OVERVIEW
Shawn Vanderziel (Executive Director) of the National Association of Colleges and Employers predicts the trend for career readiness to assist students who will be graduating this year. According to NACE research, the top three characteristics that employers look for on a candidate’s resume are problem-solving skills, analytical skills, and the ability to work in a team (See Figure 1).
Problem-solving abilities are highly valued by employers. Every day, businesses and teams face problems that require careful thought and expertise from staff members. Graduating students can learn these skills through their current academic training and employment training while still in school, preparing them for the transition after college.
Companies today handle billions of data points, gigabytes, and bits of information on a daily basis. Too much data can be a huge issue for businesses to manage. Employers expect the graduating class to be able to apply analytical skills to solve those problems. Students must be able to work with a variety of datasets, big data, and data categories that are presented to them. Graduating students must be able to basic math skills, logical thinking and basic statistics, as well as know how to use many different data analytics software programs like Excel, Google Sheets and SAP to help their employers solve big data problems.
The graduating class anticipates working as a team, meeting new people face to face, and interacting with clients and stakeholders. Developing interpersonal skills is critical for graduating students. Working as a team teaches students leadership skills and the ability to solve problems with others rather than just themselves.
You can read the full report here, Future Forward: Key Issues and Recommendations for 2022. Continue reading about talent acquisition trends and recommendations for success in 2022 at https://www.naceweb.org.
