27 The Different Perceptions Of Employers And Students

Students often base their job search strategy on their perceptions of the attributes they believe employers are seeking. These perceptions, however, may not coincide with those of employers, resulting in a mismatch of employee attributes sought and those offered. An understanding of employee attributes that are most highly valued by employers is of particular importance to graduates entering the job market. Employers typically have a large pool of graduates from which to make their selections and can use stringent employee attributes in evaluating job candidates.

Recently we surveyed 500 junior and senior business students to determine what they believe employers look for in job candidates for entry level positions and compared them with applicant skills employers actually seek. Employers surveyed included 347 contacts for college recruiting. They represented national firms in various industries seeking to fill positions in marketing and/or sales. The sample was drawn from contacts listed in the November 1987 issue of Business Week's CAREERS describing"1,000 Companies that Hire the Most College Grads for 1988." (Results of the employer survey were reported in the March 27, 1989 issue of Marketing News)

Questionnaires asked both sets of respondents to assess 35 employee attributes that have the potential of serving as hiring criteria. Each item on the survey was evaluated on a seven point, Likert type scale, where one was "extremely important" and seven was "not at all important." Generally, both students and employers viewed selective attributes pertaining to personal, entrepreneurial, and leadership characteristics and specialized skills to be more important than academic and social characteristics. There were, however, differences of opinion between the two groups about the importance of individual attributes.



Using the mean scores, 19 of the 35 employee attributes are ranked for students and employers in the table which accompanies this article. The top five attributes in the students ranking were: oral communication skills, enthusiasm /motivation, self confidence, ambition and entrepreneurship. On the other hand, employers' top five rankings were: enthusiasm/motivator, interpersonal skills, initiative, oral communication skills, and maturity.