Landing in a successful career in today’s global workforce requires skills that many recent college graduates don’t have. What is it that’s driving these new requirements, and how can students maximize their chances of having the workforce competencies they need? Consider Syracuse University’s Bachelor of Professional Studies in Knowledge Management or Creative Leadership. This “hire-level” degree provides the skills needed for today’s in-demand careers.

These are the top 10 workforce skills students will need by 2020*

These 6 drivers are leading employers to seek out new and unique skills–skills that are quickly becoming some of the most in-demand in the workforce.

The top 10 workforce skills of 2020 include:

  1. Sense making: The ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressed. The Drivers: Rise of smart machines and systems
  2. Social intelligence: The ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions. The Drivers: Rise of smart machines and systems, globally connected world
  3. Novel and adaptive thinking: Proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-based. The Drivers: Rise of smart machines and systems, globally connected world
  4. Cross cultural competency: The ability to operate in different cultural settings. The Drivers: Superstructured organizations, globally connected world
  5. Computational thinking: The ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data based reasoning. The Drivers: New media ecology, computational world
  6. New media literacy: The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication. The Drivers: Extreme longevity, new media ecology, Superstructured organizations
  7. Transdisciplinary: Literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines. The Drivers: Extreme longevity, computational world
  8. Design mindset: The ability to represent and develop tasks and work processes for desired outcomes. The Drivers: Superstructured organizations, computational world
  9. Cognitive load management: The ability to discriminate and filter information for importance, and to understand how to maximize cognitive functions. The Drivers: Superstructured organizations, computational world, new media ecology
  10. Virtual collaboration: The ability to work productively, drive engagement, and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team. The Drivers: Superstructured organizations, globally connected world

*Excerpted from an eCampusNews article by Laura Ascione. Click here to read the entire article.