The Global Employability Survey asked recruiters and leaders of international companies to describe their ideal employee and indicate which universities succeed in developing these ideal candidates. Five Dutch universities made it into the top-150, and Eindhoven University is the highest ranked Dutch university. That is great news.

However, the study raises the question about the viewpoint with which the business leaders described their ideal candidate. Many managers in business often have a hidden agenda when taking decisions: the importance of the company on one hand, but also their own interest on the other. For managers, hiring new high potentials in your business also means letting people in who might be after their jobs and want to land in the boss’s chair eventually. So maybe, the men and women at the top like to see docile, adaptive and respect-showing employees in their company. And maybe, that is the type of candidate TU/e can deliver best.

I once spoke with a professor about what he referred to as the 'managerial comfort zone as an obstacle to continuous learning’. The problem is that at some point in his or her career, someone is tired of working his way up and is satisfied with the reached level in the hierarchy of the company. From that position, new ideas and criticism from younger employees are often sent to the trash by this Senior Executive Strategy and Alignment Manager (or a similar business card filling title). Whereas those new colleagues might even have better knowledge about the topic at stake, since science has developed and the freshly graduated employees are bringing along state-of-the-art knowledge from university. I wonder if the Global Employability questionnaire is also answered from within this managerial comfort zone…

For technology companies, super intelligent students who are an expert in their field are of course invaluable. However, new hires with an entrepreneurial attitude who are not afraid to stand out and deal with sacred cows, are just as important for the innovative strength of a company. Gerard Philips did some great work in his factory on the production of light bulbs, but if his entrepreneurial brother Anton had failed to score a mega order of 50,000 bulbs for the Russian tsar, Philips may have never become the multinational that it is today and our city may have looked completely different. And although Steve Wozniak assembled the first Apple computer, the success of the company was and still is mainly attributed to the rebellious Steve Jobs.

What do you think? Is the TU/e especially good at delivering the new Gerard and Woz? Or is there also a potential Anton or Jobs leaving our campus with a degree? Let’s hope for both, and I personally think the Bachelor College can contribute to the development of both types of students. One thing is for sure: as students at Eindhoven University of Technology, we can enter the labor market full of confidence!