The No. 1 Skill You Need to Thrive in Today’s Job Market

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 Tennessee and Virginia,
associate degree holders on average earn more than bachelor’s holders.
Nationwide, 30% of associate’s holders make more than those folks with
bachelor’s degrees.)

Today, I want to tell you about a very special kind of skill you
need to succeed in the job market of tomorrow… and how young folks in
your family can start building these skills today.

Charles Hugh Smith of the alternative finance blog OfTwoMinds.com
calls the most necessary skills of tomorrow “improvisational skills.”
These are skills that you now need to have because of rapid advances in
technology.

One example Smith gives in a recent post
is automated boarding pass printing at airport check-in desks. Years
ago you had to stand in line and speak to an agent. Now, you can print
your boarding pass at an automated kiosk.

These days, airport check-in staff solve problems. They don’t do the
mundane work of checking you in anymore because technology now does
that for them. Staff now help with ticket changes or process the fee
for overweight bags.

The folks who can’t build the necessary “improvisational
skills” are no longer in customer-facing jobs. And they are likely out
of a job altogether.

Similarly, the employee at the cellphone store knows you have
already compared prices and models of available phones on the Internet
before coming to the store.

She must be ready to improvise and help you find the add-ons and
accessories you’re looking for. Simply selling you a phone you already
know about is not enough.

There are three important takeaways I want you to consider.

First, the best education is a debt-free one.

Second, don’t get more education than you need. In many cases, an
associate degree gives you all you need to get on the road to a
well-paying career path.

And third, no matter what career track you… or the young folks in
your family… choose, the skills you acquire must be improvisational.

So how do you acquire improvisational skills?

After a young person identifies a clear interest using the free
education sources I’ve mentioned before, I recommend they knock on
doors and volunteer their time. This requires patience and humility…
and the ability to improvise.

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

That’s why he went to the absolute best, most highly rated
restaurant in his area and volunteered to serve as an unpaid intern to
the chef. What professional would refuse this kind of initiative?

If a student in your family wants to be a software developer… and
takes courses online for free to build their interest… volunteering
or spending time as an unpaid IT intern at a local business will put
them face to face with real people and real situations. This will help
them build not only a resume, but also the improvisational skills
they’ll need to succeed over the long term.

As you’ve seen the past three weeks, there are many ways you can
take control of your future… or help your kids take control of their
future… without relying on the broken, debt-spewing higher education
cabal.

It starts with cutting out or reducing college debt loads — by
switching to free online courses or associate degrees. But it also
involves putting yourself out into the marketplace and acquiring the
No. 1 skill employers are looking for: the ability to think on your
feet.

Best regards,

Aaron