What People in the Work World Have to Say

Through interviews in workplaces, and through the Internet,(1) I targeted professionals and other individuals out in the "real world" to ask about the importance of information skills in today's work world. To these people I posed a basic question asking what information access and information management skills are critical to success in the workplace today.(2)

Here is a selection of the responses I received --

It's critical in today's world to know how to find and use information, to navigate on the Internet, to use search engines. If you don't have those skills, I think it would be very difficult to even be an entry level clerk anywhere. (1)

Information management is not about having the information, it's about knowing where to get it. (2)

There is no question that information skills are the key to success in today's work environment. Employees really need to know how to effectively use search engines, and how to frame focused search statements. (3)

Employees are expected to do more these days than in the past because there are so many more resources available. We all have Internet access at work. We are expected to do research on our own, and to come up with quality, relevant information that we can then use to problem-solve. When people talk about having good information access skills they aren't just talking theoretical! (4)

Finding information you need might seem simple enough, but there is a lot of noise to wade through to find the right signal. Finding the signal often means the difference between being successful on the job or not; it may mean getting your promotion or bonus, or not. (5)

Current and future employees need to know not only how to find information, but how to evaluate it and use it. (6)

In my situation, we are seeing just how important it is that employees know how to find and use the wealth of information at their disposal. Being literate when it comes to information use is now a key factor at work; it's required for entry level positions. (7)

At the organizational level, companies have to start extracting and managing vast amounts of information. Knowledge is a hot commodity. Companies -- but, actually, that means the employees -- have to know how to put knowledge to work. At my company, they are beginning to refer to what the employees know as the company's "knowledge assets." (8)

All employees now must be information literate. Using the Internet and finding information you need on your own is a way of doing business these days. (9)

Many businesses are now knowledge-driven. Even entry level employees have to know how to identify information problems and go about solving them. (10)

For organizations that are knowledge-based (and that's more than you think!), virtually all departments have a role in knowledge management. (11)

The biggest issue on the job is the ability to make sense of the massive amount of information. You need to be able to capture the information (search, identify, select), but processing it well and coming up with something you can use is really key. It becomes ever more necessary to be able to distinguish between information of value, and just raw data. (12)

I'm a director of a non-profit organization, and I expect my employees to be able to use search engines well to search the Web, and certainly, any employee would need to be comfortable with email. (13)

I'm an administrative assistant with three decades of work experience. From the company president on down to the entry level clerk, all must know how to use the Internet (and find what they're looking for!). The Information Age is upon us in the sense that to remain competitive, companies (that means the workers) must be able to use information resources to enhance the company's abilities to respond to change. In my opinion, information skills are just basic necessities these days. (14)

In the business world, the term applied to many employees now is "knowledge worker." Companies build on the abilities of their knowledge workers, who bring their abilities to learn to the job. It's not just a set of skills -- it's what people know (and can learn), beyond what they start out with, that's important. Overall, one of the most important things is that employees have the ability to take information from several data sources and make use of it in problem-solving. (15)

It's important to be familiar with the Internet.....not just to know how to point and click, but knowing how to search on specific topics, and evaluate what you find; those are the key skills. (16)

I'm an assistant in a Human Resources department of a fairly large company (500 employees). I would say that familiarity with the Internet, and especially knowing how to use search engines well, is a must for office and professional positions, including many formerly "blue collar" jobs. (17)

Unless you believe that ignorance is bliss, employees these days do need to know how to find and use information to be successful. It is really not so different from the past when we spent much of our time learning how to learn. The two areas overlap and support one another. Today's workers have to be active learners. (18)

The biggest change is that the world is now online. Those who are able to find and use quality information resources in a timely fashion are the ones who lead. (19)

In today's workplace, some key skills are: the ability to verify a source of information, the ability to synthesize information, and the ability to communicate what one has found out in a way that can be used by others. The workplace out there in today's "real world" is very demanding. It really all just feeds into the overall notion of being able to be a "lifelong learner." (20)

Being able to be a learner on the job is critical. We use "lifelong learning" as a pat buzzword, but knowing how to find and use information is essential in today's work world. (21)

On the job, one specific skill that's real important is the ability to find highly specialized information in generalized pools of data -- what's called data mining. (22)

Companies that will do well in the Information Age are those that are able to extract and use the information that employees know. Making information available on demand to the entire company is already critical. (23)

(1) Many of the responses came from "expert" sites such as Abuzz.com; Askme.com; exp.com; ExpertCentral.Com; KnowPost.com Some responses I gleaned from asking questions in forums or chatrooms where professionals share information with each other. Others come from the interviews I have done with individuals in various workplaces.

(2) The actual question was the following (or a slight variation on this)
Most workplaces have been hit by changes caused by the onslaught of "the Information Age." From the perspective of workplace realities, what information access and information management skills are critical to success in today's work world?

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