As part of my day job, I get the opportunity to meet with some of the brightest young people this fine state of mine has to offer. Some of them are brilliant analysts, some are spectacular project planners, some I’m convinced could write code that would achieve world peace, if only they had the time. But I’ve noticed something about the brilliant set of my peer group, something almost all of them have in common: they’re all exceptionally good at something practical.

That’s kind of a big deal. A brilliant analyst is brilliant because she sees things in numbers that no one else sees. A brilliant project planner is brilliant because she’s exceptionally good at making people adhere to a strict schedule. A brilliant developer is brilliant because her code makes computers do crazy awesome things. Almost every brilliant youth that I’ve had the exceptional pleasure of meeting has been brilliant because they do something brilliantly.

Almost all of them.

Now me, I’m a big-picture kind of guy. (Stop rolling your eyes.) I’m the kind of guy whose particular area of expertise is pushing people to think bigger than they’re already thinking. I say things like “what if” and “what else”. And at an agency like mine, that’s a very good skill to have. But it’s not a skill the agency is lacking – they expect everyone they hire to have that kind of ability. Fortunately for me, I also happen to know a lot about social media, which is what got me the job.

I think young people today are at a disadvantage. I think we’re encouraged throughout our lives to be big-picture thinkers, only to graduate and realize that you can’t put “I want to push the envelope” on your resume. If I interview a candidate and have to justify hiring her to my boss, the conversation can’t be about how willing she is to learn – it has to be about what she can do brilliantly.

That’s kind of sad, in a way. Obviously the agency has an interest in hiring people who do great work; but what about the people who push others to turn great work into legendary work? The people who can’t draw for the life of them, but who know great design when they see it? The ones who don’t know what a project plan is, but can intuitively root out and eliminate inefficiencies? The ones who don’t know how to code, but who have ideas about how to make web applications more awesome?

What do those people put on their resumes?

So I have two pieces of advice. One is for young people who have graduated recently (or who will graduate in the near future), and one is for companies looking to hire smart young people.

For Young People: You all need to find one practical thing that you’re really good at. If you can walk into an interview and say confidently, “I’m better than 90% of my peers at _______,” you’re off to a better start than 90% of your peers. I know a lot of you are graduating with Bachelor’s degrees in marketing and English and journalism and liberal arts (the “impractical sciences,” as I call them), so what I want you to do is find one of the skills you learned in your studies and become an expert in it. Become the most proficient person you know in that field. Then start writing your resume.

For Businesses: Look, young people are unknown quantities. They’re also the future of your business, so you have to get smarter about hiring them. What you should do is create environments where entry-level folk are encouraged to share their ideas without feeling the need to wow you with their undoubtedly inadequate experience. Don’t focus on what students have done in their previous internships, focus on what they’ve learned. Here’s what I’d do if I was looking for a new hire right now. I’d hold a job fair and instruct applicants to bring a handful of calling cards and a Big Idea, not a resume. Then I’d have employees sit down with each of the applicants and ask four non-standard questions:

• What are you passionate about?
• What do you do better than anyone else in this room?
• In the next twelve months, what new skills are you going to have that will make us want to give you a raise and a promotion?
• What’s your Big Idea?

And if the employee interviewing them likes their ideas, they’ll take their card. If not, they’ll give the same advice I gave above – go become an expert in something, and call us in six months.