Employers Needs Versus Student Skillsets

Authors

  • Susan E. Hahn University of Oklahoma
  • Jocelyn Pedersen University of Oklahoma

Keywords:

Media, education and instruction, training, e-learning, and information literacy

Abstract

This paper is a review of the skills employers seeks in new graduates and the skillsets new graduates have to offer. Employers report they want to hire people with solid soft skills, research, critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Stewart, Wall, Marciniec, 2016).  The question is:  Does the literature support recent graduates’ media education and training in research, critical thinking and problem-solving skills? 

 

This paper will examine literature to determine whether there is a disparity between employers’ needs and the abilities of recent graduates who have grown up in an e-learning environment, and if so, where those disparities exist. Synthesizing this information has broad implications for future research into how universities can best educate and prepare students for success after graduation. Certainly, today’s undergraduate students are computer and Internet savvy, can they apply critical thinking skills to the vast amount information available to determine reliable sources?  When using Google, can students identify a credible source, determine fake news from real, identify native advertising from editorial content, or learn to take researched information in, digest it, and apply it to real-world applications? This paper sets the stage for future research into the above questions and beyond. 

Author Biographies

Susan E. Hahn, University of Oklahoma

Associate Professor, University Libraries

Jocelyn Pedersen, University of Oklahoma

Lecturer, Price College of Busienss

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Published

2020-10-09

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2020)

Section

Articles

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