Southern University: Year 2 Data

Section 1. Background of Employers Interviewed for the Survey

This is the initial review of the 2021 Southern University Business Leader survey. Overall 180 business leaders were interviewed as part of this study, with nearly half (48%) of these individuals working at for-profit organization. One-quarter of those interviewed were employed at some level of government, be it the federal, state or local.

In terms of the number of total employees working at the firms/organizations represented in the study, nearly a quarter (24%) have fewer than 50 employees. Overall, 45% of business leaders work at places that employ fewer than 100 people; 34% work at establishments that employ between 100-500 individuals, while 16% work with the largest of employers, those who have over 500 people on their payroll.

The primary industry of these employers varied substantially, with a plurality working in the health care and social assistance field (22%). Another 17% worked in the educational services. No other field represented more than 8% of employers interviewed.

The location of the interviewers was split evenly between Shreveport (60), Baton Rouge (60) and New Orleans (60).

Note, the vast majority (66%) of employers interviewed for the survey did not know – or would not say – what their annual revenue was last year (question D4). So this variable will be of limited analytic value.

Section 2: Most Employers say the number of jobs in their organizations are increasing, but they are having difficulty filling these positions

In the past year, 52% of employers said the number of jobs or positions at their company increased (with 18% saying openings increased ‘a lot’ and 34% saying they increased ‘a little’), suggesting a number of organizations are looking to expand their payrolls. Notably, 56% of employers at for-profit organizations said the number of positions at their businesses has increased (either a little or a lot) in the past 12 months.

However, this has not been an easy process for many employers – with 26% saying it has been ‘very difficult’ to fill open positions at their organization, and another 49% saying it has been ‘somewhat difficult’.

The positions that employers had the most difficulty filling include healthcare positions (27% of employers who answered this question), “other job category,” (21%) and installation, maintenance or repair worker positions.

Over the next 12 months, most employers still expect to expand the overall number of jobs or positions at their company – with 14% saying they expect this to expand “a lot,” and 39% saying “a little.” Only 4% expect the number of jobs at their company to decrease. The top technical skills in demand were “other” (72%) and, more specifically, computer programming (13%) and accounting (8%).

Q4. In the next 12 months, what are the top three technical skills your company will look for?
category count percent
Other 129 72
Computer programming (Java, Python, SQL, Ruby) 23 13
Accounting, budgeting or financial planning 14 8
Engineering (Drafting, applied math, CADD, Autocad) 13 7
Management (Supervision, project management) 13 7
Public speaking or presentation skills 12 7
DK 13 7
Sales 10 6
Marketing and social media 7 4
Statistical or mathematical analysis and/or experience with software (SPSS, R, ArcGis) 5 3
Video/graphic design and/or experience with design software (Photoshop, PowerPoint) 5 3
Legal or policy analysis 4 2

Which area of the state will see the greatest amount of benefits from this general uptick in hiring? Without a doubt, employers in New Orleans are the most keen to expand their payrolls, with 62% saying they expect the overall number of jobs at their company to increase at least a little. By contrast, this figure is 50% among employers in Baton Rouge and 47% for those in Shreveport.

Employers most value the “ability to work effectively in a team,” when thinking about the skills or experience an entry-level employee at their company must possess, with 69% rating this as extremely important. Nearly as many, 64%, rate “time management skills where they are able to prioritize tasks and manage multiple deadlines,” as very important. Interestingly, technical knowledge or skills or even a general understanding of the company’s industry are rated as relatively less important.

Lastly, only 42% of employers said their company currently offers internships to undergraduate students.

Section 3. Familiarity with & overall view of colleges in Louisiana

Employers are most familiar with Louisiana State University, with 77% saying they are very or somewhat familiar (cooresponding to a score of a ‘4’ or ‘5’ on the 5-point scale). Tulane University, at 64%, is the second best-known school. Southern University (any location) is better known than most of the colleges tested on the survey, with 54% expressing some level of familiarity.

However, employers’ familiarity with any location of Southern University varies considerably depending on the major metro area their company is based in the state. In Baton Rouge, where Southern University has its flagship school, 75% of employers are familiar with the Southern University system. In Shreveport, only 28% of employers are familiar with Southern University, despite the fact that system has a campus in that city. In New Orleans, familiarity with Southern University stands at 60%.

Government employers (either federal, state or local) are most familiar with any location of Southern University, at 72%. A slightly majority of employers at for-profit companies are familiar with Southern University; while this number fall below majority levels for non-profits and other organizations.

Familiarity with any given institution tends to go hand-in-hand with holding positive feelings as well – in other words, the better known institutions are also those institutions employers are most likely to say they have a “very positive” view of (note: feelings about the institution were only asked of those employers who rated their familiarity as a 4 or 5).

Among employers who are familiar with any location of Southern University, 58% hold a “very positive” view of the system. This is just slightly below the 10-college median of about 60%.

Section 4. Attitudes about SU Campus Locations or Schools

Among those employers who said they were somewhat or very familiar with any location of Southern University, the majority (51%) are specifically familiar (somewhat/very familiar, or a score of “4” or “5” on the 5-point scale) with the Southern University campus at Baton Rouge. The other campuses are much less well-known, including Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), 37% familiar, the Southern University Law Center or SULC (36% familiar); Southern University at Shreveport or SUSLA (27% familiar) and the Southern University Agricultural Center or SUAG (26% familiar).

Familiarity with each Southern University or campus varies considerably by which area of the state the employer is located. For employers in Shreveport, 89% were familiar/very familiar with SUSLA, their local campus. However, only about a fifth had heard of any of the other campuses – with the exception of the Agriculture Center, where familiarity was 0%. In New Orleans, a majority of employers (53%) were familiar with their local campus, but few other locations.

The flagship campus at Baton Rouge was well-known to employers in that city, with 78% familiarity. A majority were also familiar with the Law Center.

Percentage of employers who are somewhat/very familiar with specific Southern University campus by area of employer
area SUBR SUSLA SUNO SULC SUAG
SHREVEPORT 18 89 24 18 0
NEW ORLEANS 33 14 53 28 17
BATON ROUGE 78 16 31 51 44

In terms of overall feelings towards the specific Southern University institutions, the Southern University Agriculture Center, though the least well known in general, views with the flagship Baton Rouge location as the institution which engenders the most positive feelings (with both schools receiving a 58% very positive rating from employers who were familiar with them).

However, the other locations are not quite as popular, with fewer than half of employers saying they hold a “very positive,” view of the school. Southern University of New Orleans ranks last by this metric – with 43% saying ‘very positive.’ It is also the only institution in this series of questions to leave a negative impression on one employer (or 3% of those asked). For the other schools, employers who did not report a “very positive,” attitude instead said they felt “somewhat positive,” about the school.

Section 5. Southern University Graduates as Job Candidates

The vast majority of employers (80%) said they would ‘definitely consider,’ hiring Southern University graduates for a job which they met the minimum requirements; another 14% said they would ‘maybe consider,’ hiring graduates from the Southern University system. Notably, 84% of employers who say they expect their company to add at least some new jobs (Q2 reviewed above) said they would definitely consider hiring graduates from Southern University. Only 2% (or 3 employers out of the 180 interviewed) said they would “probably not consider” hiring a SU grad.

There are areas of relative weakness for Southern University graduates, however. Notably, 67% of employers in Shreveport said would definitely consider hiring a graduate from SU, lower than any other group shown in the below chart.

Why would so many employers in Louisiana definitely consider hiring SU grads? The top reason is “student experience in the field,” with 34% of employers who said they would probably or definitely consider hiring an SU grad listing this as a reason. Another 33% provided “other,” as a response. The technical skills of SU grads is another top reason, as it is named by 26% of respondents.

## # A tibble: 1 x 1
##   resp.count
##        <int>
## 1        170
If a Southern University student or graduate who met the minimum job requirements applied for a job at your company, why would your company consider hiring them?
category Responses Percent
Student experience in the field (e.g., internship, apprenticeship) 58 34
Other 56 33
Student major or technical skills (e.g., Math, Engineering, Science, computer skills) 45 26
Student soft skills (e.g., communication, dependability, problem solving, leadership) 22 13
Student academic preparation 21 12
Employer experience with other Southern University students and graduates 12 7
Workplace diversity 12 7
Southern University reputation 10 6
DK 5 3
Refused 3 2

Why would an employer NOT consider hiring an SU grad? Only 3 employers in the survey were asked this question, so there is not a great deal of insight to glean from these responses. 2 of the employers cited “student experience in the field,” while the other employer was unsure.

Despite this widespread openness to potentially hiring SU graduates or students, fewer than 3 in 10 employers (27%) have actually interviewed a SU graduate or student in the past year. Still, this figure is better than most other universities or colleges in the state – only LSU (which has far more students/graduates than any of the SU locations, as well as any other school tested on the survey) has seen more of its graduates interviewed by employers in the past year.

Southeastern Louisiana University, the third largest college or university in the state in terms of student enrollment, ties with Southern University on this question.

Beyond these institutions, less than 1 in 5 employers have interviewed students or graduates from the other colleges or universities tested on the survey.

Among those employers who have interviewed a SU graduate or student (n=49), 51% said either most or all of the candidates qualified for the jobs at their company. This figure is higher than all other colleges tested on the survey – though the difference with respect to Southeastern Louisiana University, LSU and Xavier University is slight (slightly fewer than 50% of employers who interviewed candidates from these schools said all or most of these candidates were qualified for the job).

Section 6. SU Graduates and Interns who have been hired in the past year

About one-in-five employers (17%) said they hired AT LEAST one SU graduate in the past THREE years. Another 42% of employers said they hired no graduates, while 41% of employers were unsure.

In Baton Rouge, however, 32% of employers have hired at least one SU graduate, compared to 15% in New Orleans and 5% in Shreveport. Employers at for-profit companies are more likely to hire SU graduates (with 21% hiring at least one in the past year) than are government employers (13%) or non-profits (13%).

Employers who have hired SU graduates in the past three years (n=31), are most satisfied with the technical knowledge or skills and the creativity and problem-solving skills of these graduates (with 39% of employers saying they are ‘extremely satisfied’ a piece). Thirty-two percent of employers are extremely satisfied with SU graduates’ time-management skills; all other skills receive this rating by fewer than 3 out of 10 employers.

It is worth noting that none of the employers expressed DISSATISICATION with the skills of their SU graduates – most other ratings were ‘4’ on the 5-point scale. Fewer employers rated ‘3,’ (the middle option). None, though, selected the ‘1’ or ‘2’ options.

Still it is worth noting that the skills current employers of SU graduates are most satisfied with are not completely in-line (in rank-order terms) of the skills that employers say they most value in new employees (see Section 2 above). That analysis found the “ability to work effectively in a team,” as the most valued skill of those tested – a skill which is vies as the least appreciated in SU graduates by their current employers.

Even fewer employers said they have hired an SU intern in the past three years – with 8% saying they have hired at least one. 62% of employers said they had hired no interns from SU – though, as we have seen, many of the employers interviewed in the survey do not hire interns.

Section 7. Likelihood to recommend SU graduates

Of the 31 employers who have recently hired a graduate from SU, 48% said they would be extremely likely to recommend Southern University graduates to someone else at their company for an entry-level position. Another 26% rated themselves a ‘4’ on the 5-point scale; while 19% fell into the ambigious ‘3’ category. 1 employer (or 3%) said they would not at all be likely to recommend SU graduates.

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