HIGH POINT, N.C., Aug. 30, 2022 – As college students return to campus and begin a new academic year, High Point University has collected data from employers that can help ensure those students graduate prepared to be successful in the workforce.

HPU once again surveyed executives across the nation to examine which skills employees need to thrive in their careers. The survey of 500 executives at organizations of 2,500 employees or more reveals not only what leaders are looking for when they hire candidates, but also what employees need to get promoted and continually grow in their careers.

“High Point University is focused on rendering value for our graduates, and we regularly survey the marketplace to ensure we are preparing students for long-term success,” says HPU President Dr. Nido Qubein, who leads the First-Year Seminar on Life Skills for all freshmen. “The results from HPU’s second National C-Suite Survey once again reveal that the premier life skills we instill within our students not only help employees succeed, but also get promoted and continually grow throughout their careers.”

How to Land that Jo

Several data points from the poll reveal that employers are looking for candidates who have hands-on experience in real-world settings.

When it comes to landing the job, executives said that internships and experience-related roles matter most (41%) on a graduate’s resume, followed by degree of study (27%) and a high GPA (24%).

That may be because certain life skills attained only through experience are important to hiring managers. Executive leaders said that a lack of emotional intelligence and people skills (64%) in a new college graduate would make them more hesitant to hire that person than a lack of technical skills (36%).

Life Skills Are Crucial

According to the executives polled, success on the job is highly dependent on a person’s level of life skills, such as motivation, coachability and emotional intelligence. For example, executives were asked: When you hire new college graduates, what are the reasons they succeed? Executives said college graduates succeed because they are motivated (26%), they are coachable (25%), or they have high technical capabilities (25%).

Executives were also asked: Which is the single most important reason for recent college graduates succeeding at your organization? Most executives (53%) said recent college graduates who succeeded at their organization did so because they had a growth mindset and strong work ethic, while others (26%) said it was because they had a positive attitude and worked well with others. Only 22% said it was due to industry-specific knowledge.

Life Skills Are In Demand and Harder to Develop than Technical Skills

The poll data shows that technical skills do matter, which isn’t unexpected in light of the global pandemic and work-from-home movement. At the same time, leaders also said it’s harder to develop life skills in their employees than technical skills. For example, 40% of executives said motivation was the hardest characteristic to develop in recent college graduates they’ve hired, while 25% said coachability was the hardest to develop, and only 19% cited technical capabilities as the most difficult to develop.

Similarly, when asked a series of questions about which is easier to develop – life skills or technical skills – majorities of executives always said technical skills are easier to develop in their employees than life skills. A majority of 75% said it is much easier to develop an employee’s technical skills than personal initiative, and 70% said it’s much easier to develop an employee’s technical skills than it is to develop their coachability.

Life Skills Lead to Promotions and Upward Mobility

The poll results show that a lack of life skills can cause employees to be overlooked for promotions in their organization. Of these attributes, 46% of executives said someone who doesn’t accept feedback and constructive criticism is most likely to be overlooked, while 36% said someone who doesn’t know how to solve complex problems would be overlooked, and only 18% said someone who doesn’t have the technical skills would be overlooked.

Executives also ranked on a scale of 1-10 how much stress it causes their team when an employee has a difficult time accepting feedback or constructive criticism. The responses averaged at 7.48, indicating it causes a high level of stress for organizations.

Here's a glimpse at some insightful takeaways from HPU’s C-Suite Poll. Because HPU is committed to preparing its graduates to succeed, the university also conducted a National Executive Poll in 2018 that can be viewed here.

“As soon as our students arrive, we are committed to providing the unique opportunities they need to stand out to employers and graduate schools,” says Dr. Doug Hall, Vice President for Career and Professional Development. “These range from working closely with a career advisor, to networking with global leaders like Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak and practicing job interviews over dinner at 1924 PRIME or Alo. Our entire campus is committed to career preparation and premier life skills education.”

Of these accomplishments, which is most important to you on a recent college graduate’s resume?

Internships/work experience/leadership roles – 41%

Degree of study – 27%

High GPA – 24%

Volunteerism/community service – 8%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Which is the single most important reason for recent college graduates succeeding at your organization?

They had a growth mindset and strong work ethic – 53%

They had a positive attitude and worked well with others – 26%

They had industry-specific knowledge – 22%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

When you hire new college graduates, what are the reasons they succeed?

Motivation – 26%

Coachability – 25%

Technical Skills – 25%

Emotional intelligence – 20%

Temperament – 4%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Of these characteristics, which are the hardest to develop in recent college graduates you hire?

They are motivated – 40%

They are coachable – 25%

They have high technical capabilities – 19%

They work well with others – 16%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Of these attributes, which would most likely cause an employee to be overlooked for a promotion at your organization?

Doesn’t accept feedback and constructive criticism – 46%

Doesn’t know how to solve complex problems – 36%

Doesn’t have the technical skills needed – 18%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Which of these reasons would make you most hesitant about hiring a new college graduate?

Lack of emotional intelligence and people skills – 64%

Lack of technical skills – 36%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Which trait is easier to develop in an employee?

Technical skills – 75%

Personal initiative – 25%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Which trait is easier to develop in an employee?

Technical skills – 70%

Coachability – 30%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Which trait is easier to develop in an employee?

Technical skills – 69%

Motivation – 32%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Which trait is easier to develop in an employee?

Technical skills – 74%

Emotional Intelligence – 26%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Which trait is easier to develop in an employee?

Technical skills – 76%

Temperament – 24%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Which trait is easier to develop in an employee?

Technical skills – 61%

A Positive Attitude – 39%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Do you think that interacting with a candidate in an interview setting outside of the office, such as a coffee shop or a restaurant, reveals important aspects of their personality which could provide a sense of how they might handle themselves on the job?

Yes – 91%

No – 9%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Are you likely to say this phrase to a recent college graduate you hire? “I need you to figure this problem out.”

Yes – 84%

No – 16%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Do you agree with this statement? It doesn’t matter what your job title is, everybody’s in sales.

Yes – 63%

No – 37%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

Regardless of job title, do you think all members of your team are responsible for sales or company’s bottom line?

Yes – 78%

No – 22%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

When you’re interviewing recent college graduates, do you think about how comfortable you would be with the candidate representing your company with clients?

Yes – 97%

No – 3%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being high and 1 being low, how much stress does it cause you or your team when an employee has a difficult time accepting feedback or constructive criticism?

Average = 7.48

1 – 1%

2 – 3%

3 – 4%

4 – 4%

5 – 9%

6 – 7%

7 – 13%

8 – 19%

9 – 18%

10 – 22%

(Online interviews with C-Level Executives at U.S. companies, surveyed May 12 – May 23, n = 503)

This HPU survey of C-Level executives was fielded online between May 12 – 23, 2022. The responses are from 503 C-Level executives at organizations with 2,500 employees or more, recruited by dynata. The HPU Survey Research Center contracted with dynata to acquire the sample and fielded the online survey using HPU’s Qualtrics platform. Since this online sampling is from a panel of respondents, their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classical margin of sampling error for the results. The data is not weighted. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional error into the findings of opinion polls. Details from this survey are available here.