Graduates' and employers' perceptions of entry-level employability skills needed by Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources graduates

Abstract

Entry level college graduates have not acquired the skills necessary for the workforce and, as such, are not prepared for the demands of industry careers (Peddle, 2000) The purpose of this study was to assess the employability skills of graduates of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) at the University of Missouri-Columbia and their immediate supervisors. Both graduates and supervisors perceived problem solving to be the employability skill most in need of curricular enhancement. In addition to problem solving and decision making, five other items were consistently ranked in category I by both graduates and supervisors. The eight consisted of "functioning well in stressful situations," "allocating time efficiently" "responding positively to constructive criticism," "adapting to situations of change," and "communicating ideas verbally to groups". Interestingly, "making effective business presentations," "making impromptu presentations," "writing reports," "writing internal business communications," and "writing external business communications" were negligible in terms of curriculum enhancement needs.