Employers Questioning College Grad Readiness for Career Success

Posted on January 31, 2008 by Barbara Macaulay

In January, this survey of employers conducted on behalf of The Association of American Colleges and Universities was released and immediately gained some widespread attention. That’s because the findings showed many employers expressed genuine concern over the career-readiness of recent college grads entering the workforce.

Writing for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Paula Wasley probably had the most comprehensive report about the survey. I would share it here with you, but The Chronicle is subscription-based. Nevertheless, this link will take you to a brief intro to her item and an offer to subscribe. I found an equally good overview here, courtesy of The Daily Reveille, an online publication associated with Louisiana State University.

According to the survey, as J.J. Alcantara notes in writing for The Daily Reveille, The four qualities that were rated as the biggest problem in college graduates were critical thinking, writing, self-direction and global knowledge… About 69 percent said internships and community-based projects are the most effective way to ensure a students’ knowledge or skill in a particular industry.

First of all, I couldn’t agree more. Secondly, I know that the leading colleges and universities like the University of Massachusetts continue to develop more and better learning and testing systems to advance the student’s critical thinking, writing, and self-direction skills as well as their base of global knowledge and business-readiness via internships. Employers are right. More preparedness must continue to be one of our leading educational objectives. Students have a right to demand this of their higher education as well.

At the same time, though, these findings present a unique opportunity for me to highlight some aspects of distance learning that contribute to the development of these qualities in unique ways. The majority of our online learners here at UMassOnline, for example, are working professionals. And, most of these individuals are continuing their studies in their chosen career fields. This means they are already very familiar with workplace requirements and job demands.

Next, it is generally agreed that online learners must have superior skills at self-direction to succeed in their studies. Since most work and many support families while taking courses online, the ability to manage time and meet assignments is a prerequisite skill among online learners. And, in place of lectures and face-to-face learning time with teachers and peers, online students communicate with one another and with their professors online at all hours, across all distances, on all matters, through writing. Online students simply have to have an extreme comfort level communicating, in writing, via the keyboard, over a wide variety of assignments, project tasks, team issues, and course requirements.

Lastly, in my experience, one of the surest ways of expanding a student’s global knowledge and natural interest in world affairs is to expose him or her to fellow learners who bring knowledge of their own far-away world. In other words, we can work harder to educate our students about the life and times of people in India, China, Europe and elsewhere, and we should. But the process is accelerated and made significantly more vivid when students from these far reaches of the globe are joined together in a shared learning experience. To this point, in the online world, which knows no geographic limitations, our opportunity for this kind of ‘World Class’ education is tremendous.

Comments

3 Responses to “Employers Questioning College Grad Readiness for Career Success”

Get Into College! » Employers Questioning College Grad Readiness for Career Success on January 31st, 2008 3:30 pm

[…] The College Puzzle wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIn January, this survey of employers conducted on behalf of The Association of American Colleges and Universities was released and immediately gained some widespread attention. That’s because the findings showed many employers expressed … […]
Mark Gillard on February 11th, 2008 11:21 am

Barbara,

Excellent post! I see poor writing skills constantly in the workplace. You can really stand out from the crowd at work even with the most basic writing skills. One thing I love about online courses is that it forces you to write. Every online class has discussion forums where the instructor poses a question for the students to comment on. It’s really a fantastic way to practice your writing skills.
Online Classes Boost Writing Skills » UMassOnline Blog on February 26th, 2008 3:20 pm

[…] distance learner, I had several “amen” moments while reading Dr. Macaulay’s recent post “Employees questioning college grads readiness for career success.” According to a recent survey of employers, one of the top four qualities lacking in college […]