Student Perceptions of the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Desired by Potential Employers of Psychology Majors

For the vast majority of psychology majors who do not pursue graduate training but elect to enter the workforce upon graduation, a critical college-to-career transitional issue is recognizing the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) desired by employers who hire psychology majors (Landrum, Hettich, & Wilner, 2010). In the present study, undergraduates rated 100 KSAs according to their perceived importance to potential employers who hire psychology majors. These ratings were also compared with a similar set of KSAs rated by potential employers obtained by Landrum and Harrold (2003). Results indicate a significant overall relationship for the KSA ratings by the students and potential employers. Seven of the top 10 KSAs rated by students were similar to those rated in the top 10 by employers. While demonstrating the extent to which psychology majors seem to be aware of the KSAs desired by potential employers who hire them, we discuss the results with respect to how faculty members teaching the Careers in Psychology course can help students to better understand how the content of courses taught within the undergraduate psychology curriculum translates into those KSAs desired most by employers.