Education vs. Experience

When my grandfather is still alive he always say to me study hard so that you may come to america. Ive keep his advices until i set my right foot in america. Hope it will happen soon. "my child, if you become wise, i will be very happy. I will be proud when i hear you speaking word of wisdom."

That made me think of something Robert Kiyosaki came with. He was a sailor, pilot and salesman, as training to become businessman. His 'rich dad' told him to work to learn different skills. I wonder how this fits with what you've said: "It makes me think that, despite the variety of experiences they’ve had, that they won’t be around for very long. "

I think it depends. Some people want to work but cannot settle, some other job-jumpers have a purpose in mind or at least a guiding line. I remember that I went to flight school not necessarily to become a pilot, but as to know myself, go over fears and lead myself.

I agree that having longtime employees makes for a very stable core to a company. The problem with most companies is that they are very shortsighted and think they can get the job done cheaper by getting rid of the seasoned employee (because their salary is higher) and hire in younger workers with lower salaries. They forget or ignore what that experience means to the overall success of the company. Sadly, employees aren't loyal anymore because companies aren't loyal to them.

It's very refreshing to hear someone who wants employees around long term. You totally get it.

The battle and the balance between education and experience. Holds true now more than ever.
For us, employers, too. Finding the balance between our education (how to keep excellently performing employees) and experience ("Get the best people, and do not trust them."-- an all time classic by Mr. Trump).
And also battling with the need to create a work environment where the team can do their best.
A neverending process of education and experience.

Dear Mr. Trump, thank you for your posts.
Eszter from Hungary

Hi from summery and warm Finland!

This was very warmhearted article, thank your for it. This was the kind of story that makes you to think really how important is to study more and more. In addition I like studying very much nowadays. It gives me more self-confidence and my way of thinking is changed to the positive direction, I am more flexible, I am eager to take part to all kind of conversations, eager to take part to study occassions, conferenses, seminars etc., eager to meet new people, eager to help people to solve their problems etc. I am also more flexible and ready to make positive changes in my work too.

I read again and again these last sentences:

"The Trump Organization is a tight weave. That’s one reason we’re successful.

My advice is to get the best education you can and while getting experience to go along with it. Learning how the real world operates--and learning how to operate in it--will give you the double edge that is necessary for success".

I will remeber that.

Mr. Trump, So true. This is the difference between formal education and real world education. Long before there were colleges and universities, education still occurred. Book learning is good, but it must be applied. Don't waste the knowledge, put it to action.

In your selection of people, as a person who has a long string of different employment experiences, let me share a different perspective. Every person is a package of attributes. Those attributes only become strengths or weaknesses in their application. The key is to find the right fit in your organization. The person you described may not have serious deficits, but may just need variety and challenge.

I am a builder in a sense. I am an organizer. Give me a new program concept, and I will put it together, get it up and running, then, I'm ready for another project. I can do programs and presentations over and over, and each one is new to a different audience, and I excel. Give me a position that is fast paced, full of variety, mentally challenging, and I am happy. So why have I had so many different jobs? First, I am from the area near Elkhart County, employment opportunities are much more limited here than in your city. Some jobs I chose were offered as short term positions, and I accepted them knowing that I would be back on the market after the experience, and believing that I wanted challenge over security. Some were part-time, and I worked multiple jobs at the same time. Some I took to learn the job skills, and when I outgrew them, I chose to move on to something that challenged me, after I was sure that I had gone as far as I could go there - this is especially true in small family businesses. Some I had to leave in order to continue my formal education. Once, I had to leave for medical reasons, and once, I had to leave because my husband became disabled. Once, I left because the company closed its doors. The point is that almost every one appreciates the work I did. Many of them work collaboratively with me yet, or offered me other jobs. I make a great project manager. I have an entrepreneurial style. I have vision, and I made them money. I always tried to exceed expectations, and I deliver when given autonomy. Yet, put me in a rigid position, that offers no variety under an extremely controlling boss, or an unhealthy corporate culture, and I will not be there long.

While you may not give people like me an opportunity to surprise you, we can be real assets, but you also need people who are great followers to do the entry level jobs, like clerical assistants to fill in the gaps. Then there are managers. Your employee turnover rate speaks of your ability as a manager, your ability to hire great people, and your ability to place them in the right positions. Maybe in your organization, you are able to manage all the special projects, but you may be missing a real contributor. I think why someone left so many jobs is more important than why they held them.

I have low education with 3 years work for businessmen. But I believe that well education is one start-potential tool to get the right experience for achieving goal in life time. Experienced with a mortgage broker from Tacoma on conventional housing development and few development investors from South Korea in recent year of 2007 and 2008 who had been setting up two development projects of New International City with Free Economic Zone and Resort-Casino, has brought my heart in to real estate development job as well as business. But, because never educated before about that and the young wings to fly in, my eyes have not been able to get enough pictures for my brain to think about. That's why Education vs. Experience--the speech of Donald Trump--have been in depth of my mind that my brain always thinking about right now.

Even time and course of study are worth so much more than some affordabilities, but still I keep learning from what Mr. Donald Trump wrote in here. Every single word of yours is teaching me.
Every movements of yours on Youtube are guiding me. I learn from every publishings about you that I can get and I am gonna start it from now, from empty hands.

Thank you for your best example and for your great inspiration.

Education and experience must go hand and hand. Education taught us the basic things while in experience it is the time wherein we are going to use the things we have learnt from education. Although experience may be the best teacher education is also important especially today in order for us to have a job. Nowadays, lots of people have become jobless since recession has hit our country. Fiat, the Italian motor company, has been subject of a lot of coverage lately. Fiat is involved in the Chrysler bankruptcy; the two auto industry giants are considering a merger. During Chrysler's proceedings, the CEO flew in personally from Italy, and made sure he didn't need more in personal loans to get the deal moving. Italy has been hard hit along with many nations. This is not the first time Italy has been hit with something. Italy was hit with the Vesuvius eruption, that destroyed Pompeii many years ago. Fiat has been in business for over 100 years, and doesn't need a lot of credit repair on reputation. Read more on this site: http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/05/26/entire-town-bust/.

Education helps. In some areas it's a must have.

Most education will not give you ambition, nerves or moral, it will not make you a fighter. However it gives you knowledge, and sometimes knowledge is key.

So just walking about with a lot of knowledge won't make you a success. You have to throw yourself into action, the right action, and make things happen, even if you're stomach screams no. Forward is the way to go. That will give you ambition, nerves and moral. You have to build yourself in a way.

I do what I have to do in order to achieve my objectives, with common sence ofcourse. And if that includes having to get an education, so be it.

Now I'm going to get something to eat.

First of all i 'd like to say Happy birth day inadvance. You know why I remmemberd the day b/c my birth day is also on June 14.i have got a tertiry level of education fom an accredited university in my home country,Ethiopia.But still I am doing a totally unrelated job (here in USA )which basically needs only ones ability to communicate in English. Eventhough I believed and still believe that education is the means to achieving a successful life, I am yet to get the benefits of my educational experience on which i spent almost all my life. I don't understand why this is so?

by focusing on economics, as opposed to math or physics, at uni and in real, you also have an advantage over allmost all other studies at uni, as to being able to implement in real.
there is allmost no reality-aspect of university-math.
university-economics is born real.

DEAR DONALD TRUMP!
I studied math and physics intensively at uni,
i found out that this knowledge only makes you a teacher,
it can allmost nothing in real.
i tried to get back to real by studiing economics.
Donald Trump was, from "the art of the deal" and up to now, the best economy-teacher, by far and away.
But even the best did not help me get from math to real.

Not everyone has the luxury of determining how long they will be with an employer. The work-world has changed tremendously and the days of long-term employment, like retirement, are 20th century myths. So, don't be so quick to judge someone for not having a long history with a firm -- it's not always their choice and not always their fault.

Continued success!

I'm curious. What could you learn with your physicist uncle?
The education is really the best heritage we can receive.
bests

Good morning Mr. Trump,

With the many fine establishments in your portfolio, I am sure you have had some remarkable fine dining experiences. Have you ever had a delicious cake made from scratch? Well, I've made a few. I remember one was a extravagantly rich, moist, chocolatey and sweet. When you consider the ingredients, it was remarkable that combined they could make something so good: baking soda, powdered cocoa, sour milk, flour, eggs, salt, sugar. None of those things alone could make that awesome final product - have you ever tasted cocoa powder, baking soda, or sour mile? We as individuals, as businesses and organizations, as a country, and as the human race - the whole world, are like that.

If you only hire one type of personality, or people who are highly competitive, instead of complimentary, your final result will lack the full flavor, the perspective, the something special that will give it wholeness and balance. Sometimes, you need one flavor to stand out, but when you have the whole spice cupboard from which to choose, it gives you a much more precise response to serve with the particular things at the table.

The world needs both specialists and generalists. How they come by what they know and bring to the job isn't as important as the ability to apply it. I don't believe the biggest question is about whether that person will be around forever, because nothing in this world is. To me, I want to know that the person is reliable, trustworthy, loyal, and will they deliver what I expect in the moment. In other words, will I get my money's worth? You could hire the most dependable person in the world, and on his way to work, he might be crushed in an accident and disabled, and you would be in the same place as if you had hired the short term employee, who learns and grows quickly beyond the task at hand. The real key is to build on peoples strengths, to discover the things they value, and find a way to incorporate those things as incentives to keep them motivated.

Education + Experience = Success. I agree that education equips a person in a best way; and experience is equally essential because it aids to equip the person. In addition, education doesn't stop; either does experience. Both should continue growing. I am enrolled in TESOL program. I am learning a lot better and doing a lot better too, comparing to my learning in college. And it's because I am gaining experience at work as a teacher. While at college, I just studied, no working. Many things I studied I didn't understand. Now I have expereince from work, I can apply much better what I have learned and continue to apply what I am studying, also applying what I am studying at work. It works hand in hand for me. Right now, I am going to take a online writing course for my dream of writing children's books. And I have some feeling that I would do quite well at least. These days, I would think college education is essential, if no exceptions. So both education and expereince are needed, and need to be continued.

A good insightful article...

We thought of your father and how you loved him. Maybe, another insightful article or book could be an inside biography of your fathers notes and memoirs. To cherish his memory and his hand written notes on hard work and the early years.

He had a leg up on his construction company and his dream before you started to work with him. It would be very inspired to learn more from him and maybe written by you and the Trump Organization. An inside look into the early years of Fred C. Trump.

To gain a different perspective on how he started and how he built his construction company. And how he lived his life as a family man and business person. That is inspired education.

Anything in the works for an inside biography on your father?

Dear Mr. Trump

When society started shifting from an industrial to service economy in the early 80’s I made a decision to go after the experience in the fashion industry instead of getting the degree. I am so glad I opted out because it brought me to New York where I worked for various employers for short periods. This move gave me the experience and inside knowledge to become my own boss, something that will last me for a life time. If I had decided to go after that degree I would have missed out because the fashion-apparel industry changed rapidly since then. Due to the technological advances companies went global and shipped their manufacturing facilities overseas to cheap labor countries and crippled local creativity and industriousness. Now I can have it both ways free-lance and sell my services or do my own thing.

I don’t really need that degree but I decided to enroll at the Fashion Institute of Technology to get it any way—as a keep sake for my grand children…and so far my first semester was a great success. Because of my abundance of experience prospective employers deem me to be over qualified because they only want cheap and inexperienced workers. If I look at the world today run by highly educated people without common sense…….I am glad I used mine….experience vs. education worked for me….it kept me flexible, ready and able to handle the changes in society and it translates into getting the job done and winning the game.

So don’t count those prospective employees with an over abundance of ‘experience’ out…some of them are gearing up to follow in your footsteps as we speak…. (Smile)

Mr. Trump,

You speak words of wisdom very eloquently because you are not afraid of sharing your successes and failures. My grandfather started a business, worked extremely hard, and made a very successful life for himself. His words spoken to me that I still tell myself everyday is never work in a slothful manner. To me this means you work hard at all you do but you use your education to understand why it is important to the tasks need done. Then use your experience to execute the how with learnt lessons as well as failed tasks that have lead you to succeed. It is always important not to be afraid of failure because without failures people will never learn how to improve upon their skills, techniques, and wisdom.

Regards,
Kyle Vaughan
Norfolk, VA

Mr. Trump,

These words are exactly the same as my father said to me. He said always to learn hard and to get the best education I can and he will support me with everything and to learn from his experience in business and in everything. And I thing that learning from experience is very important thing in lives.

You are a strong man Mr. Trump, I like you..

I think education is important, but with some people it just does not fit with the way they learn. I am educated with an MBA, and work for one of the largest developers in the world. I have seen the one with no education that is pure brilliant and the one who has an MBA from a prestigious IVY league, and at the end of the day, it is not really a matter of education vs experience that propels an individual in career exellence but several key attributes.

Business Sucess= Luck (5%) + Passion (40%) + Motivation (40%) + Intelligence (5%)+ Personal Connections (5%)

Intelligence= Innate (IQ) or Education mostly Innate

The stark contrast between academia and the real world is highlighted by a fake commencement speech written by Neal Boortz. The speech discusses with brutal bluntness how extremely out of touch with reality many academics are. It can be found at:

http://boortz.com/more/commencement.html

The speech really is true of most of the liberal arts side of college. I hope the business schools are closer to reality. I can report that engineering schools have little use for such foolishness. At least they did in the late '70s.

An academic who has never spent a substantial amount of time working in the real world probably teaches his students a lot of false theories. Some government agencies are just degree mills. They're just upscale welfare communities. They pay their people mainly to take courses and accumulate credentials, which they use only as a ticket to get their next promotion. These organizations are just extensions of academia. They are not part of the real world.

There are some people who've spent their whole career in this sort of environment, who have very impressive looking resumes, but are blithering idiots! They've spent their whole career becoming highly proficient at making bad decisions! They've turned their organizations into real life re-enactments of Dilbert cartoons! Education is supposed to make people smarter, but sometimes it just makes people well versed in their foolishness!

Jeff Putman,
Professional Engineer
Dayton Ohio
je_freedom@usa.net

P.S. - I'm glad to see that Trump University is staffed entirely by people with extensive real world experience. No academic la-la land here! And T.U. didn't bother to seek accreditation. In real estate at least, the name Trump carries a LOT more weight than any credential or accreditation! If you want credentials, go to Harvard. If you want practical KNOWLEDGE, go to Trump!

I've learned one crucial thing over the years: Never take advice from someone without accomplishments but more importantly from someone without experience. Only having both allows you to give advice but we all must be careful to never ride on our lorals. Great post and this reminds me that I need to finally pick up the Trump University DVD/CD course I bought and go through it ASAP.

Thank You!
Bill Lyons
www.twitter.com/bill_lyons

Doesn't it seem like society is getting stupider as i watch TV it seems like every one says Me and Someone when the proper way is Someone and I,it drives me crazy where did they go to school and did they teach English there? Also it would be nice just once see someone younger on TV without hearing the word LIKE repeated a 100 times.They say LIKE i was there and Like we did this or that and LIKE it was great all my friends LIKE really loved it.
TV now is the worst for this it'll drive you crazy watching the stupid statements people use.
I heard on one show someone say MORE LATER at night i thought WHAT.
Another show a kid took a SAT test and looked at the results and said ARE THESE MY STISTISTICS.
Just wondering when it comes to education do they still teach English ? and why does TV promote people to talk so stupid?

Good evening Mr. Trump,

One more thought regarding your comments "One thing I’m wary of when I review prospective employees is an over abundance of ‘experience’ in the sense of having many jobs for short periods of time. It makes me think that, despite the variety of experiences they’ve had, that they won’t be around for very long."

Robert Kiyosaki recommends just that to gain the experience and education you need to be successful. The more experience someone brings to your organization, the more they have to draw on. The biggest key is to place them in a position that fits. I hope you use due diligence in addition to your general guideline before you write them off.

100% agree. Previously when I was studying, I thought certificates are everything. I keep obtain certificates by further my studies but actually I was wrong.

Goodday All

After reading through most of the blogs i have realised and concluded that both Education & Experience is important and plays a vital role to our success. However each one of us has a story to tell on what has worked for us and what hasnt.

* A question for Mr.Trump.. One may argue on the point that a person with an abundance of experience, that has worked in different environments for short period of time could have that certain attribute and gained a certian amount of self knowledge that could be an asset to assist the company on reaching its goals. "How would you review this kind of person if his applying for a position in your company, and would you hire them though they lack at not being around for a long period?

Im a 21 year old currently working in the IT field and doing part time studieng to become a project manager, and im seeking some advice from everyone that has worked or currently is in this field. I would also like to know from your experience on what are the most important skills that a project manager should acquire and have to be successful. Thank you