Dive Brief:

• Can a 360-degree assessment tool help college graduates identify areas in their skills that are not meeting with employer expectations? Tom Conine, who writes at Chief Learning Officer, mentions that this may be a good way to ensure college students aren’t missing the mark. He highlights a Chegg study in which only 39% of hiring managers believe that college students are actually prepared for work in the real world.
• The disparities between employers’ needs and job candidates’ preparedness highlight significant gaps between textbook learning and ‘real life’ knowledge,” Conine says. Using a 360-degree assessment may be a solution for college students who want to ensure that they have what it takes to get employment offers post-graduation. 
• The 360-degree assessment reveals that graduates should focus more on soft skills, like conflict management and interpersonal skills, which are what today’s employers are looking for. 

Dive Insight:

The use of 360-degree assessments have been a long standing practice in many workplaces. But by using the assessment in an academic setting, Conine suggests that more graduates will develop the desired business soft skills that employers are looking for.

There seems to be a gap between what college graduates believe and what employers believe in terms of what skills are needed to succeed in the business world. The Chegg “Bridge that Gap” study indicated that students overestimate their skills by 10% in nearly every category when they self-evaluate. Employers are seeking a variety of soft skills in order to remain competitive, like organization, time management, emotional intelligence, and work prioritization, that are lacking in many new grads.

Any additional awareness that college students can gain is valuable in getting them set for career success, so the 360-degree assessment could be one of many resources to make this happen. It's a way for employers to be aware of what learning needs they will have to meet once graduates enter the market.