A recent edition of the “MTSU On the Record” radio program focused on the workforce skills of the future and how college students are preparing to meet the challenge.

Dr. Tim Graeff

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Dr. Tim Graeff, director of MTSU’s Office of Consumer Research, first aired Dec. 22 on WMOT-FM (89.5 and www.wmot.org ). You can listen to their conversation here.

Graeff and three colleagues, including MTSU marketing professor Dr. Don Roy, supervised focus-group interviews of employers in fall 2012 and spring 2013 to learn what they’re seeing — and want to see — in new job applicants.

The researchers conducted six different focus group sessions — one for each of MTSU’s academic colleges — to allow participants to communicate their specific needs in the same professional language

Generally, the employers ranked work ethic, oral communication and motivation as the three skills they value most highly in prospective employees.

“They’re looking for potential employees who really want to be employed there, who really have a love for that job and a love for that career,” Graeff said. “You could summarize it by saying that the most important ‘ability’ is availability and reliability.”

Graeff and his colleagues presented the interview results at the Marketing Management Association’s spring 2014 meetings in Chicago.

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

A video clip from the interview may be seen below.