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Study finds colleges, employers
aren’t always on the same page
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We all hear that to be successful career-wise, college is a must.
But there’s new evidence suggesting a real disconnect between what bosses want in their employees and what schools are doing to prepare tomorrow’s job candidates.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers, in its fall journal, published data on the topic by researchers from Michigan State University.
"We wanted to know what employers look for in recent college grads and what colleges look for to see if they match up," says Smriti Shivpuri, a graduate student at Michigan State.
The college administrators surveyed, for example, rated ethics, integrity and knowledge as "very important" to develop in students. They also rated social responsibility and multicultural appreciation as desirable skills.
Employers gave the same ratings for ethics and integrity, but they rank leadership, perseverance, interpersonal skills, adaptability and life skills as "very important."
"The contrast is that employers did not really rank as important as the department heads things like multicultural appreciation or social responsibility," Shivpuri says. "And those differences may be due to the fact that colleges don’t necessarily cater to what employers want."
NACE, a non-profit organization, serves both employers and those at colleges who are guiding students into the job market.
Pattie Giordani, associate editor for NACE, says some efforts are under way to bridge the gaps.
Until recently, for example, she says colleges didn’t consider things such as interpersonal skills and adaptability as important to weave through the curriculum.
"There is some disparity, but I do think there’s less of a disconnect than in the past," Giordani says. "It takes time for colleges to give employers what they want to see."
Even so, this study and others suggest more work needs to be done to help prepare students for the work world. Giordani says "findings such as this spur more interest in the subject and will get our members talking to each other."
eresa M. McAleavy
The Record