Skills and Attributes Employers Want
Skills and Attributes Employers Want
At the Delaware Valley Career Planners conference yesterday, one of the sessions presented on what skill sets employers are looking for. The speaker analyzed 6 different employer based surveys and found there were 6 common skills/attributes employers are looking for – both in undergraduate and graduate students. I thought this was important to share.
6 reports analyzed:
1. NACE – National Association of Colleges and Employers – surveyed 260 employers
2. CEB – Corporate Executive Board – analysis of 23,000 managers across 40 businesses globally
3. AAC&U – Association of American Colleges and Universities – surveyed 318 employers
4. IFTF – Institute for the Future – Ten Most Important Work Skills in 2020
5. SHRM – Society for Human Resource Management Foundation – Evolution of Work and the Worker
6. World Economic Forum – The Future of Jobs – 371 Global companies representing more than 13 million employees across nine industry sectors
These skills/attributes were highlighted in all 6 reports:
1. Ethical judgment/integrity
2. Broad knowledge/intercultural understanding
3. Innovation and creativity
4. Superior communication
5. Critical thinking and problem solving
6. Ability to gather and analyze data
7. Teamwork and collaboration
He also spoke about 3 other skills that were touched upon in some form in all 6 reports. These include:
1. Observation – students are too easily distracted and lack social awareness
2. Mindset for change
3. Resilience – students need to have some grit and need to be persistent
The above information is an interesting reflection on work and the new college graduates. Many thanks to Dr. Fred DeMicco, who provided this information to me; he has spent an entire career in educating our next generations of leaders and is both a personal and professional friend.
~ David & Scott
The speaker was Michael D. True, Senior Associate for Talent Development & Marketing at Messiah College. He is also President of INTRUEITION, the parent company of InternQube.com. He founded Internship-Net and has been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, US News & World Report, Business Week and other national and regional newspapers and magazines regarding internships.
