Virginia Employers Speak More than 300 Employers: • Rated 21 different skills; • Submitted comments; • Offered recommendations.

Responses confirm national surveys.

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Skills Rated “Essential” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Positive Work Ethic Speaking & Listening Professional Ethics Teamwork Reading & Writing Diversity Awareness Reasoning/Problem Solving Technology Applications Health, Wellness, & Safety Understanding the Big Picture 96% 96% 95% 89% 89% 82% 76% 68% 67% 64% 2

Finalizing Virginia’s Skills List A final skill list was created in the • • light of: Employer comments; Current Career and Technical Education curriculum.

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Virginia’s Skills Include Personal Qualities & People Skills Professional Knowledge & Skills Technology Knowledge & Skills 4

Personal Qualities & People Skills 1. Positive Work Ethic 2. Integrity 3. Teamwork 4. Self-Representation 5. Diversity Awareness 6. Conflict Resolution 7. Creativity and Resourcefulness 5

Professional Knowledge & Skills 8.

Speaking and Listening 9.

Reading and Writing 10. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving 11. Health and Safety 12. Organizations, Systems, and Climates 13. Lifelong Learning 14. Job Acquisition and Advancement 15. Time, Task, Resource Management 16. Mathematics 17. Customer Service 6

Technology Knowledge & Skills

18. Job-Specific Technologies 19. Information Technology 20. Internet Use and Security 21. Telecommunications 7

Virginia Workplace Readiness Skills Are: • Targeted to the needs of the modern workplace; • Based on 25 years of local and national research and experience; • Attuned to the CTE curriculum.

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Employers Have A Role to Play

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Achsah Carrier

Demographics & Workforce Group Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service University of Virginia 434-982-5582 [email protected]

www.coopercenter.org/demographics 10

References Casner-Lotto, Jill and Barrington L.

Are They Really Ready to Work? Employers' Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce.

Society for Human Resource Management, in collaboration with The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 2006.

Martin, Julia, Achsah Carrier, and Elizabeth Hill.

Virginia’s Changing Workplace: Employers Speak

. Weldon Cooper Center. 1996.

Martin, Julia, Donna Tolson.

Changing Job Skills in Virginia

. Tayloe Murphy Institute. 1985.

Morisi ,Theresa. “The Early 2000s: A Period of Declining Teen Summer Employment Rates.”

Monthly Labor Review.

May 2010, 23-35.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

Framework for 21st Century Learning

. 2009.

Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.

What Work Requires of Schools.

SCANS. 1991.

Sum, Andrew, et al.,

Vanishing Work Among U.S. Teens, 2000-10: What A Difference a Decade Makes! Four Million Missing Workers in June 2010

. Prepared for the Charles S. Mott Foundation. July 2010.

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