Important research reveals what employers REALLY want 
A MARKETING expert at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) is set to change the way marketing is taught after his award-winning studies have revealed that “experience, experience, experience is the name of the game.”
Neil Wellman, a senior lecturer at UWIC’s Cardiff School of Management hopes that the outcome of his work will be a blueprint for a new marketing curriculum with a focus on employability and vocational skills rather than theory alone.
His findings are in line with what was highlighted in the recent Jones Review of Higher Education in Wales, which said that graduate leavers need to be better prepared for work in terms of generic skills such as good communication, analytical thinking and the ability to lead. His paper won the best prize for the education track at the recent Academy of Marketing conference.
Explaining the background to his work, Mr Wellman said: “After working as a marketing practitioner, you realise when you start to teach the subject that it is very academic and you recognise that there are gaps between the theory and the practice. I completed a Masters looking at this issue of the gap between academic and practitioner, and am following that up with a PhD looking at the difference between what we teach and what employers and organisations actually want.”
The research found that whilst almost half of employers want a degree, not even 20 per cent ask for a specific marketing degree, and that around three quarters of employers rate work experience above all else.
“What the research identified was that experience, experience, experience is the name of the game,” confirmed Mr Wellman. “Even with a good qualification experience is a major factor. As a university we are tackling that because from this year onwards Cardiff School of Management will be making a guarantee that any student who wants to go on a work placement, including a full year out, will be able to do so.
“It all really hangs on something called employability; these are the things to do not with ‘do you have enough knowledge to pass the exam’ but ‘can you apply what you know to real work situations?’ Also things like transferable employability skills; a whole raft of these to do with team work, communications, use of IT, project management, managing budgets etc. Then there are personal traits, such as motivation, initiative and self confidence - all vital to a successful career.
“There is a bigger picture that this is a government issue. In Wales we have had the Jones Review of Higher Education in Wales where there is a specific initiative or objective for employability, and it points out the importance of these employability skills as a specific recommendation.
“The whole purpose of this project is to improve the curriculum and our courses to increase the employability of students coming out with a marketing degree - we’re adapting a good product to make it better. We are hoping to develop work on this with the Welsh branch of the Chartered Institute for Marketing, marketing bodies nationally and tying in with industry.”
For further information about the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, please contact Dr Lisa Davies, Deputy Head of International Office
Tel: +44 (0)29 2041 7034
e-mail: lisadavies@uwic.ac.uk
Web: http://www.uwic.ac.uk/