SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
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What do employers want?
When one reviews the research literature, most often employers identify the
following skills in no particular order, as the most important.
Social Survival Skills -
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honesty, self-control, getting along with other
people, being a team player, maintains proper grooming, communication of basic
needs (thirst, hunger, sickness, pain, toileting needs) |
Vocational Survival Skills -
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Respond to instructions within 30 seconds, respond to safety
signals, initiates contact with supervisors (when cannot do the job, runs
out of materials, finishes the job, feels to sick to work, needs a rest,
makes a mistake), stays at work station, moves safely about the shop |
Basic Behavioral Standards -
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Works for 6 hour period, works continuously at work station
for 1-2 hours, comes to work 5x per week, follows basic work routine, does
not display major disruptive behavior, adapt to changes in schedule |
In summary, social skills and good worker behaviors.
Consider that you have two workers, worker 1 and worker 2.
 Worker
1 can read, do
mathematics and get to the work setting independently. The only problem is
that worker 1 has many social skill deficits.
 By
contrast, worker
2 is not a great
reader, has some difficulty getting himself to work independently, but has great
social skills and good worker behaviors.
Which of the two employees do you think is going to be the more successful
employee? Which worker will the employer be more willing to work
with? Which employee will co-workers have the best interactions
with?
Considering the above, which skills should you ensure your students
have in order to be the most employable workers?
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