Things Employers Really Want

This was too funny not to post (and who doesn't love xkcd), but from a professional standpoint I've got to disagree - and also I need to defend my liberal arts education.

Year after year, employers tell us that the skills they most desire are not technical in nature.  Rather they desire employees with strong communication, teamwork, and problem solving skills.  Yes, technical skills are up there, but they're not the most important.  Following is the list of the employer ratings from the Job Outlook 2013 report published by NACE:

Of course, chances are that if you are an 11th grader spending your free time playing around with Perl you're going to do okay career-wise, but it likely has more to do with your intelligence, personality, and love of learning.

Following is the list of the employer ratings from the Job Outlook 2013 report:
Employers rate the importance of candidate skills/qualities
- See more at: http://www.naceweb.org/s10242012/skills-abilities-qualities-new-hires/#sthash.pqQ0N668.dpuf

Following is the list of the employer ratings from the Job Outlook 2013 report:
Employers rate the importance of candidate skills/qualities
- See more at: http://www.naceweb.org/s10242012/skills-abilities-qualities-new-hires/#sthash.pqQ0N668.dpuf