{"id":36890,"date":"2013-03-15T14:59:49","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T18:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=36890"},"modified":"2013-03-15T14:59:49","modified_gmt":"2013-03-15T18:59:49","slug":"the-no-1-skill-you-need-to-thrive-in-todays-job-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/03\/15\/the-no-1-skill-you-need-to-thrive-in-todays-job-market\/","title":{"rendered":"The No. 1 Skill You Need to Thrive in Today’s Job Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Aaron Gentzler, insideinvestingdaily.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, I revealed<\/a> how two groundbreaking free education sources, www.coursera.org<\/a> and www.openculture.com<\/a>, could help you save $43,000 a year (the average fee a private university charges today).<\/p>\n

And last week, I explained<\/a>
\nwhy low-cost associate degrees are a smart alternative to expensive
\nbachelor’s degrees. (In many states, such as Tennessee and Virginia,
\nassociate degree holders on average earn more than bachelor’s holders.
\nNationwide, 30% of associate’s holders make more than those folks with
\nbachelor’s degrees.)<\/p>\n

Today, I want to tell you about a very special kind of skill you
\nneed to succeed in the job market of tomorrow… and how young folks in
\nyour family can start building these skills today.<\/p>\n

Charles Hugh Smith of the alternative finance blog OfTwoMinds.com
\ncalls the most necessary skills of tomorrow “improvisational skills.”
\nThese are skills that you now need to have because of rapid advances in
\ntechnology.<\/p>\n

One example Smith gives in a recent post<\/a>
\nis automated boarding pass printing at airport check-in desks. Years
\nago you had to stand in line and speak to an agent. Now, you can print
\nyour boarding pass at an automated kiosk.<\/p>\n

These days, airport check-in staff solve problems. They don’t do the
\nmundane work of checking you in anymore because technology now does
\nthat for them. Staff now help with ticket changes or process the fee
\nfor overweight bags.<\/p>\n

The folks who can’t build the necessary “improvisational
\nskills” are no longer in customer-facing jobs. And they are likely out
\nof a job altogether.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Similarly, the employee at the cellphone store knows you have
\nalready compared prices and models of available phones on the Internet
\nbefore coming to the store.<\/p>\n

She must be ready to improvise and help you find the add-ons and
\naccessories you’re looking for. Simply selling you a phone you already
\nknow about is not enough.<\/p>\n

There are three important takeaways I want you to consider.<\/p>\n

First, the best education is a debt-free one.<\/p>\n

Second, don’t get more education than you need. In many cases, an
\nassociate degree gives you all you need to get on the road to a
\nwell-paying career path.<\/p>\n

And third, no matter what career track you… or the young folks in
\nyour family… choose, the skills you acquire must be improvisational.<\/p>\n

So how do you acquire improvisational skills?<\/p>\n

After a young person identifies a clear interest using the free
\neducation sources I’ve mentioned before, I recommend they knock on
\ndoors and volunteer their time. This requires patience and humility…
\nand the ability to improvise.<\/p>\n

I know a young man, for example, who works as a chef at a mid-level
\nresort restaurant. He has a two-year degree from a culinary school. Of
\ncourse, he doesn’t want to spend his life as a chef at a resort
\nrestaurant. He wants to be a chef at a world-class restaurant.<\/p>\n

That’s why he went to the absolute best, most highly rated
\nrestaurant in his area and volunteered to serve as an unpaid intern to
\nthe chef. What professional would refuse this kind of initiative?<\/p>\n

If a student in your family wants to be a software developer… and
\ntakes courses online for free to build their interest… volunteering
\nor spending time as an unpaid IT intern at a local business will put
\nthem face to face with real people and real situations. This will help
\nthem build not only a resume, but also the improvisational skills
\nthey’ll need to succeed over the long term.<\/p>\n

As you’ve seen the past three weeks, there are many ways you can
\ntake control of your future… or help your kids take control of their
\nfuture… without relying on the broken, debt-spewing higher education
\ncabal.<\/p>\n

It starts with cutting out or reducing college debt loads — by
\nswitching to free online courses or associate degrees. But it also
\ninvolves putting yourself out into the marketplace and acquiring the
\nNo. 1 skill employers are looking for: the ability to think on your
\nfeet.<\/p>\n

Best regards,<\/p>\n

Aaron<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Disclaimer<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n

Article brought to you by Inside Investing Daily. Republish
\nwithout charge. Required: Author attribution, links back to original
\ncontent or www.insideinvestingdaily.com<\/a>. Any investment contains risk. Please see our disclaimer<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Aaron Gentzler, insideinvestingdaily.com Two weeks ago, I revealed how two groundbreaking free education sources, www.coursera.org and www.openculture.com, could help you save $43,000 a year (the average fee a private university charges today). And last week, I explained why low-cost associate degrees are a smart alternative to expensive bachelor’s degrees. (In many states, such as … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The No. 1 Skill You Need to Thrive in Today’s Job Market”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}