EMPLOYERS' PERCEPTIONS

OF EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS NEEDED

BY RECENT HIGH-SCHOOL GRADUATES

A dissertation submitted to Edgewood College Doctor of Education degree program in

Educational Leadership in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree,

Doctor of Education

Patricia S. Hernandez

Degree awarded: May 2021

Approved by:

Sara Jimenez Soffa, Ph.D. Bette Lang, Ph.D.

Director, Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership Dissertation Advisor
Associate Dean and Associate Professor
School of Liberal Arts, Education, and the Sciences

Julie C. Luecke, Ph.D.

Associate Dean, Division of Education
School of Liberal Arts, Education, and the Sciences
 EMPLOYERS' PERCEPTIONS

OF EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS NEEDED

BY RECENT HIGH-SCHOOL GRADUATES

by Patricia S. Hernandez

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Education

at

Edgewood College

2021
© Copyright 2021 by Patricia S. Hernandez
 3

Abstract

In 2020, businesses and industries in a county in the Midwest reported that high-school

graduates did not have the skills employers were looking for in the workplace; therefore, they

were not prepared for the industry. This quantitative study's primary purpose was to explore

hiring agents' perceptions about the importance of employability skills identified in the

Employability Skills Framework ([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012) in a county in the

Midwest. A secondary purpose was to find whether the identified skills were differentiated

among the three employability sectors of manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care.

This study aimed to share what employers reported so that K-12 educators in the region could

embed these essential skills into their curricula, have students graduate career-ready, and,

therefore, build a more robust workforce and economy. In this study, employability skills are

defined as the general skills and knowledge necessary for success in the labor market at all

employment levels and in all sectors. The study concluded that hiring agents perceived personal

qualities, interpersonal skills, and critical-thinking skills to be the most important employability

skills for recent high-school graduates to possess. Eight of the nine employability skills from the

ESF were rated important to very important, except technology-use skills, which were perceived

as moderately important. The study also provides K-12 staff and administrators

recommendations regarding the employability skills employers deem most important for their

industry sectors. This study adds to the literature and provides insight into the need for

educators and employers to partner together to ensure that high-school students graduate with

the skills desired by employers.

 4

Acknowledgments

This study was driven by my passion for career readiness, youth, and economic

development, ensuring that students graduate high school with the employability skills

employers want and, thus, career-ready. I am incredibly thankful for the support and guidance

of my advisor, Dr. Bette Lang. Dr. Lang's feedback, encouragement, and optimism kept me on

track and moving forward. In addition, your honest, thoughtful, and critical analysis of my work

ensured a finished dissertation. I would also like to thank Dr. Henry St. Maurice and Dr.

Katherine Flammang, two other committee members, for their feedback and critical analysis.

Dr. St. Maurice analyzed my work with an evaluative eye and made significant edits into

shaping my dissertation. You were instrumental in helping me to write like a researcher. One

word is better than two has been etched into my memory. Dr. Flammang offered me the biggest

encouragement when I doubted my abilities. She helped me find my inner strength. Finally, I

would like to thank Dr. Ting-Lan Ma for setting up and helping me understand and interpret my

survey data. I found the results to be difficult at times to understand. I am so thankful that you

were available to assist.

I am so grateful for the business and community leaders, chamber of commerce, and my

school district colleagues. I am blessed to have worked with so many people who advocate for

career readiness and youth and economic development. Thank you for helping me create

opportunities to equip every student going through our schools with the resources and education

they need to choose the best post-secondary paths for themselves.

Thank you, Dr. Kolleen Onsurd and Dr. Karen Schulte, for advising me to get my

doctoral degree. You were instrumental in my Edgewood application. Getting this degree was

not in my original plans, and I am so thankful that I listened to you and pursued it. Both of you
 5

taught me that it was not only possible but that I was capable of it. Thank you for all you do to

help students and staff realize their potential.

Thank you, Alyssa, Aaron, and Aiden, for encouraging and believing in me when I

needed it most. I am so blessed to have such supportive and positive children. Thank you for

always being there. I know each of you has a very bright future with many opportunities for joy

and success. Alyssa, thank you for cheering me on and believing in me. Your kind words of

encouragement were just what I needed. Aaron, thank you for believing in me, telling me that

you are proud of me and that I motivate you. Aiden, thank you for your patience and

understanding. I hope you have realized that success (in anything) takes hard work,

perseverance, and sacrifice. And, just for you, I will try and never use the "D" (dissertation)

word again in the house.

Alfonso, we did it! This completed dissertation could not have been done without your

support. Thank you for understanding when I would say I needed to work late, go to the office,

and write. I love that we accomplished this together. You have been so supportive, I can only

hope if roles were reversed that I would have been as supportive as you have been. You are

everything to me. I love you.

To all of my friends and family, your words of encouragement motivated me to press

forward even when I did not feel like I wanted to. Your emails, texts, and reassuring words of

encouragement helped me get back on my feet again and continue to write. Thank you for your

invaluable support.
 6

Dedication

In memory of my father, John Lawson: My father graduated 8th grade and went into the

workforce after that. My father was an entrepreneur at heart. He owned and operated Lawson

Masonry and worked as a mason his entire adult life. He also owned and operated Papa John's

Restaurant in Hertel, WI, for 19 years. He taught me the value of a hard-earned dollar, to

believe in myself, and to go after my goals. Thank you for teaching me the importance of a

strong work ethic. I learned to finish what I started, and this dissertation is proof.

In memory of my mother, Marjorie Lawson: My mother graduated high school at the

age of 17. She then married my father, and together they had ten children. She was a stay-at-

home mom until they purchased Papa John’s Restaurant. From there, she was at the restaurant

all day, every day, working as the chief financial officer, chief executive officer, human

resources, hostess, server, cook, bookkeeper, and more. My mother lived to serve. She served

her family, friends, and customers of Papa John's Restaurant selflessly. Thank you for believing

in me and teaching me the importance of serving others.

To my children, Alyssa, Aaron, and Aiden. I hope my journey has taught you that

anything is possible as long as you continue to push forward, believe in yourself, and work

toward your goals. Thank you for being my champions. Your unconditional love and support

mean the world to me.

 7

Contents

Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................3
Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................................................4
Dedication ......................................................................................................................................6
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................9
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................10
Chapter 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................11
Employability Skills ................................................................................................................ 12
Problem Statement ................................................................................................................... 16
Purpose Statement & Research Questions ............................................................................... 21
Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................ 23
Significance of the Study ......................................................................................................... 25
Summary .................................................................................................................................. 26
Chapter 2. Literature Review .......................................................................................................27
Historical Background ............................................................................................................. 27
Career Clusters ......................................................................................................................... 33
Career Ready Practices ............................................................................................................ 35
Educator Effectiveness ............................................................................................................ 36
National Career Clusters Framework ...................................................................................... 36
Industry Competency Models .................................................................................................. 37
Employability Skills Framework ............................................................................................. 39
Workplace Skills ...................................................................................................................... 45
Applied Knowledge ................................................................................................................. 51
Talent Shortage ........................................................................................................................ 54
Summary .................................................................................................................................. 56
Chapter 3. Method ........................................................................................................................58
Sampling & Data Sources ........................................................................................................ 59
Measures .................................................................................................................................. 61
Procedures ................................................................................................................................ 67
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 70
Reliability & Validity .............................................................................................................. 72
 8

Summary .................................................................................................................................. 73
Chapter 4. Results.........................................................................................................................75
Quantitative.............................................................................................................................. 79
Qualitative................................................................................................................................ 93
Summary .................................................................................................................................. 95
Chapter 5. Conclusions & Recommendations ..............................................................................96
Discussion & Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 97
Implications ........................................................................................................................... 103
Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 107
Recommendations for Future Studies .................................................................................... 109
Limitations ............................................................................................................................. 110
Summary ................................................................................................................................ 111
References ..................................................................................................................................113
Appendix A. Instrument .............................................................................................................123
Appendix B. Career-Ready Practices .........................................................................................128
Appendix C. Employability-Skills Framework ..........................................................................131
Appendix D. Invitations & Consents .........................................................................................133
Appendix E. Approvals ..............................................................................................................136
Appendix F. McGarry Employability-Skills Survey ..................................................................138
Appendix G. Data & Analyses ...................................................................................................141
 9

List of Figures

Figure 1. Employability Skills Framework ..................................................................................24

Figure 2. Building-Blocks Competency Model ...........................................................................37

 10

List of Tables

Table 1. Target Population ...........................................................................................................59

Table 2. Employability Skill Set Categories ................................................................................64

Table 3. Scale Ranges ..................................................................................................................65

Table 4. Participants by Sector .....................................................................................................77

Table 5. Sectors Hiring Recent High-School Graduates ..............................................................77

Table 6. Decisions to Hire Applicants..........................................................................................78

Table 7. Agents’ Titles .................................................................................................................79

Table 8. Agents’ Ratings of Skill Sets .........................................................................................80

Table 9. Skill Sets Ranked by Means ...........................................................................................80

Table 10. Results for Applied Academic Skills ...........................................................................82

Table 11. Results for Critical-Thinking Skills .............................................................................83

Table 12. Results for Interpersonal Skills ....................................................................................83

Table 13. Results for Personal-quality skills ................................................................................84

Table 14. Results for Resource-Management Skills ....................................................................85

Table 15. Results for Information-use skills ................................................................................86

Table 16. Results for Communication Skills................................................................................86

Table 17. Results for System Thinking Skills ..............................................................................87

Table 18. Results for Technology-Use Skills ...............................................................................88

Table 19. Ranked Employability Skills across Sectors ................................................................89

Table 20. Ratings of Employability Skills across Sectors............................................................91

Table 21. Ranked Themes ............................................................................................................93

 11

Chapter 1. Introduction

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S.

workforce had 7.6 million unfilled jobs but only 6.5 million job applicants. On the last business

day of June 2019, the BLS identified 7.3 million non-farm job openings, just below the highest

level recorded since December 2000 (U.S. Department of Labor, 2019a). According to Tulgan

(2015), many industries noted a lack of soft skills among their employees (p. 8). Employers

want job applicants who have the necessary soft and hard skills to fill the talent pipeline.

The term soft skills is used to indicate interpersonal (a.k.a. people) skills (Holtzman and

Kraft, 2016, p. 25; Doyle, 2020, para 3). Soft skills are defined as “desirable qualities for certain

forms of employment that do not depend on acquired knowledge: they include common sense,

the ability to deal with people, and a positive flexible attitude” (Soft skills, 2020). Soft skills are

referred to as applied skills or 21st-century skills to policy and business leaders (Gewetz, 2007,

para 4). Researchers Sheikh (2009, p. 115), Holtzman and Kraft (2016, p. 17), and Smith (2007,

p. 24) argued that interpersonal skills (i.e., soft skills) are the most important skills employers

want compared to all other skills. On the other hand, hard skills indicate the technical skills

required to do jobs such as welding, coding computer programing, and driving vehicles. Hard

skills are found on résumés. Unlike soft skills that can vary from company to company, hard

skills never vary from company to company (Han, 2015, para 2). For example, a hard skill can

be an ability to operate a MIG welder to fuse two pieces of metal, whereas a soft skill is a

welder’s ability to collaborate with colleagues. Sisson and Adams (2013, p. 137) argue, “the

need for technical industry expertise is decreasing while the need for non-industry-specific

knowledge is increasing.” Deloitte Access Economics foresees that soft skill-intensive

occupations will account for two-thirds of all jobs by 2030 (Deloitte, 2017). Tulgan (2015, p. 8)
 12

found that managers believe soft skills matter and have fired personnel for lack of soft skills.

Although job applicants are hired for technical skills, a lack of soft skills could get them fired.

Thus, both soft and hard skills are the keys to successful employment in any industry sector.

Employability Skills

The term employability skills is used to identify the transferable skills needed by an

individual to make them employable (Kumar, 2016, p. 1). Employability skills are prominent

across all employment levels and in all industry sectors. These skills have several names, such

as soft skills, technical skills, essential skills, critical skills, people skills, career readiness skills,

transferable skills, teamwork skills, workforce readiness skills; regardless of the name, they all

represent skills desired by employers (Brungardt, 2011, p. 5; Employability Skills, 2011, p. 1;

Robles, 2012, p. 453).) As a general rule, employers are willing to teach job-specific skills, such

as operating a machine. However, employers want job applicants to have employability skills

like interpersonal and communication skills (Skills You Need, 2011, p. 1). In this research,

employability skills are defined as the general skills and knowledge that are necessary for

success in the labor market at all employment levels and in all sectors (U.S. Department of

Education, 2020a). Employability skills include but are not limited to communication skills,

critical thinking, teamwork, and flexibility. A so-called employability skills gap cheats

employees of success and causes managers money and aggravation (Tulgan, 2015, p. 9).

Employability skills will be used for this study and will replace the words hard and soft skills.

The Rock County Alliance (2019, p. 1) posted 35,000 job openings in a county with a

3.5% unemployment rate. Employers in this county reported employability skills gaps even as

numbers of vacancies and job-seekers remained constant (Southwest Wisconsin Workforce

Development Board, 2016, p. 6). In December of 2012, a business and education summit of this
 13

county met and discussed the shortage of employability skills, specifically soft skills, and how

to better prepare students for the workforce before their technical college graduation (Gavan,

2012, p. 1). Kennedy, former Vice President of a technical college, surveyed a group of

employers in a county and identified a list of soft skills missing from the technical college

curriculum. The employability skills reported missing from employers included the following:

• Ability to speak and write professionally;

• Use technology appropriately;

• Work together;

• Demonstrate professionalism;

• Show respect for diversity;

• Efficiently solve problems; and

• Lead by example (Gavan, 2012, p. 1).

To address these needs, the business and education summit committee focused on filling the

talent pipeline with job applicants who had the employability skills to meet employers' needs.

Filling the talent pipeline with qualified job applicants has been a priority for the state and

national business and industry representatives and the educational leaders (Southwest

Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, 2016, p. 1). Filling the talent pipeline with qualified

applicants will require employers and secondary educators to work together, so high-school

students have the employability skills they need as they transition to post-secondary education.

A transition program known as Education for Employment was established by the

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WIDPI) in 1985 because many youths did not

transition from high school to post-secondary pathways successfully (WIDPI, 2003, p. 1).

According to Act 20 §115.28(59), Wisconsin school districts were required to provide every
 14

student in public school grades 6 through 12 with academic and career planning (ACP) services.

Wisconsin statutes have since been updated to include requirements for ACP services. (WIDPI,

2019). ACP service providers offer students opportunities to achieve career preparation and

awareness by equipping them with career applications and development throughout all courses.

ACP service providers strive to develop students into productive adults with satisfying careers

(WIDPI, 2018 p. 2). Career readiness is defined as “the capability of an individual to make

appropriate career and employment choices taking into account the complexity of the contextual

facts, e.g., family and gender, that influence an individual’s career development and

employment” (Strauser et al., 2013, p. 544). With a growing need for a workforce with the

employability skills employers are seeking and an increased emphasis placed on accountability,

K-12 schools are responsible for producing college-and-career students.

According to the Career Readiness Partner Council, a coalition of education stakeholders,

policy influencers, and organizations define a career-ready person as one who “effectively

navigates pathways that connect education and employment to achieve a fulfilling, financially-

secure and successful career requires adaptability and a commitment to lifelong learning, along

with mastery of key knowledge, skills and dispositions that vary from one career to another”

(Whitehouse, 2016, p. 1). The term career readiness is generally applied to (1) students who are

considered to be equipped with the knowledge and skills deemed to be essential for success in

the modern workforce, or (2) the kinds of educational programs and learning opportunities that

lead to improved workforce preparation (Glossary of Education Reform, 2020). Career

readiness connects an applicant’s skills, knowledge, and learning opportunities (such as

apprenticeships) to an applicant’s ability to achieve a fulfilling career.

 15

The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, The Partnership for 21st

Century Skills, and The Society for Human Resource Management worked together and

conducted an in-depth study of the corporate perspective on the readiness of new applicants into

the U.S. workforce based on their level of educational attainment (Conference Board, 2006a, p.

2). These four organizations found the following were the most important employability skills

employers wanted their new applicants to have:

• Professionalism/work ethic,

• Oral and written communications,

• Teamwork/collaboration, and

• Critical thinking/problem solving (p. 9).

Employability skills are foundational to career readiness.

The Office of Career and Technical Education, which is part of the U.S. Department of

Education, stated that employability skills are a vital component of college and career readiness

(U.S. Department of Education, 2018b). Career Based Intervention (CBI, 2007) defined

employability skills as follows:

• Positive attitude;

• Self-management’

• Team working;

• Business and customer awareness;

• Problem solving;

• Communication and literacy;

• Application of numeracy; and

• Application of information technology (p. 12).

 16

Young applicants need to be proficient in a plethora of employability skills, both academic and

the ability to apply these skills in the workplace.

Problem Statement

This study addressed employability skills that were reportedly needed in the

manufacturing, health care, and hospitality & tourism industry sectors in a

county in the Midwest by recent high-school graduates who were 18 to 21 years old. Most jobs,

regardless of industry sector, have employability skills. Some examples of employability skills

that may be wanted by hiring agents of manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care

are as follows:

1. Agriculture manufacturing may include knowledge about product quality,

preservation techniques, equipment selection, and safety measures (Bittar, Nyonje, &

Rawago-Odoyo, 2015, p. 278).

2. Cardiac nurses need to be knowledgeable about the use of telemetry devices and

advanced lifesaving training (National Telemetry Association, 2013, para 2).

3. Hospitality & tourism managers need knowledge of foodservice and beverage service

methods (Schoffstall, 2013, p. 33)

Each business and industry sector has specific employability skills necessary for a young person

to be considered career-ready. This quantitative study was needed for educators to determine

hiring agents’ perceptions of the importance of employability skills and have this data to

address those skills in their curricula for manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care

business and industry sectors.

Research indicated that students who were graduating high school not prepared for the

workforce. Students were not graduating with the skills employers desire. Data from a 2018
 17

Gallup survey indicated that only 5% of Americans say high-school students were graduating

“very prepared” for the workplace (Busteed, 2018, para. 1). Also, Brown-Graham and Bryant

(2018) reported that North Carolina students were graduating from high school underprepared

for their future employment pathways (p. 2, para 1). Furthermore, Fletcher, Jenkins, and

Hernandez-Gantes (2018) suggested that a college degree did not necessarily mean career-ready

(p. 29). They found that many prominent companies and business organizations were reluctant

to hire young people with just a high school diploma because they did not have the

employability skills to do the job (p. 21). Tulgan (2015), in his research, found a growing gap

between employers’ expectations of and realities of employability skills. There had been little

research that assessed the employability skills recent high-school graduates needed to be

gainfully employed, which created a gap in the literature.

Identifying the origins of too many recent high-school students who were not ready for

the workforce is essential; therefore, it prompted the implementation of the Education for

Employment statute (§§ PI-26, 2015). Perhaps the writers of the Education for Employment:

Implementation and Resource Guide (WIDPI, 2003) best stated what our students must be able

to do to be ready for the workforce;

Today’s citizens must be able to interact on a daily basis with a variety of technologies,

solve complex problems, and communicate clearly and effectively. It is critical that our

students and future decision makers be technologically literate, possess critical-thinking

skills, understand business operations and economics, and be effective communicators.

(p. 1)

Laws, such as Education for Employment, have increased the integration of work-based

learning and career readiness training in the K-12 school setting, as they are a recommended
 18

component of a complete ACP (§§ PI-26.03(2)(c)2). Alfeld, Charner, Johnson, and Watts

(2013, pp. 4-5) suggested that quality work-based learning opportunities have been shown to

help students build employability skills while increasing their grade point average and school

attendance, which has led participating students to graduate career-ready.

Education for Employment was not designed to focus solely on “at-risk” students and

those not immediately entering post-secondary education (p. 1). According to the

Implementation and Resource Guide for the Education for Employment §§ PI-26, “All students,

regardless of future career choices, need to be educated for eventual employment and careers

whether they enter the workforce directly upon graduation from high school or at a later date”

(WIDPI, 2003, p. 1). Even though parents, employers, and educators agreed with this law,

researchers found that employers did not believe students graduated from college, let alone high

school, with the necessary employability skills. Consequently, 45% of their employers

identified a talent shortage in all business and industry sectors and company sizes globally

(ManpowerGroup, 2018, p. 4). For large companies (250+ employees), filling the talent

shortages was even higher at 67% (ManpowerGroup, 2018, p. 4). Work-based learning

opportunities could be an answer for employers trying to fill their talent shortages, as some

employers cite retention benefits, reduced hiring costs, and improved workforce morale (Helper,

et al., 2016, p. 35). Therefore, education for employment promotes economic development by

connecting high-school students to a combination of school and work-based learning and

exposing them to the employability skills and experiences they need to graduate college-and-

career ready. Hence, meet employers’ needs for skilled, productive workers.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we

can build our youth for the future” (1940, n.p.). Educators are working diligently utilizing the
 19

CCSS to prepare our high-school students to graduate with the knowledge, skills, and

dispositions needed to become career-ready; however, in an Education Trust study, Bromberg

and Theokas (2016) found that “today’s students are still meandering through lots of

disconnected courses that get them to graduation but nowhere else” (p. 12). Most students are

not taking several courses in a career pathway, which suggests we do not have agreements about

what career readiness means for high-school students and how to accomplish that. Bromberg

and Theokas (2016) defined a career-prep curriculum as one that “consists of three or more

credits in a broad career field such as health science or business” (p. 2). Westover (2012)

suggests that the K-12 system should provide students with a clear understanding of curricular

pathways that they can use as they transition throughout high school and into post-secondary

education; thus, students will see their plan as a pathway to success, and their high school

diploma has excellent value to them (p. 38). Course completion is an imperfect measure as

some courses vary in expectations and quality. Earning credit in a course does not mean that a

student mastered the content standards and is ready for the next course in the sequence,

graduation, or is career ready.

The word “ready” is defined as being “completely prepared for immediate use”

(Merriam-Webster, n.d.). The word “career” is defined as being “a profession for which one

trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Career ready

students have “a proactive, resilient, and adaptive style of interacting in the present and use that

style to assertively move towards self-defined career futures that add meaning, purpose, and

satisfaction to their lives” (Gysbers & Lapan, 2009, p. 23). High-school graduates who are

career-ready understand the importance of being future-focused. Future-focused students could

be going into the labor force, signing on as an apprentice; enrolling in a certificate program,
 20

two-year or four-year post-secondary college; or enlisting in the military. When students are not

career-ready, they lack the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to make informed decisions

about their future regarding enrolling into a post-secondary program or employment, which

creates a blockage in the pipeline from the classroom to the workforce.

A lack of employability skills continues to exist for recent high-school graduates, as well

as a lack of information about what employers want from recent high-school graduate job

applicants. Specifically, there was a need to understand which employability skills were being

sought by manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care employers because they were

the largest industry sectors for this Midwestern county, which employs the most significant

number of job applicants for the area. Also, I wanted to determine whether or not the

employers’ perceptions differed within the three different industries so K-12 educators and

employers of all sectors can see what the industry representatives of these three industries

viewed as extremely important employability skills and explore ways to improve student

outcomes in the workplace and prepare students to graduate career-ready. The reason this is so

important is that educators may focus on one or more employability skills that they mistakenly

perceive to be important to employers in their specialized area when indeed employers would

argue differently, and thus, students may not graduate with the necessary skills they need to be

career-ready.

This study collected the ratings of nine employability skills in the ESF from three

sectors: manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care and compared them against each

other to identify which employability skills were the most important in each industry so students

can focus on the employability skills the industry sector values to secure a job. The ESF was

designed to be a common language for educators, workforce stakeholders, and employers to

 21

discuss these skills (R. Utz, personal communication, May 13, 2020). This study identified

which employability skills were the most important for high-school graduates to be career-

ready. The results represented the local employers' needs and informed the educational leaders

what skills should be embedded in the curriculum from the ESF. Therefore, this study aimed to

educate the students, parents, employers, and educators in a Midwestern county about the

employability skills needed by recent high-school graduates to be career-ready.

Purpose Statement & Research Questions

This quantitative study was designed to gather data using a survey to examine hiring

agents’ perceptions on the importance of employability skills in a county in the Midwest. The

career title hiring agents was used throughout this study to indicate any person in a company

who interviewed and decided whether to hire a job applicant. Some companies in this county

did not have someone with the hiring agent title, but they had someone who hired job

applicants. I studied the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care companies' hiring

agents, including the Chief Executive Officers (CEO), presidents, executives, senior leaders,

mid-level managers, supervisors, or team leaders in this county.

The following employability skills were identified in the Employability Skills Framework

([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012) as the nine employability skills that employees

needed:

1. Interpersonal skills;

2. Personal qualities skills;

3. Technology-use skills;

4. System thinking skills;

5. Communication skills;
 22

6. Information-use skills;

7. Resource management skills;

8. Critical-thinking skills; and

9. Applied academic skills ([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012, para. 2).

In this study, I used this list of employability skills to ask how hiring agents in a county in the

Midwest rated each skill's importance and used them to compile my findings. I developed the

Employer Perceptions of Employability Skills Survey to ask the employers about the ESF skills

(Appendix A). To my knowledge, there had been no prior research done on the ESF skills and

the perception employers had of their significance regarding the employability of recent high-

school graduates.

The purpose of the study was to examine hiring agents’ perceptions of the importance of

employability skills and how these identified skills were differentiated among industry sectors

in a county in the Midwest as reported by hiring agents from companies who recruited,

interviewed, and hired employees aged 18 to 21 for entry-level positions among manufacturing,

hospitality & tourism, and health care business and industry sectors.

I surveyed participants on the demographics of their companies and their ratings of

employability skills. This study addressed the following research questions:

1. How do hiring agents in a county in the Midwest rate the importance of nine

employability skills?

2. Do participants’ ratings of employability skills differ among manufacturing, hospitality

& tourism, and health care business and industry sectors?

In addition to these research questions, I posed the following hypothesis:

H 0 There was no significant difference in the mean scores between the

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care business and industry
 23

sectors. The results of my study indicate that there was a significant difference at

the 0.05 level between the health care (M = .60) and hospitality & tourism

(M=3.50) business industries regarding the importance of applied academics skills

(p = 0.04) and critical-thinking skills (p = 0.02) (Health care M = 1.00; Hospitality

& Tourism M = 3.27). There was also a significant difference at the 0.05 level

between the hospitality & tourism (M=3.27) and manufacturing (M=1.89)

industries regarding the importance of critical-thinking skills (p = 0.02). Therefore,

the null hypothesis was rejected.

Conceptual Framework

The Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL), the College and Career Readiness and Success

Center (CCRS), and Response to Intervention (RTI) International developed a framework for

secondary educators to integrate employability skills successfully into their curricula. The

Employability Skills Framework ([ESF] U. S. Department of Education, 2012) was based on the

work of the Hart Research Associates (2015), ManpowerGroup (2012), and Lippman et al.

(2015). The ESF established common principles that revolved around workplace skills,

effective relationships, and applied knowledge. The ESF intended to build a common language

around employability skills and create a shared understanding of employability skills. The ESF

(Figure 1) identifies three broad categories, as follows:

• Effective relationships;

• Workplace skills; and

• Applied knowledge.
 24

Figure 1. Employability Skills Framework

Note: [ESF] U. S. Department of Education, 2012

In the ESF, effective relationships include interpersonal skills and personal qualities that enable

employees to collaborate with their co-workers and contribute to the goals of the workplace.

Next, workplace skills include resource management, information use, communication, systems

thinking, and technology-use skills. Finally, applied knowledge skills include both academic

and critical-thinking skills.

Previous studies have validated the ESF model. For example, the Hart Research

Associates (2015) surveyed (N = 400) employers whose organizations had at least 25

employees (p. 1). They conducted online surveys among college students and (N = 455) college

seniors and found that employers placed the most significant emphasis on the following skills:

1. Written and oral communication;

2. Teamwork;

3. Ethical decision making;

4. Critical thinking; and

 25

5. Application skills (p. 1).

Employers stated that educational institutions should have programs to ensure that students

graduate with the knowledge and skills needed to apply their learning (p. 2). In addition, they

found that employers were more likely to hire a job candidate with work-based learning (WBL)

experience (p. 7). Examples of WBL include job shadowing, internships, co-ops,

apprenticeships, and employer/employee mentorship. The Hart Research Associates (2015)

research provided a strong foundation for the ESF.

Significance of the Study

This study was critical because a skills gap was reportedly continuing to widen; as

Manpower Group (2018) reported, 45% of their employers could not fill their talent shortages in

all business and industry sectors and company sizes globally (p. 4); however, for large

companies (250+ employees) filling the talent shortages was even higher at 67% (p. 4). They

found 56% of reporting employers stated that written and oral communication skills were their

most valued (p. 7). As Hes (2017) said, technical skills are pointless without employability

skills (p. 1). Therefore, job applicants must have the employability skills hiring agents want to

fill the education-to-work pipeline and remain employed. RAND Corporation research (2019)

conducted surveys with 67 employers, 87 four- and two-year college department leaders, and 81

instructors, and interviewed 20 employers and found that collaboration between employers and

educators promoted industry-aligned coursework (p. 2) that helped cultivate the employability

skills needed to support the future workforce (p. 4). Lesson learned: employers must inform the

educators in the area of their employability skill needs for educators to provide opportunities

within the classroom to learn about employability skills.

 26

This study aimed to contribute to improving education for employment in this county

and other K-12 school districts and their local communities nationally. This study encouraged

educators and employers to collaborate to create a more prepared workforce. Employability

skills are a crucial component of college and career readiness (U.S. Department of Education,

Employability Skills, 2018). All students should graduate from high school with the skills

needed to pursue college or a career.

Summary

Employability skills are vital to the economic status of this Midwestern county. A highly

skilled workforce is the key to developing a strong economy. Employees must be prepared to

meet the employers' needs if they want to gain and retain employment. The Employability Skills

Framework ([ESF] U. S. Department of Education, 2012) served as a conceptual framework for

this study. The three broad categories of the ESF are effective relationships, workplace skills,

and applied knowledge. This study aimed to benefit educators and employers in a Midwestern

county to help high-school graduates become career-ready with the employability skills

employers wanted in a stronger workforce and economy. This study had two purposes: first, to

examine hiring agents’ reported perceptions of the importance of employability skills, and

second, to examine relationships among ratings reported by agents of three selected business

and industry sectors.

 27

Chapter 2. Literature Review

The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to explore hiring agents’ perceptions

about the importance of employability skills identified in the Employability Skills Framework

([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012) in a county in the Midwest. A secondary purpose

was to find whether the identified skills were differentiated among the three industry sectors of

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care. This study aimed to share what

employers reported so that K-12 educators in the region could embed these essential skills into

their curricula and their students' graduate career-ready and, therefore, build a stronger

workforce and economy. This chapter provides an examination of the relevant literature

concerning employability skills needed for high-school graduates to be career-ready, in five

sections, as follows:

• Overview and historical background of education for employment

• Employability skills framework (ESF);

• Effective relationships;

• Workplace skills;

• Applied knowledge; and

• Talent shortage.

The chapter concludes with a summary.

Historical Background

In the review of the literature for employers’ perceptions on employability skills,

specifically centered on recent high-school graduates, there is a foundation of beliefs and laws,

which have been put into place to serve all students in public education, starting with the

Education for Employment Program (WIDPI, 2003) is to do all of the following:

 28

• Prepare elementary and secondary pupils for future employment,

• Ensure technological literacy,

• Promote good citizenship,

• Promote cooperation among business, industry, labor, post-secondary schools, and

public schools, and

• Establish a role for public schools in the economic development of Wisconsin (§§ PI

26.01(2)(a-e).

The education for employment concept grew out of the Parker Project, a joint education and

business research effort between the DPI and the Parker Pen Foundation of Janesville,

Wisconsin (Education for Employment, 2003, p. 1). Parker Project started because there were

too many high-school graduates who were not prepared for the world of work (p. 1). Educators

were tasked with incorporating employability skills and standards, such as punctuality,

responsibility, and general work ethics into their curriculum so students would be better

prepared to transition successfully into the workplace (Nelson & Mero, 1990, p. 297). The

Parker Project was an example of the partnerships employers and educators employed to ensure

that high-school students graduated with the skills employers desired.

The Parker Project was developed in three phases. Phase I provided information as to

the ability of the schools to meet the needs of the businesses. A small group of educational

representations, both local and state, and employers were part of the initial planning (personal

communication, DPI, October 15, 2020). Phase II and Phase III of the Parker Project bought the

business, labor, and educational representatives together to help all students develop

employability skills and meet the businesses’ employment needs (Education for Employment,

2003, p. 1). The concept of education for employment emerged in Phase II. The goals of
 29

education for employment in the 1980s were: “To create the finest, best-educated, and most

skilled workforce in America and to define and deliver what all youth need to become

productive, economically self-sufficient citizens, thereby enabling them to contribute to

Wisconsin’s economic development” (Education for Employment, 2003, p. 1).

In Phase III, 1985-1987, the state legislature enacted a law that established Education for

Employment Standard for all school districts. The original Education for Employment Standard

had seven essential elements:

1. Business and education partnerships,

2. Practical application of basic skills,

3. Career exploration, planning and decision making,

4. Employability skills and attitudes,

5. School-supervised work experience,

6. Knowledge of business operations and economics, and

7. Contemporary vocational education programs (Education for Employment, 2003, p. 2).

The seven essential elements were a direct response to the research and recommendations of the

Parker Project.

The School to Work Opportunity Act (STWOA) of 1994 authorized the School-to-Work

(STW) program, which was administered by the Department of Labor and Department of

Education through the National STW Office (Federal School to Work Opportunities Act, 2004,

as cited in Bailey, 2009, p. 4-5). The program was funded from 1994 through 2000. The law

enabled each state to build its school-to-work plan. “STWOA does not seek to establish

programs but rather to develop comprehensive statewide and local systems of facilitating
 30

school-to-work transitions” (Office of Technology Assessment, 1995, p. 15). The law supported

the following main areas, of which the states needed to comply:

• Work-based learning, providing students with on-the-job training;

• School-based learning, integrating occupational skills students learn in school and

the workplace; and

• Program coordination to aid the planning, implementation, and operation of the

program (Fernandes-Alcantara, 2012).

Legislators thought that employers could get involved in the STW program through the

provision of apprenticeships. The STWOA focused on all students interested in developing

skills to enter the workforce, whereas the Wisconsin Apprenticeship law narrowed the focus.

The Wisconsin Apprenticeship Law (§§ 106.01) was first enacted in 1911, and a

national apprenticeship system was enacted in 1937 (Wisconsin Department of Workforce

Development [DWD], n.d., p. 1). The purposes of the law were threefold:

• To provide the State’s industries with a continual supply of highly skilled workers,

• To provide an additional career opportunity for many of the youth of the State, and

• To serve as a protective measure for the people who enter skilled trades training (p. 1)

Around the same time, the legislation also passed the Industrial Education Act, authorizing

trade schools' establishment to provide related instruction to apprentices (p. 1). This led to state

joint apprenticeship committees in the 1930s, which constituted representatives from local

employer groups and local employee organizations (p. 1). Apprentices have been supported by

legislation since the Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards were enacted in 1937. They have

proven to provide students with real-world applications and promote a strong economy and

workforce.
 31

Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program was established in 1991 and was modeled

after the Registered Apprenticeship Program (Burton & Phillips, n.d., slide 3). High school

juniors and seniors could explore their chosen career while attending school ((Wisconsin

Department of Workforce Development, n.d.). As part of their school schedule, YAP students

receive on the job training and occupational-related instruction. Upon graduation, the YAP

student receives a state skill certificate and career-related work experience. DWD mentioned

that the YAP was “an excellent pipeline for recruiting and retaining loyal, well-trained talent.

Employers continually report a high level of satisfaction” (2020). Conversely, Parton (2017)

argued, “American employers have yet to demonstrate broad-based willingness to employ youth

without work experience or a credential, much less invest in developing their skills” (p. 4).

Despite the challenges, the YAP is an example of improving education and employment

outcomes for American youth.

Carl D. Perkins was a member of the United States House of Representatives (1949-

1984) and was the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor from 1967 to 1984.

Perkins advocated for the Vocational Education Act of 1963. This act later became known as

the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984 after he passed away (Threeton, 2007,

para 3). This act was revised to assist special populations, specifically the economically

disadvantaged students, and ensure that students were exposed to contextual learning. An

example of contextual learning is a welding student using the welding equipment to learn how

to weld (Dortch, 2012, p. 2).

Congress stated that for vocational education to remain relevant and prepare students for

the workplace, educators would need to teach broader skills and incorporate basic academic

concepts into the curriculum (Gordon, 2008, p. 96). In 1990 the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and
 32

Applied Technology Act, also known as Perkins II, was revised; the intent was to strengthen the

workforce preparation process students experienced (Threeton, 2007, para 4). According to

Haywood and Benson, (1993, p. 7) Perkins II represented one of the most significant vocational

education shifts because the emphasis was on academics and occupational skill development.

This shift can still be seen in the Perkins V Act (Pub. L. 115-224 (2018).

Perkins III (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2006, p. 4) was signed into law in

1998, which allowed greater flexibility in developing Career and Technical Education (CTE)

programs, but made states and local education agencies more accountable for student outcomes.

The outcomes consisted of academic and employability skill attainment; secondary diploma;

post-secondary credentials; and/or placement in, retention in, and completion of, advanced

training, military, and employment (U.S. Department of Education, 2008, p. ix). The act

strengthened accountability by establishing core indicators of performance negotiated by the

state (Dortch, 2012, p. 3). States that failed to meet the performance levels established under

Perkins III received less funding, and states that exceeded performance levels received incentive

grants.

In 2006, The Carl D. Perkins CTE Improvement Act, also known as Perkins IV, was

signed into law by former President George W. Bush. Perkins IV was intended to strengthen the

economy while integrating academics and technical standards into the CTE curriculum

(Threeton, 2007, para 7). Perkins IV changed the term vocational education to career and

technical education (Threeton, 2007, para 8). Perkins IV's purpose was to develop the academic

and career and technical skills of secondary and post-secondary education students who elect to

enroll in CTE programs (Dortch, 2012, p. 4). Perkins IV was instrumental in promoting a

college-and-career-readiness culture by promoting “a greater focus on academic rigor, career-

 33

focused programs of study, the articulation between secondary and post-secondary education,

and greater accountability” (Brand, Valent, & Browning, 2013, p. 2). The programs that

received the most funding prepared students for high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand

occupations.

Perkins V, also known as The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st

Century Act (Pub. L. 115-224), was signed into law by President Trump in 2018. Perkins V

allows school districts to use funds to provide all students career exploration and development

activities in middle school and for comprehensive guidance and academic counseling in high

school (Pub. L. 115-224, 2018, para 3). Perkins V also updated the “special populations” to

include homeless individuals, foster youth, and youth with a parent on active duty in the armed

forces (“Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act Signed into

Law,” 2018, para 5). Since its inception and with each revision, the Carl D. Perkins Act

continued to spotlight the importance of business and industry partnerships to strengthen all

students' education.

Education-for-employment laws have a long history of collaboration between business

and industry and education. From the onset, legislation has been focused on building a strong

economy with skilled laborers who can fill the talent pipeline. Analyzing the law involved in

building America’s economy helped explain the law's impact on employers, educators, and

students in a county in a Midwestern county.

Career Clusters

In 2011, President Barack Obama addressed college-and-career readiness (CCR) by

stating that America “…. must ensure that every student graduates from high school well

prepared for college and a career.” (Obama, 2011, p. 2). According to the U.S. Department of
 34

Education, (2019) almost every state has adopted the CCR standards (p. 1). Public-school

districts have aligned their learning standards with state and national standards. As of 2019, 45

states and the District of Columbia voluntarily opted to participate in the Common Core State

Standards Initiative (U.S. Department of Education, 2019, p. 1). The Common Career Technical

Core (CCTC), includes standards for each of the 16 career clusters. The 16 career clusters were

created by the National Career Clusters Framework (National Association of State Directors of

Career Technical Education Consortium, 2012). The 16 career clusters are as follows:

• Agriculture, food & natural resources;

• Architecture & construction;

• Arts, audio/video technology & communications;

• Business, management & administration;

• Education & training;

• Finance;

• Government & public administration;

• Health science;

• Hospitality & tourism;

• Human services;

• Information technology

• Law, public safety, corrections & security;

• Manufacturing;

• Marketing, sales & service;

• Science, technology, engineering & mathematics; and

• Transportation, distribution & logistics (p. 1)

 35

The career clusters are used in secondary and post-secondary education to develop the career

pathways students use to identify their career interests, skills, and trajectory.

Career Ready Practices

In addition, the CCTC outlined 12 general career-readiness skills common to all career

areas (National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium,

2012). The CCTC refers to these 12 career-readiness skills as Career-Ready Practices. Each

career-ready practice includes an overarching statement along with a more detailed description.

The 12 career-ready practices are as follows:

1. Act as a responsible and contributing citizen and employee.

2. Apply appropriate academic and technical skills.

3. Attend to personal health and financial well-being.

4. Communicate clearly and effectively and with reason.

5. Consider the environmental, social, and economic impacts of decisions.

6. Demonstrate creativity and innovation.

7. Employ valid and reliable research strategies.

8. Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

9. Model integrity, ethical leadership, and effective management.

10. Plan education and career paths aligned to personal goals.

11. Use technology to enhance productivity.

12. Work productively in teams while using cultural global competence.

Detailed descriptions of each career-ready practice are in Appendix B.

 36

Educator Effectiveness

Educator Effectiveness (Danielson, 2013) has defined their teaching practices to support

and develop student learning. There is a connection between career-ready practices and

educator effectiveness. Educators need to focus on instruction that helps all students achieve

college and career readiness. In addition, they need to create opportunities for all students to

have access to college and career readiness instruction. The essence of educator effectiveness is

to provide instructors with high quality, timely and targeted feedback on standards-based

instruction that drives student learning. To date, there are many initiatives supported by federal

and state educational authorities that push for all students to graduate high school college-and-

career ready.

National Career Clusters Framework

The National Career Clusters Framework (Advance CTE, 2020), initiated in 2016, is an

organizational tool for career and technical education (CTE) programs. The purpose of the

framework is to help Pre-K-12 students obtain the knowledge and skills they need for career

success, mobility, and advancement by aligning curriculum with the expectations of business

and industry (Siebert, Rowe, & McSpadden, 2007, p. 36). The framework identifies career

pathways, formerly called pathways of study (POS), that build bridges between secondary and

post-secondary systems. The framework helps students to develop their career pathways by

identifying their interests, abilities, and values. The students use the career pathways as a

personal guide when selecting their courses. The career pathways include industry competency

skill checklists that connect classrooms to employers (WIDPI, 2003, p. 1). Career clusters and

pathways connect educators, employers, and students by using a common language that ties the

classroom to the business and industry sectors.

 37

Industry Competency Models

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has

been building industry competency models to bridge gaps between what is happening in the

secondary and post-secondary classrooms and the employers’ expectations. The industry

competency models provide a common language between the employers and educators and a

pathway for students to enter a career and advance successfully. The models are pyramid-

shaped and tiered (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Building-Blocks Competency Model

 38

The model features the following tiers:

• Occupation related (top tiers)

o Tier 9 - management competencies

o Tier 8 - occupation-specific requirements

o Tier 7 - occupation-specific technical competencies

o Tier 6 - occupation-specific knowledge competencies

• Industry-related (middle tiers)

o Tier 5 - industry-sector technical competencies

o Tier 4 - industry-wide technical competencies

• Foundational competencies (bottom tiers)

o Tier 3 - workplace competencies

o Tier 2 - academic competencies

o Tier 1 - personal effectiveness competencies (U. S. Department of Labor, 2010)

There are five-tiered building blocks, each represents a competency that is essential for

successful performance in the industry represented, and they are:

• Personal skills;

• Academic competencies;

• Workplace competencies;

• Industry-wide technical competencies; and

• Occupation-specific technical competencies (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010).

This model aims to provide a globally competent workforce through education and training, and

it provides direction for employees on what they need to be able to do to perform well in a

specific industry.
 39

Employability Skills Framework

The Employability Skills Framework ([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012) was

based on an inventory of existing employability skills standards and assessments developed by

career and technical educators, adult educators, professionals in workforce development and

business organizations, and federal agencies. The goal was to provide a unifying framework that

aligned workforce development and education (p. 16). The ESF identifies nine skills employees

need for success in the labor market, regardless of where they work and their job

responsibilities. These employability skills were projected to carry young people into the 21st

Century.

The National Education Association (NEA) is a founding member of the Partnership for

21st Century Skills (NEA, 2019, para 1) that encourages schools, districts, and states to

incorporate technology into their curriculum. The United States Department of Education’s

Office of Career, Technical, & Adult Education (OCTAE) selected experts from education,

workforce development, and industry to create the ESF. This framework is used to support

improvement and accountability across various federal education program investments (e.g.,

Carl D. Perkins) (Almada, Bramlett, & Ramirez, 2018, p. 20). Readiness happens by design,

and these partnerships have built the ESF to support young people in learning and to develop

employability skills earlier in life, align the workforce development and youth development

efforts and standards, and align the conversations between education and workforce

development (Krauss, Pittman, & Johnson, 2016, p. 73). The ESF includes nine essential

employability skills, organized into three broad categories: effective relationships, workplace

skills, applied knowledge. The list of nine essential employability skills that the experts from

education, workforce development, and industry identified for the ESF are as follows:
 40

1. Interpersonal skills;

2. Personal qualities skills;

3. Technology-use skills;

4. System thinking skills;

5. Communication skills;

6. Information-use skills;

7. Resource management skills;

8. Critical-thinking skills; and

9. Applied academic skills (U.S. Department of Education, 2012).

The ESF creators aimed for students to graduate with the employability skills that employers

deem essential for the workplace.

In a 2018 Gallup survey, only 5% of Americans said that high-school students were

graduating “very prepared” for the workplace (Busteed, 2018, para. 1). Another study reported

that high-school graduates lacked the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today’s

economy (Conference Board, 2006b, p. 7). A third study reported that North Carolina students

were graduating from high school underprepared for their future employment pathways

(Brown-Graham & Bryant, 2018, p. 2, para 1). Fletcher, Jenkins, and Hernandez-Gantes (2018)

suggested that a college degree did not necessarily mean career-ready (p. 29). In addition, they

found that many prominent companies and business organizations were reluctant to hire young

people with just a high school diploma because they did not have the employability skills to do

the job (p. 21). Jack, Stansbie, and Sciarini (2017) suggest that many graduates are adequately

prepared regarding job knowledge, but they lack the necessary job skills employers want (p.

17). Tulgan (2015), in his research, found a growing gap between employers’ expectations of
 41

and realities of employability skills. The next section provides a detailed explanation of the

identified employability skills in the ESF.

Interpersonal skills are considered “relational and process-oriented” (Duffy et al., 2004).

As Kar (2011) defined, interpersonal skills; as skills that allow an individual to work in teams,

provide customer service, and resolve conflicts (p. 38). Robles (2012, p. 454) surveyed business

executives who mentored his business major college students. Robles wanted to know what

employability skills were the most important for his graduates to have so business educators

could put them into their curriculum. Using a 5 point Likert-type scale, the business executives

ranked a list of 10 employability skills and found interpersonal skills were ranked important or

very important on a five-point Likert-type scale by 48 (84%) of respondents. Only 9 (16%) of

respondents rated interpersonal skills as somewhat important. Contrary to Kar, Robles (2012)

identified a person with interpersonal skills as someone who is nice, personable, has a sense of

humor, friendly, nurturing, empathetic, has self-control, patient, sociability, warmth, and has

social skills (p. 454). This study found that respondents considered interpersonal skills to be an

important employability skill set.

Comparatively, interpersonal skills were rated as very important by 187 (91%) of

Holtzman and Kraft’s (2016) respondents (p. 16). Equally, Holtzman and Kraft (2016) surveyed

representatives in New Jersey of 120 small businesses and 71 large ones (p.13) and found that

70 (97%) large business employers and 118 (87%) small business employers rated interpersonal

skills as very important or important (p. 17). Unlike Kar and Robles, Holtzman and Kraft did

not define interpersonal skills in their study.

In another study of employability skills, Aasheim, Jordan, Li, & Kadlec (2012) surveyed

348 information technology (IT) managers and 238 IT workers nationwide on 48 skills and
 42

traits, including personal skills, interpersonal skills, and technical skills. Their study found that

the 12 top-rated traits of the 48 traits were interpersonal and personal skills (p. 197). The 12

top-rated traits follow:

1. Honesty & integrity;

2. Attitude;

3. Willingness to learn new skills;

4. Communication skills (oral and written);

5. Analytical skills;

6. Professionalism;

7. Ability to work in team;

8. Flexibility & adaptability;

9. Motivation;

10. Interpersonal skills;

11. Creative thinking; and

12. Organizational skills (p. 198).

Specifically, interpersonal skills were ranked tenth as the most sought after skills IT managers

wanted from their employees. Similar to Holtzman and Kraft, the researchers for this study did

not define interpersonal skills.

However, college IT graduates rated interpersonal skills much lower than the surveyed

IT managers. An important finding was that candidates with strong interpersonal skills were

sought after more than candidates with prior relevant IT experience (p. 199). These studies

confirmed that interpersonal skills are essential for job recruitment and are necessary to meet
 43

employers’ needs. Interpersonal skills are important employability skills to develop to be

career-ready.

Personal qualities are found under the effective relationships in the ESF. Responsibility,

self-discipline, flexibility, integrity, and initiative are classified as personal qualities in the ESF.

For instance, Holtzman and Kraft (2016) surveyed 191 New Jersey business representatives,

120 from small businesses and 71 from large businesses, and found that adapting to

change/being flexible and communication skills tied as the number one employability skill as

reported by business representatives. Ninety-four percent of the respondents (N = 184) rated

adapting to change and being flexible as the most important skill (pp. 16-17). In contrast, 77%

(N = 44) of Robles’ (2012) respondents identified flexibility as important or very important but

not the most important employability skill (p. 456). Similarly, Aasheim et al. (2012) found that

respondents rated flexibility as the eighth most important employability skill out of the 48 skills.

Aasheim et al. also found that IT managers’ ranked honesty and integrity over any other

employability skill (p. 199). Similarly, 100% of the business executives in Robles’ (2012) study

identified integrity to be important to very important (p. 456). Interestingly, the business

executives ranked work ethic as the lowest employability skill needed by new applicants (p.

456). Characteristics such as self-disciplined and initiative were categorized as work ethic in

Robles’s study. In contrast, 91% (n =187) of the business representatives in the Holtzman and

Kraft (2016) study ranked work ethic as important or very important. Work ethic is important to

employers and educators. Educators should consider teaching ethics and ethical decision

making to help promote ethical decision making in the workplace.

Other essential qualities found in the ESF under the personal qualities’ category were as

follows:
 44

• Sense of professionalism and self-worth;

• Willingness to learn; and

• Acceptance of responsibility for one’s personal growth (U.S. Department of

Education, 2018).

Robles (2012) identified professionalism as businesslike and well-dressed. In his study, just

over 87% of his executive business respondents (n = 50) identified professionalism as important

or very important (p. 456). Only 12% (n = 7) identified professionalism as somewhat important.

Similarly, Aasheim et al. (2012) surveyed 348 IT managers and 238 IT workers and found that

professionalism was ranked sixth out of 48 employability skills (p. 198). Based on the survey

results, teaching students about professionalism is important in an IT program. Holtzman and

Kraft surveyed 191 business representatives, and 89% (n = 189) ranked professionalism an

important employability skill (p. 17). Although researchers found professionalism to be

important, employers stated that the most frequent employability skills that employees lack are

professionalism, enthusiasm, motivation, and a learning mindset (Holtzman & Kraft, 2016, p.

14). Individuals seeking employment should make a concerted attempt to develop their self-

confidence, resilience, and determination, as these skills are vital to employers and the team

they would work with and for.

Employers have reported difficulty developing employees’ personal qualities and

interpersonal skills, even with the workplace's best training (Remadevi & Kumar, 2015, p. 746).

Employers reportedly believed that students should have been groomed in these skills from the

onset of childhood (p. 746). Employers find it challenging to develop employability skills like

responsibility, self-discipline, flexibility, integrity, and initiative in their employees.

 45

Workplace Skills

Technology-use skills are found under workplace skills in the ESF. Technology-use skills

enable employees to perform work tasks by applying IT appropriately and effectively

successfully. Aasheim et al. (2012) completed a nationwide study between 2006 and 2010 in IT-

related organizations. They addressed knowledge and skill requirements for 282 entry-level IT

workers. The top six skills in both studies were as follows:

1. Operating systems;

2. Security;

3. Hardware;

4. Networking;

5. Database; and

6. Packaged software (p. 199).

Operating systems was identified as the most important IT skill, which was consistent with

employers’ demands to hire personnel to work the help desk (p. 199). Participating IT managers

ranked honesty and integrity as the most important employability skill needed among IT

managers (p. 198). Aasheim, Jordan, and Kadlec (2012) concluded that IT staff were entrusted

with their companies’ data, information, and systems (p. 199). This study showed that, given the

importance of trust and integrity in IT departments, candidates who apply to work in IT should

have skills and knowledge in the IT arena and personal and interpersonal skills.

Rasul, Rauf, and Mansor (2013) surveyed 107 employers from manufacturing industries

nationally and internationally (p. 42). Employers indicated that all aspects of systems and

technology are important. Rasul, Rauf, and Mansor claimed, “It is crucial to develop these skills

in technical students.” (p. 45). The use of technology was one of the essential employability
 46

skills that technical students should be acquired to have to be employed in the manufacturing

industry.

Both Rasul et al. (2013) and Aasheim et al. (INSERT)suggested that technology-use

skills were significantly important to employers. Conversely, Homan, Hedrick, and Light’s

(2019) study analyzed workforce competencies of 580 high-school graduates from West-Central

Ohio and found that high-school graduates rated their technology-use skills low (p. 133).

Researchers were surprised by the competency scores for technology-use because many of the

schools in the West-Central area of Ohio have integrated Chromebooks and iPads (p. 134).

Although employers rank technology-use as significantly important, in this study, high-school

students do not feel like they have the necessary technology skills to be successful in the

workplace.

Deming (1993) defined a system as “a network of interdependent components that work

together to try to accomplish the aim of the system” (p. 50). Systems-thinking skills are found

under the workplace skills in the ESF. Meadows (2008, p. 2) defined a system as a set of things,

such as people, the national economy, or the workplace, who are interconnected in such a way

that they produce their pattern of behavior over time. Arnold and Wade (2017) suggested that

system thinkers are needed to prepare for an increasingly complex, global society (p. 670).

System-thinking skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by understanding

relationships among the components of a system.

Rosenberg, Heimler, and Morote (2012) reported a study that examined the attitudes of

343 graduates, 92 faculty, and 97 human-resource managers regarding basic employability

skills that were needed for job performance. They found that systems-thinking skills were

ranked as one of eight employability attributes expected by the employers they surveyed.
 47

However, the category of systems thinking skills was reported by all respondent groups as

relatively low in importance (p. 13). According to their adjusted mean scores (p. 12), students

responded that they needed more systems-thinking skills training (M = 3.53) than human-

resource managers (M = 3.26) and faculty (M = 3.23). Even though the students surveyed

responded that they needed more systems thinking skills training, they also responded that

systems-thinking skills were important to them (M = 4.48) compared to human-resource

managers (M = 3.95) and faculty (M = 3.85). In addition, the students surveyed responded that

they received systems thinking skills training (M = 4.07) compared with human-resource

managers (M = 3.50) and faculty (M = 3.45). Systems thinking skills were seen as more

important to students, and students reported getting more training.

Senge et al. (1994) claimed that a good systems thinker is someone who can see the

following levels operating simultaneously in their book,

1. Events,

2. Patterns of behavior,

3. Systems, and

4. Mental models (p. 91).

Similarly, Richmond (1997, p. 6) said that system thinking required someone to departmentalize

their thinking, separate the trees from the forest, and look at the big picture. Someone with

systems-thinking skills can see all the details; however, they need to compartmentalize and see

the operation's entire system.

Communication skills are found under workplace skills in the ESF. Effective

communication skills, written and oral, are the ability to communicate one’s thoughts. Brink

and Costigan (2015) studied the alignment of oral communication skills between the workplace
 48

and U.S. undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate

Schools of Business. They concluded a misalignment between the type of communication

employers wanted from their employees and the type of communication that business schools

wanted their students to acquire in their program. According to the seven empirical studies

Brink and Costigan reviewed, to be successful in the workplace, employees need to be able to

listen, followed by conversing and presenting. They found that 76% of the U.S. undergraduate

programs had an oral presentation requirement, 22% had a conversation requirement, and 11%

had a listening goal. In contrast, the business-school respondents ranked the ability to present as

the most important communication skill, followed by conversing and listening (pp. 214-215).

The value of specific communication skills differs among the type of workplace.

Cukier, Hodson, and Omar (2015, pp. 2 & 4) conducted an international meta-synthesis

employability skills study that involved 7,354 academic and grey literature searches (e.g.,

government documents, technical reports, and regional reports) using analysis tools and hand-

coding. The study indicated that communication skills were the most cited employability skill

overall (p.8), which included verbal, written, presentation, and listening skills. Employers

reportedly wanted job applicants with good communication skills to win over clients with a

listening ear, write clearly and legibly so others can read it, present to a board of directors of

community partners, and speak to a group of potential clients about why the product the

company makes or sells is of quality. Because communication was ranked extremely important

to employers in this study, high-school students should look for ways to develop these skills,

and teachers should embed them into their curriculum.

Workopolis (2015) surveyed 256 Canadian employers about their hiring intentions and

challenges; communications stood out as the one skill that appeared in most job postings (para
 49

2). Specifically, the researchers found that over 60% of health care and wellness jobs required

good communication skills. Almost half (47%) of technology and digital-media jobs required

good communication skills. Tied with technology and digital media were sales and business

development jobs. This study found that employers reportedly wanted job applicants to have

communication skills.

Robles (2012, p. 455) studied 57 business executives’ responses about their perceptions

of employability skills and found that 100% of respondents cited communication as important

or very important. The business executives identified oral, speaking capability, written,

presenting, and listening as communication skills. In a globally competitive market that features

multiculturalism, technological advancements, and management skills, the researchers said

employees must have excellent communication skills.

Information-use skills are found under the workplace skills in the ESF. Information-use

skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by understanding, evaluating, and

using various information. Academic information is available digitally through a variety of

media and internet sites. The information available and the medium people use influence and

control what they learn (Chen, 2012). Information comes in various forms, from print to digital,

and job applicants need to use the information they receive correctly.

Holtzman and Kraft (2016) surveyed 120 small businesses and 71 large business

representatives (p. 13). They found that 68 (96%) large business respondents ranked the ability

to locate, organize, and evaluate relevant information ninth out of 21 employability skills,

whereas 115 (86%) small business respondents ranked this skill 15th out of 21 employability

skills (p. 18). Nine of ten (185) all businesses reported the ability to locate, organize, and

evaluate relevant information as very important or important (p. 17). The majority of employers
 50

would like educational institutions to emphasize information use when preparing their graduates

for the global economy and workplace (Holtzman and Kraft, 2016, p. 51). On the contrary,

Taniuset al. (2019) noted that college graduates identified “finding info” to be a very important

fundamental skill while employers did not (p. 14). The employers reportedly wanted their

employees to understand documents, Microsoft Office, and present ideas to others.

Resource-management skills are found under the workplace skills in the ESF. Resource

management skills enable employees to perform work tasks by managing time and other

resources successfully. Holtzman and Kraft (2016) found that 167 (89%) of 188 surveyed small

and large employers reported managing time as very important or important (p. 17). In addition,

they found that 166 (88%) of 189 employers reported working independently as very important

to important. Similarly, the Occupational Information Network’s (O*Net) ranked the

significance of 35 skills across seven categories: content, process, social, complex, problem-

solving, technical, systems, and resource management. Resource management was identified as

one of the most important skills for the occupations that would produce the most new jobs

(DuPuis, 2018, para. 3). Although communication skills appeared to be the number one skill all

employers wanted their job applicants to have, resource management skills were very important

for most new jobs.

The workplace-skills category encompasses five employability skills: Technology-use,

systems thinking, communication skills, information use, and resource management. Employers

identified oral, speaking capability, written, presenting, and listening as communication skills

and cited communication skills overall as the most important employability skill. In addition,

employers ranked interpersonal skills and personal qualities as extremely important skills for

employees. Managing time was ranked as very important among employers; however, resource
 51

management was identified as the most important skill for occupations that would produce the

most new jobs. Operating systems was identified as the most important IT skill; however,

honesty and integrity were the most important skills for IT managers to have as they are

typically entrusted with the company’s data and information. Systems thinking received the

lowest importance of all of the empirical studies. The majority of employers who were surveyed

viewed information-use skills as slightly important.

Applied Knowledge

Critical-thinking skills are categorized under applied knowledge in the ESF. In the

Ryerson University (2015) study, critical-thinking skills were the second most critical

employability skill cited by employers (p. 8). Ryerson University analyzed 7,354 reports, and

only 198 articles were referenced as “key” in reference to employer perspectives and labor force

issues (p. 4). This study provided a systemic review of the literature on employability skills in

Canada and internationally. Ryerson University found that even though postsecondary students

were trained in critical thinking, the studies suggested that students may lack the critical-

thinking skills to be successful in the workplace.

Rosenberg, Heimler, and Morote (2012) identified critical-thinking skills as one of their

eight dimensions of basic employability skills (p. 4). They surveyed human resource managers,

students, and faculty to determine whether critical gaps existed in career readiness,

employability skills, and career advancement attitudes. The participants, 343 graduates, 92

faculty, and 97 human resource managers, completed the online five-point Likert-type-scale

survey (pp. 9 & 12). For faculty respondents, the need for additional training in critical-thinking

skills showed the highest adjusted mean score (M =3.46) when compared to human-resource
 52

managers (M = 3.36) and students (M = 3.06). Critical-thinking skills were important to IT

employers, faculty, human resource managers, and students.

Cobanoglu, Dede, and Poorani (2006) surveyed 104 hotel managers to identify the IT

skills needed by IT hotel property level managers (p.19). Critical-thinking ranked the second

highest mean score (M = 3.57), followed by IT knowledge (M =3.42) and system analysis and

design (M = 3.27) (p. 31). Critical-thinking skills enable employees to analyze, reason and solve

problems to make decisions in their work (U.S. Department of Education, Employability Skills,

2018). Employers want employees who can think independently and are self-directed thinkers

who will solve the organization's issues for which they work.

Applied academic skills are categorized under applied knowledge skills in the ESF.

Applied academic skills enable employees to put their education to use in the workplace.

Applied academic skills include reading skills, writing skills, math strategies, and scientific

procedures (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). According to the Association for Career and

Technical Education, for students to be career-ready, students must know how to apply their

academic skills in the job context (Advance CTE, 2019, p. 12). Students must receive strong

foundational knowledge that aligns with the employers and higher educational institutions'

needs, so they are ready to face the postsecondary expectations when they arrive on the job.

The Common Core State Standards initiative (U.S. Department of Education, 2019) set

standard requirements for mathematical practices, English-language Arts, social studies,

science, and technical subjects from Kindergarten to 12th grade. The Common Career Technical

Core (CCTC) was intended to indicate what students should know and do upon completing a

career pathway (Common Career Technical Core, Advance CTE, 2020, para 2). CCTC includes

career-ready practices that provide a framework for the developmental experiences necessary to
 53

become career-ready (Advance CTE, n.d.). According to Remadevi and Kumar (2015), faculty

and employers’ perceptions of students’ career readiness are not aligned (pp. 745-746). Even

with the heightened awareness and focus on teaching the standards across curriculums, the

studies I researched revealed that students are not graduating career-ready.

Remadevi and Kumar (2015, p. 745) surveyed 68 faculty members from six engineering

colleges in India to determine the important employability skills for their students. The same set

of employability skills were given to 41 employers, of whom 31 were from India, and ten were

employed in other countries but were of Indian descent (p. 745). The business and industry

sectors that participating employers worked for included manufacturing, telecom, IT, IT-

enabled services, consulting firms, and public sector services firms (p. 745). The researchers

compared the data between the surveyed faculties with the surveyed employers and found that

some employability skills were out of alignment with what each other viewed as important.

In Remadevi and Kumar’s (2015) study of applied academic skills referenced in the

ESF, math and science were identified by both faculty and employers as priority employability

skills; however, the faculty respondents ranked math and science skills eighth out of 23 with a

mean score of 2.54 and employees ranked math and science skills 13th out of 23 with a mean

score of 2.36 (p. 746). Reading and writing skills ranked 13th on the faculty priority list with a

mean score of 2.43, whereas writing skills ranked 11th with a mean score of 2.49 and reading

ranked 20th with a mean score of 2.01 for employers (p. 746). Both faculty and employers

reported that math and science skills and reading and writing skills were important; however,

their level of importance varied. Faculty viewed math, science, reading, and writing skills as

more important than employers viewed these skills.

 54

The Employability Skills Framework ([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012)

identified nine essential employability skills, which are organized under three primary skills:

effective relationships, workplace skills, applied knowledge. Employability-skill development

has been viewed differently by faculty and employers worldwide, as seen from these various

sources and empirical studies. Employers and teachers seem to be the major contributors in the

realm of employability skills. According to the empirical studies cited, the most important

effective relationship employability skill was interpersonal skills. The most important

workplace skill was communication skills. Finally, employers claimed writing skills as the top

applied knowledge employability skill they wanted their employees to have. In the competitive

market, helping young people develop the skills employers want and need is important. These

studies point to essential employability skills that prospective job applicants should possess if

they are going to be career-ready and fill the education-to-work pipeline.

Talent Shortage

Although literature exists on the talent shortages related to college students' career

readiness, I had not found current empirical studies that specifically provided information that

hiring agents wanted high-school graduates to know and be able to do. ManpowerGroup (2016)

surveyed more than 2,200 hiring managers in the United States and found that talent shortages

were prevalent in the workplace. According to their findings, 46% of the United States

employers were having difficulty filling their job postings (p. 3). This study identified five jobs

that were nearly impossible to fill:

• Skilled-trade workers;

• Drivers;

• Sales representatives;
 55

• Teachers; and

• Restaurant & hotel staff (p. 3)

Skilled trades were the most challenging jobs to fill globally. The survey data showed that

skilled trades’ vacancies had been the most difficult to fill for seven consecutive years in the

United States. For the fifth consecutive year, they were the most difficult to fill globally. One-

fourth of the surveyed respondents identified the lack of available applicants as the reason a

talent shortage exists.

A study by Little et al. (2014), in collaboration with the Manufacturing Institute, showed

similar results. “Although the workforce is smaller, a greater percentage of remaining US

manufacturing roles are skilled workers who need many months and, in some cases, years of

experience and training to perform their jobs efficiently and effectively” (p. 4). A program titled

“Dream It. Do It.” seeks to develop the talent pipeline by educating high-school students and

others about career opportunities in manufacturing (Accenture and The Manufacturing Institute,

2014, p. 12). Opportunities like “Dream It. Do It” offer students experiences to develop a

pipeline of skills that employers list as important to their workplace success. Students can also

earn credit (high school and/or college) and earn money while they learn on the job.

Although employers seek new hires who have strong employability skills, many students

graduating from high school or college lack training or education about employability skills

(Levasseur, 2013, p. 567). Stovall and Stovall (2009) said that the root cause of why high-

school students are not career ready upon graduation is because “teaching the technical skills

…. is something that lends itself to individual work, not group projects” (p. 102). Sisson and

Adams (2013) suggest that teaching employability skills, such as computation, is easier to

define, teach, and assess than personal qualities and interpersonal skills (p. 144). Even teachers
 56

found their pre-teaching program to lack employability skills training, although they recognize

the importance of employability skills in their teaching career (Nganga, Yunus, & Hashim,

2015, p. 287). Krahn, Lowe, and Lehman surveyed seniors from 60 high schools through a

cluster sampling strategy, and 2,681 seniors completed their survey for the study (p. 279). Many

high school seniors believed that employers made hiring decisions based on a job applicant's

work attitudes and behaviors; however, very few believed that employability skills like

interpersonal skills and personal qualities were in demand by employers (Krahn, Lowe, &

Lehman, 2002, p. 291). High-school students were graduating without the employability skills

they need to be successful and fill the talent pipeline.

Cappelli’s (2014) study identified three complaints about the talent pipeline: skills gap,

skills shortage, and skills mismatch in the United States (p. 3). He studied multiple reports about

the labor market and employability skills and argued that the surveyed employers expressed

they had difficulty hiring employees and cited a lack of education as the common denominator

(p. 252). In addition, he claimed that the producers of the reports he studied had a vested interest

in the outcomes of the policies they were trying to influence (p. 252). The reportedly most

extreme complaint was that job applicants did not have the necessary skills to do the job. He

wrote, “The cause is usually attributed to the failure of the educational system, especially K-12

public education, to provide students with these basic skills” (p. 3).

Summary

The Employability Skills Framework serves as a definition and model for this study.

This chapter reviews research on employability skills, effective relationships, workplace skills,

applied knowledge, and talent shortages. Studies have found gaps in effective relationships,

workplace skills, and applied knowledge skills, which are necessary skills for workplace
 57

success. In this review, I found effective relationships to have the most important skills

employers wanted, followed by workplace skills. Communication skills were identified as the

number-one skill employers wanted their job applicants to have, followed by interpersonal

skills and personal qualities.

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Chapter 3. Method

The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore hiring agents’ perceptions about

the importance of employability skills identified in the Employability Skills Framework ([ESF]

U.S. Department of Education, 2012) in one county in the Midwest. Another purpose was to

find whether the identified skills were differentiated among the three industry sectors of

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care. Findings from this study added to the

body of research by examining the relationship among hiring agents’ perceptions of the

importance of employability skills to increase workforce and economic development. This study

used a cross-sectional quantitative design. The following research questions were addressed:

1. How do hiring agents in a county in the Midwest rate the importance of nine

employability skills?

2. Do participants’ ratings of employability skills differ among the manufacturing,

hospitality & tourism, and health care business and industry sectors?

In addition to these research questions, I posed the following hypothesis:

H 0 There was no significant difference in the mean scores between the

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and healthcare business and industry sectors.

This study first used an online survey that I developed (Appendix A) to ask respondents to rate the

ESF identified employability skills (Appendix C). Additionally, the respondents identified the top

three employability skills that their company wanted in high-school graduates aged 18 to 21 years.

In addition, respondents were asked to answer screener questions to collect additional data. The

survey also contained one open-ended question. This chapter describes the research design,

including the population, sample selection, procedure, instrument, and data analysis.
 59

Sampling & Data Sources

I used a convenience sample (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 150) of hiring agents,

defined as people who make the hiring decisions for their place of employment, department, and

team. Hiring agents include CEOs, presidents, executives, senior leaders, mid-level managers,

supervisors, and team leaders who were employed by manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and

health care companies in a county in the Midwest who were listed on the WisConomy (2019),

an online source for Wisconsin’s economic and labor market information. WisConomy allowed

me to customize the labor market information I researched. With it, I explored a searchable

database about employers from manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care

employers in a Midwestern county. This study's sampling design was multistage, called

clustering (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 150). The companies within each business and

industry sector were considered clustered in that particular sector. I identified manufacturing,

hospitality & tourism, and health care business and industry sectors because they represented

the major employers in this county.

This study's target population was over 1,100 hiring agents from some of the largest

employers in a county in the Midwest (Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development,

n.d.). Table 1 shows the distribution of business and industry sectors.

Table 1. Target Population

Sector N Examples of products
Manufacturing 223 Plastics, metals, food
Health Care 527 Medical, dental
Hospitality & Tourism 357 Hotels & food service
Total 1,107
(WisConomy, 2019)

The health-care sector was the largest and most complex. This section included businesses that

provided medical services that ranged from medical equipment or drugs to insurance. The
 60

second largest employment sector was hospitality & tourism. Hospitality & tourism made up

one-third of the population and provided hotel, food, recreation, and tourism services. The

smallest sector was manufacturing. Manufacturing companies consisted of any company that

produced products from raw materials or parts to make a finished product.

In this study, I used the business and industry sectors to classify individual potential

participants in either manufacturing, health care, or hospitality & tourism sectors. Creswell and

Creswell (2018, p. 151) identified 10% as a standard range to expect when conducting research.

In this study, I expected more than 10% of the population to respond to my survey request as

two representatives from the DWD verbally expressed that I should get a strong response given

the nature of the survey (D. Shaw & H. Bierman, personal communication, December 2, 2019).

However, this study yielded less than 10% of the target population due to business conditions in

a pandemic.

To recruit participants for this study, I contacted the Department of Workforce

Development (DWD) through email (Appendix D) to ask for their assistance in distributing the

survey to the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health-care hiring agents in a county in

the Midwest. I received written approval from the DWD representative on February 11, 2020

(Appendix E). After that, this study was approved (Appendix E) by the Edgewood College

Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Criteria for participating in this study included being an individual who hired recent

high-school graduates aged 18 to 21 years old into one of the following business and industry

sectors: manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, or health care. These industry sectors comprised

the largest employers in the region and represented the most companies.
 61

The setting for this study was within a county in the Midwest. The following

information presents an economic and labor market picture of the county:

In 2019, median household income is $53,410, while 14.3% of the population is living

in poverty. This county employs almost 80,000 people with manufacturing (17,894

employees), health care and social assistance (11,118 employees) and retail trade (9,757

employees) being three of the largest industries. Utilities ($77,266), mining, quarrying,

and oil and gas extraction ($66,667), and public administration ($50,596) are three of the

highest paying industries in a county in the Midwest. (Rock County, WI, DataUSA,

2020, p. 1).

There was a difference between the highest employment and the highest paying industry

sectors. For this study, I surveyed hiring agents in three of the highest employment business and

industry sectors in a county in the Midwest.

Measures

To examine perceptions of some of the Midwestern companies' hiring agents, I collected

data on hiring agents’ perceptions of employability skills high-school graduates needed upon

graduation. Quantitative research methodology offered a reliable way to use statistics to

understand the complex nature of the perceived employability skillset employers perceived were

important for high-school graduates (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 16). I followed the

guidelines explained by Creswell and Creswell (2018, p. 148-149). In this study, I examined the

relationship between predictor variables (i.e., employability skills) and criterion variables (i.e.,

business and industry sectors) and derived assumptions based on the data. In addition, I used a

qualitative question when surveying the participants to provide a richer understanding of the

research problem.
 62

In addition to the employability skills survey that I developed and sent to participants

(Appendix A), I referred to an instrument (Appendix F) developed by McGarry (2016), who

compared employers’ and college students’ perceptions of the employability skills subskills

identified in the ESF. This study asked the participants to rate the level of importance of the

employability skills from the ESF and compare the employers’ perceptions among three

business and industry sectors: manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care. My

instrument differed from McGarry’s in the following ways:

• I am only surveying employers’ perceptions of employability skills from the following

business and industry sectors: manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care. I

am not surveying all employers in every business and industry sector.

• I am not surveying students.

• I am only surveying the participants about the importance of the nine employability

skills cited in the ESF. She surveyed the employers and asked them to rate the

importance of the employability subskills.

• I am using a nine-point Likert-type scale, whereas she used a five-point Likert-type

scale.

McGarry’s study and my study were centered around the ESF and had many similarities;

however, the major difference was that she studied what employability skills employers wanted

from college studies. I studied three specific industries and what the employers wanted from

recent high-school graduates.

The research design was cross-sectional, meaning the data were collected at one point in

time (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 149). Participants were asked to complete an online survey

regarding the employability skills needed by recent high-school graduates who were 18 to 21
 63

years old. The survey contained four demographic questions, nine Likert-type scale questions,

one multiple answer question, and one open-ended question that allowed hiring agents to share

any additional information regarding the employability skills. Completing the instrument took

between 5-8 minutes.

The online survey was divided into two sections. The first section was demographics

and screener questions, and the second section was focused on the employability skills

employers wanted from recent high-school graduates who were 18 to 21 years old. In the

screener section of the survey, the following demographic data were collected:

• Sector type (i.e., ,manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, or health care);

• If they hire recent high-school graduates who are 18 to 21 years old;

• If the participants make the decisions to hire recent high-school graduates (individually

or with a team); and

• Participants’ roles in their companies (e.g., human-resource director, CEO, President,

senior leadership, team leader, manager).

At the beginning of the survey, respondents were asked, “Before you begin, I’d like to make

sure you qualify for this study. Please indicate the focus of your business and industry sector

(Mark all that apply).” A response of “no” closed the survey and thanked the respondent. A

response of “other” closed the survey and thanked the participant. A response other than “other”

allowed the respondent to continue the survey. The second question on the survey asked the

participants, “Do you hire recent high-school graduates who are 18 to 21 years old? A response

of “no” will closed the survey and thanked the respondent. The third screener question asked the

participant, “Do you make the decision to hire job applicants (individually or with a team of

people)? A response of “no” closed the survey and thanked the respondent.
 64

The employability-skills section of the survey focused on the nine employability skills

cited in the ESF and asked the participants to rate the employability skills from a 1 (i.e.,

extremely important) to a 9 (i.e., extremely unimportant) using a Likert-type scale. In addition, the

respondents identified the top three employability skills that their company wanted in their 18 to 21-

year-old hires. The open-ended question was as follows, “What additional information would

you like to share regarding the employability skills needed by high-school graduates?” as shown

in Table 2.

Table 2. Employability Skill Set Categories

Category Items
Effective Relationships
Interpersonal 3 & 10
Personal Qualities 4 & 10
Workplace
Resource Management 5 & 10
Information-use 6 & 10
Communication 7 & 10
Systems Thinking 8 &10
Technology-use 9 & 10
Applied Knowledge
Applied Academic Skills 1 & 10
Critical-Thinking Skills 2 & 10

Statements 3, 4, and 10 in the employability-skills section of the survey measured frequencies

that hiring agents perceived employability skills specific to developing effective relationships

(i.e. interpersonal skills and personal qualities) by high-school graduates in the workplace.

Statements 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 in the survey measured frequencies with which hiring agents

perceived employability skills that were specific to developing workplace skills (i.e. resource

management, information use, communication skills, systems thinking, and technology-use), to

accomplish work tasks to be important skills for high-school graduates. Statements 1, 2, and 10
 65

in the survey measured the frequency with which hiring agents perceived applied knowledge

skills (applied academic skills and critical-thinking skills) to be important skills for recent high-

school graduates.

To measure the hiring agents’ perceptions on the importance of specific employability

skills for recent high-school graduates in further depth, respondents were asked to use a nine-

point Likert-type scale (Table 3).

Table 3. Scale Ranges

Mean Range Scale Interpretation
1.00-1.99 1 Extremely Important
2.00-2.99 2 Very Important
3.00-3.99 3 Moderately Important
4.00-4.99 4 Slightly Important
5.00-5.99 5 Neither Important nor Unimportant
6.00-6.99 6 Slightly Unimportant
7.00-7.99 7 Moderately Unimportant
8.00-8.99 8 Very Unimportant
9.00 9 Extremely Unimportant

The scale ranged from 1(extremely important) to 5 (neutral) to 9 (extremely unimportant).

The survey concluded with an open-ended question that asked the hiring agents to

answer, “What additional information would you like to share regarding the employability skills

needed by recent high-school graduates?” Responses were coded based on participants’ use of

words and phrases, which were categorized into themes. The open-ended question allowed the

hiring agents to share additional comments about employability skills.

To measure the predictor variables (i.e., employability skills) and criterion variables

(i.e., business and industry sectors) while addressing Research Questions 1 and 2, I used the

definitions of the nine employability skills from the ESF ([ESF] U.S. Department of

Education, 2012) and presented them as a nine-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 9. In
 66

addition, the participants identified the top three employability skills (predictor variables) that

their company (criterion variables) wanted in their hires who were18 to 21 years old.

Employability skills. The operational definitions were identified in the Employability

Skills Framework ([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012) as the nine employability skills

employers sought. The employability skills and their definitions are as follows:

1. Interpersonal Skills – include the ability to collaborate as a member of a team or work

independently, as appropriate; communicate effectively; maintain a positive attitude; and

contribute to the overarching goals of the workplace.

2. Personal Qualities Skills - that contribute to effective relationships include

responsibility, self-discipline, flexibility, integrity, and initiative. Other essential

qualities are a sense of professionalism and self-worth; willingness to learn; and

acceptance of responsibility for one's own personal growth.

3. Technology-use Skills - skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by

applying information technology appropriately and effectively.

4. System Thinking Skills - skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by

understanding relationships among the components of a system.

5. Communication Skills - enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by

communicating effectively with others in multiple formats.

6. Information-use skills - skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by

understanding, evaluating, and using a variety of information.

7. Resource Management Skills - skills enable employees to successfully perform work

tasks by managing time and other resources.

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8. Critical-Thinking Skills - enable employees to analyze, reason, solve problems, plan,

organize, and make sound decisions in their work.

9. Applied Academic Skills - enable employees to put skills based on academic disciplines

and learning— such as reading, writing, mathematical strategies and procedures, and

scientific principles and procedures— to practical use in the workplace. (PCRN:

Employability Skills, 2019).

The nine employability skills defined above are important for workforce success. This study

analyzed the importance of the employability skills defined above for workforce outcomes for

recent high-school graduates who ranged from 18 to 21 years of age. This broad set of

employability skills included competencies, behaviors, attitudes, and personal qualities that

enabled people to effectively navigate their workforce development.

Procedures

On May 31, 2020. I contacted a DWD representative through email (Appendix D)

requesting that they distribute the survey (Appendix A) to the hiring agents of the companies in

this county who identified themselves as either manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, or health

care. Upon approval from the IRB, I emailed the DWD representative the employer participant

letter (Appendix D) with the embedded survey and consent form links. I received a response

stating that I would not be able to rely on DWD at this time as they were fielding an enormous

amount of unemployment calls and did not have the time to dedicate to this study.

After that, on June 15, 2020, I sent the Vice President of a local Chamber of Commerce

an email asking if he would send my introductory letter and survey link to the members of the

chamber who represented the population I was seeking. He initially said yes and then on June

24, 2020, he suggested that I send my introductory letter and survey to the president of the
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regions human resource association as he said, “This would be a more targeted approach” (D.

Cunningham, personal communication, June 24, 2020). I sent an email to the president of the

association on June 24, 2020, and on July 1, 2020, with no response.

A job developer and apprenticeship liaison (D. Melahn, personal communication, June

24, 2020) for a county in the Midwest said that she would send my introductory letter and

survey link out to her contacts who met the participation requirements for this study. On June

30, 2020, I reached out to another DWD representative requesting that she consider sending my

introductory letter and survey out, and she happily said yes. However, she stated, “Being

upfront, it has not been easy connecting with employers right now as they are just trying to stay

afloat with the pandemic situation” (C. Koerth, personal communication, June 30, 2020).

I sent my introductory letter and survey link (Appendix D) to hiring agents in a Midwest

county who identified with the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health-care companies

on: June 26, 2020 - 120 hiring agents; August 4, 2020 –189 hiring agents; and August 10, 2020-

174 hiring agents. On September 13, 2020, I sent a follow-up email (Appendix D) to all 601 of

the potential participants. Seventy-eight of these potential participants responded to my survey,

of which 73 completed my survey. The survey link closed on September 26, 2020. Data were

screened for errors and missing values and prepared for analysis by using an online statistical

program.

Data collection was completed using an online survey that asked the respondents to rate

the employability skills on a range from 1 (extremely important) to 9 (extremely unimportant)

using a Likert-type scale. Then the respondents identified the top three employability skills they

wanted in their hires who were 18 to 21 years old. Finally, the respondents were asked to

participate in an open-ended question by sharing information regarding high-school graduates'

employability skills.
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A pilot study was conducted before administering the survey to verify the instrument's

content validity and determine ease of administration. The pilot study allowed for feedback on

the ease of completing the survey, the amount of time it took to respond to the survey questions,

clarity, and order of questions. Results of the pilot study indicated the wording of the Likert-

type questions needed to change from “most important” to “extremely important” and “least

important” to “unimportant.” In addition, the participants suggested that I include a rank order

question where the respondents would need to rank the nine employability skills from 1 (most

important) to 9 (least important) because they said that the employers would rate all nine skills

as “most important” or “important” on the Likert-type-scale items. Thus, I would not be able to

rank which skills were truly the most important skills for high-school graduates.

For word choice, the pilot respondents suggested that I define “recent graduate” by

including the verbiage “recent high-school graduates who were 18 to 21-year-old because they

completed a traditional high school program or a non-traditional high school program; such as

General Education Development (GED) or High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED)

program.” The pilot study was administered online to six of my Edgewood College cohort

members, two chamber-of-commerce leaders, one economic developer, one technical college

president, and 11 administrators in a school district who had either completed a doctoral

program or who were currently in a doctoral program. Pilot participants were not included in the

sample for this study. In addition, I shared my pilot study survey with my Edgewood College

advisor and the Assistant Director of Research in the Doctor of Education program. They both

recommended that I change my Likert-type scale from a four-point to a nine-point scale. The

Assistant Director suggested that I delete the rank-order question and add a multiple-answer

question because many employers might find all of the employability skills to be important or
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very important, and then I would not know which skills were the most important when hiring

recent high-school graduates. After the pilot study, the following updates were made to the

survey:

• In the second screener question, I deleted GED and HSED and added an age range of 18

to 21 years old.

• Changed the four-point Likert-type scale to a nine-point Likert-type scale.

• Deleted the rank-order question.

• Added a multiple-answer question that asked the respondents to select the top three

employability skills their company wants in their new hires, who are recent high-school

graduates who were 18 to 21 years old.

The changes that were made to the survey reflected my evaluators' desires and were completed

before distributing the survey to business and industry employers.

Data Analysis

Qualitative data were collected using an online survey program and exported into a

statistical analysis program to address this study's research questions. Two types of analysis

were used. Descriptive analyses were used to analyze survey responses from the screener

section. Means and standard deviations were calculated for responses in the screener section, as

follows: business and industry sector (i.e., manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, health care, or

other), hire recent high-school graduates (i.e., yes or no), make the hiring decisions (i.e., yes or

no), and position level (i.e., CEO, Senior Leadership, Mid-level manager, Supervisor, Team

Leader, or Other).

Inferential statistics were used to analyze responses from the employability skills

section. To measure the importance of specific employability skills for recent high-school
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graduates, survey responses from the employability skills section used a nine-point Likert-type

scale, as follows:

1 = extremely important;

2 = very important;

3 = moderately important;

4 = slightly important);

5 = neither important nor unimportant;

6 = slightly unimportant;

7= moderately unimportant;

8 = very unimportant; or

9 = extremely unimportant.

Data were analyzed using independent samples t-tests to analyze differences among the

employability skills based on the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care sectors.

I chose to use multiple t-tests to analyze the data because I wanted to compare industry sectors

per my hypothesis. For example, I ran t-tests to compare data results between manufacturing

and health care sectors, manufacturing and hospitality & tourism sectors, and health care and

hospitality & tourism sectors. I then ran an ANOVA, followed by a Tukey post-hoc analysis, to

determine which of the employability skills were significant.

Descriptive statistics were used to address Research Question 1: How do hiring agents in

a county in the Midwest rate the importance of nine employability skills? Each of the nine ESF

skills were analyzed separately for mean, standard deviation, and frequency. All responses were

totaled by the three business and industry sectors (manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and

health care) to determine each employability skill's ratings.

Inferential statistics were used to address Research Question 2: Do participants’ ratings

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of employability skills differ significantly among three sectors? T-tests were conducted to

determine differences among participants’ reported perceptions of the nine employability

skills based on the type of business and industry sector. Responses from business and industry

sectors were set on a categorical scale; ratings of employability skills on a nine-point Likert-

type scale were set on a continuous scale. (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 154). The final

quantitative employability-skill question asked participants to identify the top three

employability skills their companies wanted in their hires 18 to 21 years old. I analyzed the

data to identify the most frequently reported employability skills among the business and

industry sectors.

The last item on the survey was qualitative. It read as follows: “What additional

information would you like to share regarding the employability skills needed by high-school

graduates?” Gay, Mills, and Airasian (2014, p. 389) suggested using an open-ended question,

which provided respondents with an opportunity to respond openly to the question and raised

new questions and issues. The responses from the last question on the survey were coded

manually. First, I entered all of the responses into an excel spreadsheet. I then began coding by

finding themes in the hiring agents’ responses and combined similar responses. If a response

included multiple topics, I separated each topic and put them under the appropriate theme.

Every hiring agent response was coded and tagged to a theme.

Reliability & Validity

Using the employability skills identified in the ESF, I designed a quantitative survey

(Appendix A) to analyze the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health-care employer’s

perceptions of employability skills in a county in the Midwest. My survey items showed

reliability because they were specific to the ESF skills and had internal consistency (Creswell &
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Creswell, 2018, pp. 153-154). Each question asked the employers to rate the ESF identified

employability skills using a nine-point Likert-type scale.

I used Cronbach’s alpha to test the internal reliability of the items. Creswell and

Creswell (2018) identified a range of alpha values between 0.7 to 0.9 as optimal (p. 154).

Cronbach’s alpha was 0.95, which indicated a high level of internal consistency (Appendix A,

Table A1).

I asked two independent readers to examine the qualitative data statements and search

for themes to add to this study's validity (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 200). I met with the

independent readers separately and discussed the themes that they identified. Initially, we

categorized the statements based on the written themes. The initial themes were “work ethic”,

“customer service”, “respect”, and “leadership”. Upon further review and discussion, we

decided that the qualitative statements could be categorized into the employability skills found

in the ESF.

Furthermore, as Creswell and Creswell (2018) stated, construct validity has become the

overriding objective in determining how well a test measures what it says it will measure (p.

153). I performed a pilot study to validate my instrument. Based on the feedback of my pilot-

study participants’ experience, and the expertise of my Edgewood Advisor and the Assistant

Director of Research in the doctoral program at Edgewood, my survey questions gave the

validity measures I sought.

Summary

This chapter outlines the proposed cross-sectional quantitative design study used to

explore the hiring agents’ perceptions of the importance of the nine employability skills

identified in the Employability Skills Framework ([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012)
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in a county in the Midwest. Participants were a sample of hiring agents in companies from

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and healthcare business and industry sectors. I utilized an

online survey that employed a Likert-type scale with which participants were asked to rate the

importance of each employability skill from the ESF against the other. This survey also asked

participants to identify the top three employability skills their companies wanted in their 18 to

21-year-old hires and one open-ended question.

I used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze each variable defined in the survey,

with analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Tukey post-hoc test to analyze differences among

rankings of employability skills in manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, healthcare business,

and industry sectors. I ran accepted tests of validity, reliability, and controls for bias.
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Chapter 4. Results

This study was developed to explore hiring agents’ perceptions about the importance of

employability skills that were identified in the Employability Skills Framework (U.S.

Department of Education, 2012) in a county in the Midwest and whether the identified skills

were differentiated among the three industry sectors of manufacturing, hospitality & tourism,

and healthcare. According to industry sector and employability skills, survey data collected

were analyzed for differences in frequencies of employability skills. The following research

questions were addressed:

1. How do hiring agents in a county in the Midwest rate the importance of nine

employability skills?

2. Do participants’ ratings of employability skills differ among the manufacturing,

hospitality & tourism, and healthcare business and industry sectors?

In addition to these research questions, I posed the following null hypothesis:

H 0 There was no significant difference in the mean scores between the

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and healthcare business and industry sectors.

The results of my study show a significant difference at the 0.05 level between the

healthcare (M=1.60) and hospitality & tourism (M=3.50) business industries

regarding the importance of applied academics skills (p = 0.04) and critical-

thinking skills (p = 0.02) (Healthcare M = 1.00; Hospitality & Tourism M = 3.27).

There was also a significant difference at the 0.05 level between the hospitality &

tourism (M=3.27) and manufacturing (M=1.89) industries regarding the importance

of critical-thinking skills (p = 0.02). Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected.

This cross-sectional quantitative study used an online survey, including an open-ended

question. Data were collected from a convenience sampling of hiring agents who worked for
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manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, or health care company from June to September of 2020.

Participation in the cross-sectional survey was admitted one time per participant. The survey

consisted of four demographic questions, nine Likert-type-scale items addressing the perception

hiring agents have about the importance of employability skills, one multiple answer question

asking the hiring agents to identify the top three employability skills based on their importance,

and one open-ended question. The nine Likert-type statements focused on the nine employability

skills identified in the Employability Skills Framework ([ESF] U.S. Department of Education,

2012). Participants indicated the degree to which they perceived the employability skills to be

important based on a nine-point Likert-scale. The open-ended question allowed the hiring agents

to share any additional information regarding employability skills and recent high-school

graduates.

Six hundred and four hiring agents were contacted by email representing the manufacturing,

hospitality & tourism, and health care industries in a county in the Midwest. A reminder email was

sent to the hiring agents, of which 70 hiring agents completed some or all of the survey, yielding

11.6% response rate. Of the 70 hiring agents who logged into the survey, 46 hiring agents completed

the entire survey, yielding a 66 % completion rate. All incomplete surveys were taken out of the

data set before analysis.

Participants were categorized according to the following two variables: type of industry

sector and job title. Descriptive statistics were used to report survey responses from the screener

section of the survey. The first question in the survey's screener section asked participants to

identify which type of business and industry sector they were employed. If participants

answered “other”, they were thanked and exited from the survey. Table 4 shows respondents in

the three industry sectors.

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Table 4. Participants by Sector

Sector n %
Health Care 11 15.7%
Hospitality & tourism 26 37.1%
Manufacturing 29 41.4%
Other 4 5.7%
Total 70 99.9%

The highest frequency sector was the manufacturing industry, with 29 (41.4%) respondents. The

lowest frequency sector was the health-care industry, with 11 (15.7%) respondents. The four

(5.7%) other respondents were thanked and exited from the survey because they did not

represent hiring agents within the manufacturing, health care, and hospitality & tourism industry

sectors.

The second screener question asked, “Do you hire high-school graduates who may have

recently graduated high school in the last couple of months (18 to 21 years old)?” If participants

answered “no” they were thanked and exited from the survey. Of the hiring agents who reported

that they hired high-school graduates who had just graduated high school in the last couple of

months, overall, 84.3% replied in the affirmative. Table 5 shows three industry sectors that

hired recent high-school graduates.

Table 5. Sectors Hiring Recent High-School Graduates

Sector Yes % No %
Health care 6 9.1 5 7.6
Hospitality & tourism 22 33.3 4 6.1
Manufacturing 27 41.9 2 3.0
Totals 55 84.3 11 16.7

Responses varied across each industry as follows: the highest frequency was the manufacturing

industry, with 27 (41.9%) respondents stating that they hired recent high-school graduates.

Next, the hospitality & tourism industry had 22 (33.3%) respondents stating that they hired
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recent high-school graduates. The lowest industry that hired recent high-school graduates was

health care, with six (9.1%) respondents.

The third screener question asked the participants, “Do you make the hiring decisions

(as an individual or part of a team)?” If participants answered “no” they were thanked and

exited from the survey. Results of the responses of hiring agents who decided to hire a job

applicant are reported in Table 6.

Table 6. Decisions to Hire Applicants

Sector Yes % No %
Health Care 5 9.3% 1 1.9%
Hospitality & tourism 19 35.2% 3 5.6%
Manufacturing 23 42.6% 3 5.6%
Total 47 87.1% 7 13.1%

Of the 54 hiring agents who answered this question, 47 (87.1%) said they decided to hire job

applicants. There was a difference in frequencies of hiring agents who decided to hire job

applicants between health care and hospitality & tourism and manufacturing, with

manufacturing being the highest (42.6%). Yes decisions were less often in the health-care

industry than in the other two industries (9.3%).

The final screener question asked the participants to indicate the positions they held

within their organizations. Their responses are shown in Table 7.

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Table 7. Agents’ Titles

Title HCN % HTM % MFG %
CEO/President/Executive 1 2.1% 11 22.9% 5 10.4%
Senior Leadership 1 2.1% 6 12.5% 12 25%
Mid-level Manager 2 4.2% 0 0.0% 5 10.4%
Supervisor 0 0 0
Team Leader 1 2.1% 0 0
Other 1 2.1% 2 4.2% 1 2.1%
Totals 6 12.6% 19 39.6% 23 47.9%

Legend:
HC = Health-care-industry sector
HTM = Hospitality & tourism industry sector
MFG = Manufacturing industry sector

Thirty-six (75%) hiring agents held titles as wither CEO, President, Executive, or the Senior

Leadership title in their organization. The manufacturing industry had the highest frequency at

47.9%. Next, the hospitality & tourism industry had a frequency rate of 39.6%. Finally, the

health care industry had the lowest frequency of 12.5%. The four categorized responses as

“other”; two were titled general manager, one was an HR/recruitment manager, and the other

was an HR generalist.

Quantitative

Research Question 1

The survey's multiple-answer question was intended to measure hiring agents’

perceptions of the most important employability skills that all recent high-school graduates

should possess. The nine employability skills were analyzed separately for measures of

frequency and central tendency. Data on the frequency of responses are in Appendix G (Table

G1). The participants were asked to rate the top three employability skills among the nine listed

that they perceive as important for their company. Table 8 shows the rank order of the top three

employability skills among the nine based on the final survey item.
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Table 8. Agents’ Ratings of Skill Sets

Item Skill Set Yes % No %
10 Personal-quality 33 71.7 13 28.3
10 Interpersonal 31 67.4 15 32.6
10 Critical-thinking 26 56.5 20 43.5
10 Communication 19 41.3 27 58.7
10 Applied academic 7 15.2 39 84.8
10 Resource-management 6 13.0 40 87.0
10 System-thinking 6 13.0 40 87.0
10 Information-use 5 10.9 41 89.1
10 Technology-use 4 8.7 42 91.3

The results of the hiring-agents survey showed that respondents reportedly perceived personal-

quality skills (n = 33) as the most important employability skill in the hiring of high-school

graduates, with interpersonal skills (n = 31) ranked the second most important, followed by

critical-thinking skills (n = 26). The employability skills that industry respondents perceived as

least important were information-use skills (n = 5) followed by technology-use skills (n = 4).

Results of the hiring agents’ ranking of the employability skills based on the mean are

reported in Table 9. The standard deviation and the mean of the nine employability skills are

reported in rank order.

Table 9. Skill Sets Ranked by Means

Item Skill Set Rank M SD
3 Interpersonal 1 2.33 2.21
4 Personal-quality 2 2.41 2.26
7 Communication 3 2.61 2.09
2 Critical-thinking 4 2.75 2.03
6 Information-use 5 2.87 1.97
1 Applied academic 6 2.87 1.80
5 Resource-management 7 2.89 2.01
9 Technology-use 8 3.00 1.52
8 System-thinking 9 3.00 1.48
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Note: Mean scores ranged from 1 (extremely important) to 5 (neutral) to 9 (extremely unimportant).

Seven of the nine employability skills were reported to be very important employability skills

for recent high-school graduates. Technical use and system-thinking skills were at the bottom of

the rank order list and may appear not to be important; however, respondents ranked them

moderately important (M = 3.00) when hiring high-school graduates.

Results in Tables 8 and 9 were similar. The top four employability skills that

respondents ranked to be the most important when hiring high-school graduates were personal-

quality skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, and critical-thinking skills listed in

rank order. Technology-use skills were ranked as one of the least important skills; however, the

mean score of 3.00 shows that they were moderately important to respondents. Information-use

skills and technology-use skills had the lowest standard deviation scores i.e., (1.48 to 1.52),

which revealed that respondents’ rankings were more closely aligned. There was a difference

among respondents’ rankings for information-use skills that were eighth on the rank order using

the multiple-answer item; however, information-use skills ranked fifth with a mean of 2.87 on

the Likert-type-scale items.

Research Question 2

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and a Tukey post-hoc analysis were used to analyze

possible significant differences between skills 1 through 9. F-values and p-values shown in the

following tables show how respondents from manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and the

healthcare-industry sectors reportedly perceived the importance of each employability skill.

Statistically significance was determined at a 95% (p = 0.05) level. If statistically significant

results were revealed at a 0.05 level, a Tukey post-hoc test was administered to determine the

statistically significant difference between each business and industry sector and the
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employability skills. Tables 10 through 20 show comparisons of mean and standard deviations

for each of the employability skills. The partial-n2 values ranged from 0.03 to 0.16 and indicated

3% to 16% variability. Table 21 reports the Tukey post-hoc test results among groups. The

ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test results for the employability skills are found in Appendix G

(Table G2).

Table 10 shows means and standard deviations for Item 1, applied academic skills as

ranked by respondents.

Table 10. Results for Applied Academic Skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 1.60 0.89 2 3.39 0.04 0.04
Hospitality & Tourism 22 3.50 1.90 43
Manufacturing 19 2.47 1.61
Total 46 2.87 1.80 45

For Item 1, respondents in the healthcare-industry sector reportedly perceived applied academic

skills to be very important (M = 1.60, SD = 0.89), while respondents in the hospitality industry

reported them to be moderate to slightly important (M = 3.50, SD = 1.90). A relatively high

standard deviation (SD = 1.90) among the hospitality & tourism and manufacturing (SD = 1.61)

respondents indicated that their rankings were largely dispersed. The ANOVA test results

showed significant differences (p = 0.04) regarding the hiring agents’ perceptions of applied

academic skills. To determine where the differences existed, a Tukey post-hoc test was

conducted (Table 10).

Table 11 shows the means and standard deviations for Item 2 critical-thinking skills. For

Item 2, hiring agents from manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health-care-industry

sectors reportedly perceived critical-thinking skills as important when hiring recent high-school

graduates.
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Table 11. Results for Critical-Thinking Skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 1 0 2 4.07 0.02 0.16

Hospitality & Tourism 22 3.27 2.14 42

Manufacturing 18 1.89 1.94

Total 45 2.47 2.09 44

For Item 2, all five health-care respondents (M = 1, SD = 0) agreed that critical-thinking skills

were extremely important. Manufacturing respondents (M = 1.89, SD = 1.94) perceived critical-

thinking skills to be very important, while the hospitality & tourism hiring agents (M = 3.27, SD

= 2.14) saw them as slightly important. High standard deviations among manufacturing

responses (SD = 1.94) and hospitality & tourism (SD = 2.14) indicated that their responses

varied. The ANOVA test results showed significant differences (p = 0.02) regarding the hiring

agents’ perceptions of critical-thinking skills between the industry sectors. A Tukey post-hoc

test was conducted to determine where the differences existed (Table 11). The n2 value of 0.16

indicated minimal variability when comparing responses for critical-thinking skills. A majority

of hiring agents perceived critical-thinking skills to be very important.

Table 12 shows the means and standard deviations for Item 3 interpersonal skills. For

Item 3, most hiring agents from the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and healthcare-

industry sectors reported that interpersonal skills are important when hiring recent high-school

graduates.

Table 12. Results for Interpersonal Skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 1.00 0 2 1.95 0.16 0.08
Hospitality & Tourism 22 2.91 2.37 43
Manufacturing 19 2.00 2.16
Totals 46 2.33 2.21 45
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For Item 3, all health care hiring agents (M =1.00, SD = 0.000) perceived interpersonal skills as

extremely important employability skills when hiring high-school graduates. Both the

hospitality & tourism (M = 2.91) and the manufacturing (M = 2.00) interpersonal skills to be

very important; however, the standard deviations (2.16 to 2.37) were high, which indicated that

all of the responses were largely dispersed. The ANOVA test results showed that the findings

were not statistically significant (p = 0.16).

Table 13 shows the means and standard deviations for Item 4 personal-quality skills.

Overall, for Item 4, hiring agents from the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and

healthcare-industry sectors perceived personal-quality skills as important when hiring recent

high-school graduates.

Table 13. Results for Personal-quality skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 1.20 0.45 2 1.57 0.22 0.07
Hospitality & Tourism 22 2.95 2.50 43
Manufacturing 19 2.11 2.13
Total 46 2.41 2.26 45

For Item 4, the health care hiring agents (M =1.20, SD =0.45) agreed that personal-quality skills

were extremely important when hiring recent high-school graduates. The low standard deviation

suggested that their response varied very little. Hospitality & tourism (SD = 2.50) and

manufacturing (SD =2.13) hiring agent responses were widely dispersed. The ANOVA test

results showed that the findings were not statistically significant (p = 0.22) regarding the hiring

agents’ perceptions of personal-quality skills. A majority of hiring agents reported that

personal-quality skills to be very important.

Table 14 shows the means and standard deviations for Item 5 resource management

skills. Overall, for Item 5, hiring agents from the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and
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healthcare-industry sectors perceived resource management skills as important when hiring

recent high-school graduates.

Table 14. Results for Resource-Management Skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 1.80 0.84 2 1.99 0.15 0.08
Hospitality & Tourism 22 3.45 2.20 43
Manufacturing 18 2.53 1.87
Totals 46 2.89 2.01 45

For Item 5, health care (M = 1.80, SD = 0.84) hiring agents perceived resource management

skills as very important employability skills. Manufacturing (M =2.53, SD =1.87) hiring agent

respondents perceived them as very important skills followed by hospitality & tourism (M

=3.45, SD =2.20) hiring agents who perceived resource management skills as moderately

important employability skills for high-school graduates to possess. The ANOVA test results

showed that the findings were not statistically significant (p = 0.15) regarding respondents’

resource management skills ratings. A majority of respondents rated resource management

skills to be very important.

Table 15 shows the means and standard deviations for Item 6 information-use skills. For

Item 6, hiring agents from the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and healthcare-industry

sectors perceived information-use skills as important when hiring recent high-school graduates.
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Table 15. Results for Information-use skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 1.60 0.55 2 1.45 0.25 0.06
Hospitality & Tourism 22 3.23 2.02 42
Manufacturing 18 2.78 2.07
Totals 45 2.87 1.97 44

For Item 6, health-care (M =1.60, SD =0.55) respondents perceived information-use skills as

extremely important employability skills. A low standard deviation (SD =0.55) among these

responses indicated that all responses were closely aligned. The manufacturing (M =2.78, SD

=2.07) hiring agent respondents perceived information-use skills to be very important, whereas

hospitality & tourism (M =3.23, SD =2.02) respondents perceived them to be moderately

important employability skills for recent high-school graduates. The relatively high standard

deviation for both manufacturing (SD =2.07) and hospitality & tourism (SD =2.02) suggested

their responses were largely dispersed. The ANOVA test results showed that the findings were

not statistically significant (p = 0.25) regarding the hiring agents’ reported perceptions of

information-use skills. A majority (M =2.87) of respondents reported information-use skills to

be very important.

Table 16 shows the means and standard deviations for Item 7 communication skills. For

Item 7, hiring agents from the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and healthcare-industry

sectors perceived communication skills as important when hiring recent high-school graduates.

Table 16. Results for Communication Skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 1.20 0.45 2 3.00 0.06 0.12
Hospitality & Tourism 22 3.27 2.07 43
Manufacturing 19 2.21 1.97
Totals 46 2.64 2.03 45
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For Item 7, respondents in health care (M = 1.20, SD = 0.45), rated communication skills an

extremely important employability skill for recent high-school graduates. The low standard

deviation (SD =0.45) suggested that respondents agreed about the importance of communication

skills when hiring recent high-school graduates. Manufacturing (M = 2.21, SD =1.97)

respondents agreed that communication skills were very important, whereas hospitality &

tourism (M = 3.27, SD = 2.07) hiring agents perceived communication skills to be moderately

important. The high standard deviation suggested that the hiring agents for both hospitality &

tourism (SD = 2.07) and manufacturing (SD =1.97) perceptions were varied about the

importance of communication skills when hiring recent high-school graduates. The ANOVA

test results showed that the findings were not statistically significant (p = 0.06) regarding

respondents' rating of communication skills. Respondents rated communication skills to be very

important.

Table 17 shows the means and standard deviations for Item 8 system-thinking skills. For

Item 8, most hiring agents from the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and healthcare-

industry sectors perceived the importance of system-thinking skills when hiring recent high-

school graduates.

Table 17. Results for System Thinking Skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 2.80 0.45 2 0.72 0.50 0.03
Hospitality & Tourism 22 3.27 1.58 43
Manufacturing 19 2.74 1.52
Totals 46 3.00 1.48 45

For Item 8, manufacturing (M =2.74, SD =1.52) and health care (M =2.80, SD =0.45)

respondents’ ratings agreed that systems-thinking skills were very important; however,

hospitality & tourism (M =3.27, SD = 1.58) respondents rated them as moderately important
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when hiring recent high-school graduates. Manufacturing (SD =1.52) and hospitality & tourism

(SD =1.58) had standard deviations, which indicated that all responses were largely dispersed,

whereas the health care (SD =0.45) results were not dispersed. The ANOVA test results showed

that the findings were not statistically significant (p = 0.50) regarding respondents’ ratings of

system-thinking skills. Respondents rated system-thinking skills as moderately important for

recent high-school graduates to possess.

Table 18 shows the means and standard deviations for Item 9, technology-use skills. For

this item, most respondents from the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and healthcare-

industry sectors rated the importance of technology-use skills when hiring recent high-school

graduates.

Table 18. Results for Technology-Use Skills

Sector n M SD df F sig. n2
Health Care 5 2.60 1.14 2 1.60 0.22 0.07
Hospitality & Tourism 22 3.14 1.56 42
Manufacturing 18 2.61 1.52
Totals 45 3.00 1.52 44

For Item 9, respondents’ ratings in health care (M =2.60, SD =1.14) and manufacturing (M

=2.61, SD =1.52) sectors agreed that technology-use skills were moderately to very important

employability skills for recent high-school graduates. More health care hiring agents were in

agreement than manufacturing hiring agents. A majority of respondents in hospitality & tourism

sectors rated technology-use skills moderately important; however, their responses had a high

standard deviation, indicating that their responses were dispersed. The ANOVA test results

showed that the findings were not statistically significant (p = 0.22) regarding respondents’

rating perceptions of technology-use skills.

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Table 19 compares results for employability skills listed in descending order based on

respondents' ratings of importance in the health care, hospitality & tourism, and manufacturing

sectors. Nine employability skills were ranked by means and standard deviations of

respondents’ ratings. The means and standard deviations are found in Table 19. All nine

employability skills showed ratings at mean scores of 3.00 and above. In comparing the three

industry sectors, the first and second rank order positions were almost identical.

Table 19. Ranked Employability Skills across Sectors

Rank HC HTM MFG
1 Critical-Thinking & Interpersonal Interpersonal Critical-Thinking
2 Personal Qualities & Communication Personal qualities Interpersonal
3 Information-use Technology-use Personal qualities
4 Applied Academic Information-use Communication
5 Resource Management System Thinking Applied Academic
6 Technology-use Communication Skills Resource Management
7 System Thinking Critical-Thinking Skills Technology-use
8 --------- Resource Management System Thinking
9 --------- Applied Academic Information-use

Legend: HC = health care;

HTM = hospitality & tourism;
MFG = manufacturing industry .

Critical thinking and interpersonal skills tied for first place, and personal qualities and

communication skills tied for second place for the healthcare-industry sector. Because of two-

way ties, no employability skill sets are listed in the eighth and ninth rows for the health-care-

industry sector

Critical-thinking skills were the top-ranked employability skills reported by HC (M

=1.00) and MFG (M =1.89) respondents. In comparison, interpersonal skills were perceived to

be the most important employability skill by most HTM respondents’ ratings. HC and HTM

respondents rated personal qualities skills as the second most important employability skill.
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Critical thinking and personal qualities skills were the only employability skills listed in the top

five skills in respondents’ ratings across all industry sectors. Interpersonal skills (HC 1.00,

HTM =2.91, MFG=2.00) and personal-quality skills (HC 1.20, HTM =2.95, MFG=2.11) were

also identified as very important in respondents’ ratings across all industry sectors. The rankings

were reversed between respondents’ ratings in HTM and MFG industry sectors. Technology-use

skills ranked third in respondents’ ratings for HTM and seventh for MFG; information-use skills

were ranked fourth respondents’ ratings for HTM and ninth for MFG; system-thinking skills

were ranked fifth respondents’ ratings for HTM and eighth for MFG; critical-thinking skills

were listed seventh respondents’ ratings for HTM and one for MFG, and applied academic

skills were ranked ninth respondents’ ratings for HTM and fifth for MFG. The ranking of

information-use skills was also reversed between HC (4) and MFG (9) industry sectors.

Technology-use skills were among the lowest-rated employability skills for HC (7) and MFG

(8).

Results of the one-way ANOVA calculated among health care, hospitality & tourism,

and manufacturing hiring agents are found in Table 20. Participants were asked to identify

their top three employability skills that their company wanted in their hires who were 18 to 21

years old. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) across industry sectors was conducted to

compare the means of respondents’ ratings of employability skills. An F-test of significance

was used to assess the effects the industry sectors had on employability skills. F was

configured by dividing the between-groups mean square by the within-groups mean square.

When an F value is larger than 1, more variation occurs across groups than within groups.

Thus, a computed p-value must be at an alpha of at least 95%.

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Table 20. Ratings of Employability Skills across Sectors

HC HTM MFG
Skill M SD M SD M SD F-value sig
Applied Academic 1.60 a 0.89 3.50 b 1.90 2.47a, b 1.61 3.39 0.04
Critical-Thinking 3.50 a, c 1.90 3.27 b 2.14 2.47 c 2.09 4.07 0.02
Interpersonal 1.00 0.00 2.91 2.37 2.00 2.16 1.95 0.16
Personal Qualities 1.20 0.48 2.95 2.50 2.11 2.13 1.57 0.22
Resource Management 1.80 0.84 3.45 2.20 2.53 1.87 1.99 0.15
Information-use 1.60 0.55 2.78 2.07 2.87 1.97 1.45 0.25
Communication 1.20 0.45 3.27 2.07 2.21 1.99 3.00 0.06
System Thinking 2.80 0.45 3.27 1.58 2.74 1.52 0.72 0.50
Technology-use 2.60 1.14 3.41 1.56 2.61 1.50 1.60 0.22
Note: The superscript in any given row that shares the same letter means the pair is not significant.

Legend: HC = Health Care industry (n = 5),

HTM = Hospitality & Tourism industry (n = 22);
MFG = Manufacturing industry (n = 19)

There was a significant difference in applied academic (F = 3.39, p = 0.04) and critical-thinking

skills (F = 4.07, p = 0.02) at 95% for the two groups. The p value was more than 95% for other

F-tests of employability skills, indicating no significant difference in ratings across skills,

regardless of industry sector. The F-tests showed significant differences across industry sectors

for all employability skills, except system-thinking skills (F = 0.72), which meant that

respondents within groups rated system-thinking skills equally important. The F-test results

indicated that ratings of critical-thinking skills (F = 4.07) differed most across industry sectors,

followed by ratings of applied academic skills (F = 3.39), and then ratings of communication

skills (F = 3.00).

According to post hoc, there was a significant difference (p=0.03) in ranking on applied

academic skills, especially between employers from the health care industry (M=3.50, SD =

1.90) and those from the hospitality and tourism industry (M = 3.27, SD = 2.14), where the

latter sector ranked this ability significantly higher than the former sector. There was no
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significant difference in ratings between the hospitality and tourism industry and the

manufacturing industry, nor between the manufacturing and healthcare industries.

Additionally, post hoc showed there was a significant difference (p=0.02) in ranking on

critical-thinking skills, especially between employers from the health care industry (M = 3.50,

SD = 1.90) and those from the hospitality and tourism industry (M = 3.27, SD = 2.14). In

addition. there was a significant difference (p=0.03) in ratings between the hospitality and

tourism (M = 3.27, SD = 2.14) and the manufacturing industry (M = 2.47, SD = 2.09), where

the latter sector ranked this skill significantly higher than the former sector. There was no

significant difference in ratings between the manufacturing (M = 2.47, SD = 2.09) and health

care (M = 3.50, SD = 1.90) industries.

These findings suggested significant differences in respondents’ ratings of employability

skills based on employers’ identified business and industry sectors. The one-way ANOVA and

Tukey post-hoc test showed the means of respondents’ ratings across industry sectors rated all

nine employability skills from the ESF to be important when hiring recent high-school

graduates. ANOVA statistical technique was used to test the null hypothesis and determine whether

there was a difference between the industry sectors. Rejection of the null hypothesis was set at the

0.05 level of significance.

There was a significant difference in the mean scores between the hospitality & tourism and

health care business and industry sectors regarding applied academic, critical thinking, and

communication skills. There was a significant difference in the mean scores between the

manufacturing and hospitality & tourism business and industry sectors regarding critical-thinking

skills. There was no significant difference in the mean scores between the manufacturing, hospitality

& tourism, and healthcare-industry sectors regarding interpersonal skills, personal qualities,

resource management, information use, system thinking, and technology-use skills.

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Qualitative

To address the last question on the survey, “What additional information would you like

to share regarding the employability skills needed by high-school graduates?”, responses to the

open-ended question were analyzed to gather an in-depth understanding of the hiring agents’

perceptions of employability skills. Responses to this question were coded manually and

categorized in themes that were counted and rank-ordered. The themes are reported in rank

order in Table 21.

Table 21. Ranked Themes

Theme Rank n Instances
Personal Qualities 1 11 27
Interpersonal Skills 2 6 5
Communication Skills 3 2 3
Resource Management 4 2 2
System Thinking 2 2
Critical -Thinking Skills 2 2
Information-use skills 5 1 1
Applied Academic Skills 1 1
Technology-Use Skills 6 1 0

Table 21 shows the ranking of the nine employability skills, the number of respondents, and the

number of times the employability skill was mentioned. Resource management, system thinking,

and critical-thinking skills were each mentioned two times. Technology-use skills were not

mentioned. A codebook (Appendix G, Table G3) was developed that defined the themes and the

hiring agents’ statements about employability skills. Fifteen (33%) of respondents took

advantage of the opportunity and offered additional information about employability skills

needed by recent high-school graduates.

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Eight themes emerged in 15 different responses (Appendix G, Table G4). The most

frequently noted theme was personal qualities, which occurred in 27 instances. Participants

used phrases like, “dependable, reliable, family culture, responsible, motivated, and willingness

to learn”, “willingness to sacrifice in order to complete the job”, “honesty, integrity,

respectfulness, humility …. hard to find these days”, and “work ethic, the younger generation

does not want to work hard for a decent wage.”.

The second most frequently noted theme was interpersonal skills, which occurred in five

instances. Phrases that were categorized as interpersonal skills included “the ability to relate to

customers is extremely important in my field”, “…fair treatment of employer if the student

decides to move on to another position. Always leave on good terms.”, and “resolve guest

concerns”.

The third frequently noted theme was communication skills, which occurred in three

instances. Phrases that represented communication skills included “be bold”, “express what you

feel your strengths will bring to the company,” and “The gaps I see with recent graduates relate

to interview skills and communication skills.”

Resource management, system thinking, and critical thinking themes were less

frequently noted themes. Each theme was mentioned twice. Participants used phrases like

“Business management skills are very important” and “we have difficulty finding candidates

who can multitask” to represent the resource management theme. Participants used phrases like

“we have difficulty finding candidates who ….understand how processes and people connect

and work together” and “ The need for system and critical-thinking skills increase as the level of

the position increases.” to represent the system thinking theme.

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The final noted themes were information use and applied academics. Each theme was

found in one instance. One participant stated, “Understanding company policies …. is essential”

to represent the information use theme. Another participant stated, “A newly graduating senior

with little work experience will have limited options unless they have the mechanical abilities

learned and applied outside of school” to represent the applied academic theme. Overall the

frequency of the themes that emerged from the qualitative survey question was similar to the

quantitative survey data.

Summary

This quantitative study's primary purpose was to explore hiring agents’ perceptions

about the importance of employability skills identified in the Employability Skills Framework

(ESF) in a county in the Midwest. Descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations,

one-way ANOVA, and a Tukey post-hoc test, were used for data analysis. I also collected

qualitative data, which were analyzed by categorizing words and phrases into themes.

Data were analyzed to show how hiring agents rated the importance of the nine

employability skills from the ESF. A secondary purpose was to find whether the identified skills

were differentiated among the three industry sectors of manufacturing, hospitality & tourism,

and health care. In addition, I addressed a hypothesis concerned with whether there were

significant differences in respondents’ ratings across manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and

health care business and industry sectors. Across sectors, respondents agreed that all nine

employability skills were moderate to extremely important when hiring recent high-school

graduates. In short, findings from quantitative and qualitative analyses showed the importance

of employability skills when hiring recent high-school graduates.

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Chapter 5. Conclusions & Recommendations

This quantitative study's primary purpose was to explore hiring agents’ perceptions

about the importance of employability skills identified in the Employability Skills Framework

([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012) in a county in the Midwest. A secondary purpose

was to find whether the identified skills were differentiated among the three industry sectors of

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care. This study addressed the following

research questions:

1. How do hiring agents in a county in the Midwest rate the importance of nine

employability skills?

2. Do participants’ ratings of employability skills differ among manufacturing, hospitality

& tourism, and health care business and industry sectors?

In addition to these research questions, I posed the following null hypothesis:

H 0 There was no significant difference in the mean scores between the

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care business and industry

sectors.

There was a significant difference at the 0.05 level between the health care and hospitality &

tourism business industries regarding the importance of applied academics skills and critical-

thinking skills. There was also a significant difference at the 0.05 level between the hospitality &

tourism and manufacturing industries regarding the importance of critical-thinking skills.

Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected.

This study's conceptual framework was the Employability Skills Framework ([ESF] U.S.

Department of Education, 2012). In this chapter, the discussion includes results and how these

results align with previous research. In addition, implications, recommendations, and limitations

are presented.
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Discussion & Conclusions

This cross-sectional quantitative study used an online survey (Appendix A) to ask hiring

agents in a county in the Midwest to rate employability skills on the ESF. I used an instrument

(Appendix C) that asked for rankings from 1 (extremely important) to 9 (extremely

unimportant) on a Likert-type scale. Additionally, the respondents identified the top three

employability skills that they perceived to be the most important employability skills possessed

by all recent high-school graduates aged 18 to 21 years. Finally, respondents were asked to offer

any additional information about employability skills recent high-school graduates need to

succeed in their business or industry. This study's respondents represented hiring agents (n = 46)

from manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, or a health care business and industry sector. Data

were analyzed to determine themes between the hiring agents’ perceptions of employability

skills and the importance of each for recent high-school graduates.

Research Question 1

In my analysis of Research Question 1 (Table 7), I found that a majority of hiring agents

reportedly perceived personal qualities skills (n = 33) as the most important employability skill

in the hiring of recent high-school graduates, interpersonal skills (n = 31) ranked the second

most important, followed by critical-thinking skills (n = 26), and then communication skills (n =

19). The employability skills that industry respondents reportedly perceived as least important

were information-use skills (n = 5) followed by technology-use skills (n = 4). Seven of the nine

employability skills were rated to be important to very important by the hiring agents, except for

technical-use and system-thinking skills. These findings are consistent with those by Robles

(2012, p. 456), Holtzman and Kraft (2016, pp. 16-17), and Aasheim, Jordan, and Kadlec (2012,

p. 199) who found that employers perceived personal qualities, interpersonal skills, and
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communication skills to be important skills for job applicants to possess. Therefore, I conclude

that hiring agents desire recent high-school graduates who are flexible, self-disciplined, good

communicators, positive, knowledgeable, able to analyze, reason, and solve problems, all

elements of personal qualities, interpersonal skills, and communication skills, in their

workplaces.

Because hiring agents perceived technology-use skills and system thinking skills to be

moderately important an implication could be that the hiring agents do not feel like the

technology tools that their businesses use are found in local high schools. An additional

implication may be that the hiring agents believed that they could train an employee to use the

business or industry’s technological tools; therefore, technology-use skills were not

employability skills they expected for recent high-school graduates.

System thinking skills require an employee to know the genesis of a situation. Typically,

someone 18 to 21 years old would not have the historical perspective of how and why the

company leadership team decided. A hiring agent might expect a seasoned employee to know

the workplace system but would not have this expectation of a recent high-school graduate,

which might explain why participating hiring agents perceived system thinking skills to be only

moderately important. Participants may have believed that the company would teach recent

high-school graduates the how and why of their operation.

The importance of interpersonal skills and personal qualities skills were not surprising

considering hiring agents who participated in this study represented the manufacturing,

hospitality & tourism, and health care industry sectors, which rely on direct patient care,

personal interactions, and the delivery of services to customers. In previous studies,

interpersonal skills were perceived by large and small employers (Holtzman and Kraft, 2016, p.
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16-17) and by information technology (IT) managers (Aasheim et al., 2012, p. 199) as very

important. They found that interpersonal skills were important for job recruitment and

necessary to meet employers’ needs and were sought after more than prior relevant IT

experience (p. 199). Even though my study’s findings show that hiring agents perceive

interpersonal skills and personal qualities skills to be important, they may find them

challenging to develop in their employees, as they are more “personal” and require self-

discipline (Remadevi & Kumar, 2015, p. 746). Therefore, hiring agents may be likely to hire

employees with the interpersonal and personal qualities skills the company wants their

employees to possess. This is one reason why interpersonal skills and personal qualities skills

training are important in the home and the K-12 system. These skills are difficult to develop as

an adult.

Conversely, communication skills were perceived as the most important skill in many

studies (Cukier, Hodson, & Omar, 2015, p. 8; Robles, 2012, p. 455); however, in my study,

communication skills were perceived as important among the hiring agents and ranked as the

fourth most important skill for recent high-school graduates to possess. Recent high-school

graduates are going to require excellent communication skills to be competitive in a global

market. Employers want job applicants with good communication skills to win over clients with

a listening ear, write clearly and legibly so others can read the document, present to a board of

directors of community partners, and speak to a group of potential clients about why the project

the company makes or sells is of quality. Most of the skills I listed require the job applicant to

know the company and product and be comfortable presenting to people. Some recent high-

school graduates will do well, where others will require additional training about the company,
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product, and strategies useful for making strong presentations. Therefore, hiring agents will

likely hire recent high-school graduates with some communication skills and the desire to learn.

Research Question 2

In addressing the second research question, rejection of the null hypothesis was set at the

0.05 level of significance. There was a significant difference (Tables 20) in mean scores

between hospitality & tourism and health care industry sectors in regard to applied academic

and critical thinking skills. The health care hiring agents perceived each skill as very important;

however, the hospitality & tourism hiring agents perceived the identified skills only as

moderately important.

There was also a significant difference in the mean scores between the manufacturing

and hospitality & tourism business and industry sectors regarding critical-thinking skills. Both

health care and manufacturing perceived critical- thinking skills as very important; whereas,

hospitality & tourism perceived them to be moderately important. Cobanoglu, Dede, and

Poorani’s (2006, p. 19) study found critical-thinking skills to be the second most important skill

needed by employees. I conclude that hiring agents who participated in this study perceived

critical-thinking skills to be an important skill for recent high-school graduates to possess but

find that many graduates lack critical-thinking skills. Employees need to be able to analyze,

reason, and solve problems to make decisions at work.

There was no significant difference in the mean scores between the manufacturing,

hospitality & tourism, and health care business and industry sectors regarding interpersonal

skills, personal qualities, resource management, communication, information use, system

thinking, and technology-use skills. Although the agreement level varies from one hiring agent
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to the next and from one business and industry sector to the next, all three industry sectors

agreed that most of the employability skills studied were important.

The results for each employability skill are in Appendix G (Table G2). The findings

reject the null hypothesis because there was a significant difference among the three business

and industry sectors and their perceptions on the importance of employability skills. An F-test

of significance was used to assess the effects the industry sectors had on employability skills.

When an F value is larger than one, more variation occurs across groups than within groups.

Thus, a computed p-value must be at an alpha of at least 95%. Table 20 indicated the ratings of

employability skills across sectors.

There was a significant difference in applied academic and critical-thinking skills at

95% for the two groups. The p value was more than 95% for other F-tests of employability

skills, indicating no significant difference in ratings across skills, regardless of industry sector.

The F-tests showed significant differences across industry sectors for all employability skills,

except system-thinking skills, which meant that respondents within groups rated system-thinking

skills equally important. The F-test results indicated that ratings of critical-thinking skills

differed most across industry sectors, followed by ratings of applied academic skills.

The qualitative data were analyzed, and results similar to the quantitative findings were

found. Fifteen (33%) hiring agents offered additional information about employability skills

needed by recent high-school graduates. Eight themes emerged in rank order: personal qualities

(n = 11), interpersonal skills (n = 5), communication skills (n =3), resource management skills

(n =2), system thinking skills (n = 2), critical-thinking skills (n = 2), information-use skills (n =

1), applied academic skills (n = 1), and technology-use skills (n = 0) as shown in Table 21. The

themes personal qualities and interpersonal skills aligned with studies by Holtzman and Kraft
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(2016, pp.16-17); Robles (2012, p. 456); and Aasheim et al. (2012, pp.198-199), who found

them to be important to very important employability skills. The theme communication skills

aligned with the studies by Cukier, Hodson, and Omar (2015, pp. 2 & 4); Brink and Costigan

(2015, pp. 214-215); and Robles (2012, p. 455), who found them to be very important for a job

applicant to possess. Like the study by Tanius et al. (2019, p. 14), hiring agents in this study did

not find information-use skills to be very important. Rasul, Rauf, and Mansor’s (2013, p. 42)

study suggested that technology-use skills were significantly important to employers, whereas

my qualitative data did not.

The qualitative data aligns with the quantitative data in this study. Personal qualities

and interpersonal skills were found to be important in both sets of data. In addition, technology-

use skills had the lowest mean score and were perceived as moderately important; however, they

were not mentioned by hiring agents in the additional information survey question. Hiring

agents perceived most of the employability skills found in the ESF to be important to very

important except technology-use skills, of which they may believe that the K-12 system does

not have the technology tools the companies utilize to train students. Therefore, the hiring

agents realize that they can train the graduates to have the technological skills they want by

using their own devices.

The purpose of this study was to explore participating hiring agents’ perceptions about

the importance of employability skills that were identified in the ESF ([ESF] U.S. Department

of Education, 2012) in a county in the Midwest and whether the identified skills were

differentiated among the three industry sectors of manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and

health care. In summary, all nine of the employability skills found in the ESF were perceived by

hiring agents to be moderately (M=3.00) to very important (M=1.00). Additionally, the results
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indicated that there was a significant difference in the level of importance between the health

care and hospitality & tourism business industries regarding the importance of applied academics

skills and critical-thinking skills. There was also a significant difference at the 0.05 level between

the hospitality & tourism and manufacturing industries regarding the importance of critical-thinking

skills. There was no significant difference found between industry sectors concerning the following

employability skills: interpersonal skills, personal qualities skills, resource management skills,

information-use skills, communication skills, system thinking skills, and technology-use skills.

Implications

My study results have theoretical and empirical implications for educators and

administrators within the K-12 system and hiring agents within the workplace. The findings

from this study could prove beneficial to K-12 educators and employers who hire recent high-

school graduates. By examining the hiring agents’ perceptions of the importance of

employability skills, this study's results contribute to the existing literature related to high-

school students, career readiness, and the manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care

employers.

The Employability Skills Framework ([ESF] U.S. Department of Education, 2012)

utilized in this study provided a comprehensive list of employability skills which was designed

to be a common language for educators, workforce stakeholders, and employers to discuss these

skills (R. Utz, personal communication, May 13, 2020). ESF directly related to this study as the

framework identified the employability skills that all high-school graduates should possess.

Each of the hiring agents who participated in this study owned or was employed in the

manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, or health care business and industry sector. Their

thoughts around employability skills were studied, and the results support that employability

skills are important for recent high-school graduates to possess. This research found that
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participants perceived the importance of specific employability skills and will extend the

literature in this area.

As previously mentioned, this study's employability skills were found to be moderately

important to very important to hiring agents of manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health

care business and industry sectors. Specifically, interpersonal and personal quality skills were

perceived as the most important employability skills, while technology-use and system-thinking

skills were tied and perceived as the least important. An implication is that high-school

graduates need to be equipped with the employability skills hiring agents seek within their

business and industry. Recent high-school graduates need to know what skills employers want

and how to transfer them into the workplace to be career-ready. Both employers and educators

need to take the responsibility to ensure that recent high-school graduates are ready for the

workplace. Therefore, this study is directed at growing the current levels of knowledge among

employers, K-12 educators, and policymakers on what employability skills are needed by recent

high-school graduates to be successfully employed in the workplace and beyond.

The results of this study show that employers perceive specific skills to be more

important than others. Employers want high-school graduates who are collaborative, self-

disciplined, time managers, information users, good communicators, academically skilled, and

critical thinkers (Table 9). The implication is that in order for students to be successfully

employed and compete nationally and internationally, employability skills need to be taught

throughout the K-12 school system. This recommendation includes employers offering work-

based learning opportunities for students and externships for teachers to ensure students

graduate with the employability skills hiring agents want and need.
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The results of this study suggest that the use of the Employability Skills Framework was

a valuable resource to define the employability skills needed by recent high-school graduates

for today’s workplace. There were statistically significant differences between applied

academic, critical thinking, and communication skills between the business and industry sectors.

Overall, this study shows that recent high-school graduates need employability skills to secure

an entry-level position and move up through the company.

There have been limited studies published regarding employers’ perceptions of the

importance of employability skills for recent high-school graduates. Previous research

suggested that employers were willing to teach job-specific skills, such as operating a machine;

however, employers want job applicants to have the employability skills like interpersonal and

communication skills (Skills You Need, 2011, p. 1; Sisson & Adams, 2013, p.137). Data from a

2018 Gallup survey indicated that only 5% of Americans say high-school students were

graduating “very prepared” for the workplace (Busteed, 2018, para 1). Fletcher, Jenkins, and

Hernandez-Gantes (2018) suggested that a college degree did not necessarily mean career-ready

(p. 29). They found that many prominent companies and business organizations were reluctant

to hire young people with just a high school diploma because they did not have the

employability skills to do the job (p. 21). As a result, the employability skills need to be

embedded into the K-12 curriculum so that high-school graduates possess the skills employers

seek.

The results of my study corroborate previous research about employers’ perceptions of

employability skills. Studies by Robles (2012, p. 454), Holtzman and Kraft (2016, p. 16),

Aasheim et al. (2012, p. 199), and Cobanoglu, Dede, and Poorani (2006, p. 19) concerning the

importance of interpersonal, personal qualities, and critical-thinking skills agree with my

 106

findings. Like this study, Rosenberg, Heimler, and Morote (2012, p. 13) found that system

thinking skills were of relatively low importance. In addition, the findings from the Yulia,

Siong, and Pazim (2019, p. 14) study revealed that information-use skills were not very

important, similar to my study. The hiring agents who participated in this study were either

owners of a manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, or health care business or employed in one of

these industry sectors. Their perceptions agreed with previous research concerning the

importance of high-school students to graduate with the skills employers want, thus career

ready.

Other studies conflicted with the findings of my study. Studies from Rasul, Rauf, and

Mansor (2013, p. 42) and Aasheim, Jordan, and Kadlec (2012, p. 199) found that technology-

use skills were one of the most essential employability skills to be employed in the

manufacturing industry. In contrast, in my study, I found that technology-use skills were only

moderately important. Another study from Cukier, Hodson, and Omar (2015, p. 2,4) indicated

that communication skills were the most important employability skill overall. This study

conflicted with mine as personal qualities skills were cited as the most important employability

skill.

Finally, in order to prepare high-school graduates for the workplace, educators would

need to teach broader skills and incorporate basic academic skills into the curriculum. Gordan

(2008) had these findings in an earlier study (p. 96). Perkins IV was instrumental in preparing

career-ready students by integrating academics and technical standards into the curriculum

(Brand, Valent, & Browning, 2013, p. 2; Threeton, 2007, para 7). Developing employability

skills and producing high-school graduates to be workplace ready employability skills need to

be embedded within the K-12 curriculum.

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Recommendations

A key recommendation resulting from this study would be for employers and educators

to partner to provide students with the specific employability skills needed in the business and

industry sectors. Employers and educators need to provide high-school students with work-

based learning (WBL) opportunities (internships, apprenticeships, and co-ops) to better equip

high-school graduates with the employability skills they need to secure and retain employment

within a company (Accenture, 2014, p. 12; Bailey, 2009, p. 4-5; Little et al., 2014, p. 4;

Hamilton & Hamilton, 1997, p. 2). Such opportunities would allow employers to give direct and

specific feedback to the high-school students; therefore, helping them have the necessary skills

for the business and industry employment positions. In addition, WBL would help employers

fill their employment vacancy gap with students who have the employability skills employers

desire.

Additionally, educators should participate in a summer externship at a local company

related to their curricular area. This form of partnership would not only promote employability

skills but also provide opportunities for the employer to participate in-class activities, mentor,

be a guest speaker, and continually keep their company name in the students’ view and

vocabulary while increasing student engagement in activities that help prepare the students for

the future workplace (Bowen & Shume, 2018, p. 5). If educators are going to prepare students

for the future workforce, they need to understand what employers seek and how the current

workforce operates.

The following recommendations could ensure that recent high-school graduates have the

employability skills they need to be ready for the workforce. First, districts should embed

employability skills throughout the K-12 curriculum. Offering student courses that feature these
 108

skills is not sufficient. The employability skills need to be woven throughout all courses if

students are going to graduate with the skills employers want and need. Districts could integrate

the employability skills in the ESF by using the resources (Facilitator’s Guide, Handouts,

Workbook, PowerPoint) developed by the experts at the CCRS (2016). Also, their experienced

staff at the CCRS Center are available to offer in-person or online work sessions.

Districts should offer professional development opportunities to train educators about

the skills employers want and how to include them in their curriculum for future students. The

curriculum should help students in utilize and grow their employability skills to compete in the

global market (Husain et al, 2010, p. 437); specifically, interpersonal skills, personal qualities,

and critical-thinking skills need to be woven into the K-12 curriculum. Districts could lean on

the CCRS Center experts to lead the training, which could be customized to meet the needs of

the students and educators.

Specifically, K-12 educators need to participate in professional development that

highlights the local economy and workforce needs. The educators need to compare the K-12

academic data against the workforce data to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and

threats. Then K-12 educators need to develop multiple career pathways aligned with the local

needs assessment and allow students to take a series of related courses grounded in

employability skills, college courses, work-based learning opportunities, and participate in

extracurricular activities to the pathway.

Next, high-school graduation requirements should include a work-based learning (WBL)

component (internships, apprenticeships, and co-ops) so that students gain exposure to the

workplace tools, environment, and skills the employer is seeking. This component would allow

students to develop the skills the employer wants and graduate career-ready.
 109

Additionally, high-school graduation requirements should require students to take a

foreign language and graduate bilingual. Graduates would possess outstanding communication

today’s globalized economy.

Furthermore, all students should have to complete an academic and career planning

(ACP) portfolio upon graduation that includes items like an introductory letter, resume, letter of

recommendation, transcripts, career goals, required and elective courses’ work samples with

reflections, WBL experience, and any other items that would help them to be marketable in a

global economy. A committee should view the portfolio, and the committee should have an

opportunity to talk to the individual. The committee could include one or more of the following

stakeholders: employers, community leaders, school administrators, counselors, advisors,

parents, and teachers.

Recommendations for Future Studies

In this study, I examined the importance of employability skills among three business

and industry sectors. The data provided strong support between educator and employer

partnerships to increase employability skills among recent high-school graduates. The following

recommendations for future research are based upon my findings, conclusions, and

implications.

Future researchers could complete replication of this study by conducting their study

when there is not a pandemic. Another replication of this study could be conducted within

multiple regions to determine if the location would make a difference in the perceptions of the

importance of employability skills. Alternatively, done statewide to determine if the findings are

consistent. Another replication of this study could be conducted between all business and

industry sectors. This approach would allow for larger sample size and potentially add credit to
 110

this study's findings. This type of study would allow for more general research; therefore, any

educator and employer may find the data informative.

Future researchers could also conduct a qualitative research study to determine why the

hiring agents perceived specific employability skills to be more important than other skills. This

study would allow the researcher to delve deeper into the employers’ perceptions (Creswell &

Creswell, 2018, p 4). Future researchers could also conduct a triangulated study in which

students, employers, and educators are surveyed. The data are compared to provide insight into

gaps between each group to assess recent high-school graduates' employability skills,

comparing each perspective. Finally, they could utilize the Employability Skills Framework to

conduct a study with various post-secondary educational institutions comparing the

employability skills on a collegiate level.

Limitations

The limitations of this study included three business and industry sectors versus all

business and industry sectors. Inclusivity would have yielded a greater sample size, and all

educators and employers (regardless of curricular/business area) might have found these data to

be relevant and important to their discipline/business. Secondly, because I only surveyed hiring

agents from a county in the Midwest, responses could vary in a different location. Furthermore,

the employability skills that are perceived to be important today might not be important in the

months or years to come.

Next, I conducted my research amid a pandemic. Many businesses were closed and/or

working with fewer employees, leading to a low response rate. Given the uncertainty and the

number of hiring agents who may have been too encumbered with work and others who may

have been out of work, many hiring agents may have disregarded my email request. Given the
 111

pandemic's effects, sending my survey instrument through e-mail may not have been the most

effective method to collect data from hiring agents.

Finally, I found some empirical studies that indicated that high-school graduates were

unprepared for the workforce. While writing Chapter 5 I failed to ask my participants if they felt

like the local high-school graduates were prepared for the workforce, thus career-ready. This

data is essential and would provide local employers and educators with the information they

would likely want.

Summary

This cross-sectional quantitative study was developed to explore hiring agents’

perceptions about the importance of employability skills identified in the Employability Skills

Framework in a county in the Midwest and whether the identified skills were differentiated

among the three industry sectors of manufacturing, hospitality & tourism, and health care. The

results of this study revealed that hiring agents perceived personal qualities, interpersonal

skills, and critical-thinking skills to be the most important employability skills for recent high-

school graduates to possess. Eight of the nine employability skills from the ESF were rated

important to very important, except technology-use skills, which were perceived as moderately

important. The qualitative data aligned with the quantitative data in my study.

This study's results have theoretical and empirical implications for educators and

administrators within the K-12 system and hiring agents within the workplace. For recent high-

school graduates to secure an entry-level position and compete nationally and internationally,

employability skills need to be taught throughout the K-12 school system. Employers should

offer work-based learning opportunities for students and externships for teachers to ensure

students graduate with the employability skills hiring agents want and need.
 112

Recommendations for future research include replicating this study to address the

limitations of my study when there is not a pandemic. In addition, conducting a qualitative

research study to determine why the hiring agents perceive specific employability skills to be

more important than others. My study focused on one region and three industry sectors.

However, future research could include additional regions and all business and industry sectors.

My study focused on the employers’ perspectives. However, future research could research

students, employers, and educators to compare each perspective. My study provides multiple

recommendations for educators and employers to consider when preparing high-school students

to be career-ready, and thus, fill the pipeline with students who have the employability skills

employers are seeking.

 113

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https://bit.ly/3rxj0YG.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. (2008). Carl D.

Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998, Report to Congress on State

Performance, Program Year 2006–07.

U.S. Department of Education. (2020).College- and career-ready standards.

https://www.ed.gov/k-12reforms/standards

Westover, J. (2012). Personalized pathways to success. Leadership, 41(5), 12- 38.

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Whitehouse, E. (2016). building career success. Council of State Governments.

https://bit.ly/35cSTvy

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. (2003). Education for employment:

Implementation and resource guide. https://bit.ly/2CNrHt7

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. (2018), Academic & career planning (ACP).

https://dpi.wi.gov/acp

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (n.d.) WisConomy (Wisconsin annual

employment by industry). https://bit.ly/3hp68iE

Workopolis. (2015). Thinkopolos VIII: The most sought-after skills in Canada.

https://bit.ly/2rdHtYs
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Appendix A. Instrument

Employer Perceptions of Employability Skills

Screener
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INTRODUCTION TO EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

1.

2.

3.
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4.

5.

6.

7.
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8.

9.

10.
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Table A1. Reliability Results

Deleted Item Cronbach’s 𝛂𝛂

Hiring agent position (e.g., CEO, or team leader) 0.96
Applied academic skills 0.94
Critical-thinking skills 0.94
Interpersonal skills 0.94
Personal qualities skills 0.94
Resource management skills 0.94
Information skills 0.94
Communication skills 0.94
System-thinking skills 0.95
Technology skills 0.95
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Appendix B. Career-Ready Practices

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Appendix C. Employability-Skills Framework

Developing effective relationships in the workplace requires a combination of interpersonal skills and
personal qualities.

Interpersonal skills include the ability to collaborate as a member of a team or work independently, as
appropriate; communicate effectively; maintain a positive attitude; and contribute to the overarching
goals of the workplace.

Personal qualities that contribute to effective relationships include responsibility, self-discipline,

flexibility, integrity, and initiative. Other essential qualities are a sense of professionalism and self-worth;
willingness to learn; and acceptance of responsibility for one's own personal growth.

Workplace skills are the abilities employees need to successfully accomplish work tasks. Workplace
skills include:

Resource management skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by managing time
and other resources.

Information-use skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by understanding,

evaluating, and using a variety of information.

Communication skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by communicating

effectively with others in multiple formats.

Systems thinking skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by understanding
relationships among the components of a system.

Technology-use skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by applying information
technology appropriately and effectively.
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Applied knowledge is the thoughtful integration of academic knowledge and technical skills, put to
practical use in the workplace.
Applied knowledge falls into two main areas:

Applied academic skills enable employees to put skills based on academic disciplines and learning—
such as reading, writing, mathematical strategies and procedures, and scientific principles and
procedures— to practical use in the workplace.

Critical-thinking skills enable employees to analyze, reason, solve problems, plan, organize, and make
sound decisions in their work.
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Appendix D. Invitations & Consents

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Dear Hiring Agent:

My name is Patty Hernandez and I am a doctoral student at Edgewood College. For my dissertation, I am interested
in investigating employers’ perceptions of employability skills and their importance in the manufacturing,
hospitality & tourism, and health care business and industry sectors in a county in the Midwest. The findings will
add to the body of research on the importance of employability skills to increase workforce and economic
development that will help fill the talent pipeline.
I am inviting you to participate in this study by completing the survey using the link provided because you have
been identified as the person who hires employees to work in your company and you work for a manufacturing,
hospitality & tourism, or health care company in a county in the Midwest. Please open the consent form link to
learn how you will give consent to participate.
The survey will require approximately 3 to 5 minutes to complete. You may decline altogether, or once you have
opened the survey, you may opt-out by closing the link. Your responses will remain confidential. Data from this
research will be kept in a password-protected computer and I will receive results of all surveys in aggregate so no
identification of individuals’ responses will be possible.
Completion of the survey will indicate your willingness to participate in this study. You may refuse to participate
in this investigation or withdraw your consent and discontinue participation in this study without any penalty and
may simply close the browser window to withdraw. If you require additional information or have questions, please
contact me at the number listed below.

Patty Hernandez
608-743-5059
[email protected]

Advisor: Bette Lang, EdD

608-758-8985
[email protected]

If you have any questions or concerns and would like to talk with someone other than the research or advisor,
please feel free to contact the Edgewood College Human Participants Review Board via [email protected].
Copy of this form is available for you at your request.
Please click the link to proceed: https://edgewood.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0uk1D1Rn0pO5U2N
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Reminder email sent once during survey window)

Thank you to those of you who completed my survey. This email is a reminder that the survey window will be
open until _____ and I would really appreciate your participation. Thanks in advance for taking the time to
complete my survey. You are helping add to the literature on the importance of employability skills.

You can access the survey link here: ______

Thank you for your time and attention.

Researcher: Patty Hernandez

608-743-5059
[email protected]

Advisor: Bette Lang, EdD

608-758-8985
[email protected]
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Appendix E. Approvals
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Thank you for your submission of New Project materials for this project. The Edgewood College Institutional
Review Board (IRB) has APPROVED your submission. This approval is based on an appropriate risk/benefit ratio
and a project design wherein the risks have been minimized. All research must be conducted in accordance with
this approved submission. This submission has received Expedited Review based on the applicable federal
regulation.
Please note that all research records must be retained for a minimum of three years after the completion of the
project.
If you have any questions, please contact David Lambert at 608.663.2304 or [email protected]. Please
include your project title and reference number in all correspondence with this committee.

This letter has been electronically signed in accordance with all applicable regulations, and a copy is retained
within Edgewood College Institutional Review Board (IRB)'s records.
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Appendix F. McGarry Employability-Skills Survey

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Appendix G. Data & Analyses

Table G1. Employability Skills

Skill Frequency %
Applied Academic
• Yes 39 84.8
• No 7 15.2
Critical Thinking
• Yes 20 43.5
• No 26 56.5
Interpersonal
• No 15 32.6
• Yes 31 67.4
Personal Qualities
• No 13 38.3
• Yes 33 71.7
Resource Management
• No 40 87
• Yes 6 13
Information-use Skills
• No 41 89.1
• Yes 5 10.9
Communication Skills
• No 27 58.7
• Yes 19 41.3
System Thinking Skills
• No 40 87
• Yes 6 13
Technology-use Skills
• No 42 91.3
• Yes 4 8.7
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Table G2. ANOVA & Post-Hoc

Skill Sector n M SD df* F Sig. n2

Applied Academic HC 5 1.60 0.89 2 3.39 0.04 0.04
HTM 22 3.50 1.90 43
MFG 19 2.47 1.61
Total 46 2.87 1.8 45

Critical Thinking HC 5 1.00 0 2 4.07 0.02 0.16

HTM 22 42
MFG 18
Total 45 44

Interpersonal Skills HC 5 1.00 0.00 2 1.95 .16 0.08

HTM 22 2.91 2.37 43
MFG 19 2.00 2.16
Total 46 2.33 2.21 45

Personal Qualities HC 5 1.20 0.45 2 1.57 0.22 0.07

HTM 22 2.95 2.50 43
MFG 19 2.11 2.13
Total 46 2.41 2.26

Resource Management HC 5 1.80 0.84 2 1.99 0.15 0.08

HTM 22 3.45 2.20 43
MFG 18 2.53 1.87
Total 46 2.89 2.01 45

Information Use HC 5 1.60 0.55 2 1.45 0.25 0.06

HTM 22 3.23 2.02 42
MFG 18 2.78 2.07
Total 45 2.87 1.97 44

Communication HC 5 1.20 0.45 2 3.00 0.06 0.12

HTM 22 3.27 2.07 43
MFG 18 2.21 1.97
Total 45 2.64 2.03 45
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Skill Sector n M SD df* F Sig. n2

System Thinking HC 5 2.80 0.45 2 0.72 0.50 0.03
HTM 22 3.27 1.58 43
MFG 19 2.74 1.52
Total 46 3.00 1.48 45

Technology-Use HC 5 2.60 1.14 2 1.60 0.22 0.07

HTM 22 3.14 1.56 42
MFG 19 2.61 1.52
Total 45 3.00 1.52 44

Legend: HC = Health-care-industry sector

HTM = hospitality & tourism industry sector
MFG = manufacturing industry sector
* between & within groups
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Table G3. Code Book

Code Skill Definition Examples

INTER Interpersonal Includes the ability to collaborate as a Teamwork and works well with
Skills member of a team or work others; responds to customer
independently, as appropriate; needs; exercises leadership;
communicate effectively; maintain a resolves conflict; and respects
positive attitude; and contribute to the individual differences.
overarching goals of the workplace.
PER QUAL Personal Qualities Contribute to effective relationships Demonstrate responsibility and
include responsibility, self-discipline, self-discipline; adapts and
flexibility, integrity, and initiative. shows flexibility; works
Other essential qualities are a sense of independently; demonstrates a
professionalism and self-worth; willingness to learn, integrity,
willingness to learn; and acceptance of and professionalism; take
responsibility for one's own personal initiative; displays a positive
growth. attitude and a sense of self-
worth; and takes responsibility
for professional growth.
MGNT Resource Enable employees to successfully Manages time, money,
Management perform work tasks by managing time resources, and personnel.
and other resources.
INFO Information Use Enable employees to successfully Locates, organizes, uses,
perform work tasks by understanding, analyzes, and communicates
evaluating, and using a variety of information.
information.
COMM Communication Enable employees to successfully Communicates verbally; listens
Skills perform work tasks by communicating actively; comprehends written
effectively with others in multiple materials; conveys information
formats. in writing; and observes
carefully.
SYS THK System Thinking Enable employees to successfully Understands and uses systems;
perform work tasks by understanding monitors and improves systems.
relationships among the components of
a system.
ACAD Applied Academic Enable employees to put skills based on Reading and writing skills; math
Skills academic disciplines and learning— strategies/procedures; and
such as reading, writing, mathematical scientific principles/procedures.
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Code Skill Definition Examples

strategies and procedures, and scientific
principles and procedures— to practical
use in the workplace.
CRIT THK Critical -Thinking Enable employees to analyze, reason, Thinks creatively and critically;
Skills solve problems, plan, organize, and makes sound decisions; solves
make sound decisions in their work. problems; reasons; and plans
and organizes.

Table G4. Themes

Instances Theme Exemplary phrases

27 Personal Qualities “willingness to learn”, “honest”, “respectful”
5 Interpersonal Skills “cooperative”, “fair treatment”, “relate to customers”
3 Communication Skills “express what you feel your strengths will bring”, “sit with them
and have a good 10 minute conversation on why they want the job”
2 Resource Management “multitask”, “business management are very important in our
industry”
System Thinking “need for system thinking increases as the level of the position
increases”, “understand how processes and people connect and
work together”
Critical-Thinking Skills “critical-thinking skills increase as the level of the position
increases”, “Being able to have a problem, think through possible
solutions and find a resolution to fixing it.”
1 Information-use skills “understanding company policy”
Applied Academic Skills “will have limited option unless they have mechanical abilities
learned and applied outside of school”
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Open-Ended Item Responses

• In the hiring process, we have difficulty finding candidates who can multitask and

understand how processes and people connect and work together. We find that a

majority of candidates are more adept at handling one task at a time and have a lack of

ability to handle and prioritize multiple tasks.

• My recommendation to recent high-school graduates is to be bold and express what you

feel your strengths will bring to the company. You may not always have all the

qualifications, but that does not mean you aren't fit for the position. Many qualifications

can be taught and some employers prefer that over hiring someone with all the skills, but

are unteachable.

• Dependable, reliable, family culture, responsible, motivated, willing to learn and be part

of a team.

• The gaps I see with recent graduates relate to interview skills and communication skills.

If I am going to hire someone I need to be able to sit down with them and have a good

10 minute conversation on why they want the job and why we should select them. Often

times I think they show up just thinking they need a job because that is what is expected

of them not realizing how seriously we take hiring.

• Attendance! If you don't come to work, it doesn't matter what skills you have. :-)

• Work ethic, the younger generation does not want to work hard for a decent wage, Most

want instant gratification.

• Patience and managing conflict. Being able to have a problem, think through possible solutions

and find a resolution to fixing it.

• Importance of good work ethics on the job.

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• A self-starter with the ability to relate to customers is extremely important in my field.

• Business management/Customer service skills are also very important to our industry.

• Useful traits in young persons interested in working with our organization would include

respect for the job, respect for self,

dedication, patience, willingness to sacrifice in order to complete the job, and fair

treatment of employer if the student decides to move on to another position. Always try

to leave on good terms.

• Dependable...cooperative.... willingness to learn and accept corrective criticism

• Honesty, integrity, respectfulness, humility also very important & seem to be hard to

find these days.

• Emotional Intelligence, humility and the ability to continually expand your skills are

crucial. Understanding company policies and how to resolve guest concerns within those

parameters is essential.