This study examined the skills employers perceive as essential for college graduates to succeed in today's economy. The researchers surveyed over 150 employers to understand their hiring preferences. The results showed employers value generic skills like creativity, communication, critical thinking, and teamwork over technical skills. Creativity was rated as the most important attribute. While some skills are innate, the study concluded creativity and other soft skills can be taught and developed in college coursework to better prepare graduates for the changing job market.

1. Jay E. Noel
Eivis Qenani
Agribusiness Department,
California Polytechnic State University,
San Luis Obispo, California

2. Introduction
 Changes in the nature of work and the are
transforming the kinds of knowledge, skills, and
attitudes needed for successful employment and work
performance
 So, what set of skills do today’s graduates need to be
successful in the tomorrow’s economy?

3. Goal of the Study:
 … to examine the emerging paradigm
of skills perceived as essential for the
success of graduates in the
knowledge economy

4. Findings from the study:
… shed light into the changing needs
of the economy regarding the skill set
required from future college
graduates

5. Human Capital, Skills and Education
A vast literature has shown the direct
impact of human capital and education on
economic output, growth, productivity and
progress of the society

6. Skill Definition
 Skills are “those generalizable attributes
of individuals that confer advantage in
the labor market”
 Skill is “an ability or proficiency at a task
that is normally acquired through
education, training and/or experience”

7. Skill Grouping
 Skills are grouped in two categories:
 Generic skills that include higher
cognitive skills and interpersonal skills
such as problem solving, creativity,
communication, etc.
 Technical skills refer to specific skills
needed in a particular occupation or job

8. Skills and Education
 If skills demanded in the workplace are identified, then
education should be able to design curricula to ensure that
students acquire the proper building blocks
 Boehlje et al. (2011) point out that development and
implementation of technology and new innovations are
becoming vitally critical to long-term success of the food and
agribusiness industry
 But, employers repeatedly report that many new graduates they
hire are not prepared to work and lack the necessary skills
 Question: what is the effectiveness of education system in
preparing graduates with the necessary core skills and
attributes???

9. Skills and Graduate Education
 Various studies (Litzenberg & Schneider, 1987;
Barkley, 1991; Barkley, Stock, & Sylvius, 1999;
Norwood & Henneberry, 2006) have explored the topic
of essential skills of agricultural graduates and their
relative value in the workplace
 The fast changing nature of the industry indicates a
need to revisit this subject to better align educational
outcomes with the needs of the job market

10. Data
 A Web-based survey was administered to employers
of agribusiness college graduates from December
2011- April 2012
 Employers’ database (n=1,050) was created by
combining various sources such as lists from Cal Poly
Agricultural Employers, Red Book Credit Services
(CA, FL, OR, WA) and California League of Food
Processors
 Two part survey: a) direct questions; b) discrete
choice experiment

11. Questionnaire
 Employers were asked to imagine the situation of hiring for an entry-
level position requiring an undergraduate degree and presented with
three hypothetical profiles of job candidates and were asked to select
the best candidate
 The hypothetical profiles differed by combining various levels of the
following skills:
 Critical Thinking
 Communication
 Teamwork
 Creativity
 Knowledge of Marketing
 Knowledge of Finance

12. Graduates’ Attributes and Attribute-Levels Used in Choice-
Based Conjoint Questions
Attributes Levels Definitions
Critical Thinking Skills Basic Elementary or Base Level
Good Average or Satisfactory Level
Advanced Specialist or High Quality Level
Communication Skills Basic Elementary or Base Level
Good Average or Satisfactory Level
Teamwork Skills Basic Elementary or Base Level
Good Average or Satisfactory Level
Creativity Yes Creative
No Not Creative
Knowledge of Marketing Basic Elementary or Base Knowledge
Good Average or Satisfactory Knowledge
Advanced Specialist or High Quality Knowledge
Knowledge of Finance Basic Elementary or Base Knowledge
Good Average or Satisfactory Knowledge
Advanced Specialist or High Quality Knowledge

13. Data
 A fractional factorial randomized design with main effects only that
optimized the D-efficiency was used to select 16 choice tasks for each
respondent
 A sample choice task from the survey is presented below:
Attributes Candidate Candidate Candidate
A B C
Critical Thinking Advanced Basic Good
Communication Basic Good Good
Teamwork Basic Good Basic
Creativity No No Yes
Knowledge of Advanced Basic Good
Marketing
Knowledge of Basic Advanced Good
Finance

14. Model and Estimation
 Data were analyzed within a random utility framework
values. Assuming that employer 𝑖 faces a choice among 𝐽
 Each candidate is described by some vector of choice attribute
alternatives in each of 𝐾 choice situations, he chooses alternative
𝑗 that will provide him with the highest utility
 Utility function of employer 𝑖 is given by:
𝑈 𝑖𝑖 = 𝛽𝛽 𝑖 𝑋 𝑖𝑖 + 𝜀 𝑖𝑖 (1)
𝑋 𝑖𝑖 - vector of non-stochastic independent variables (attributes of the
alternative 𝑗 )
𝛽 - vector of parameters measuring individual marginal utilities to be
𝜀 - the random element that includes all the unobservable factors
estimated
that
influence individual choices
 The utility of each alternative is the sum of the marginal utilities
of its attribute levels

15. Model and Estimation
 A Hierarchical Bayesian logit model was used to
estimate individual marginal utilities given only a few
choices by each individual
 Sawtooth Software – same software used by John
Hauser, a marketing professor at MIT, to oversee two
online conjoint studies commissioned (to study
preferences for smartphones and one for tablets) by
APPLE in the $2.5 billion suit against Samsung

16. Results
 A total of 159 completed surveys was further reduced
to 137 based on the respondents who answered all
choice-based conjoint questions
 Each respondent answered 16 customized choice sets
providing 2,192 choice tasks available for analysis
 Respondents constitute a cross-sectional
representation of employers in the food and fiber
industry in terms of company type, revenues and
number of employees

17. Description of Survey Respondents (n= 137)
Category Number Percentage
Company Type
Input Provider 3 2
Food Processor 11 8
Retailer and Wineries 14 10
Financial Institution 16 12
Wholesaler 4 3
Broker-Shipper-Packer 24 18
Service Provider 13 9
Farm 26 19
Durable Goods Manufacturer 8 6
Other (Non Profit, Government, Biotech, 18 12
Manufacturing, Consulting)
Company Revenue
Up to $1 million 24 18
$1 million - $50 million 62 45
$51 million - $100 million 10 7
$100 million - $300 million 16 12
More than $300 million 25 18
Company Size
Up to 10 employees 33 24
11-100 employees 46 34
101-500 employees 40 29
More than 500 employees 17 13
Role of Respondent in the Company
CEO 44 33
Manager/Supervisor 56 42
HR Administrator 10 6
Other, responsible of hiring decisions 27 20

18. Direct Questions AGB Stated
Students Expectation
My company is satisfied with the quality of AGB graduates 4.35 -
AGB graduates are able to make an immediate positive contribution to the workplace with 4.04 -
minimum supervision
AGB graduates have the ability to identify, formulate, and solve agribusiness problems 3.61 4.35
(problem solving/critical thinking)
AGB graduates have the ability to analyze and interpret data. (quantitative skills: regression 3.75 3.89
analysis, linear programming, statistical analysis, etc.)
AGB graduates have the ability to use techniques, and current agribusiness tools (spreadsheet 4.11 3.84
skills and capabilities)
AGB graduates demonstrate effective oral communication skills 4.15 4.29
AGB graduates demonstrate effective written communication skills 3.90 4.15
AGB graduates have the ability to work effectively in a team environment 4.33 4.34
AGB graduates demonstrate hands-on knowledge gained outside the classroom, via 4.32 3.46
internships, international studies abroad programs and other workplace related experiences
AGB graduates demonstrate professional integrity and ethical behavior 4.41 4.69
AGB graduates demonstrate understanding for diverse perspectives and backgrounds and 4.05 3.31
work effectively in generating solutions that incorporate them
Creativity - 4.08
Please indicate the degree you agree or disagree with the following statements, using a 5-point scale.
1 = Lowest; 2 = Low; 3 = Medium; 4 = High; 5 = Highest

19. . Direct Questions
AGB
Students
Stated
Expectation
AGB graduates are prepared well to solve a problem when:
a)The problem is well-defined and the steps needed to solve it are clearly 30%
specified
b) The problem is well-defined but the steps needed to solve it are not clearly 40%
specified
c) It is clear that there is a problem , but the problem is not well defined and 30%
there are no clear steps to solve it
AGB graduates demonstrate depth of knowledge, skill and perspective in the
specialized area of: Marketing 4.18 3.31
AGB graduates demonstrate depth of knowledge, skill and perspective in the
specialized area of: Finance 3.96 3.07
AGB graduates demonstrate depth of knowledge, skill and perspective in the
specialized area of: Accounting 3.80 3.09
AGB graduates demonstrate depth of knowledge, skill and perspective in the
specialized area of: Sales 4.09 3.19
How important to you as an employer are the problem-based and learn-by-doing
experiences during the college education of the student? 4.33*
As an employer, what kind of education do you believe is more valuable to students: 19%*
• A Specialized Education that is focused on specialty areas (such as marketing, finance, etc.)
• A Balanced Education that combines broad competencies and specialty areas 81%

20. Estimation Results
Marginal Utilities Using
Attributes Marginal Utilities Using the the Multinomial Logit
Hierarchical Bayesian Model Model and Standard
Deviations
Critical Thinking Skills
Basic -1.38854* -0.58784*(0.04572)
Good 0.35698* 0.16026*(0.04074)
Advanced 1.03156* 0.42758*(0.04106)
Communication Skills
Basic -1.22445* -0.53996*(0.03086)
Good 1.22445* 0.53996*(0.03086)
Teamwork Skills
Basic -0.85386* -0.38902*(0.02976)
Good 0.85386* -0.38902*(0.02976)
Creative Thinking
Yes 1.54899* 0.60826*(0.03126)
No -1.54899* -0.60826*(0.03126)
Knowledge of Marketing
Basic -0.40748* -0.15656*(0.04239)
Good 0.10359* 0.08495*(0.04133)
Advanced 0.30389* 0.07160*(0.04135)
Knowledge of Finance
Basic -0.26371* -0.10500*(0.04195)
Good 0.15611* 0.09345*(0.04109)
Advanced 0.10760** 0.01155*(0.04121)
Log-likelihood for this model = -1580.18
Consistent Akaike Info Criterion = 3237.39
Chi Square Statistic= 1053.91
Note: Standard errors are in parentheses. * and ** denote statistically significant variables at 5% and 1% levels of respectively.

21. Importance Scores for Attributes
Attributes of College Attribute Rank of
Graduates Importance Scores Importance
(0 - 100%)
Creativity 29% 1
Communication 23% 2
Skills
Critical Thinking 22% 3
Skills
Teamwork Skills 16% 4
Knowledge of 7% 5
Marketing
Knowledge of 4% 6
Finance

22. Findings
 Creativity is the most important attribute with the
strongest impact on employer’s choices
 Communication skills and Critical Thinking skills
compete closely as the second and third most valued
attributes by employers
 Ability to work in Teams skills came across as the next
important attribute for employers
 Specialized Technical knowledge in marketing and
finance were ranked relatively low by employers

23. Findings
 Labor market places a higher value on generic skills, like
creativity, interpersonal communication, critical thinking,
and ability to work in teams compared to technical skills
 As production becomes increasingly globalized, employees
must have skills that allow them to adapt, be willing to
engage in innovation and redeployment
 More general abilities and worker flexibility are required
and must be nurtured as they are critical given the dynamic
nature of the labor market and ongoing technological
change

24. Choice Modeling
Attributes Candidate A Candidate B Candidate C
Critical Thinking Basic Good Basic
Communication Good Good Good
Team Work Good Basic Good
Creativity No Yes Yes
Marketing Good Basic Basic
Finance Good Basic Basic
Preference Share
(Hierarchical Bayes) 24% 40% 36%
Preference Share
(Aggregate Logit) 21% 42% 36%

25. Conclusions
 Results of the study indicate that there has been a shift
in the needs for skills in the labor market
 New skills are emerging as important to the knowledge
economy
 Employers value most workers who can think
creatively. The quest for creative ideas and solutions in
the today’s economy is becoming more and more
pervasive
 Although it is a talent-oriented process, yet, creativity
can be taught and learned in schools (Livingston,
2010)

26. Creativity
 Teaching Creativity
 Teaching Creatively

27. Thank you!!!
Questions?

28. Creativity
 … involves thinking that aims at
producing ideas or products that are
relatively novel and can add value to
society
 Creativity requires some specific
knowledge, but more importantly it
can be developed and promoted!!!