NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE
REVIEW AND BEST PRACTICES SECTION IV
teamwork, and punctuality. Direct responses from employers at the meetings or via the survey included:
Recent high school and college graduates launching their careers in the latter half of 2020 found themselves entering the worst job market in generations as COVID-19 decimated entire sectors of the economy. With the businesses shuttered, job fairs canceled, and unemployment reaching a record high, these new workers faced stiffer competition than ever before. As workers set foot into the labor market, they may have asked: “Do I have what it takes to succeed in the American workforce?” In good job markets and bad ones, a person’s qualifications for employment are generally defined by a combination of their education, experiences, and competencies--the skills, knowledge, and abilities that are essential to success on the job. (Golodryga, 2020). NCTC conducted a preliminary study in the Fall 2019 semester in the form of a robust Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment, in compliance with the federal Carl D. Perkins V Grant guidelines. Six community stakeholder meetings, including local employers, workforce agencies,community-based organizations, P-12 and higher education, and parents of college students, were held in October (237 attendees, including 18 students) and two Career and Technical Education student focus groups (32 attendees) in November. NCTC developed and launched online community surveys (69 responses) and online student surveys (306 responses) in November 2019. Findings from these surveys indicated that more emphasis was needed on instructing and developing soft skills/employability skills with our college students.
During the literature review phase of the NCTC QEP project, the importance of the NCTC QEP topic was affirmed by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce study, Workplace Basics: The Competencies Employers Want, that showed that workers need more than just their educational credentials to qualify for jobs that pay well, keep those jobs, secure promotions, and boost their earnings on the job (Georgetown University Center, n.d.). The study also revealed the five most in-demand competencies across the labor market. These five include the following employability skills: communication, teamwork, sales and customer service, leadership and problem solving, and complex thinking (Georgetown University Center, n.d.). Each of these competencies is key to workers’ abilities to contribute in the workplace. These competencies are especially critical for workers in competitive job markets. Job posting data have shown that these general competencies are universal and timeless, while other specific competencies continually fall in and out of favor.
Stakeholders attending the meetings and participating in the community survey strongly emphasized that written and verbal communication were not of the quality needed to represent their company or industry. The lack of this skill was often detected during the job interview stage and resulted in some candidates not being hired. The ability to demonstrate and model quality communication, customer service, and professional work ethic is an essential component for success. The soft skill emphasis is not as robust as most NCTC Career and Technical Education students’ technical skills.
Additionally, the QEP Committee also reviewed J. Casner-Lotto and L. Barrington’s 2006 publication, “Are They Really Ready To Work? Employers’ Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce,” in which they presented a report card for two-year colleges based on a survey of over 400 employers across the United States that showed the urgent need for improved skills in communication, collaboration, critical thinking, work ethic, and social responsibility. This study remains
The top soft skills/employability skills needed for students according to the survey results from community stakeholders (primarily employers, workforce agencies, and community organization representatives participating in the survey) were communication, critical thinking, coachability, QEP REPORT LITERATURE REVIEW AND BEST PRACTICES
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