What Skills Do Students Think are Important for Jobs.

• Author: Griffin, Ken

INTRODUCTION

Employers believe it is important for their employees to have certain skills and behaviors. "Among the skills, attributes, and qualities employers prize most are communication skills, a strong work ethic, ability to work in a team, and initiative" (Employers Cite Qualities, 2009). The characteristics that future employees believe their employers will want, however, are less documented. This research will help gain insight into how students would answer that question. This paper looks at that question from the students' perspective - what do they think are the most important characteristics to employers?

Secondary data were gathered on what employers are actually looking for in job skills. The goal is to compare what students think to what employers want, and to see how similar the two are. Also examined were the different responses based on demographics. The major objectives were:

1. To find out what characteristics students think are most important to employers

2. To compare those characteristics with what employers tell us they want, as well as what secondary research suggests they desire.

THE SURVEY

A survey was developed and distributed electronically using Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com). There were a total 244 usable respondents. A statistical analysis and comparison of demographics was done. Respondents of the survey were 79%female and 21% male. Chart 1 shows that 43% of the respondents were in the 19-20 age group. The next largest age group was 21-23 with 26% followed by over 30 with16%. Over 98% of the participants think that it would be helpful in a job interview to know what skills the employer is looking for before interviewing for that job. These statistics show that the participants are college students that are interested in what skills their employers want and will be entering the workforce for fulltime employment.

FIGURE 1: DEMOGRAPHICS Age Group Number in Group Under 18 8 19-20 105 21-23 64 24-26 20 27-30 7 Over 30 39 Source: Survey Monkey Note: Table made from bar graph. Chart 2 shows that freshmen and seniors had the most responses, with 25% each, followed by juniors with 20% and 18% sophomores. Post graduate students made up 12% of the responses. Fifty eight per cent of the respondents were employed. However, "74% of undergraduates work... while going to school" (NPSAS, 2000), so they are likely not in a profession that utilizes the skills of their degree.

FIGURE 2: CLASSIFICATION Freshman 25% Sophomore 18% Junior 20% Senior 25% Post-Graduate 12% Source: Survey Monkey Note: Table made from pie chart. Health and Behavioral Science majors had the most responses, with 33% followed by Business majors with 17%. Chart 3 shows the responses by major.

FIGURE 3: MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY Major Number of majors Business 43 Education 32 Liberal Arts 32 Health Sciences 83 Fine Arts 18 Natural Sciences 39 Underclared 5 Source: Survey Monkey Note: Table made from bar graph. WHAT DO STUDENTS THINK ARE THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS?

Students were asked to rank which five characteristics (out of 15), they think are the most important to employers on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the most important and 5 the least important. The following list is in rank order from most important:

Figure 1 shows that of those surveyed, 70 (28.6% of overall sample) believed strong work ethic to be the most important characteristic. "A strong work ethic is a set of values based on commitment and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its...