How many times do alumni come to you to tell you that they can’t get a job but they don’t know why? They’re “sure” that they have what it takes to do the job, and just need someone to give them a chance. Despite being turned away from multiple opportunities, or not getting the interviews they seek, they come to you distraught and truly uncertain why they’re not making progress.

During a focus group with alumni, we heard this story repeatedly.

You’re then faced with trying to be both empathetic, while guiding them to the reality that they don’t have the skills of the future, and encouraging them to do something to change.

Self-awareness is the key to action. When people think they are prepared, but don’t really have the required proficiency, they remain frustrated by career growth, yet relatively unmotivated to take the right action.

We’ve found that self-awareness comes when an individual realizes that they can’t do the job they have or the job they want as well as they need to. They will buy into the fact that there is action they need to take. If you provide personalized learning they can use to create and work an individual development plan/action plan specifically targeted to those gaps, you have the opportunity to set each person on a path toward continuous learning to achieve their goals. Wouldn’t that be rewarding?