Student Success Indicators

As a college instructor, I am often asked how I know what students are going to make great professional accountants and CPAs in the future. Aside from their grade in my class, I can tell students are going to function well in the professional environment when they exhibit certain skills when it comes to my class. Today, I'm going to share those skills with you and why they translate so well into the professional world.

Being on Time & Time Management

Studying at a university is a serious time commitment and requires students to have good time management skills in order to show up to class on time and manage deadlines. Whether it be a weekly homework assignment or a semester-long project, my students are required to independently manage their time to meet deadlines. These same skills are even more crucial in the professional world, especially in a client-facing environment. As a professional, showing up late to a client meeting or missing a crucial deadline, can easily get you fired. As both a student and professional, time management includes considering conflicting deadlines, traffic, and buffering for the unexpected.

Talking to People and Working with Others

Not all classes require group projects, but every class should require some type of human interaction, even if that interaction is just participation and communication with others before and after class. Every semester there are a few students that show up to class, do the work, and get a good grade without talking much to other people. While those students might have a good grade on paper, they likely won't end up being the best workers because of a lack of everyday communication skills. Formal communication skills like presenting and public speaking are important in the professional world, but most of the time, you'll be communicating informally with your co-workers. Students that are developing these informal communication skills early are setting themselves up for success at their first job.

Actively Listening, Taking Notes, and Asking Questions

Actively listening, taking notes, and asking questions are things that students are taught in Middle School but aren't always required to complete an education. Some students are able to get by without taking notes or watching recorded lectures. While their GPAs might not reflect it, students who don't develop these skills are going to have a rude awakening in the professional workplace. These three core skills are essential for any meeting and as an entry-level professional, a lot of development comes from listening and learning from others. In my experience, the entry-level professionals that have good notes and listening skills are miles ahead those who don't. In addition to taking good notes, asking questions when something isn't clear is a skill of humility that should be learned as early as possible. Professionals that don't ask questions will eventually find themselves too deep in an area where they should have been asking questions a long time ago.

The reason why these particular skills are some of the best indicators of future professional success is because they are so essential in the workplace, but can't be taught in a single semester. It's entirely possible that a student can scrape by without these skills and graduate, but they won't get very far professionally without them. The entry level professionals that have these skills already developed are ready to learn and accelerate their career. If you're a student Reading this, take the time to evaluate yourself on these skills and improve wherever you can!