CHAPTER 3

The Translation Disconnect

Evolution in our careers is one of the most important things to learn and apply simultaneously as we earn. Without that, there is no door for growth.

—Goitsemang Mvula

Introduction

Since long-term financial stability via employment is the overwhelming reason individuals seek a college degree, today’s conventional wisdom has students declaring majors in health care, business, engineering and computer science. The belief held by many is that these majors have better employment prospects and higher earnings than those who choose a liberal arts such as English, history, or philosophy. While this may be true for the initial job secured following graduation, the long-term story is more complicated. As David Deming, noted in The New York Times “The advantage for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors fades steadily after their first jobs, and by age 40 the earnings of people who majored in fields like social science or history have caught up.”1 One of the reasons for this is because recent college graduates make the mistake of assuming their degree is synonymous with career preparedness. Research suggests otherwise and points to the next disconnect surrounding translation.

The central issue in realizing a long-term strategy for student career development is translation. That is, how students translate the skills they learn during their college years, both in and out of the classroom into workplace success. This is particularly true in the case of the metacognitive skills that professors in the humanities can, and should, help contribute in their students.

But most higher education institutions fail to provide the necessary support regarding the translation of one’s undergraduate or graduate experience to the 21st century workplace. My previous book Marketing Your Value: 9 Steps to Navigate Your Career explains how college students and even more experienced professionals need to diligently and consistently demonstrate their value to employers. Doing so requires substantial work if any humanities major or graduate wants to remain relevant in the 21st century workforce. Humanities majors need to translate their academic, professional, and cocurricular experiences into a clear, concise, and compelling story so that prospective employers will pay attention. To that end, higher education institutions have a responsibility to help humanities majors with such a translation process. Unfortunately, much work needs to be done here. In a world where return on investment is carefully promoted as a key attribute for attending college, translating one’s experiences to help launch a career remains a significant untapped strategy colleges can employ. Humanities majors would serve themselves well to remember what Thomas Friedman wrote in a January 25, 2012, New York Times editorial: “Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. Everyone needs to find their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment. Average is over.” 2

Explaining the Disconnect

While Chapter 1 discussed the explanation disconnect and Chapter 2 outlined the understanding disconnect, this chapter highlights the critical translation disconnect. The lack of support in helping humanities students translate their education and experience to launch their career or find employment remains the most significant issue facing humanities departments in higher education institutions today. It is the responsibility of everyone on campus to help humanities students translate their education and experience into a compelling story they can leverage as they launch their career. Unfortunately many faculty, staff, and administrators at most institutions believe “the value of liberal arts education can be hard to convey because it can’t be boiled down to a simple sound bite or an eye-popping starting salary.”3 That is simply unacceptable today. It is equally unacceptable to rely on the time-honored tradition of relying on the inherent value argument where studying the liberal arts “benefits our souls, the way we view the world, and our innate creativity.”4

A 2019 Emsi report concluded that higher education is not keeping pace with the ever-changing job market. The report examines the “translation chasm” between the skills graduates of liberal arts programs have and the skills employers say they’re looking for in an applicant. Turns out they’re not all that different, but “liberal arts graduates are too often left to stumble upon the valuable mixture of layered skills” required for any specific career, according to the report.5 While many reports suggest that students should focus on studying marketable skills, the new report identifies career value in liberal arts education, albeit with some tweaks.6 Created by Emsi, a labor market analytics firm, and the Strada Institute for the Future of Work, the report is based on more than 100 million social and professional profiles and applicant résumés and more than 36 million job postings to determine how to bridge the gap between what liberal arts students learn and what employers want.7

Rob Sentz, chief innovation officer at Emsi, believes that “deans, administrators working in program development, institutional research departments and faculty advisers should all be focused on helping students translate what they are learning into skills that the labor market needs and wants.” 8 Translating what they are learning into relevant skills for the 21st century workplace requires students to communicate their value by creating a clear, concise, and compelling set of marketing materials. Recognizing that many employers are unhappy or disengaged from their work, one observer noted: “It’s no wonder many of us aren’t fully satisfied with where we’re at professionally. We keep ignoring that crucial personal component that helps drive great results.”9 It is time that higher education institutions pay attention to that crucial personal component of a student’s undergraduate experience. To develop that crucial personal component, and to succeed in the job market of today and tomorrow, workers across all industries and titles will need to engage in a great deal of self-reflection. Doing so will allow people to get better at the skills of human interaction. As Geoff Colvin noted in Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know that Brilliant Machines Never Will, workers need to “become champions at the skills of human interaction-empathy above all, social sensitivity, collaboration, storytelling, solving problems together, and building relationships.” To demonstrate how one champions the skill of human interaction, it is imperative that all college students and recent graduates have a clear, concise, and compelling story. Doing so is an effective way to address the translation disconnect and an absolute necessity if students from any major are going to succeed in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) marketplace.

Higher education institutions need to do a far better job of helping humanities majors, as well as majors in other subjects, translate their value to the marketplace. To address this translation disconnect, colleges and universities can help humanities majors translate their value to the marketplace via a clear, concise, and compelling story by implementing four strategies. First, colleges need to help students uncover the one word that would serve as the focus of their personal story. Second, institutions should teach humanities majors how to develop their value proposition—a statement of less than seven words that illustrates their current position in the marketplace. Third, schools should assist humanities majors in defining their success factors so they can place them at the top of their résumé and use them in interviews. Finally, colleges and universities need to provide opportunities for humanities majors to craft a personal statement that summarizes how their skills, knowledge, and experiences are relevant to the workplace.

Identify Your One Word

The first step in creating a compelling story is identifying your one word. Describing yourself in one word is one of the most difficult challenges to complete. If you do it correctly, however, it provides the focus you need as you start to learn how to communicate your value in a clear, concise, and compelling manner. The selection of a one-word descriptor is so important to the interview process and one’s ability to communicate their value that LinkedIn has launched an annual list of overused LinkedIn profile buzzwords.

Here’s the 2018 top 10 list with the definition of each word followed by a brief explanation followed by “Instead of” then “Try” examples. Remember, when it comes to describing yourself, it’s better to show and not tell. Telling someone how good you are is annoying. Showing someone how good you are is impressive. Let them tell you how good you are. The most you have to tell someone how good you are, the less chance you have of landing the job. And if they don’t tell you how good you are, would you really want to work for a place that ignores your skills, knowledge, and experience?

1. Specialize: Concentrate on and become an expert in a particular subject or skill. “Specialize” barely registered as a used word until the early 20th century when the Industrial Revolution introduced the concept of specialized skills. During the last few years, this word has been used so often on LinkedIn it has lost most of its meaning.

   a. Instead of: I specialize in market research.

   b. Try: For over five years market research has been the focus point of my experience.

2. Experienced: The knowledge or skill acquired by experience over a period of time, especially that gained in a particular profession by someone at work. Everyone is experienced so why rely on such an overused word? Like all of the other words in this top 10, using it will fail to help you differentiate yourself from other candidates.

   a. Instead of: I am experienced in qualitative market research.

   b. Try: During the past five years my qualitative market research success has provided me with invaluable lessons.

3. Skilled: Having or showing the knowledge, ability, or training to perform a certain activity or task well. This is a new entry to the LinkedIn list in 2018. Much like experience, everyone has a skill so there is little value in using this word. Remember, in today’s hyperconnected world, people need the shortest path possible to understand your value. Relying on overused words like skilled are only going to frustrate people.

   a. Instead of: I am skilled in pharmaceutical market research.

   b. Try: Market research surveys under my guidance have provided critical insights into the minds and behaviors of consumers for my pharmaceutical brand team clients.

4. Leadership: The action of leading a group of people or an organization. Perhaps no two terms get more confused than management and leadership. If you ask 10 people to define both terms, you will get a wide variety of answers. Therefore, when you use leadership, be clear as to your application; otherwise you leave interpretation up to the reader. Is that something you really want to do?

   a. Instead of: I have led over 12 market research projects.

   b. Try: My experience includes managing over 12 market research projects across three different product categories. Each project involved qualitative and quantitative metrics.

5. Passionate: Showing or caused by strong feelings or a strong belief; derived from passion meaning to suffer. Perhaps the most misused and misunderstood word on the list. The argument could be made that it is one of the most misunderstood words today. While passionate is used to explain one’s excitement for work, also known as purpose, it fails to offer any specific description about your capabilities.

   a. Instead of: I am passionate about market research.

   b. Try: Market research has fueled my career during the last 10 years and provided me with the ability to develop both personally and professionally.

6. Expert: A person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area. Everyone seems to be an expert about something today. Just ask them, they will tell you on social media. And since social media is so prolific they will remind you of how much they are an expert each and every day.

   a. Instead of: I am an expert in market research.

   b. Try: My publication record during the last 10 years includes three articles and five presentations regarding the advancements of technology and their impact on market research.

7. Motivated: Provide (someone) with a motive for doing something or you are highly self-motivated to accomplish a goal. A modern day buzz word that, like the other words on this list, provide little guidance for a stranger trying to figure out your value. What exactly does a motivated person look like? And who cares? You may be so motivated as to not follow directions or want to be a team member. Remember, for every definition of a word you have someone else may interpret it in an entirely different manner.

   a. Instead of: I am a motivated market researcher.

   b. Try: My high level of energy, dedication to the client, and ability to work with others all form the foundation of each market research project.

8. Creative: Relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. The one word on this list that means nothing when you tell someone; you must show your creativity or it is meaningless. People mistake artists as those who have a monopoly on the use and application of the word creative. Nothing could be further from the truth. Everyone needs to be creative to some degree.

   a. Instead of: I am creative when it comes to market research findings.

   b. Try: When identifying next steps and recommendations for my clients, I tend to offer both traditional and nontraditional ideas as to how they might address situations identified in the project.

9. Strategic: Relating to the identification of long-term or overall aims and interests and the means of achieving them. People tend to use this word to describe their ability to think through a situation. By using such a word, people hope to convey a level of sophistication in their thinking. Much like creative, it is an overused buzzword that does little to help people understand your thinking.

   a. Instead of: I am a strategic market researcher.

   b. Try: My findings in market research reports illustrate a variety of options that will allow the client to consider a spectrum of ideas designed to achieve one or more business objectives of the brand team.

10. Focused: To see clearly. In today’s hyper-competitive, dynamic, and ever-changing global marketplace it is important to demonstrate that you can be focused to complete one task after another. Being too focused, however, could be interpreted that you spend far too much time trying to achieve perfection. Remember, perfection is often the enemy of the good so be careful when telling people you are focused. What exactly are you focused on and why?

    a. Instead of: I am focused on completing each market research project.

    b. Try: Over 90 percent of my market research projects get completed online and under budget due to my dedication to teamwork, organization, and profitability.

While there were similarities around the globe among these top 10 buzzwords, LinkedIn identified some notable outliers such as the word “sustainable” in the Netherlands; “enthusiastic” in Great Britain, and “passionate” in Australia and New Zealand.10 If humanities majors and graduates are to remain relevant in the 21st century workplace, higher education institutions need to incorporate the translation of experience, knowledge, and skills into a clear, concise, and compelling personal story. Doing so will enable humanities graduates to explain their value during job interviews. Identifying their one-word descriptor is the first step in this process.

Identify Your One Word Exercise

Directions: Draw an inverted triangle with the large part at the top and the tip at the bottom. At the top part of the triangle, the largest section, write down 10 words you would use to describe yourself in the top section of the triangle. From those 10 select the top 5 and write them in the middle section. From those 5 select the one word you would use to describe yourself and write that in the bottom (smallest) section at the tip of the triangle.

Additional exercise: Ask 10 people to describe you in one word and compare their word against yours. Did most people have a similar word that you selected? If not, why do you think that is? If they are choosing a word that closely resembles the one word you choose than please recognize that you are positioning yourself well in the minds of others. This is an important realization as you move forward and market your value and navigate your career.

Value Proposition Exercise

Following the identification of the one-word descriptor, the next step in helping humanities majors translate their college experience into a compelling story is the development of a value proposition. A value proposition is a statement of seven words or less that help make the humanities graduate stand out from the competition. Think of a value proposition as a tagline that brands use. As AdAge described it, a tagline is an unforgettable phrase that perfectly encapsulates a brand promise.11 Once found, a slogan can define a brand for decades. Here are the top 15 slogans for the 20th Century:

• “A diamond is forever”—DeBeers
• “Just do it”—Nike
• “The pause that refreshes”—Coca-Cola
• “Tastes great, less filling”—Miller Lite
• “We try harder”—Avis
• “Good to the last drop”—Maxwell House
• “Breakfast of champions”—Wheaties
• “Does she ... or doesn’t she?”—Clairol
• “When it rains, it pours”—Morton Salt
• “Where’s the beef?”—Wendy’s
• “Look Ma, no cavities!”—Crest toothpaste
• “Let your fingers do the walking”—Yellow Pages
• “Loose lips sink ships”—public service
• “M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand”—M&M candies
• “We bring good things to life”—General Electric

Yes, it’s true that humanities majors and graduates are not consumer brands. Make no mistake that is not the implication here. But if humanities majors and graduates are to remain relevant in the 21st century, each individual will need to develop a one-word descriptor and a value proposition as effective tools to use during job interviews, networking events, or informal conversations about their potential value to an organization. Examples include: “How would you describe yourself in a minute or less?” “What is your greatest strength?” “Why should we hire you?” A clear, concise, and compelling value proposition contains the following design elements:

• It highlights an ability to focus: A value proposition is seven words or less because it forces the humanities major to focus on the quality of words, not quantity. It is impolite to ramble on for more than a few minutes when answering an interview question. During an interview, it is imperative to focus on what is most important and engaging in a conversation.
• It demonstrates preparation: A well-defined value proposition illustrates that you have given it some thought. The last thing you want to do is stumble on such an important question during an interview or networking event.
• It allows you to tell a story: A compelling statement should help spark a conversation where you can then discuss how one or more of your experiences support the words you have chosen for your value proposition.

Examples of value propositions (each seven words or less):

• Using keen insight to help customers.
• Relying on resiliency to transform businesses.
• Inspiring people to pursue vibrant career paths.
• Focused on collaboration and leadership development.
• Achieving progress through passion and team work.
• Global marketer dedicated to new ideas and insights.
• Helping others develop a passion for affordable wine.
• Driving innovative product design through enthusiasm.
• Experienced senior executive focused on results.
• Building relationships through empathy and concern.
• An energy provider who gets things done.
• Developing human capital to move organizations forward.
• Growing profits by increasing effectiveness and efficiency.
• Creating compelling brands across different industries.
• Action-orientated professional driven to succeed.

Directions:

• Step 1: Write down at least five value proposition statements you would use to describe yourself.
• Step 2: Share your ideas with others and ask them if they believe any one of those statements best describes you. If you get a consensus you might want to use the one people agree upon. If not, you may need to draft a few more statements and rethink your word choice. This is a difficult exercise for many people since they stress over selecting the best words. The best thing to do is use your value proposition for a while and see how people react to it. Remember you can always change it.
• Step 3: What value proposition did you decide to use?

Success Factors

Now that you have your one-word descriptor and a seven-word value proposition, you can turn your attention to identifying your success factors. With recruiters and hiring managers inundated on a daily basis with hundreds or thousands of applicants submitting their materials, they often resort to skimming résumés. They simply lack adequate time to read each résumé word-for-word. One study suggested that recruiters and hiring managers glace at your résumé for six seconds. Other research indicates that hiring managers and recruiters may spend between 30 seconds up to two minutes reading your résumé. Whether it’s six seconds or two minutes, “that’s hardly any time to impress someone who could determine your employment future.”12 If you are unable to keep their attention they will most likely toss your résumé aside. Let’s review that last sentence. The operative phrase is “if you are unable to keep their attention.” Please understand that while you may have spent hours crafting your résumé, it may still lack the compelling material a recruiter or hiring manager needs at that point in time. To help you grab someone’s attention while they are reading your résumé, you may want to consider placing three to five success factors at the top of your first page.

Placing three to five success factors at the top of the first page of your résumé allows you to effectively market your value within seconds. “Research suggests that content elements that propel employers to immediately discard résumés include a focus on duties instead of accomplishments, while documented achievements were highly ranked among content elements that employers look for.”13 Since successful factors focus on accomplishments you are practicing, the trait of differentiating your value from the other candidates. By focusing on your accomplishments, you grab the reader’s attention. Your success factors help them understand why they should call you for an interview. Success factors indirectly answer one or more of the following questions:

• What special things did this candidate do in their past that sets them apart from others?
• How well did you do your previous job?
• What specific results did you achieve in your current position?
• What were the problems or challenges that you or the organization faced and how did you overcome the problems?
• How did the company benefit from your performance?
• How did you leave your employers better off than before you worked for them?
• How have you helped your employers to:
  • make money
  • save money
  • save time
  • make work easier and more efficient
  • solve a specific problem
  • be more competitive
  • build relationships
  • expand the business
  • attract new customers
  • retain existing customers

Examples of Success Factors

• Managed and collaborated with writers, photographers, and editors to produce the campus section of The Anchor, Hope’s student-managed newspaper, ensuring well written, carefully researched and edited news stories.
• Wrote stories that involved interviews, online research, and event coverage.
• Designed compelling layouts using Adobe InDesign and Photoshop.
• Worked as data analyst for a Fortune 100 company.
• Obtained a career center graduate assistantship at Grand Valley State University.
• Gained advising skills on three different levels: a private baccalaureate institution, a master’s degree granting institution, and a level one research institution.
• Launched major plank of strategic plan.
• Oversaw a budget of $2 million and led a staff of 15.
• Presented at Michigan Career Personnel Association’s (MCPA) Annual Conference, 2013.
• Managed a variety of situations in nonprofit and for-profit environments.
• Successfully increased sales by 17 percent for a product line within a 24 month period.

Directions: Write down at least three but no more than five success factors. You will eventually place these at the top of your résumé. For now, be sure to write down a few sentences that explain your evidence supporting each one of your success factors. You can then mention those during an interview or networking event.

Write Your Personal Statement

A personal statement is a summary of your professional skills, personal traits, and experiences in 75 words or less. Why the word limit? In today’s never-ending stream of information employers have little time to read paragraphs about you and what you offer. They are busy. A brief personal statement of 75 words or less can help spark a conversation and that is your goal. You should be able to say your personal statement in 30 seconds or less. Remember, you need to do everything that you can to advocate for yourself while helping the prospective employer understand how you can help address the needs of the organization. Keeping your personal statement brief also allows you to engage others in the conversation. Let me give you an example of how this went very wrong for a recent candidate my friend interviewed.

During a recent interview for a position on my friend’s team the candidate, let’s call him Jon, was tasked to “Tell us about yourself.” 10 minutes later, Jon ended his answer. After about one minute into his far too long of a reply, my friend stopped listening to Jon. Out of professional courtesy, my friend and his staff continued the interview but Jon failed to engage them in a conversation. You must maintain the highest levels of self-awareness during an interview or networking event in order to engage others. Having a concise, compelling, and clear personal statement is an excellent tool to use. While you will want to craft your credentials to each position you are applying to, it is imperative to have a general personal statement that you can plug into your personal web site as well as the Summary field of your LinkedIn profile. Here are several examples of personal statements.

• Personal Statement Example #1: With various experience in higher education, I am a disciplined and responsible young professional who is committed to excellence. Reliable and personable, I work well both individually and on teams. My passion lies in building relationships and collaborating with others. I am able to adapt effectively to any situation and establish positive environments with my outstanding communication and problem-solving skills. My ambitious attitude enables me to prioritize multiple tasks and take initiative. You can rely on me.
• Personal Statement Example #2: With diligence and motivation, I have dedicated myself to lifelong self-improvement both personally and professionally. My outstanding attention to quality and detail, together with my ability to prioritize, allows me to successfully complete independent and team-based projects through careful listening and effective communication. Over the course of my experiences I have demonstrated the ability of getting comfortable while uncomfortable by adapting to challenging situations, resolving issues through analytical and critical thinking and acting courageously.
• Personal Statement Example #3: As a determined and enthusiastic young professional, I strive to continuously inspire those around me on a daily basis. Driven by my ambitious mindset, influential attitude, and synergistic appreciation, I find passion in communicating and collaborating with a variety of individuals to better reach success and achievement of goals. Through my possession of outstanding decision-making and problem-solving skills, I am able to adapt effectively to any stressful situation and better encourage feelings of positivity.
• Personal Statement Example #4: I am a motivated professional who acts as a catalyst. Through my ability to approach tasks with enthusiasm and a positive attitude, I have a proven strength in leadership. My capacity to take calculated risks propels improvement and drives advancement toward goals. I combine resourcefulness, determination, and problem-solving strategies to create innovative plans of action, which I am able to carry out with my oral and written communication abilities.
• Personal Statement Example #5: Trustworthy and dependable, I am a self-starter with a passion for learning about the world and connecting with people. Through written and verbal communication, I am eager to form and nurture relationships in the professional world. My work in journalism, the nonprofit sector, and college admissions has displayed my effective interpersonal skills and pursuit of quality communication.
• Personal Statement Example #6: As a versatile, dependable, and responsible professional I enjoy working with nonprofit organizations and small businesses. Collaboration with others and personal growth are the hallmarks of my background. Becoming a reliable, adaptable, and ambitious individual has led to an increased skill set in communications, publishing, and marketing. Through my internships and employment positions, I have developed a strong sense of leadership in helping others solve problems, answer questions, and address issues.
• Personal Statement Example #7: As a smart, hardworking, and driven individual, I work to achieve success through commitment while communicating my ideas to others and working with them to achieve our shared goals. When problems arise, I am able to think critically and analyze the situation in order to come to an effective situation. My work with children has provided me with an opportunity to create my own life and in turn support others in their efforts to do the same.
• Personal Statement Example #8: As a professional who displays energy in performing daily responsibilities, I am a motivated and engaged individual. I can adapt to challenging situations, work independently, and successfully complete individual and team projects. My professional background includes a variety of experiences that have allowed me to demonstrate my dedication to self-improvement and commitment to excellence. With a willingness to learn, coupled with an ability to take calculated risks I strive for perfection while addressing challenges.

Conclusion

Once a humanities major has created a clear, concise, and compelling story to translate their college experience, they will then need to communicate it online via a web site. According to Workfolio, a newly launched company that develops applications for professional visibility, 56 percent of all hiring managers are more impressed by a candidate’s personal website than any other personal branding tool—however, less than 10 percent of job seekers actually have a personal website.14 Approximately 30 percent of employers said a personal website can create a competitive advantage in the job market; and 39 percent said—all other qualifications being equal—they would be likelier to pick a candidate with a personal website over a candidate without one.15 Workfolio’s founder and chief executive Charles Pooley knows how “the employment market is an incredibly scary place to be right now as a job seeker and a personal website offers candidates the creative freedom to express their personality in ways that are not be possible through a resume.”16 To stand out from the crowd, and to remain relevant, humanities majors need to have their own web site. Doing so provides a platform that allows humanities majors to illustrate how they have translated their college experience into a clear, concise, and compelling story. Louise Parker, 25, a University of Birmingham graduate, says her online presence was particularly important as she was applying for jobs in the digital industry. According to Parker, “Not only does it give you something to talk about on your application or in your interview, it also shows initiative and dedication.”17 The same can be said for a compelling social media presence.

According to a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, 70 percent of employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process.18 Therefore, social media offers an excellent platform for humanities majors to tell employers about their skills, knowledge, and experience. After the humanities major creates a personal website, they can then add that URL to social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter just to name a few. In the 21st century hiring process humanities majors want to know how prospective candidates represent themselves appropriately across various social media platforms. Having a personal website and a social media presence that presents a clear, concise, and compelling presentation of skills, experiences, and success factors will go a long way in helping humanities majors remain relevant to the 21st century workplace. Doing so will also position a humanities major for a wide variety of available career options. Three career paths based on knowledge, issues, and skills provide numerous opportunities for humanities majors. Such vision requires higher education institutions to address the disconnect surrounding how students are educated around career opportunities.

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