Trends in Advertised SCANS Competencies: Technology, Interpersonal, and Basic Communication Job Skills, 1992–1996

✍ Scribed by ALEXA BRYANS NORTH; WILLIAM E. WORTH

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 855 KB
• Volume: 35
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-0787
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-1920.1998.tb01001.x

✦ Synopsis

This longitudinal study was conducted to identify trends in entry-level technology, interpersonal, and basic skills related to communication using classified advertisements from 10 standard metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. Two competencies and one foundation skill were selected from the Workplace Know-How's identified in the 1991 U.S. Department of Labor's Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills [SCANS). Results indicate a declhe in the number of classifled advertisements speciflcally including technology and basic skills related to communication. Ads including interpersonal skills increased for a 2nd consecutive year, although overall percentages remained low.

Today's workplace is changing and competitive. The critical competencies and skills needed by entry-level employees are more sophisticated and interwoven. The repeated use of terms such as knowledge worker; informatson, resources, technology. systems, and worldeconomy are descriptive of today's workplace.

Within the context of this change, the US. Department of Labor Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS: 199 1) identified workplace competencies and skills-Workplace Know-How's-that form a foundation for success both for now and for the twenty-first century. These competencies and foundational skills have been widely accepted by educators as well as leaders in industry and government (Huitt, 1997). The SCANS Workplace Know-How's are presented in the Appendix.