Creating T-Shaped Professionals
Design Thinking Business Programs & Second Bachelor's Degrees for Career Starters
Carla Hickman, Vice President, Research
These reports (the first two in our four-part Industry Futures series) explore programs that create professionals with a depth of expertise in one topic area, and a breadth of interpersonal skills necessary to collaborate across industries.
A new employer rubric for skills and competencies
As the Great Recession draws to a close, many job seekers still struggle to find gainful employment. Years of operating under hiring freezes, coupled with advances in technology, have taught employers how to maintain—and even increase—productivity with a lean staff. As a result, employers can afford to be even choosier in hiring new talent. Although companies have sought out well-rounded candidates for decades, a new concept is turning the search for well-roundedness into a formulaic process.
Large employers like IBM, IDEO, and Cisco are spearheading initiatives to hire “T-shaped professionals.” This concept contends that the ideal employee possesses a number of soft skills that allow him or her to collaborate (the “T-top”) as well as unmatched knowledge of a skill, process, product, or body of work (the “T-stem”). Employers like IBM are experimenting with ways to scan and code an applicant’s resume to assess her “T-score.” A study abroad experience, for example, may indicate cultural sensitivity, while a leadership role in a student organization may demonstrate management ability.
What’s your T-score?
Assessing graduates on a T-scale
An individual’s “T-shape” is built over the entirety of his or her career, but college students who possess a mix of “T-top” and “T-stem” skills upon graduation face the most promising short-and long-term employment prospects. However, most students only build out one dimension of their “T” during their undergraduate studies.
Divided competencies in undergraduate studies
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Humanities or liberal arts graduate
Writing- and presentation-intensive courses cultivate strong communication skills in these graduates, who often have time in their schedule to pursue study abroad experiences and leadership roles in extracurricular activities. Despite a plethora of soft skills necessary for long-term success in the workforce, these graduates lack the specialized the technical skills required for most entry-level employment.
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STEM graduate
Coursework in high-demand fields like engineering and computer science lead to multiple post-graduation job offers, but stringent major requirements limit time spent in writing-intensive electives and extracurricular organizations. Despite early success on the job market, these graduates often lack the management skills and creativity required for advancement in competitive technical fields.
Recognizing the importance of building out both dimensions of a student’s “T”, several universities are following the lead of companies like IBM, IDEO, and Cisco, making T-shaping a central goal of their curricula.
"[We must] lead the nation in our reputation for graduating T-shaped people whose frame of reference and skills are a combination of broad and deep—people who are work-ready and highly sought after in the new global, intensively technological, data- and innovation-driven workplace.
"Lou Anna K. Simon, President
Michigan State University
Download the reports
Design Thinking Business Programs
Learn how coupling art and business coursework together promotes innovation and creativity in the workplace.
Second Bachelor’s Degrees for Career Starters
Explore how second bachelor’s degrees give liberal arts graduates the technical skills needed to secure their first job.
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