
regardless of the skills actually needed.
The result was the creation of uninten-tional
barriers, largely for women.
Innovative research and new data min-ing
and analytics techniques are helping
us understand these issues in a more nu-anced
way. Two recent studies show how
the expectations of employers and gradu-ates
may be very different. Funded by the
Ontario Human Capital Research and
Innovation Fund (OHCRIF), the first
study compared employer and job seek-er
perceptions of their skills and a second
study, funded by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council, examined
the issue of “soft skills” in more detail.
The OHCRIF study examined the per-spectives
of Ontario employers, Ryerson
University students and recent graduates
to examine their perspectives of the skills
needed and skills possessed.
Current students and recent graduates
rated their “essential” skills proficiency
highly. For example, 85 per cent of students
rated their skills proficiency in reading,
document use, thinking, writing, working
with others and continuous learning above
average.
Over 70 per cent of current students
and recent graduates believed that they
were highly proficient in “thinking skills”
(problem solving, decision making, critical
thinking, job task planning, significant use
of memory and finding information). Both
current students and recent graduates
were less likely to rate their proficien-cy
above average in numeracy and digital
technology, but this varied by discipline.
However, employers painted a very dif-ferent
picture. For example:
■■ While recent graduates perceived
themselves to be highly proficient in
oral communication (90.7 per cent)
and writing (93.1 per cent) skills,
employers perceive recent graduate
hires to be less proficient (47.6 per cent
and 39.4 per cent).
■■ Employers perceived few recently hired
graduates to be highly proficient in
digital tools. For instance, employers
found only one-quarter of recently
hired graduates to have a high
proficiency in Windows or Linux and
less than 10 per cent in website design
and development.
■■ There were also gaps in the assessment
of ability to learn on the job (93 per
cent versus 53.3 per cent); proficiency
with Microsoft Office (74 per cent
versus 50.3 per cent); proficiency with
Microsoft Excel, specifically (61.7 per
cent versus 50.3 per cent); and ethics
ability (81.3 per cent versus 48.2 per
cent).
■■ After salary expectations, employers
reported that the biggest challenge they
face when recruiting recent graduates is
finding candidates with the necessary
technical skills.
Digging in further, it seems that part of
the problem is a lack of clarity surrounding
the way in which skills are defined. Much
attention has been focused on so-called
“soft skills” and the critical importance
these have for workplace success. But a re-view
of more than 6,000 research studies
from around the world showed that there
was a lack of clear definition of “soft skills.”
Moreover, it revealed that much of the
research on the nature of soft skills has
focused on the needs of graduates from
science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM) or other professional disciplines,
such as business. Perhaps this is because
it assumed that social sciences and hu-manities
(SSH) degrees develop soft
skills through the course of their stud-ies.
However, there is evidence that while
SSH graduates may have important crit-ical
thinking and communications skills,
they may also lack the specific soft skills
required by employers.
The research from these studies has
played a significant role in shaping
innovative internship and training pro-grams
being supported by the Ministry of
Economic Development and Innovation.
The boot camp, coupled with paid in-ternships,
is designed to provide SSH
graduates with a leg up in finding em-ployment,
and to explore ways in which
their academic training can be augmented
with specialized training to improve their
success in the workplace. They may have
strong writing and communication skills,
but can they write a 250-word pitch, can
they do a five-minute presentation, do
they know how to present themselves in
an interview or to network with prospec-tive
clients?
The evidence is clear – university gradu-ates,
regardless of discipline, over the long
term earn more than others. However, by
using rigorous research and consulting
with employers, we can create innovative
programs that enhance our graduates’ job
prospects and provide the critical talent
to drive economic and social develop-ment.
University graduates are, of course,
only one segment of the job seeker market.
The new Ontario Centre for Workforce
Innovation (OCWI) will help shed light
on best practices in training and work-force
development. And more importantly,
it will help us gain better insight into the
skills job seekers have and the skills em-ployers
say they want in order to at least
bridge the information gap. n
Wendy Cukier is vice president of research
and innovation at Ryerson and founder of
the Diversity Institute.
business
IT SEEMS THAT PART OF
THE PROBLEM IS A LACK
OF CLARITY SURROUNDING
THE WAY IN WHICH
SKILLS ARE DEFINED.
36 ❚ JULY/AUGUST 2016 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL