Tracing Skills and Personal Aattributes: Employers’ Demands from the Communications Graduates

This study identifies the employers’ requirements on the skills and personal attributes of the Communication graduates by analyzing the job advertisements in SunStar Daily newspaper, Sunday issues from January 2011 to June 2015 using content analysis. Results show that varied positions with no required experience and with experience are available. Several companies ranging from schools, publishing companies, hotels, car stores, and industrial companies are the prospective employers of these graduates. Moreover, the general communication skills, computer skills, organizational and planning skills, customer service skills, and team skills emerged to be very significant in the industries. Likewise, personal attributes such as individuals who are self-motivated, creative, flexible, and responsible are highly specified. Thus, the results of this study can be used as basis for curriculum evaluation and creation of training needs, and as well as craft a better understanding and compatibility between the industries and the universities producing Communication graduates.


Introduction
Schools and Universities are always under pressure to keep the curriculum up to date with the changing demands of the employers. It is a reality that most companies are putting high expectations to their employees in terms of their knowledge and skills. As Salleh et al. (2013) pointed out "Employers nowadays demand that employees be equipped with relevant knowledge and skills for performance and productivity." So as to meet this demand, these Communication graduates should possess the relevant skills required by their future employers. Thus, this paper endeavors to identify the most common skills sought in several companies for the different positions for the Communication graduates. The research arises from the need to determine the specific skills and personal attributes so as to better comprehend what skills should be focused in the undergraduate curriculum of the Communication majors. Hence, "employees are now expected to be competent not just in their specialized area or field but also in a wider spectrum of skills" (Salleh et al., 2013).
There are more than a few ways which employers post their vacancies like the internet job sites, classified ads in the newspaper or job fairs. This present study investigates the job advertisements in SunStar Daily newspaper, specifically the Sunday issues from January 2011 to June 2015. As a matter of fact, Rafaeli and Oliver (1998) aver that "ads are a vehicle for attraction and recruitment of individuals." Moreover, Giobbe (1995) alluded to in her article that most of the job seekers prefer to read employment ads in a Sunday newspaper. Even if the online job ads are already gaining popularity in this modern age, Barnes (2014) on his part expressed that "Many large employers that have been around a long time are actually more accustomed to posting job ads in the newspaper than they would be posting jobs on a site." This research was motivated by the need to better grasp the current and future employers' needs for the Communication majors. As future graduates in a prestigious university, a lot is expected from this institution to produce workforce that can meet the demands of the employers. Realizing this expectation, there will be now basis in updating the syllabi of the major courses based on the skills highly specified in the job ads.
Jobs appropriate for graduates with three or fewer years in the workforce were investigated.
The job advertisement data was gathered in 2006. The analysis indicated a wide variety of job titles. There was a high demand for technical knowledge and competencies, as well as communication skills. A core cluster of IS knowledge and skills emerged which appear to be in demand across a wide variety of jobs.
A study done by  focused on the trend analysis of job advertisements, specifically the technical skills. He used an American magazine Computerworld to find the most common technical skills sought in job advertisements for software developer positions.
Data were collected from every second year from 1990 to 2004. Skills were divided into five categories: programming language skills, operating system skills, networking skills, and distributed technology skills. In these five categories, the increase in distributed technology skills was very strong. In addition, the results about individual skills such as C++, Oracle, Java Server Pages, and TCP/IP are reported. Arcodia and Barker (2003) studied on the employability prospects of graduates in event management: Using data from job advertisements. To provide an indication of current employer requirements, a nationwide study of web-based job advertisements was conducted.
There were 105 job advertisements that analyzed using content analysis. The results reveal the range of industries that require event management specialists or skills, and a series of required skills and key attributes of event managers. Based on the results, a classification of event management skills required by the industries was developed. Also, the results were used as a basis for curriculum evaluation and training needs. was analyzed using content analysis. The researchers aimed only to position titles containing the terms like "liaison," "outreach," "marketing," "public relations," "communications." Two main elements of human capital can be discerned from job advertisements -skills and personal attributes. Skills are tangible and measurable and have been referred to as the visible competency component (Spencer andSpencer, 1993 cited in Baum et al., 2009 (Spencer and Spencer, 1993).
Examples of the skills mentioned in the job descriptions are: (a) Organizational and Planning Skill -Descriptions include highly organized, highly developed planning skills, high-level capacity in strategic planning processes, excellent organizational skills, ability in strategically planning events, ability to handle multiple projects, and ability to handle and prioritize tasks in pressure situations to meet deadlines.

Research Design
This study employed the descriptive method of research. The analysis focused on the different job positions available, the required skills, the specific descriptions of each skill, and the personal attributes mentioned in the job advertisements.

Research Data
Examples of the job advertisements that were analyzed were those that require a bachelor's degree in Communication, Communication Arts or Mass Communication. A local newspaper, SunStar Daily, Sunday issues were used to find job titles/positions, the most common skills, the detailed descriptions, and the personal attributes in the job advertisements. Data were collected from January 2011 to June 2015.

Research Procedures
Gathering of Data. The study employed purposive sampling procedure. The job ads from the SunStar Daily newspaper, Sunday issues were examined. The following criteria were considered: (1)   Several companies ranging from schools, publishing companies, hotels, car stores, industrial companies, and malls are the prospective employers of these graduates. In an international study that investigated 1,482 students in one of the American business schools concluded that applicants with no experience in a field will more likely to be accepted in known and prestigious companies. The reason behind this is that "larger, more prestigious firms are more comfortable extending offers to those who don't have much experience because they don't face too high a cost to replace workers" (Petrone, 2015). His study ascertains that regardless of being fresh graduates, yet a number of employers would employ them. On the other hand, Robillos (2015) suggested that when applicants have no work experience to highlight in their resumes, then, they can accentuate their college internships. Communications graduates where no experience is required, still a number of these companies would prefer applicants with previous experiences. One reason cited why most employers have a high inclination on this is because "employees with previous experience don't need as much guidance and hand-holding as inexperienced workers" (Striber, 2015). Based on the analysis of the job advertisements, various skills have been found and are perceived as essential by the employers to be advanced by the Communications graduates.

Results and Discussion
Since there is a growing demand for greater collaboration between the industries and the academe, these specific skills can hint the latter on the focus of the training needs to help graduates of Bachelor of Arts in Communications handle the challenges of the industries.
with the results of Kennan et al.'s study (2008) where they recounted that majority of the employers put high value on communication skills (e.g. verbal, speak, write, articulate).
Morevover, according to the People Management Association of the Philippines, the lack of effective communication skills is one of the reasons why job seekers are not hired (Rosero, 2012). Just like the communication skills, job advertisements specifying the need of computer skills is also a requirement by majority of the industries. Some of them explicitly revealed that applicants should be knowledgeable on the following: Adobe Photoshop, Pagemaker, and Illustrator. As a matter of fact, Latzko (2015) observed that applicants who are computer literate "have a better chance of being successful in a workplace" especially if they are "able to navigate computers and use common or specialized computer programs." As Communications graduates, one of the required skills by the employers is the organizational and planning skills. Lee (2015) rationalized that "employees with better organizational skills are more productive on the job." Moreover, she expounded that employees with good organizational skills will be a good evidence proving that they are serious, responsible, and are capable of doing larger tasks. Salleh et al. (2013) explicated that requiring employees to have good time management skills implies that the industries are ensuring "timely completion of assigned tasks and projects within a limited time". As Communication graduates, they have to possess with them the ability to deal with different people. Likewise in a survey done in America, 400 employers responded that "people skills are a top priority" for them (Forlaw, 2014). Also, "the demand for interpersonal skills indicated that employers are placing a high value on the ability of employees to work well with others and in groups" (Salleh et al., 2013, p. 6).  Arcodia and Barker's (2003) reasoning that "leadership style ensures that the team achieves optimum outcomes" (p. 8). Similarly when 400 employers were surveyed in the United States as to the most important skills, teamwork or collaboration cropped up ("Results That Matter: 21st Century Skills and High School Reform", 2006). Thus, this skill is deemed by the employers as "very important to success at work". Knowledge in administrative and clerical procedures Knowledgeable in publications, TV or radio Exceptional knowledge of marketing strategies, concepts, and practices The job advertisements posted in SunStar Daily also made mention of very specific skills they need from the Communication graduates. Since these specific skills appear to be requested by the industries, and so will need further attention by the schools and universities which will be relevant in the Communication graduates' future workplaces. Some of the industries can be very precise on what they aspire from their applicants. Though, the specifics may vary from one company to the other still schools and universities have to know what these are in order to address the needs of the industries. In addition to detailing the skills conveyed in the job advertisements, employers also articulate what personal attributes they desire from their potential employees, particularly the Communication graduates. One is that they are looking for individuals who are 'self-motivated' where they have this drive or desire to succeed and are also able to motivate a team to achieve certain goals. Moreover, creativity, flexibility, and initiative attributes are also detailed in the job advertisements. Hiring creative individuals denotes the creative needs in their workplaces. The flexibility attribute would infer that there are jobs where rendering over-time is a requirement. According to Marriot (n.y. as cited in "Results That Matter: 21st Century Skills and High School Reform", 2006) to be successful in the workplaces, it is not just enough that employees are knowledgeable about reading and have good math skills but should likewise have a flexible personality to enable to adapt to change.
Moreover, the ability to use initiative is also regarded important where the possession of a "forward thinking attitude" matters to employers. Ong (2015) heightened that the willingness to learn and initiate are important traits that employers in the Philippines would want to look for in the applicants.

Conclusion and Recommendations
Overall, the job advertisements that were analyzed from the SunStar Daily newspaper corroborate that both skills and personal attributes by the Communication graduates must go hand in hand because these two entail importance to various industries. Accordingly, the results of this study could be used as basis for curriculum evaluation and creation of training needs which will craft a better understanding and compatibility between the industries and the universities.
Further data collection and analysis should be done to ascertain the significance of these results. One is using the web-data which is also a useful tool to get the trends of the different industries' skills and personal attributes. Ample time should also be given to have a constant dialogue with the employers of the different industries in terms of their needs from the Communication graduates.
Most importantly, so as to bridge the gap between the industries' needs and what the school or university has offered to the students, the employers should also find time to establish closer partnerships with those institutions, particularly those which are offering Communication programs.Based on observation, the industries do not have a welcoming attitude for surveys and interviews such as this. For this reason, this study recommends that companies should have constant dialogues with schools and universities where they can provide relevant information about the needs of the industries. In this way, educational institutions are able to understand the jobs available for Communication graduates and most importantly, the skills required to achieve success at work.