181–186

selecting school, 165–168

STEM, 171–175, 176

College ROIs, 192–194

College: What it Is, Was and Should Be (DelBlanco, Andrew), 152

Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), 110, 151

Common Core, 61

Common Core Standards, 60

Communication, 62–64

Community college option, 207–212

Complex communication, 56, 58, 63

Computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools, 32, 36

Continuing education, 208

Core foundational subjects, 60

Core learning and career skills, 60–66

Costs

of college degree, 189–192

of following passion, 123–126

Council of Economic Advisors’ chart, 146

Cowen, Tyler, 19

Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World (Wagner), 77

Creative Economy, 54, 60, 61, 67

Creativity and innovation, 67–69

Credentials, certifications, and trust, 234–236

Critical thinking and problem solving skills, 69–70

Dalu Robot restaurant, 44

Degree education, 208

Developmental education, 207

Dorn, David, 33

Dream careers, 133–136

career plan, 83–83

first job, getting and capitalizing, 87–88

identifying career, 83–85

skills development plan, 85–87

20-Step Model, 89–91

Dream job

finding and succeeding in, 277–279

twenty principles for, 279–281

Economic Policy Institute (EPI), 3

Edison, Thomas, 69

Educational attainment, earnings and unemployment rates by, 4

Educational dilemma, 275–277

Education level, employment rates by, 145, 147

Einstein, Albert, 69, 73

Emotive communication, 63

Employment outcomes, for recent college graduates, 7

Entrepreneurialism, 233

Entrepreneurship, 65

EPI. See Economic Policy Institute

Exploring, 100–103

Extraversion, 111

Facebook, 121

Federal Express, 68

Feeling, 111

Fidelity, 68

First job, 87–88

advancement opportunities, 249–251

avoiding career regrets, 266–268

career launchpad, 244–245

culture and image consistent, 258–260

learning and growth opportunities, 253–255

learning from, 247–249

living, 262–263

networking, 255–258

own company, 263–265

salary and the benefits, 260–262

Flexibility, 72, 73, 129–131

Flexible hiring, 13, 14

Florida, Richard, 69

Ford Motors, 32

Friedman, Thomas, 19, 66, 76

Gaga, Lady, 40

Gardner, Howard, 76

Gates, Bill, 64

GDP. See Gross Domestic Product

Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce study, 213

Gladwell, Malcolm, 105

The Global Achievement Gap, 76

Globalization, 12–13, 14

Goldin, Claudia, 151

Google, 68

Google’s autonomous car, 43–44

Graduate school decision, 198–204

Great bifurcation, 31–36

Great Depression, 153

Great Recession, 2, 4, 8, 11, 23, 26

The Great Reversal in the Demand for Skill and Cognitive Tasks, 42

Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 2

Growing skills, 28–31

Higher-education, 149–150

High-skill career, 49–51

High-skill/high-pay jobs, 29

High-skill professions

offshoring of, 40–42

opportunities and risks for, 45–49

world of possibilities, 37–40

High-value skills, 66–70, 119

Hoffman, Reid, 73, 120

How Computerized Work and Globalization Shape Human Skill Demands (Levy and Murnane), 56

How Technology Wrecks the Middle Class (Autor and Dorn), 33

How to Fail and Everything and Still Win Big (Adams, Scott), 76

Hume, David, 96

Incenting students, 220–221

Industrial economy, 54

Industry-specific education, 208

Information economy, 54

Information networking, 126–129

Information skills, 60, 64

Information technology skills, 60, 64

Initiative and self-direction, 71

Insanity, 73

Insatiable curiosity, 74

Interdisciplinary themes, 60

Interests, 97–100

Introversion, 111

Intuition, 111

IT, 201–202. See also Information technology skills

James, LaBron, 38–40

Jobs, Steve, 69

Judging, 111

Kahn, Lisa, 8

Katz, Lawrence, 34, 151

Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, 110

Law degrees, 199–200

Leadership and responsibility, 62

Learning and innovation skills, 60

Learning, passion for, 74

Levy, Frank, 55, 59

Life and career skills, 60

Lifetime skills development, 79–80

LinkedIn, 121, 257

Low-skill/low-pay “commodity” jobs, 29

Low-skill workers, 36–37

Market, validating, 121–123

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), 142, 207

Math Masters/PhDs, 201–202

MBAs, 201

McAfee, Andrew, 38, 42, 57

McKinsey Center for Government study, 5

McKinsey Global Institute study, 46, 48

Media skills, 60, 64

Medical degrees, 200

Middle-skill/middle-pay jobs, 29

MOOC-based college-level courses, 80

MOOCs. See Massive Open Online Courses

Moore’s Law, 45

Murnane, Richard, 55, 59

Myers-Briggs, 111

National Bureau of Economic Research, 29

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 212

The National Employment Law Project study, 9

NCES. See National Center for Education Statistics

NetFlix subscription, 24

Newport, Cal, 104, 106

The New York Times, 26, 191

Nike, 68

Nonroutine cognitive/expert thinking, 55–56

Nonroutine cognitive tasks, 58

Non-routine manual tasks, 56, 57

Nurturing new interests, 100–103

Obama, Barrack, 40

Online education option, 225–230

P21. See Partnership for 21st Century Skills’

Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ (P21), 60

Passions, 97–100

Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), 217, 218, 219

Pay chasm, 28–31

PayPal, 220

Perceiving, 111

Pew Research Trusts study, 147

PhDs, 203–204

Pink, Daniel, 76

Please Understand Me II, 111

The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the U.S.Labor Market (Autor), 57

Politico-economic volatility, 13, 14

Post-graduate boot camps, 230–234

Potential career directions, 94–95

Procter & Gamble, 68

Productivity and accountability, 61–62

P-TECH. See Pathways in Technology Early College High School

Race Against the Machine, 12

The Race Between Education and Technology (Goldin and Katz), 151

Raven’s Progressive Matrices, 110

Real wages, 2

Retirement fund contributions, 8

The Rise of the Creative Class Revisited (Florida, Richard), 69

Routine cognitive, 55

Routine manual, 56, 57

Safety careers, 133–136

Science and engineering masters/PhDs, 202

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), 3, 272

The Second Machine Age (Brynjolfsson, Erik and McAfee, Andrew), 12, 18, 42, 47, 51, 57

Self-assessments, 108, 110–111

Self-directed, semistructured gap year programs, 221–224

Self-direction, 71, 72

Self-restraint, 74–75

Sensing, 111

Service economy, 24–28

The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change (Autor, Levy, and Murnane), 56

Skills

dreams and reality, 104–106

identifying and validating, 106–110

of past vs. future, 55–59

Skills development plan

degree with certification, 86

education plan, 85–86

learn critical life skills, 87

Skills requirements to skills development, 139–140

Smith, Fred, 69

Social and cross-cultural skills, 62

Stanford-Binet, 110

Stanford’s Institute of Design, 68

Stanley, Morgan, 156

The Start-up of You (Hoffman and Casnocha), 73, 120

Statistics, 65

STEM. See Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

Thiel Foundation, 153

Thiel, Peter, 220

Thinking, 111

Trade apprenticeships, 213–216

Traditional mid-skill workers, 36

Transfer education, 208

The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America, 75

2012 Congressional Budget Office study, 17

2014 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study, 7

2013 Hart Research survey, 76

21st-Century skills, 76–79

20-step model, 90–91

Twitter, 121

U-6, 6

UnCollege organization, 153, 221–222

Underemployment crisis, 6–9

Unemployment rate, 3

Universal personality traits, 70–75

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4, 6

U.S. Congressional Budget Office, 11

U.S. Council of Economic Advisors, 26

U.S. economy, 22

U.S. jobs market

brighter future, 11–15

employment realities, 2–3

growing wage chasm, 15–20

headlines, 3–5

improvement prospects, 9–10

mid-range jobs, disappearance of, 10–11

underemployment crisis, 6–9

U.S. jobs, redefinition, 22–24

Varian, Hal, 50

Wadhwa, Vivek, 220

Wagner, Tony, 76

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 110

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 110

Why Software Is Eating The World, 46

Wladawsky-Berger, Irving, 58

Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, 110

World War II, 9

Zuckerberg, Mark, 40, 64