Finding that first job out of college is always difficult, but with the current state of the economy, recent graduates may be asking what exactly is needed in order to get that 9-to-5 position.
This question at hand, four professors at the University of Central Arkansas College of Business set to work, contacting six Arkansas firms to find out the most basic requirements for employment.
Their two-year study proved successful. Those four individuals Mark E. McMurtrey, James P. Downey, Steven M. Zeltmann and William H. Friedmann published their findings in the new issue of The Journal of Information Technology Education.
The article, titled "Critical Skill Sets of Entry-Level IT Professionals: An Empirical Examination of Perceptions From Field Personnel," details skills any recent business graduate should have before going out on that job search.
The six businesses questioned were Alltel, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Acxiom, DataTronics, Dillard's and the Information Technology department at UCA. McMurtrey stressed that they polled employees in the field of information technology, not recruiters.
"What we found was that the hard technical skills are still very important, like the programming, communications and networking skills," McMurtrey said.
Downey agreed, pointing out such areas as web design and database management.
What Downey and McMurtrey found surprising about the research were the other skills the various businesses found necessary.
"In the computer world, you always think of programming, but you come to find out that softer skills, such as good communication ... are also very important to potential employers. Things like problem solving and critical thinking and team skills," McMurtrey said.
These people skills apply to any field, Downey said.
"Everybody said that the most important skills were the non-technical ones," he said. "They included the ability of critical thinking, verbal and written communications, and the ability to work in teams. And other studies have found similar things about the non-technical, that no matter what field they apply."
The article's writers feel the skills also apply to the soon-to-come Hewlett-Packard technical support center.
"All of those things we think that HP is going to want," he said.
Both feel that their students will be well-versed to this challenge.
"UCA is especially well-known to turn out graduates like that," McMurtrey said. "It'll be good for HP, who will be hiring."
The common misconception, he said, is that computer-oriented people must be primarily left-brained, meaning to have more analytical versus intuitive skills.
"Employers still want people with speaking and writing skills. Not only do we need left-brained people, we need right-brained too," he said.
Such skills are even more important with HP's arrival, as the center is not going to be a manufacturing plant.
"We definitely want to turn out the kind of people that HP wants. They need more than just programmers so to speak," McMurtrey said.
"There may be shifting from such an emphasis on technical skills such as programming to the importance of analysis skills and problem-solving skills, communication skills, and even reading and writing."
However, Downey stressed that these businesses still require an amount of technical knowledge.
"In last few years, we've required them to take much more technical classes. Because of that, employers want our students," he said.
Good prospects for businesses will have both types of skills, they said.
"You've got to be able to communicate with end users, clients and customers in order to solve business problems," McMurtrey said. "You've got to have good critical thinking, as well as analysis."
With this knowledge, the professors said their curriculum for classes have changed.
"We actually got another article accepted where, given those skills we learned about, how does it affect our curriculum," Downey said. "We discovered our curriculum had to change. We had to beef up our web design and added an advanced web design class. We added more languages. We now have Java, COBOL and Visual Basic and had to add those languages. And we emphasize more the non-technical skills in our classes. We try to included team things in our classes. In my database class I have students form teams creating and implementing a new database."
He did add that the change has benefited graduates, who have increasingly been hired at area firms.
As for whether or not the students will fit HP's need, Downey said he didn't know, since they were unable to question those employees.
"Frankly, we'll see when HP gets here and find out, 'What do you really want? Is it something we really offer?'"
McMurtney said it does offer a positive outlook, especially with people's fear of jobs being outsourced to other countries.
"As far as what you hear commonly, if we can make sure our students are prepared with these kind of skills, it lessens our possibility of being outsourced," he said. "It will better prepare our students and less of a chance that their job will be outsourced and they'll be able to get a job here and a company won't have to go looking overseas."
He believes that many students will benefit from HP's arrival, not just business graduates.
"UCA is very strong in that area, including English and writing," he said.
Anyone interested in reading the article may visit www.jite.org, where it is available in a PDF format.
(Staff writer Jerrica Ryan can be reached by e-mail at jerrica.ryan@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1266. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit.)
