Students may need to find other ways to attract job recruiters aside from their 4.0 GPAs. A recent study released by the Association of American Colleges and Universities said “multiple-choice tests and institutional assessments were judged ineffective by employers.” A majority of employers think less than half of college graduates have the sufficient set of skills and knowledge needed to advance in a job. While 56 percent of CEOs and presidents have confidence that college graduates will succeed in entry-level positions, 58 percent of CEOs and presidents believe only some or very few graduates have the skills to be promoted. Employers who were surveyed were asked to evaluate 12 qualities in college graduates and rate them by which ones they feel students are not prepared in. The qualities include teamwork, ethical judgment, intercultural skills, social responsibility, quantitative reasoning, oral communication, self-knowledge, adaptability, critical thinking, writing, self-direction and global knowledge. The four qualities that were rated as the biggest problem in college graduates were critical thinking, writing, self-direction and global knowledge. More than 40 percent of employers said graduates are not well prepared in global knowledge and self-direction. “[Critical thinking] is extremely important,” said Amanda Newsome, recruiter for Center Point Energy. “We’re looking for people who can not just read a book, but can understand beyond what they’re reading.” The study also found that employers do not find college transcripts to be very useful. Only 13 percent of employers find transcripts to be extremely useful. “No matter their position or the size of their company, employers indicate that the college transcript does not provide them much help in assessing college graduates’ potential for success,” the AACU study said. Rachel Patout, director of recruiting for Northwestern Financial Network of Louisiana, said she does not necessarily look at GPA because students with a medium GPA tend to have brighter personalities or are social in nature. “GPA, for us, is actually not too important,” said Violet Tremblay, course manager for the Princeton Review. “It will back up what we’re looking for, but it’s not the first thing we look at.” The largest issue in the study was what employers thought about multiple-choice tests of general content knowledge. A mere 7 percent of employers find multiple-choice tests to be very effective in judging students’ 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. “I don’t personally like multiple-choice tests because you can be tricked much easier,” said Anne Perrone, marketing director for the Princeton Review. Patout said she likes the balance between multiple-choice tests and tests that demonstrate analytical reasoning. Patout said it is sometimes good to have multiple-choice tests because, in the real world, students are often given choices between a definite number of answers. The AACU also asked employers how they would advise colleges on how to develop their methods for assessing students’ knowledge and skill-base. Faculty-evaluated internships were rated by 50 percent of employers to be the best way to determine students’ knowledge. Essay tests that measure problem solving and analytical thinking skills came second with 35 percent of employers having confidence that it is a good way to determine students’ knowledge. Multiple-choice tests, however, received only 5 percent approval from employers. “A lot of students think they can come in with an engineering degree and be automatically promoted, but it’s more about being involved in your company,” Newsome said. “Being an active partner and feeling like you can add value – if you show you can add value, then those are good ways to get promoted.”
—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]