Qualities Employers Value: Become T-Shaped

This is the sixth article in the series discussing the future workplace and the skills and competencies you want to develop in college, and then demonstrate in your resume´ and in interviews.

Some years ago, when I worked at the Quaker Oats Company, the human resources group led an effort referred to as CPR—Career Path and Rewards. A very unfortunate acronym for a very important company-wide initiative with, as I remember it, three goals: 1. Reward people for developing new skills; 2. Create career paths for those that added new skills and 3. Flatten out the organization (fewer managers to force decision-making down to where the work was getting done). Quaker encouraged its people to become T-shaped.

The T-shaped employee brings a deep understanding in a field; their skills/expertise (the vertical stroke of the T) but also have cross-disciplinary skills; the capacity to speak in the language of a broader range of disciplines with interpersonal and social ability skills (the horizontal stroke of the T). 

Here’s a way to think about it.  As a T-shaped employee you would have: 

• One or more specialties
• A general knowledge of other areas
• Knowledge of the business field in which you work
• Actively seeks to gain new skills in you specialties as well as in other areas

a quality employers value

It seems to me that becoming a T-shaped worker has never been more important. Many of today’s problems are too complex to be solved by one discipline.  Scientists will not solve the problem of climate change nor will IT specialists solve the problem of cybersecurity.  Multi-faceted problems require cross-disciplinary solutions. Employers need workers who are experts and also generalists who can speak the language of many disciplines and are adaptable and fast learners.  In contrast, an expert who is too narrow has difficulty collaborating. And a generalist who doesn’t go deep enough in a single area ends up not really contributing as an individual.

Don’t want to believe. According to those in recruiting and human resources, the most sought-after candidates for management, consulting, research, and other leadership positions are T-shaped.

Cross-disciplinary and your college career

The future is educating a workforce to speak the language of multiple disciplines. College students described class projects in which they worked on multi-disciplinary teams. A project team that included an econ, communications, English and sociology major.  When I worked for a consulting firm launching web-based business I led teams of business strategists, analysts, marketers, programmers, web designers and developers on projects.  We were a multi-disciplinary team.  That’s how we worked back then and more often than not still do today.  But that’s not the future.

Cross-disciplinary is the biology major who studies political science, the mathematician who studies biology, the public relations major who studies technology, the outdoor adventure rec major who is also an art major. All examples of graduating students I know.  And having worked in healthcare I met many in the medical field who were also MBAs and worked for the leading consulting firms. The value they offer is a more holistic approach to problem-solving because they have myriad ways to tackle complex problems. 

By acquiring a broader more flexible skill set in college, you will be better positioned to graduate with a job and in the future tackle the career challenges of the next decade and beyond.

Colleges are trying to adapt curricula to meet the changing demands of the workplace. From what I’ve uncovered this is primarily happening in STEM fields. If you are not a STEM major and until college curricula catches up, you need to close the knowledge gap on your own and perhaps rethink how you are job searching.

Some suggestions on becoming more T-Shaped before you enter the workforce.

• The first obvious suggestion for those still in college is take courses in other areas to develop knowledge and skills you are not getting in your major.Humanities majors I encourage you to become versed in a STEM area. A communications major taking courses in biology makes you a candidate for working in the communications group of a pharmaceutical company for example.
• Shoot for an internship in your career field and another internship that helps develop a new knowledge area or skill.  For example as an anthropology major you could get a summer or semester internship doing research in South America and then another internship in an advertising agency.
• Seek out a mentor outside your major or career field. Find a professor from another department. Look to professional organizations for a mentor.
• You can gain knowledge (as well as being entertained) from watching TED talk lectures.
• There are online courses and degree programs that can be worthwhile pursuing.

Employers need workers with specialized knowledge who can also think broadly about a variety of areas, and apply their knowledge to new settings. Since T-shaped people possess skills and knowledge that are both broad and deep, developing and promoting your T-shaped talent may be the ticket to your career success now and in the future.