A recent survey showed that three out of four employers say colleges are not doing enough to prepare graduates for the workforce. The 300 corporate employers interviewed in 2009 by Hart Research Associates said employees needed a greater combination of broad and specific skills.

Employers are looking for leadership, problem solving, communication and analytical skills, said Eva Gabbe, recruitment manager for the Sacramento State Career Center.

Students may already have some of those skills, and just not realize it, Gabbe said.

“Students need to look deeper at what they are learning,” Gabbe said. “For example, they don’t know why they are writing research papers, but it’s helping them prepare for the real world where they will have to write reports.”

The skills can also be learned through campus clubs and internships, which teach professionalism through networking and relationship building, Gabbe said.

“You have to find a way to do these extracurricular things. The ones who are successful find a way,” she said. “College is the time to develop these skills, because when you’re out there in the real world you’re expected to have them.”

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Recruiting Manager Donovan Davis said he looks for leadership skills in potential employees regardless of which position they are applying for.

“We promote 100 percent from within the company, and all of our promotions are performance-based. So I’m always looking for someone who wants to be in management,”saidDavis, who handles recruitment for the greater Sacramento area.

Davis said he looks for candidates who are successful at building relationships, and who have a positive attitude “every single day.”

Sac State alumna Jesi Whitehead, who owns Blank Canvas Design Co., a marketing and design firm in El Dorado Hills, said she looks for people who can help the firm grow within the community.

“The business is based on building stronger communities,so training candidates with the right capacity is an investment in the business,” Whitehead said. “We prefer to train candidates through internships, rather than outsource the work to build a strong foundation for careers within the company.”

The down economy has allowed employers to expect more from new recruits, Gabbe said.

“In the recession,employers are demanding these skills. It’s back to being their market. Five years ago it was the consumers’ market,” she said.

But Davis said he has yet to see a more competitive pool of potential employees since the recession.

“Attendants from job fairs could actually be a little bit better,” he said. “Some folks may not have a lot of confidence in the job market, and have stopped their search. Others may have decided to go back to school.”

The bottom line is that employers are looking for the same skills regardless of the economy, Davis said.

“Our standards haven’t changed. We’re always looking for folks who want to be in management. That’s what we were looking for when things were good, and that’s what we’re looking for now,” he said.

Whitehead also said her expectations of employees have not changed.

“We still need good honest people that are compatible with the company’s vision and values,” she said.

Ken Paglia can be reached at [email protected].