Ask a young person what employers want and you will likely hear about credentials: a diploma, a degree, a good GPA. Those matter. But Butler County employers are asking for something more.

Using JobsEQ, a real-time labor market tool from Chmura Economics & Analytics, I reviewed 14,371 online job postings in Butler County from the past three years. I narrowed the search to entry-level jobs: positions requiring two years of experience or less and a high school diploma, an associate degree or a bachelor's degree. In other words, the very jobs our young people are applying for right now.

The most requested skill was communication. About six in 10 of those postings asked for strong verbal and written communication skills. Roughly one in three asked for a cooperative team player and more than one in four asked for customer service skills. Rounding out the top 10: organization, attention to detail, problem solving, self-motivation, adaptability, building and maintaining relationships and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

Notice what those skills have in common. Almost none of them are learned by memorizing, but by doing — by example and usually alongside other people.

Book smarts are still essential. But today's workplace also asks young people to be socially smart: creatively smart and practically smart. It is one thing to learn something. It is another to be able to do it, to do it with others and to keep doing it when the plan changes. Employers want people who are teachable, coachable, humble and respectful. They want people who are not only hirable but retainable. Employee attrition is extremely expensive. Employers want new hires who want to come, learn, contribute and grow with the organization.

Here is the honest challenge: Many habits and emerging cultural norms of modern life run contrary to the skills and demeanors employers value most.

So much of our young people's communication now happens through a screen, in short bursts. That is not a character flaw. It is the world we built for them. But conversation and teamwork are skills, and skills grow with practice. Our young people are fully capable, they simply need more chances to curate and use those skill.

That is where all of us — as parents, educators, employers and community members — come in.

I know this seems like a “big ask,” but can we protect time for dinner-table conversation or together time and encourage diligence and work ethic in a first part-time job? Few teachers are as effective as a line of retail and fast-food customers. Schools and colleges can build in presentations, group projects and real-world learning. Employers can offer internships, job shadows and mentoring, along with a little patience. Each of these efforts also helps keep our talent here in Butler County.

Still, I have come to believe the deepest issue is not skills at all. It is purpose.

Too often we present the future to young people as an obligation: “Well, you're going to have to go get a job sometime, you know.” That frames work as a means to an end and fosters the idea that work is “just something you have got to do, even though you are probably not going to like it.” That’s not inspiring at all.

What if we asked a different question? Not “What do you want to be?” or “Where are you going to work?” but instead “What were you put here to do?”

Some of our young people are here to serve while others are here to solve, secure, save or to strengthen. Some are simply here to sow goodness and effort in whatever field they choose. When a student sees how communication, teamwork or problem solving connects to the nurse they want to become, the business they hope to build or the neighbors they want to help, those skills stop being items on a checklist. They become tools for a calling.

Young people also do better when they have a goal and know there is more than one road to reach it: a four-year degree, an associate degree, an apprenticeship, military service or an entry-level job that grows into a career. The skills at the top of that list travel down each of those roads.

People with purpose persist. They are resilient when things get hard, hopeful about what lies ahead and generous contributors to their communities. That is exactly the kind of person every employer in this county is looking for and it is exactly the kind of person I see in so many of the students I work with every day.

So let's help them connect the dots between the skills employers need, the needs of our community and the purpose each of them carries. If we do, Butler County will not have to search for its next generation of workers. They will already be here, ready to serve.

John Rindy, is assistant vice president for Career and Academic Progress at Slippery Rock University, where he also directs the First National Bank Office of Career Education and Development at SRU.

John Rindy, SRU assistant vice president for Career and Academic Progress