Perceptions & Expectations of Entry-Level Personnel

darkerosxx

Abstract: Employers hiring entry-level information systems personnel have expectations about the
entry-level expertise in a number of skill/knowledge areas including interpersonal and management,
technical, and general business specialties, in addition to established organizational hiring guidelines.
Furthermore, based on recent experience, these same employers have perceptions of the delivery of
this requisite skill base. In an effort to increase (or improve) stakeholder relationships between IS
hiring organizations and 4-year liberal arts institutions, we introduce a framework for examining
skill requirements from the employer’s perspective. Derived from discrepancy theory, the framework
concedes that employers hold a variable set of expectations for entry-level IS skills as well as a
perception of skills of recently hired entry-level personnel. This paper examines differences in expectation
and performance and describes the impact of this discrepancy on the IS entry-level hiring
process and the incorporation of this information into curricula at schools of higher education.

Results supported H1:

H1: There is an existing gap between employers’ perceptions of importance of
personal skills for entry-level positions and the observed level of expertise of those
skills.

http://isedj.org/6/1/ISEDJ.6(1).Tesch.pdf