Spotlight for Career Services Professionals
Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals

The Class of 2016 has characterized itself as “career ready,” but are these graduates prepared in the areas that employers deem essential?

According to results of NACE’s Class of 2016 Student Survey, two-thirds of students “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that their college education had adequately prepared them to enter the work force and succeed in a professional work environment. (See Figure 1.)

And when results of the survey are compared to those of the Job Outlook 2016 Spring Update, the areas in which students felt they were best prepared do indeed align with the career readiness competencies that employers view as most vital.

NACE’s seven career readiness competencies represent the skills, experiences, and attributes that broadly prepare students for a successful transition into the work force.

When asked to rate their proficiency with each of the seven career readiness competencies, 90.3 percent of Class of 2016 bachelor’s degree graduates felt they were either “extremely proficient” or “very proficient” in professionalism/work ethic. Eighty-six percent indicated similar proficiency in teamwork/collaboration and critical thinking/problem solving, followed by 80 percent in oral/written communication. Still, it’s important to note that these are student perceptions of their proficiency. (See Figure 2.)

Meanwhile, employers that were asked to rate the career readiness competencies of college graduates in terms of “essential need” as part of NACE’s Job Outlook 2016 Spring Update survey ranked critical thinking/problem solving and professionalism/work ethic as most “essential.” Teamwork/collaboration and oral/written communications were next on the list. (See Figure 3.)

But do employers agree that students are, indeed, career ready in those essential competencies? NACE is currently conducting research to ascertain how employers view college job candidates at large, and expects to provide results later this fall.

NACE’s Class of 2016 Student Survey was conducted February 16 – April 30, 2016; more than 23,000 students at colleges and universities nationwide took part, including 5,600 graduating seniors. The survey report will be available in early fall.

The Job Outlook 2016 Spring Update survey was conducted from February 10 – March 22, 2016. The survey was sent to 944 NACE members; 144, or 15.3 percent, responded.

Figure 1: Perception of overall career readiness

“My college education has adequately prepared me to enter the work force and succeed in a professional work environment.”