EMPLOYER SURVEYS - 2016

Introduction

Every three years, UVU conducts two employer surveys: one survey specifically of employers of recent UVU graduates, the other survey more generally of employers across the state. Institutional Research & Information conducted the most recent iterations of these surveys in 2016. This report summarizes our findings, including significant differences from the last time we conducted these surveys in 2013. We spoke with 277 employers of UVU graduates and 351 general employers.

Key Findings  61% of employers view UVU’s quality of education as either Very Good or Good and 82% are either Very Likely or Likely to hire a UVU graduate.  UVU is tied as the fourth best university in Utah in terms of quality of education.  On-Campus recruiting has increased by 10% since 2013.  Employers of UVU graduates were asked to rate their graduate’s skill and knowledge in certain areas of their work and how important those skills are to that job. The categories rated highest in importance also had the highest skill and knowledge.  The majority of employers rated their satisfaction with UVU graduate’s work habits as very satisfied or satisfied.

EMPLOYER SURVEYS - 2016

Overall Quality The majority of respondents claim that they are either very likely or likely to hire UVU graduates (82%). Most employers in Utah give an assessment of UVU’s quality of education as either very good or good (61%). The remaining respondents either rated UVU’s quality of education as satisfactory (5%) or claimed they didn’t know (35%).

UVU Compared to Other Schools

On average, employers ranked UVU’s quality of education as lower than U of U, BYU and USU. They ranked WSU the same and ranked UVU higher than Dixie, SLCC, and Snow. Employer Rankings of Educational Quality Compared to UVU Average Quality Score (-2=Much Lower than UVU 0=Same as UVU, 2=Much Higher than UVU)

0.8 University of Utah 0.8 0.8 BYU 0.9 0.4 USU 0.4 0.3 Westminster 0.3 0.0 WSU 0.1 -0.1 -0.2 SUU -0.3 -0.7 USU East -0.4 -0.5 Dixie -0.6 -0.6 Salt Lake Community College -0.7 -0.6 Snow College -0.8 -0.8 University of Phoenix -0.9 -1 Art Institute of SLC -1.1 -1.1 Provo / Eagle Gate College -1.2 -1.1 Stevens-Henager College

-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

2016 2013

Compared with the survey from 2013, there wasn’t much change. However, employers didn’t rank BYU’s quality of education as high as they did in 2013 and Weber State is now considered about the same (rounded down from .04). USU East has risen significantly.

EMPLOYER SURVEYS - 2016

On-Campus Recruiting

About 45% percent of employers say they use on-campus recruiting. This is an increase from 2013 where only 35% of employers reported using on-campus recruiting.

Some of the most common methods of on-campus recruiting are posting positions on job boards (85%), networking with UVU employees (78%), networking through current students (70%), and on-campus career fairs (65%).

UVU is the fourth most popular institution from which employers recruit. (Table 1). Percent of Employers Who Recruit at each Institution University of Utah 60% Brigham Young University 51% Utah State University 48% Utah Valley University 46% Salt Lake Community College 45% Weber State University 37% Southern Utah University 22% Westminster College 21% Dixie State University 19% Snow College 8% Stevens-Henager College 8% Provo/Eagle Gate College 7% Utah State University East 7% University of Phoenix 5% Art Institute of Salt Lake City 5% Other 16.9% Table 1 EMPLOYER SURVEYS - 2016

Education and Employment

According to their employers, most UVU graduates (62%) have Relation of Education to Work – Table 2 education or training that very related to their current 2016 2013 responsibilities (Table 2). About 47% of employers also Very Related 62% 58% claimed that UVU graduates’ specific course of study was very Moderately Related 25% 21% relevant in their decisions about employment. Slightly Related 7% 12% Not Related 6% 9%

Knowledge and Skills

Employers were given a list of items about work-related skill and knowledge. They were then asked to rate how important each item is to the graduate’s current responsibilities as well as the graduate’s knowledge and skill of each item. Overall, employers rated UVU graduates as most proficient in the most important areas and least proficient in the least important areas. Employer Rankings of Knowledge and Skills Average Skill/Importance Score out of 5 (1=Inadequate/Irrelevant, 5=Ideal/Essential

Skill of Graduate Importance of Work

4.4 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving 4.6 4.3 Oral Communication 4.6 4.3 Overall Job Knowledge and Skills 4.5 4.3 Interpersonal Skills 4.5 4.2 Organization of Work 4.5 4.3 Conceptual Understanding 4.4 4.4 Computer Proficiency 4.3 4.3 Essential Functional Skills for Position 4.3 4.2 Written Communication 4.3 4.1 Essential Substantive Knowledge for Position 4.3 4.0 Leadership 4.1 4.1 Math Skills 3.8 4.0 Awareness of Cultural Differences 3.8 3.6 Understanding of Global Issues 3.2

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Compared with 2013, every category ranked by importance of work has either had no change or increased (average change of 0.1). Besides Organization of Work (difference of -0.1), every category has either had no change or increased (average change 0.0). EMPLOYER SURVEYS - 2016

Work Habits

We asked employers how satisfied they were with the work habits of their UVU-graduate employee. They were highly satisfied in all areas except “Entrepreneurial and Innovative Behavior” which was marked with the lowest rating. Employer Satisfaction with UVU Graduates' Work Habits

Very Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Unsatisfied Very Unsatisfied

Ethical Behavior 75% 21% 3%

Willingness to Learn 69% 27% 4%

Accpetance of Work Responsibilities 66% 28% 5%

Ability to Work as a Team Member 64% 28% 7%

Respect for Others and Their Ideas 62% 32% 5%

High Personal Standards for Work Performance 60% 30% 8%

Quality of Work 59% 36% 3%

Ability to Work with People Unlike Themselves 56% 36% 7%

Taking Initiative 56% 31% 10%

Application of Knowledge to Work Situations 56% 39% 3%

Entrepreneurial and Innovative Behavior 39% 37% 21%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Compared with 2013, “Entrepreneurial and Innovative Behavior” remains the lowest rating. In 2013, 38% of employers were very satisfied with UVU graduates’ entrepreneurial and innovative behavior, while 41% were satisfied.