Mission

Our Mission

College graduates aren’t ready for the workforce.

As someone who earned the privilege of teaching with two of the greatest communication schools on the planet, there’s no “I think” or “In my opinion” on this subject matter. 

It’s absolute fact. No fault or blame…just fact. 

College graduates aren’t ready for the workforce. 

The Math Is Impossible

In meeting with account leaders, agency owners, non-profit leaders, and corporate communicators over the last 10 years, I’ve heard that students need to know media relations, internal communication, SEO, coding, CMS management, social media ad buys, and inbound marketing to be an entry level candidate. 

Let’s assume Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule of “deliberate practice” is an overblown marketing tactic and students need only 5,000 hours to master a subject. That’s 35,000 hours.

There are 35,040 total hours in four years. 

By the way, we should probably add account planning, client service, and basic analytics to this list. The math is impossible. It’s not higher education’s fault; it’s not the fault of students. There’s too much to know and not enough time to know it all. 

“Give me a one-handed Economist. All my economists say ‘on one hand…’, then ‘but on the other…”

Harry Truman’s quote applies to educators as well. There are a million different answers on the best way to learn. The areas of consensus:

  • Assessment
  • Mental Prompts
  • Assessment
  • Physical Prompts
  • Assessment
  • Wash. Rinse. Repeat. 

Here’s where traditional online learning doesn’t work. It’s easy for someone to watch a webinar, play on their phone, check Slack threads, and play on their phone some more. It’s easy to circumvent the system and answer multiple choice questions. It’s easy to attend a conference, get that bright “conference tan of change,” and become professionally pale upon reentering the office. 

PR is hard. The only way to get better is to do the work, make mistakes, learn from them, and get in your hours. Writers have to write. Communicators have to communicate. Shortcuts don’t exist.