About a week ago I was attending a conference on international education in San Diego, California. Universities and educators from all over the world, all together more than 10,000 people, came together to talk about the development and internationalization of higher education. During one of the sessions I was able to listen to the thoughts of Jeffery Selingo, author of the book College Unbound, where he spoke about the future of higher education and what it means for students and internationalization.

There were many interesting points that Selingo made, but one particular point stood out to me that I was compelled to share with you here. Do you know what the top job skills are that employers want out of graduates from college?

Over the years, both as a student and also as a higher education administrator, I have heard many people ask this question; “What do I need to learn in order to get a good job?”. It comes in many forms, but in the end it always has to do with the student’s (and their parents for that matter) desire to land a job after they graduate.

Well, without further a due and based on plenty of research, here are to the top job skills that employers are currently saying they want from the graduates coming out of college:

Top Job Skills Needed

1) Written & Oral Communication – Communication is central to the world of work, when communication is poor or inadequate, the quality of that work – be it a product or service – will suffer as a result. This skills involves being able to demonstrate the ability to write concisely and with clarity to convey information and ideas in a logical and clear manner. In addition, you must have the ability to converse in a confident and effective manner with others from a wide range of backgrounds, emotions and prospective.

2) Managing Multiple Priorities (Time Management) – This skill involves the ability to “juggle” the urgent and the important within a world that is constantly moving. Managing busy workloads with heavy deadlines and lots of pressure is though, but it is an important requirement for being effective in the workplace.

3) Collaborating with Others (Ability to work in Teams) – This skill requires a great deal of interpersonal ability and emotional intelligence. You must have the experience and ability to work well with a diverse group of people, each with differing opinions/beliefs, and can successfully find commonality to work effectively in order to complete tasks on-time, within budget and based upon the desired deliverable.

4) Solving Problems (Conceptual Thinking) – This is the ability to understand a situation or problem by identifying patterns or connections, and addressing key underlying issues. You must understand the integration of issues and factors into a conceptual framework, experience, creativity, inductive reasoning, and intuitive processes that lead to solutions or alternatives that may not be obviously related or easily identified.

* Attention College Students – If you want a good job after you graduate, you had better be developing these skills and getting plenty of practice doing it! What is the hardest job skill for you to learn?