Staying Competitive By Strengthening Connections: Factors Affecting Employer Perceptions of Community and Technical College IT Graduates

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Recent findings indicate that community college graduates in information technology (IT) face substantial competition for technician level jobs due to preference for four-year graduates by hiring managers, the trend to outsourcing IT positions and also sending them off-shore. Through surveys and interviews, the National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET) and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) collaborate to identify and analyze hiring managers' perceptions of community and technical college graduates in this employment context. The results are disseminated in a report, Staying Competitive by Strengthening Connections, that provides a foundation for educators to better understand how industry views two-year college programs and graduates, and helps hiring managers understand the capabilities of graduates of two-year college programs. The report should also help change the perceptions of hiring managers and help two-year colleges modify their programs. The research design and implementation are contracted to Market Decisions Corporation.