Ben Waber reviewed Major Trade-Offs by Corey Moss-Pech
A Vital Refutation of the Skills Dogma
5 stars
Moss-Pech uses deep qualitative research to crack the foundations of economic skills dogma, showing that the skills that technical majors learn in college are rarely used in their first jobs. In addition, his sample shows that entry level job descriptions are extremely poor indicators of what people actually need to accomplish the role. There's other great work here on the types of internships that tend to lead to full time offers, as well as how liberal arts majors differ. While these findings aren't surprising for many folks with management experience, this should act as a wakeup call to economists and policymakers who use majors and job descriptions as a proxy for what skills are necessary for the future workforce. Highly recommend
Moss-Pech uses deep qualitative research to crack the foundations of economic skills dogma, showing that the skills that technical majors learn in college are rarely used in their first jobs. In addition, his sample shows that entry level job descriptions are extremely poor indicators of what people actually need to accomplish the role. There's other great work here on the types of internships that tend to lead to full time offers, as well as how liberal arts majors differ. While these findings aren't surprising for many folks with management experience, this should act as a wakeup call to economists and policymakers who use majors and job descriptions as a proxy for what skills are necessary for the future workforce. Highly recommend