A persuasive case for building career success through broad education, targeted skills, and social capital

Young people coming out of high school today can expect to hold many jobs over the course of their lives, which is why they need a range of essential skills. The Career Arts provides a corrective to the widespread and misleading notion that there is a direct trade-off between going to college and acquiring practical job skills. Ben Wildavsky cuts through the noise and anxiety surrounding this issue to offer sensible, clear-eyed guidance for anyone who is making decisions about education and career preparation with a view to getting ahead in the workforce.

Drawing on evidence-based research, illuminating case studies, and in-depth interviews, Wildavsky shares the most vital lessons of what he calls the career arts, which include cultivating a mix of broad and targeted skills, taking advantage of employer-funded education benefits, and preparing for the world as it is, not as you wish it could be. He explains why college remains the gold standard of credentials, and presents the most promising high-quality supplements and alternatives to college that can help learners combine general and job-specific skills. He shows how building social capital is also critical to success, particularly for disadvantaged students.

An invaluable guidebook for students, parents, counselors, and educators, The Career Arts reveals why college education and job preparation are not either-or propositions and identifies the blend of education and networking needed to support real-world career aspirations.

About the Author
Ben Wildavsky is a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia's School of Education and Human Development. He is the award-winning author of The Great Brain Race (Princeton) and coeditor of Reinventing Higher Education and Measuring Success. He is the host and coproducer of the Higher Ed Spotlight podcast.

Reviews
"[A] a level-headed discussion of the abiding value of a college degree and why earning one is compatible with acquiring the practical skills valued in the workplace."---Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes
"Readers will learn eight essential skills for career success, such as completing college or looking for educational options that give them a mix of broad and targeted skills, taking advantage of employer educational benefits, and most importantly, preparing for the world as it is. . . . [The Career Arts's] positive tone and clear writing will appeal to students, parents, and educators." * Library Journal *
"One of the clearest assessments of the need to blend higher education and workforce development I've read in years. Well-documented and positive in presentation. Great takeaways that can be of great use with governing boards, legislators, and others. I genuinely recommend."---Bennett Boggs, Commissioner of Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development
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The Career Arts offers readers-whether working in the higher education sector already, advising prospective students, or students making decisions for themselves-several arguments based on economic data to combat misperceptions about a college degree's waning relevance in the labor market. . . . [and] provides an overview of promising directions that could help drive positive student postsecondary outcomes and examples of programmatic initiatives that could inspire action by campus leaders to change the status quo and better meet student needs.

"---Caroline Tucker, Harvard Educational Review
"At a time when the value and role of a college degree is being questioned by so many, Ben [Wildavsky]'s book provides key insights and lessons from innovators around the country."---Maria Flynn, President and CEO of Jobs for the Future; Forbes 50 Over 50
"The Career Arts is slim (pack it in your tote!), practical (a great gift for parents!) and compelling (with deep insights into the value of college, credentials, and - especially for those not born with rich social capital -connections)."---Joellen Perry, Global VP at SAP
"The Career Arts [is] a refreshingly clear survey of today's many educational paths toward better careers. . . . [it] is upbeat about the rise of fast-paced skills training, while still supporting an important role for the slower, deeper tempos of a classic four-year college degree."---George Anders, LinkedIn
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We've long known that a sound education should fill a resume and feed the soul. Ben Wildavsky certainly thinks so, and he lays out an excellent case in The Career Arts.

"---Eric Johnson, Public Ed Works
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This short and timely book is aimed at 'anybody seeking to understand how to get ahead'. . . . Much of the evidence brought skillfully together by the author Ben Wildavsky promotes familiar lessons - for example that so-called soft skills can be just as important as job-specific ones. . . . [The Career Arts] makes it abundantly clear that those headlines claiming degrees are no longer as helpful as they once were are often flat out wrong.

"---Nick Hillman, HEPI
"For too long, our debates on post-secondary education have taken a binary form: either 'college for everyone' or 'learn a trade'. . . . [Wildavsky] puts adaptability front and center in his recent book The Career Arts. In doing so, he helps to fight back against the false dichotomies that riddle discussions about post-secondary education."---Brent Orrell and David Veldran, The Dispatch



Book Information
ISBN 9780691239798
Author Ben Wildavsky
Format Hardback
Page Count 176
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press