Top Ten Areas Fashion Graduates Need Help In

In this post, I want to share the results of a survey I carried out recently with you. We aimed to get an idea of what type of skills graduates lacked when entering the fashion workplace for the first time. This is part of our course validation exercise as we plan for the next round of course developments in our pipeline.

We set out to identify the top areas that recent graduates need to address so they can make that transition from the full-time 'education' place to full-time employment. I am careful not to say workplace there because I realise how much hard work many students do as they progress through university, college or art school. It doesn't seem right to imply education places aren't workplaces.

Survey respondents were not recent fashion graduates but experienced fashion professionals working either in fashion education, the industry or both. I chose this audience because I wanted feedback from professionals that could take an objective view from the outside.

There are two questions and their results that are pertinent to this post. These are the ones I want to share with you. The results are summarised below.

Which of the following skills do you feel graduates entering the workplace for the first time are lacking?

The results below illustrate the number of times a skill was mentioned amongst all respondents. For example, Commercial Awareness was mentioned by 70% of respondents.

From the list of skills below, which one do you think is the most important one for graduates to develop first?

Three Future Topics Identified for an Online Fashion Course

The survey has helped me identify some development needs for recent graduates. Since I am constantly on the lookout for new topics to add to our development plans, this survey has helped. We shall certainly explore commercial awareness, critical thinking, and effective communication skills as future course topics.

So using a survey is just one of how we can identify possible course topics. I have written about finding opportunities before in my post called 12 Places to Find Your Profitable Fashion Course Topic to Teach. It's well worth a read when you want to build up your understanding of where to mine golden topics to teach.

How Your Fashion Expertise Adds Value to All Topics

Now you might be asking yourself, what value does my expertise add to a generic course title such as critical thinking? After all, there are hundreds of courses available online that students could take on this subject.

Well, the answer is simple. Your fashion expertise adds three things that generic courses don't offer. These are:

1. Context - When you develop a course, your expertise adds fashion-related examples throughout, which helps gives the subject context. For example, our course on critical thinking can give concrete examples of situations where critical thinking can help in the fashion workplace and how students can immediately apply what they learn.
   
   
2. Focus - Your experience can bring laser-sharp focus to the fashion workplace issues that are relevant to the subject. This focus brings the learning alive, making it more accessible and relevant so that the student needs less effort to learn.
   
   Students don't have to reach for their own examples and try to establish the relevance of the generic examples that are not fashion related and figure out what it means to them in their world. Your expertise brings the subject under focus, and you can get to the heart of the issue faster and with clarity.
   
   
3. Value - You bring with you personal experiences which enrich the student's learning. Your personal anecdotes, stories, and vignettes of past encounters in your profession add enormous value. This can not be underestimated. It is so much more powerful to have a tutor that has experienced the world in an area that the student will experience. You can personalise the learning for them.

This means that you can take any topic that you have experience of and add context, focus, and value simply because of your own background in fashion. 

The Benefits to Fashion Course Creators

With this comes benefits for the student and benefits for you too, as the course creator. You'll enjoy the course creation process more because you're working on a topic you know inside out, and when you market your course, you can charge a premium.

Fashion specific courses carry a premium over generic courses for the following reasons:

• They are more effective because they give context.
• They are more focused, so they are more accessible, and students can learn more easily and faster.
• They add value because of your personal experience that is included in the course material.
• They tackle fashion world topics that the student relates to directly.
• They give immediate, specific, actionable learning in their fashion workplace.

As a result, the student is willing to pay a higher price.

Here's an example.

Imagine you are a Gerber pattern cutter working for a high street fashion brand, and you have fitting knowledge and a background in Menswear. You have decided to take the freelance route and change your lifestyle and build your own business. It sounds risky, but you have always wanted to do it, and now the time is right in your life. 

Now, what sounds more relevant to you when scanning for something suitable in Google?

"How to Start Your Own Business"

or

"How to Start Your Own Pattern Cutting Business"

When you look at the lesson descriptions, you see that the later one is particular to your field, created by an experienced pattern cutter who has run her own business and lectures part-time at university.

I'm betting if you were that imaginary pattern cutter, you'd opt for the specific course even if it held a premium price above the generic course business start-up course.

Getting Started Creating Your Own Online Course is Not Hard

We've made it easy to get started in creating your own online course.

The first step is to plan your course, and that's why we are currently offering you our short course, "How to PLAN Your Online Fashion Course Effectively".

To get started, simply click here buy the course and get immediate access. Students are waiting for your expertise!