COMPARISON OF EMPLOYERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS REGARDING COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Abstract

Internationalization and fierce competitiveness have become the benchmarks of the modern labor market. Ever increasing demands have widened the roles of engineers in such a way that hard skills are insufficient and have to be complemented with transferable generic skills. This research aimed to compare the students’ and employers’ perceptions on demanded communication skills. 99 students studying at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology Osijek and 61 employers closely cooperating with the Faculty participated in the anonymous online survey. The results were processed with SPSS where the chi-square test for independence was performed. The results point to great discrepancies between the employers’ demands and the students’ perceptions on prospective employers’ demands. The employers demand well-rounded listeners and speakers who will pay a lot of attention to both verbal and non-verbal communication. They aim to create a productive working atmosphere expecting that their employees professionally collaborate, which the students are not fully aware of. Both the students and employers perceive conforming to business writing etiquette and skilful presenting as extremely important for achieving business success. The results point to the necessity of revising curricula and implement communication skills to meet the needs of the labor market.