I was asked by a college magazine on some advice to give to college students, particularly seniors who will be facing the job market. Since I speak at colleges, one of the things that I tell students all the time is that they should work to develop their people skills, ie., their ability to interact well with lots of different types of people. People skills will be more important than their grades when determining how successful they will be in their future careers. Also, because we live in a more diverse society now, it is important for students to be able to work with people from all different backgrounds and cultures. This is what I do in my college diversity presentations. People and diversity skills, whether acquired through part time work, volunteer work or even extra-curricular activities with people other than their friends, will separate these forward thinking students from their competition in the job market.
