Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz

When the Year 13 students heard the news, the silence was deafening. The presenter at the large organisation's careers expo had just dropped a bombshell. High quality science graduates certainly were in short supply but the students had been told they should not bother applying for positions – without bringing their NCEA English results with them to the interview.

From the looks on students' faces, many were seeing their dreams disappear. The high level careers that most were hoping for demand high levels of literacy and analysis, with proven written and oral communication skills. But many students had made the mistake of dropping interest in English at Year 11.

Today, as a student you are told your career is in your hands and you can do anything you like. Secondary school students should tailor their courses to fit their dreams, but they must understand that their academic qualifications are only for entry to an occupation. Your career development beyond that is your responsibility. Very few people stay in their first occupation for more than five years and the skills needed for any advancement of your career are more likely to depend on your skills in literacy, mathematics, listening and your attitude.

School students know these are essential skills, but levels required at school are the base for anyone in the workforce. The communication skills needed for higher-level occupations go well beyond copying paragraphs from Wikipedia, buying an iPad and playing on Facebook.

It is not unusual for newcomers in a job to be given the task of collecting information and presenting a 50 page report on some new aspect of the business. That is what young graduates are for. This is not a burden: it is an apprenticeship to greater things. It is an opportunity to present yourself, develop your communication skills and let bosses know your true value.

Many make gains in their careers for a time solely on the basis of who they know, rather than what they know. The name for this has changed. It's now called networking and it does work, but anyone in a senior position who cannot understand the accounts or communicate accurately in their writing is soon found out.

Senior management can't sit back either. A number of companies offer speed reading courses to their senior management. Forget about the paperless society, the volume of paper that our leaders are expected to read, digest and analyse every weekend after a week's work is extremely demanding. Making decisions based on superficial browsing of 50 page reports including Powerpoint graphs over a coffee is a recipe for heart attacks and stomach ulcers.

The best advice for ongoing development of any career is to continually research and update your qualifications around your day job. Upgrading the qualifications alone is not enough. It is the development of your skills and ability to analyse and communicate ideas which are transferrable skills that will open up paths for your advancement or a new career at every level. Reading material is your choice and there are technical writing courses available. When looking for a new position, employment consultants are not interested in your history or qualifications beyond the last two years. Even your achievements of the last two years are measured by your current skills in sharing ideas and moving people.