The Employers’ View of “Work-Ready” Graduates: A Study of Advertisements for Marketing Jobs in Australia

Graduate Employability Research in Australia

Extant research focuses on business graduates as one combined cohort, and is almost entirely nonspecific to marketing. In addition, the United Kingdom and the United States dominate the employability literature, and scholarly work from other parts of the world is lacking, including Australia. The two most prolific Australian authors are Denise Jackson (2010, 2014a, 2014b, 2016), and Stephen Billett (2013, 2014, 2015), who advocates for far greater vocational orientation in higher education. Other Australian contributors include Treleaven and Voola (2008), who recommended “graduate attributes are expressed as learning outcomes and aligned with assessment criteria” (p. 160), and Gow & McDonald (2000), whose factor analysis study found four attributes could increase employment prospects: adaptability to changing work environments, cross-cultural competence, accountability, and business management skills. Of the Australian works, only two papers examine marketing in particular: a study of 59 marketing course profiles to assess their alignment with eight preselected employability skills (Rundle-Thiele, Russell-Bennett, & Dann, 2005), and a gap analysis that found “basic but critical gaps” in graduate skills (Walker et al., 2009, p. 261).

Limitations of Graduate Employability Research

Because graduate employability is an emerging field of study, nascent knowledge still has some major deficiencies. First, is the substantial dominance of survey methods (e.g., Aistrich, Saghafi, & Sciglimpaglia, 2006; Allen, Kumar, Tarasi, & Wilson, 2014; Azevedo et al., 2012; Ellen & Pilling, 2002; Finch et al., 2012; Hodges & Burchell, 2003; Hyman & Hu, 2005; Jackson, 2014b; Jackson & Chapman, 2012; Karns & Abraham, 2009; Kelley & Bridges, 2005; Martin & Chapman, 2006; Gow & McDonald, 2000; Nair & Mertova, 2009; Stephens, Camelia, & Shaun, 2010; Wittekind, Raeder, & Grote, 2010). Surveys have the limitation of confining responses—and therefore, the nature of the possible findings—to variables selected by researchers. This results in a closed-loop process of knowledge advancement where a finite set of variables used in other people’s work is tested repeatedly.

A corollary weakness of surveys is the focus on general skills such as teamwork, communication, autonomy, and problem solving, which are variables that slot easily into surveys despite their indistinctness (Jackson, 2014a). Perceptions on the relative importance of these “soft skills” varies (Walker et al., 2009), but these are common attributes expected of any university graduate, and they appear fairly consistently “across several developed economies” (Jackson, 2014b, p. 221).

Another shortcoming of extant knowledge relates to sample selections. While employers are arguably the key stakeholder, their voice is absent from the sampling frame in many studies. Instead, the samples include students (Berman & Ritchie, 2006; Huang, Turner, & Chen, 2014), alumni (Davis et al., 2002), academics (Gibson-Sweet et al., 2010), marketing course outlines (Rundle-Thiele et al., 2005), recruiters and résumés (Barr & McNeilly, 2002; Weeks, Rutherford, Boles, & Loe, 2014), and career services (Farenga & Quinlan, 2015).

Content Analysis of Employment Advertisements

Aside from surveys, there is a far smaller number of studies employing other methods, including case studies (Helyer & Lee, 2014), in-depth interviews (Harrigan & Hulbert, 2011; Resnick, Cheng, Brindley, & Foster, 2011; Walker et al., 2009), mixed methods (Farenga & Quinlan, 2015; Finch, Hamilton, Baldwin, & Zehner, 2013; Martin & Chapman, 2006), and two U.K. studies that stand out because of their use of content analysis of employment advertisements (Bennett, 2002; Wellman, 2010). Content analysis of job advertisements overcomes the weakness of surveys, with preselected variables, by studying how employers explicate their needs, untrammeled by the assumptions of researchers.

Bennett (2002) analyzed 1,000 job advertisements in four occupations (general management, finance, human resource management, and marketing), and Wellman (2010) focused on 250 job ads for entry-level marketing positions in the United Kingdom. Bennett’s (2002) focus was on differences across occupational categories, finding that “advertisements for marketing and general management jobs were significantly more likely to demand initiative, motivation, and communication skills . . . (and) more prone to require IT and presentation skills” (p. 470). Wellman’s study is valuable for its focus on marketing specifically but it is limited by its U.K. scope, and aged data (2008-2009) in a discipline that is rapidly evolving because of the rise of electronic marketing.

In the United States, Schlee and Harich (2010) content analyzed 100 marketing jobs for each of five metropolitan areas, but their focus was on the relative demand for “conceptual knowledge” versus “technical skills,” for entry and lower level jobs, compared with middle to upper level positions. Content analysis has also been used in subfields of marketing, including sponsorship jobs in America (Diamond, Pierce, Johnson, & Ridley, 2014), professional communication positions in Sweden (Rosén, 2014), and event management jobs in Australia (Arcodia & Barker, 2002). The latter is the only known Australian research of job ads in a field related to marketing, although that study takes a tourism industry viewpoint, and is limited to 105 advertisements.

As a data source for studying employability, large samples of employment advertisements are possibly the most valid source for research, and though many thousands of job ads are published every day, “these apparently small and trivial texts have, so far, not created much interest within social science” (Rosén, 2014, p. 18). Yet job advertisements portray perceptions of the ideal applicant and (in order to attract the best candidates) the ideal company (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998), and provide “a social construction that responds to institutionalized conceptions about a profession and . . . its meaning in different contexts” (Rosén, 2014, p. 17). While Rafaeli and Oliver (1998) acknowledge that job ads may reflect the culture in which the ad is published, or the society to which the employer institution belongs, their global study draws on job advertisements from five different English-speaking countries, with no cultural differences noted in the content of job ads.

Because definitions and terminology in the employability field are still being debated and the data in this study are dictated by employers, this article refrains from offering any formal definitions. Informally, however, we align with the conception of “employability” offered by Huang et al. (2014), as “an individual’s potential to gain and maintain employment within the current labour market.” Because the labor market is constantly in flux, and also subject to both relative and absolute pressures of supply and demand (Morrison, 2014), this conception implies a willingness to continuously develop new competencies and employability skills.

The Sample

A qualified total of 359 graduate entry-level job advertisements were content analyzed. Of this sample, full-time jobs constituted 87% of the sample, part-time 7%, 4% contract positions, and 2% casual roles. The jobs were posted by a total of 18 industry sectors, with 59% from marketing, followed by sales (13%), advertising (6%), administration (5%), and to lesser extents, design, education, information and communication, real estate, and banking.

It was not possible to readily discern the size or major business activity of the employer institutions—for example, B2B or B2C, large or small-to-medium (SME), not-for-profit, or government—and therefore, categorization by type was not attempted. Research to determine the nature and size of those businesses could have shed further light on the data, but was outside the scope of this project.

In terms of the geographical distribution of jobs, 76% of positions (n = 271), were located in Australia’s two largest states, New South Wales and Victoria, and almost all of these jobs were located in their capital cities, Sydney and Melbourne. The aggregation of work opportunities in large cities is not surprising, but this high level of concentration reveals a poor fit with Australia’s population distribution. While 76% of jobs are located in the two largest centers, their statewide populations constitute only 57% of total (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). This implies that a precondition for being “work-ready” in Australia, with only 24 million scattered around the sixth largest country on earth, is a readiness to relocate.

Interestingly, a marketing degree (which is typically completed in Australia after 3 years full-time study), was specified in only 50.4% of the jobs (n = 181). Around one in five ads specified a degree in business or commerce (n = 72), closely followed by communications degrees (n = 68). Nearly one in four listed other discipline degrees (n = 86), including psychology, statistics, economics, engineering, computer science, education, or politics. This reflects the plurality and cross-disciplinary nature of marketing careers in the 21st century, bridging science, arts, and humanities (Australian Business Deans Council, 2011), and where broad knowledge and skills rather than specialist qualifications are valued. It also suggests the need for collaboration with other academic disciplines for access to, or tailoring of, their content knowledge and courses.

Consistent with other research (Martin & Chapman, 2006; Wellman, 2010), previous work experience was highly valued, with 48.5% of ads (n = 174) requesting applicants with experience. This is substantial and suggests the need for far greater integration of undergraduate study with initiatives that deliver hands-on practice, including work integrated learning and internships. Employers were often looking for candidates with 1 to 3 years of experience in roles including sales and sales support, digital marketing and social media, customer service, communications, research, and general marketing experience. While university curricula cover most of these areas, lack of practical experience may limit the competitiveness of job seekers.

The following section addresses the research question set for this study: What are the specific skills and attributes employers want in candidates for graduate marketing jobs in Australia? The findings support the top six attributes found in Bennett’s research (communication, IT, organization, teamwork, interpersonal, and motivation), and also the top synonymous variables in Wellman’s (2010) study (being organized, communication skills, IT, and teamwork). For ease of discussion, the findings of this study are clustered under three main types: generic, personal, and occupational.

Generic Skills Demanded by Employers

Generic skills, as implied by their name, are not specific to marketing, and include the core or key skills “beyond disciplinary content knowledge, which are applicable in a range of contexts and are acquired as a result of completing any undergraduate degree” (Barrie, 2007, p. 440). The most frequently demanded ability was for superior communication skills, particularly writing (n = 152), and verbal proficiency (n = 126). The need for writing talent was repeated throughout the data for a wide range of genres including blogs, social media, websites, flyers, and newsletters for both internal and external audiences. This signals a serious syllabi shortfall, since marketing courses often cultivate only business writing skills, and writing remains a by-product, rather than the focus. This suggests the need for subjects that teach writing skills as the key learning outcome, to provide practice particularly in the informal conversational styles needed for social media, blogs, and webinars. Other authors have also argued for writing courses to be developed for the marketing curricula (Bacon & Anderson, 2004; West, 2006), and there appear to be embarrassing deficiencies in graduate writing skills. The employers in one study (Stringfellow et al., 2006, p. 248) felt that the written work of their new graduate recruits “had to be checked for basic spelling mistakes.” Academics would know that feeling of doubt is well founded. Similarly, a gap analysis found basic deficiencies in graduate writing skill, including “how to write corporate emails” (Walker et al., 2009, p. 261). Communication skills in all its forms are paramount for marketing jobs, as captured in this typical quote from one ad: “Excellent customer service and communication skills as you will be dealing closely with the press, suppliers, retailers, staff and the general public.”

Consistent with Bennett (2002), general IT skills and a high level of computer literacy emerged as important prerequisites for applying for marketing positions. Experience in Microsoft Office (n = 113), including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, was specified in almost one in every three ads, followed by Adobe Suite software (n = 62), InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. Though undergraduates might use these programs ad hoc, such strong demand levels suggest the need to embed the use of, and perhaps training for, such software into the curricula as specific learning outcomes. Evidence of competency in these IT programs would provide valuable additions to the graduate’s work readiness.

The next most demanded attributes cluster around interpersonal abilities, including teamwork (n = 110), capability to network and establish business relationships (n = 99), and interpersonal skills (n = 73), and this is similar to the findings of other studies. For example, Finch et al. (2013, p. 681) found employers place “the highest importance on soft skills and the lowest importance on academic reputation,” though others have found the institution of study does make some difference on employability pathways (Li & Miller, 2013).

General administrative tasks (n = 86) were specified in almost one in four job ads, with such chores as document control, and other duties that graduates might find less glamorous than expected. This suggests a willingness to adapt to base-level office chores is a condition for being work-ready and, indeed, adaptability was one of the most highly demanded personal qualities. The sometimes tedious nature of job duties deserves attention and discussion, especially with today’s younger students, a cohort that has been characterized as having an inflated sense of self-importance and entitlement, and unrealistic expectations of career advancement (Jackson, 2010).

The strong demand for administrative skills, Microsoft Office (n = 113), and also general IT competence (n = 112), may reflect a high ratio of institutional types where employees need to be “all-purpose,” for example, SME or not-for-profit enterprises. Although we did not investigate the size or main business activity of the employer advertiser, the need for all-purpose employees was also suggested in descriptions such as: “Have knowledge of marketing trends and how they can be employed,” or “A good sense of business, particularly in marketing.” The demand for all-rounders and basic office work skills also raises questions about what we teach in marketing. As Martin and Chapman (2006) found “graduates’ frame of reference is the world of big FMCG business; they do not understand the modus operandi of SMEs” (p. 158), with SME proprietors remaining “sceptical about whether graduates really meet their needs.” On the opposite side of the exchange, “graduates across disciplines have been unaware of what SMEs have to offer, and have perceived an attractiveness barrier” (Martin & Chapman, 2006, p. 158, 161-162). This suggests the need for broadening academic curricula beyond the adulation of big businesses, to correct this bias, and raise awareness and upgrade the status of smaller enterprises.

Other general abilities such as analytical skills (n = 54), problem solving (n = 41), and creativity (n = 35) were specified in far fewer ads than the demand for communication talent and IT skill, but recall that these were entry-level positions. Tasks such as problem solving and analysis might suggest more senior staff delegations. Surprisingly, for a nation of high linguistic diversity where almost 400 languages are spoken (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009-2010), only five advertisements required an ability to speak a foreign language, with Cantonese, Korean, and Vietnamese being most demanded, mirroring Australia’s proximity and integration into the Asian basin.

Personal Attributes Demanded by Employers

Personal attributes include traits or qualities that characterize a person, either innate or learned, but typically not taught at university. Setting aside the generic skill of communication capabilities, these personal traits were in far greater demand than anything else. In descending order of prevalence, these were motivation (n = 230), time management (n = 146), attention to detail (n = 116) and, related to motivation, a positive attitude (n = 98). Employers used descriptors such as “self-motivated,” “proactive,” “driven to achieve,” and “highly motivated to be successful.”

Time management and the ability to multitask were also valued, as captured in these typical quotes: “Highly organised and able to effectively prioritise work and meet deadlines without sacrificing professional standards”; and “Sound organising and coordinating skills, including the ability to work under pressure, and the capacity to deal with competing priorities and still be accurate and attentive to detail.”

Independence, or the ability to work unsupervised, was the next most demanded characteristic (n = 97), and typical advertising copy described job seekers who are “Able to work independently and take responsibility and ownership of projects and tasks.” The ability to work with limited supervision, and the qualities of being organized, multitasking and attentive to detail, support the work of other researchers, who argue the importance of meta-skills such as organization (Bennett, 2002; Wellman, 2010), autonomy (Jackson, 2014a), and priority setting (Finch et al., 2012). Some of these competencies could be developed and assessed across university courses, especially since the importance of “soft” skills has been recognized by executives as equally important to occupational knowledge (Robles, 2012). Indeed, this research found such soft skills figure more frequently and are in higher demand than occupational skills, as discussed in the next sections.

Occupational Skills Demanded by Employers

Entries in this category are representative of the marketing occupation because they use terminology or jargon that is specific to members of the occupation (Rafaeli & Oliver, 1998). Overall, the data show the value of what we teach in marketing is vital and in demand, but they also highlight gaps, and the need to update and align university syllabi with the skills and experience required by employers. The results show similarities with the precedent studies by Wellman (2010) and Bennett (2002), but there were also major differences.

The main area of departure from Wellman’s (2010) research is in the skills that are mostly identified as occupation specific. Wellman’s study included nil findings that could be readily identified as specific to marketing, except for “customer care.” In contrast, some 7 years after Wellman’s analysis, our data show that digital marketing is today’s most sought-after occupational knowledge (n = 113), and the range of specialist skills in the digital domain is now substantial and diverse, including Google Analytics and AdWords, web content management, search engine optimization, creating, and curating social media content for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat, and e-mail and SMS marketing campaigns. One typical ad required this range of skills and experience: “A strong understanding of and experience in a variety of social media platforms; Experience with SEO best practices, Google Ad Words and Google Analytics; Experience in website best practice and content management systems.”

Other demanded occupation-specific skills included marketing project management (n = 46), marketing communications (n = 40), sales (n = 34), customer service (n = 31), and related to this, customer relationship management (n = 21). Other advertisers asked for general marketing ability (n = 41), which included descriptions such as knowledge of marketing principles, understanding of best practice marketing, and emerging trends in marketing, as well as the ability to create and adapt content to a wide range of marketing communications tools and media. It is worth noting that, with the exception of digital marketing, occupational skills appeared less frequently overall than personal attributes and generic skills.