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Results of two studies show that oral communication is the most importantcompetency for college graduates entering the workforce, and that the oral skillsmost important for entry level graduates are: following instructions, listening,conversing, and giving feedback. In the first study, 354 managers identified andranked the competencies and characteristics they consider when hiring collegegraduates for entry-level positions. Findings reveal that the top three competencies are oral communications, problem-solving, and self- motivation. No significant differences were found among industries, number of employees, ormanagement level of the responding manager. Based on the first study, Study 2 identified the most important skills associated with oral communication competency. From a list of 13 oral communicationskills, managers rated each skill according to importance to entry-level jobsoccupied by college graduates, and how frequently entry-level graduates useeach skill. No significant differences were found in the ratings on importance oforal communication skills. However, graduates in companies with less than 200employees reportedly handle customer complaints more frequently than graduates in larger companies, and graduates in companies with more than 200employees use meeting skills more frequently than graduates in smaller companies.
Weldy et al. (Wed,) studied this question.