Research Paper on "What Employers Like About Interdisciplinary Studies Majors"

Research Paper 4 pages (1407 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Employers Like About Interdisciplinary Studies Majors

In an era where specialization and continual acceleration of knowledge across industries, many employers are seeing the value of hiring interdisciplinary studies majors who have a broader, more strategic view of the world and the ability to think in abstract, conceptual terms quickly Employers need to balance their hiring across the highly specialized skill sets needed for running their businesses while also hiring for the skill set of abstract, conceptual thinking, strong problem-solving skills that span across disciplines and functional departments (Ahamer, 27, 28) and the innate abilities of communication and collaboration (Merdin, 105). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the fourteen traits or characteristics that employers like and seek out about interdisciplinary studies majors. Each of the traits is assigned to the classification of whether they are a strength of mine today, and which are those that I don't have. Throughout the entire analysis, each of the fourteen factors is defined.

Innate Characteristics

Of the fourteen characteristics as mentioned in our course, I have discovered through work experience and personal reflection which are the greatest strengths of mine. These include the ability to critically evaluate and critique the work of experts including an assessment of how their methodologies could be potentially improved. This attribute is more orientated towards critical thinking and analysis of data; two supporting skills of this first attribute not as easily quantified as others typically are (Garman, Leach, Spector, 832-833). An example of how I was able to do this is in critiquing a research methodology at a recent internship, showing how it could be improved with more qualitative analysis first. A second characteristic that I have learned through academic and work experience is the ability to see the world through an interdisciplinary perspective. From my experiences this is predicated on seeing the world from both a quantitative and highly analytical perspective in addition to the qualitative, or less precise and more strategic in scope. This is often the area that majors from highly specialized academic disciplines fail to grasp until alter stages of their careers, when they have had the opportunity to experience more scenarios that forced this level of analysis (Ahamer, 23, 24). Taking an interdisciplinary focus on a given situation requires an appreciation of many unquantifiable aspects of a business situation or dilemma; this can be achieved through an academic career of solving problems from multiple vantage points which is the experiences I've had. An example of this is in creating programs and initiatives for solving complex channel support issues at my internship. A third strength or characteristic is the ability to complete synthetic thinking tasks, that include weighing facts from both a narrow and diverse series of outcomes, placing them in a larger context, as Newell has written in his text and works. An example of this is in problem solving with co-workers who were creating a program to get more traffic to the company website; the goals had to be both qualitative and quantitative in scope to be effective. A fourth strength or innate characteristics is the ability to think conceptually. This is defined as the ability to consider and evaluate abstract or conceptual thoughts and frameworks while also applying frameworks and concepts to their attainment (Ahamer, 42). The fifth characteristic I've learned I have is the ability to identify and solve problems. This was learned through a series of problems given to me at an internship that required intensive levels of collaboration and communication throughout the company I was working for. The problems required a high level of shared outcomes and support, which was also a learning experience for the next characteristic pertaining to shared values. The definition of solving problems emanates form the ability to think creatively and look for new alternatives not considered in the past (Rao, Anis, et al., 189, 190). In conjunction with the characteristics of being able to solve problems, the ability to understand and work with others' value systems as also learned over time as well. A large part of this ability is based on empathy and the continual interaction with cultures that are diverse and fundamentally different than ones' own (Ahamer, 39, 40). Based on this… READ MORE

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