The document outlines solutions proposed by a university IT director to help recent graduates transition effectively from school to work. It proposes expanding internship programs, formal onboarding training, and mentorship programs to teach new hires important soft skills like collaboration, project management and independence. Other solutions involve strengthening experiential learning opportunities in university courses, creating extracurricular programs, and reforming primary/secondary education to emphasize hands-on, project-based learning over lectures and exams.

1. School-to-work
transition
IDEATE – Initial Ideas

2. Problem Statement
A
director of a large university IT organization with hiring
responsibilities
NEEDS A WAY TO
find entry-level candidates with both the technical skills
and the collaboration skills required to contribute to the
organization, and to bring these new entrants to the
workforce up to speed without wasting managers time
BECAUSE
the organization needs even its most junior employees
to be able to manage their own time, take ownership
of their work, and contribute independently and
creatively.

3. Solutions at work
 Expanded intern program including a group collaborative project to
be presented at the end of the summer
 Formal on-boarding program for new hires with a curriculum to teach
working skills and collaboration
 Library of resources available to all new hires focusing on working skills
and collaboration
 Mentor program for new hires to coach recent students on working
skills and collaboration
 Expanded trial period for recent student hires to allow more time for
evaluation
 Program for new hires where they are immediately given a small
project to manage to completion
 Interview managers for what they are looking for in new hires & create
an online learning resource
 Use telepathy to read new hires' minds to determine if they have
needed collaboration skills
 Each new hire needs to create a 1-hour class for their co-workers to
teach a new skill (cooking, craft, etc)

4. Solutions at university
 Senior-year project-based job prep course focused on creating and
executing an idea in a group
 Mandatory senior-year job counseling sessions focused on working
skills and collaboration
 Entrepreneur Games - school contest where teams have to develop
ideas, create prototypes, and pitch for prizes
 Volunteer! awareness campaign to increase participation in student-
led volunteer groups
 Offer school support (operating money, supplies, space) to student-
led volunteer groups to encourage participation
 Create a community support program where students can earn credit
by volunteering in local schools to teach project-based learning
 Do away with point-based grading system in favor of pass/fail;
students graduate with a portfolio of work to show instead of GPA
 Do away with lecture-based system in favor of in-class project-based
learning
 Mandatory work experience during college
 Add a requirement for all students to take at least one lab course
 Require students to take an entrepreneur project class

5. Solutions in the dorm
 Party challenges - student need to work together to solve a puzzle in
order to unlock the beer
 Performance challenge - students enter a group talent show with
prizes; only groups of 3+ may perform
 School-sponsored program for community youth theater, run by
students for credit
 Each dorm/hall puts on a show each year
 Each dorm/hall has a budget of $100 to create something to make the
school better
 Each dorm/hall creates a 1-day class for their peers to teach a new skill
 Each dorm is required to form a dorm government and manage their
living space
 Each dorm has a prototyping lab right next door to the computer lab
 Each dorm is required to contribute hours to a community charity
group
 Each dorm creates a 2-minute video, which are screened for the
campus & prizes given
 A challenge truck that shows up at dorms on the weekends full of
materials for prototyping, with a new challenge each weekend

6. Solutions in high school
 Curriculum in collaboration in high school
 High school level hack-a-thons to teach creating prototypes
 Do away with high schools as they exist now and replace them with a
program to give young students creative work experience
 Make high school 3 years only and turn the senior year into a full-year
project
 Get rid of grades in high school and replace with pass/fail and a
portfolio of work
 Do away with lectures in high school and replace with projects
 High school creativity competitions - classes work together to create &
present new products
 Increase support for high school student-run theater programs to help
teach working skills
 Program of real student government in high schools, with actual input
into the school rules to teach working skills
 Program where college students are trained in project-based learning
and then teach high school students

7. Solutions outside school
 On a society scale, make class available to everyone to
teach working skills and collaboration
 On a society scale, work programs where teams of students are
brought into different workplaces to work and learn for a few
months
 On a society scale, government payment for low-income students
to take internships
 Society-wide health care not tied to jobs to increase overall level of
entrepreneurship
 On a society scale, offer a paid year of volunteer work to all
college grads