In the best case scenario college students should graduate with the ability to take on jobs as quickly as possible. This is an ideal we should continuously seek to achieve. However, there will always be a need for corporate training as education is often based on more broad skills. There seems to be a market need for ensuring that some technical skills are learned within the course so that needed job positions can be obtained.
A study of marketing skills needed for entry, middle and senior level positions found that there are differences in the skills needed between these career phases (Schleel & Harich, 2010). Of the 500 marketing jobs reviewed from Monster.com there was increased emphasis on ensuring graduates have increased technical skills among all levels. Entry level candidates needed more skills than marketing knowledge while more senior graduates needed to analyze databases and use industry specific software. Oral, written and team building skills were also important.
Ensuring that curriculum uses some of the most common marketing tools is important for giving students exposure to these systems for use when they finally work within their field. Theoretical knowledge is also important but becomes more important at higher levels of one's career. Entry level employees are doing basic "foot work" while more senior employees finding ways to use information to raise marketing effectiveness.
Schleel, R. & Harich, K. (2010). Knowledge and Skill Requirements for Marketing Jobs in the 21st Century. Journal of Marketing Education 32(3) 341–352
No comments:
Post a Comment