Stakeholders Perception Of Recruitment Criteria: A Régnier’s Abacus Approach Of Market Valued Skills

DOCUMENTOS DE TRABALHO GESTÃO

WORKING PAPERS MANAGEMENT

Nº 01/2010

STAKEHOLDERS PERCEPTION OF RECRUITMENT CRITERIA: A RÉGNIER’S ABACUS APPROACH OF MARKET VALUED SKILLS M. Rocha
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto)

Eva Oliveira
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto)

Isabel Guimarães
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Porto)

Stakeholders perception of recruitmentcriteria: a Régnier’s abacus approach of market valued skills.

Rocha, M.1, Oliveira, E.2, & Guimarães, I.3 (2009)

Abstract Together with the emphasis on the technical skills acquisition, higher education institutions have been making an effort on developing and updating undergraduate transferable competences in order to diminish the gap between academic training and working world entrance. In otherwords, to recognize market needs, teachers and students representations about human resources requirements, and combine them to boost employability in business professions, must be a priority in today’s knowledge based economy. Taking into account the new teaching realities brought by Bologna agreement, as well as the exertion universities have been done in order to tune in enterprises andcurricula, this activity intended to accede the way recruiters, alumni and college teachers from Catholic University [CU; Porto Regional Center (PRC), Economics and Management Faculty (MEF)] positioned themselves relatively to some recruitment and selection criteria for management and economics professions. Using a reflection activity based upon Régnier’s Abacus, participants were asked to positionedindividually as experts (in their roles as recruiters, teachers or former CU alumni) in identifying market value skills, and afterwards to build a group debated conclusion to present to a larger audience. Results
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Psychologist Researcher at Catholic University, Economics and Management Faculty, Organizational Behavior Department, Economics and Management Research Centre. Post-doctoral grant(SFRH/BPD/47876/2008) sponsored by Science and Technology Foundation (FCT). 2 Regent of Multidisciplinary Project curriculum unit at Catholic University, Economics and Management Faculty, Organizational Behavior Department. 3 Regent of Economics Sociology curriculum unit at Catholic University, Economics and Management Faculty, Organizational Behavior Department.

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pointed out only one totalconsensual factor, that is, flexibility and adjustment skills as the most important factors when recruiting, followed by entrepreneur capabilities and valorization of work experiences in the candidates curricula. Discrepancies were found by group of experts when college of origin was the discussion subject, although there was consensus about the hierarchical place order in the three groups.Key-words: Market valued skills, Management and Economics College Teachers and Graduates, Employers, Régnier’s Abacus based activity

Introduction One of the topical themes in the global economy we all share is the matching between Higher Education (HE) graduates knowledge (at the end of their education degree), employers’ expectations concerning the first, and HE teacher’s apprehension about thedichotomy between specializations versus general knowledge. In fact, for the former, we can say that the division no longer exists. The graduates’ workplace integration requires solid technical expertise and a broad range of transferable skills (Evers, Rush & Berdrow, 1998; Harvey, 2000; Holmes, 2001). Accordingly to Boyer (2004), in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE)countries, the (old) new knowledge based economy had its beginning in the 90’s. This economy is characterized by a productivity significant growth, information and communication technologies production sector restructuring, and of course, for integrating flexibility, both in labour network and on the professionals’ mobility. The author suggests a triangular typology to characterize this economic...