The disrupted lifecycle of the business undergraduate

If this week’s news is anything to go by, some of the US’s leading business schools have added cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to their curriculum. Institutions, including the Stanford Graduate School of Business, are all enhancing their blockchain and cryptocurrency classes with up-to-date topics in a bid to satisfy the desires of both students and employers.

If today’s students are technologically adept enough to understand cryptocurrency, then it’s safe to assume they demand an advanced level of technology in their learning institution and from any potential employer. Technology is fundamentally altering the way that these bright young people are recruited into their business schools, and then subsequently find employment beyond those gates.

Let’s focus on finding employment. In years gone by, recruitment by employers was very formal and structured – and those doing the recruiting were traditional firms including VC’s, consulting firms, banks and large corporations who would essentially conduct a ‘milk round’ with on-campus presentations, lunches, interviews and ‘getting-to-know’ sessions. CV’s would be formally submitted by the school’s careers department and offers extended. However, with digitisation transforming every industry, this has now significantly changed. Technological disruption is not only altering the format of how these organisations recruit and how students approach them, but what type of organisations are doing the recruiting.

Increasingly, the choice is no longer whether to join an investment bank or a venture capital firm, but whether or not to create your own start-up organisation – does FinTech win over investment banking, or MedTech win over a large pharma employer? And those organisations that have start-up mentalities themselves, who have also been disrupted, have turned recruitment on its head too. They prefer setting the challenge of a hack-a-thon to conducting an interview or delivering presentations that encompass the social elements of their work – the fancy office space or footage of recent offsite events. Add in a healthy mix of social media – especially LinkedIn that has become the de-facto place to house your professional credentials, as well as online CV builders and the game has fundamentally changed forever. It is reported that around a quarter of students currently gain employment via a non-traditional method, and that figure is certain to climb.

It has never been more relevant to deliver a business education built on EdTech – the Digital Campus, and have digital resources delivered to our chosen device. Not to do so would be at odds with the fundamental reason for being – to deliver a real-world business education to undergraduates and ensure they are equipped for the future.

Whether that future is cryptocurrency is purely down to them!

Would you like to learn more about the myday Digital Campus?