The Value of Students’ Classroom Experiences from the Eyes of the Recruiter: Information,Implications,and Recommendations for Marketing Educators

Abstract

Marketing students represent their years of undergraduate education with resumes, which along with interviews, become the process recruiters use to assess student employability. This article reviews research on resume development and presents a study that examines recruiters’ comments about the value they place on experience in and out of the classroom. Most recruiters indicate that internships, part-time jobs, and leadership positions in university organizations are better indicators of employability than classroom experiences. Recent changes in marketing/business pedagogy have led to more classes in which active learning approaches with client projects, field experiences, and skill-building activities are used. It is a concern that recruiters are unaware of, or pay little attention to, these classroom experiences where real-world knowledge and skill sare developed. Suggestions are made regarding how to include more business-relevant skill development into our classrooms and how to communicate these classroom changes to both studentsand recruiters.

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