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Saturday, February 24, 2018

Poll shows recent college grads think they're competent workers while employers say otherwise

By Legal Skills Prof

Inside Higher Ed is reporting on a new poll of 4,231 college graduates undertaken by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) that shows a substantial disconnect between students' perception of their workplace competencies and what their employers actually think. Here's an excerpt:

Overconfident Students, Dubious Employers

A new study identifies the gaps between graduates' views of their skills and the views of those who hire them.

 

College students may believe they’re ready for a job, but employers think otherwise.

 

At least, that’s according to data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which surveyed graduating college seniors and employers and found a significant difference in the groups' perceptions.

 

The association surveyed 4,213 graduating seniors and 201 employers on eight “competencies” that it considers necessary to be prepared to enter the workplace. This information comes from the association’s 2018 Job Outlook Survey.

 

For the most part, a high percentage of students indicated in almost every category they thought they were proficient. Employers disagreed.

 

“This can be problematic because it suggests that employers see skills gaps in key areas where college students don’t believe gaps exist,” a statement from the association reads.

 

Figure 1: Employer vs. student perception of proficiency in career readiness competencies, by percentage of respondents. On professionalism/work ethic, 42.5 percent of employers rated recent grads proficient, while 89.4 percent of students considered themselves proficient. On oral/written communications, 41.6 percent of employers rated recent grads proficient, while 79.4 percent of students considered themselves proficient. On critical thinking/problem solving, 55.8 percent of employers rated recent grads proficient, while 79.9 percent of students considered themselves proficient. On teamwork/collaboration, 77 percent of employers rated recent grads proficient, while 85.1 percent of students considered themselves proficient. On leadership, 33 percent of employers rated recent grads proficient, while 70.5 percent of students considered themselves proficient. On digital technology, 65.8 percent of employers rated recent grads proficient, while 59.9 percent of students considered themselves proficient. On career management, 17.3 percent of employers rated recent grads proficient, while 40.9 percent of students considered themselves proficient. On global/intercultural fluency, 20.7 percent of employers rated recent grads proficient, while 34.9 percent of students considered themselves proficient. Source: Job Outlook 2018 (N=201 employing organizations) and The Class of 2017 Student Survey Report (N=4,213 graduating seniors), National Association of Colleges and Employers. The percentages corresponding to “rated proficient” represent, among all responding employers, the percentage who, on a five-point scale, rated recent graduates “very” (4) or “extremely” (5) proficient in the respective competency. The percentages corresponding to “considered proficient” represent, among all graduating seniors from the Class of 2017, the percentage who, on a five-point scale, considered himself/herself either “very” (4) or “extremely” (5) proficient in the respective competency.

The biggest divide was around students’ professionalism and work ethic. Almost 90 percent of seniors thought they were competent in that area, but only about 43 percent of the employers agreed.

 

Nearly 80 percent of students also believed they were competent in oral and written communication and critical thinking, while only roughly 42 percent and 56 percent of employers, respectively, indicated that students were successful in those areas.

 

Per the survey, only in digital technology skills were employers more likely to feel that students were prepared versus the seniors themselves.

 

Almost 66 percent of employers rated students proficient in technology compared to 60 percent of the seniors.

. . . . 

 Continue reading here.

(jbl).

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_skills/2018/02/poll-shows-recent-college-grads-think-theyre-competent-workers-while-employers-say-otherwise.html

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