Donald Jenkins, MPDC

Lily Jenkins, Ed.Dc., CPDC

The job market has radically shifted and today’s students must be prepared to navigate
the cracks they will run into on their way to adulthood and career advancement. In a
commencement speech to the 2017 Harvard graduates, Mark Zuckerberg stated,

“Class of 2017, you are graduating into a world that needs purpose.
It’s up to you to create it”.

Unfortunately, Purpose 101 is not offered as a college course and neither is it seen as a
necessary tool in a new market economy where AI is poised to eliminate many jobs in
the future. Not only did Mr. Zuckerberg express this concern, but Bill Gates echoes the
same sentiments.

For years, high school and college graduates expected their job to match
their education. However, the shift in the job market is causing more
delays in securing a job to match education. Recent graduates are having
to rely more on meaning-making skills to navigate the long road to adulthood and
career advancement.
Education is the foundation for securing career opportunities. High school and higher
education institutions are springboards for exploring career options, but the job market
is demanding graduates to explore career readiness beyond qualifications on a resume.

Jeff Selingo, author of There is Life After College, reveals startling

statistics about cracks in the long road to adulthood and career
advancement. His book reinforces the rise of Meaningful Excellence™
to support career readiness. The turbulent waters of the job market is
forcing students to optimize their career search with a strong sense of
purpose.

For the first time in the history of America, students need more guidance on how to
activate meaning-making skills beyond the classroom. Mr. Selingo points out that the
timetable to adulthood is longer now than ever. Parents are having to deal with the
boomerang generation where more kids are returning home after college. Even though
they have a degree in hand, securing that first job is becoming harder due to cracks in
the road beyond their control:

• For the average college graduate, it takes four years to find a job that will last
five years of more
• A growing number of emerging adults lack the financial flexibility to change
jobs or to take low-paying positions that might be great career starters
• College debt rules out opportunities that could advance career
• The master degree is quickly becoming the new bachelor degree
• A large percentage of college graduates work in jobs unrelated to their major
• Graduating in a weak economy means lower earnings
• Financial independence is taking longer than ever

Education remains an essential tool for a fruitful career, but in order to sustain
convictions and motivations in this new market economy, students need skills that lead
to Meaningful Excellence™. Mr. Zuckerberg reinforced the need by saying, “...The
challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose”.
Automation and Technology might be the wave of the future, but Meaningful
Excellence™ is the skill that helps students keep the future within reach. It’s the quality
or state of being outstanding or extremely good at sustaining a strong sense of
purpose under all circumstances. Regardless the cracks in the long road to adulthood
and career advancement, students who sharpen their meaning-making skills are able to
sustain their conviction and motivation for success under all circumstances.

Mr. Selingo’s book also reveals an interesting concern by one of IBM’s top researcher,
who speaks about the difference between an “I” shape employee vs. a “T” shape
employee. He stressed that today’s employer need a different kind of talent. While the
“I” shape employee is adept in only one subject, the “T” shape employee have a deep
understanding of one subject, but able to work across complex subjects with ease and
confidence.

The new breed of employee not only have marketable skills gained through education,
they must have meaning-making skills to meet the demands of a diverse and increasing
technological workplace. The IBM researcher disclosed that the “T” shape employee
have the grit needed to work with teams, find customers, and solve problems. His
analysis confirms that both high school and college prepares students to be “I” shape
employees. Unfortunately, the marketplace is demanding “T” shape employees who have
cultivated skills for managing a greater purpose.

Purpose Management™ is the ingenuity to optimize meaning-making skills to add

value under all circumstances. It’s the key to helping today's students and employees
transform from being “I” shaped employees, to “T” shaped employees. This new skillset,
not only prepares students/employees for adding value under all circumstances, but
they are skilled is using the value that comes from meaning-making, to build productive
relationships for ongoing success. In short, Purpose Management™ is a critical skill
that allows passion to emerge for a fruitful career. It’s the key to helping individuals
optimize skills for being a team player who can contribute beyond their degree.
The fruit of Purpose Management™ is Meaningful Excellence™. It’s the skill that
helps students keep the future within reach. Regardless the cracks in the long road to
adulthood and career advancement, students who sharpen their meaning-making skills
are more marketable than students who don’t.

Today’s twentysomethings are facing more and more jobs and relationships that doesn't
match their education. Unfortunately, when jobs and relationships lack meaning, both
loses value which contributes to the long road to adulthood and career opportunities.

The Purpose Development Institute is the only company in the world that democratizes
purpose from special gifts and talents, to meaning-making skills to help individuals
evolve beyond what they do for a living. Purpose is treated as seventeen percent of what
one does with marketable skills, and eighty-three percent what one can become through
meaning-making skills.

The above graphic is important because Mr. Selingo’s book mentions a 2014 research
where 20 million job postings was analyzed across all industries to find the most
requested baseline skills, and soft-skills appeared in a very high frequency. Mr. Selingo
pointed out that the degree remains a strong signal for job readiness, but it’s becoming
less reliable that students know the soft-skills needed to survive in the workplace. In
short, employers are looking for employees who can become more through their work.
 Mr. Jenkins is the President and Co-Founder of the Purpose
Development Institute in Atlanta, Ga. Purpose Development™ is the
product of almost thirty years and more than 20,000 hours of action
research scrutinizing deficiencies in unlocking human potential.

As a former site coordinator for the Harvard Graduate School of Education Best Foot
Forward program, he is no stranger to helping students put their best foot forward. Mr.
Jenkins is the nations leading expert on the growing threat of Purpose Deficit
Disorders™ among students. When he speaks, students listen. His unique approach to
purpose is a catalyst for helping students use
purpose as a roadmap for achievement and career
excellence.

Mr. Jenkins was accepted into the Forbes Coaches Council in 2017. He invented the
phrase “Speaking to the Appetite for Purpose™”. His talks not only motivates and
inspires, but his audiences are moved to take action for using the Skillset of the Future
to navigate the cracks on the long road to adulthood and career advancement.

Lily Jenkins is the Vice President and Co-Founder of the Purpose

Development Institute. Her experience in education spans more than
twenty years from K-12 to adjunct professor at the University of
Phoenix, Georgia Perimeter College, and Kennesaw State University.

A doctoral candidate at National Louis University, her research, “Why Am I Here?

Examining the Relationship Between Purpose and Career Advancement Of First-Generation
Doctoral Students” is positioning her to become a leading expert in the Skillset of the
Future. Her extensive background in education allows her to identify areas in education
that exploits weaknesses in meaning-making skills. As a first generation doctoral
student, her wealth of insight to collegiate resources, positions her to help students and
institutions build communities of purpose to optimize the college experience for career
advancement.
 - Donald Jenkins, MPDC

It’s important that students see the above thought as the guiding force for the long road
to adulthood and career advancement. The Skillset of The Future takes into
consideration that America’s education system is designed to help students translate
intelligence into marketable skills. However, success in the marketplace is not solely
dependent on a student’s academic IQ, but in their ability to increase their Purpose
IQ™ to optimize their education for a greater purpose.

Jeff Selingo said that it’s important for students to understand how to go to college
instead of just going. Students must understand that a good education also includes an
education in purpose where they are prepared to go to college and navigate the cracks in
the long road to adulthood and career advancement.

Without Purpose Development™ classroom academics is only an intellectual exercise,

but with Purpose Development™, the world becomes a classroom where students learn
to give an accurate report on purpose in every stage of life. (See reports on purpose below)
 Keynote speaking: Hire Mr. Jenkins to not only inspire your students, but help
them understand the importance of opening the gift of purpose for education.
Students are given practical solutions with inspiration to manage purpose for
navigating the long road to adulthood and career advancement.

Campus Resource: If your institution desire to remain competitive in attracting

corporate recruiters and new students, employ our consultant services to train
key personnel or customize a campus wide solution to help students give the
three reports on purpose.