--- title: The Best Way for New College Grads to Snag a Job description: Survey of employers finds the job skills they most want to see on a recent college graduate's resume are leadership and teamwork. authors: - name: Kaitlin Mulhere role: Editor url: https://money.com/author/kaitlin-mulhere/ bio: Kaitlin Mulhere is an editor at Money.com. Since joining in 2015, she’s written and edited about a variety of personal finance topics, including banks, credit, student debt, saving strategies and more. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2015 articles: 217 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/KMulhere - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlin-mulhere-64503048/ published: '2015-11-09T11:00:33.000Z' modified: '2024-05-07T10:21:33.000Z' section: Career Advice tags: - communication skills - how to get hired - leadership skills - recent college graduates - resume tips - team work word_count: 287 canonical: https://money.com/college-grads-job-search-leader-supporter/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![a team putting hands in circle to show unity](https://img.money.com/2015/11/151109_coll_getajob.jpg) New college graduates hoping to make their resume stand out from the masses should demonstrate how they're a multi-threat hire: leader and supporter. That's because 79% of employers said they want prospective employees to be team players, second only to the 80% of employers who said they look for evidence of leadership skills, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook 2016 survey. When weighing the influence of different attributes on the hiring decision, [a candidate's major](https://money.com/collection-post/college-majors-hot-job-field-stem/) was most important—with a 4 on a 5-point scale—when choosing one employee over another. But holding a leadership position was nearly as important, with a 3.9 average influence rating. Involvement in extracurricular activities, a high GPA, and where a candidate attended school were all "somewhat of an influence" on the hiring decision. Studying abroad and fluency in a foreign language didn't have much influence. ![](https://content.money.com/wp-content/themes/money2018/img/newsletter/money-homepage-newsletter-120.png) NEWSLETTER: COLLEGE\_PLANNERSign up for **COLLEGE\_PLANNER** and more [View Sample](https://money.com/subscribe/) Other important attributes employers said they looked for on a candidate's resume include: written communication skills (70%), problem-solving skills (70%), verbal communication skills (69%), and strong work ethic (69%). Computer and technical skills were both important to more than half of the employers in the survey, while entrepreneurial skills and creativity were both cited by less than a quarter of employers. The job outlook report is based on 200 employers responses to NACE's survey. One finding college recent or soon-to-be college grads will be happy to hear? The same survey of employers found that 42% of them expect the job market to be very good or excellent for the Class of 2016 and [employers plan to hire 11% more](https://money.com/industries-hiring-college-graduates/) new college graduates from the upcoming class than they did this year. [![Best college education image](https://content.money.com/wp-content/themes/money2018/img/college-site-banner-02.png)](https://best-colleges.time.com/money/search-colleges/?xid=cm-mcpFindTheCollegeWidget) ***Read next: [Here’s What the Average Grad Makes Right Out of College](https://money.com/collection-post/heres-what-the-average-grad-makes-right-out-of-college/)*** ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/college-grads-job-search-leader-supporter/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Career Advice", "item": "https://money.com/career-advice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Job Search Sites", "item": "https://money.com/job-search-sites/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Best Way for New College Grads to Snag a Job" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/college-grads-job-search-leader-supporter/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/college-grads-job-search-leader-supporter/", "name": "The Best Way for New College Grads to Snag a Job", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-11-09T11:00:33.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/college-grads-job-search-leader-supporter/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/college-grads-job-search-leader-supporter/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-07T10:21:33.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "The Best Way for New College Grads to Snag a Job", "articleSection": "Career Advice", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/11/151109_coll_getajob.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 2100, "caption": "151109_COLL_GetAJob" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kaitlin Mulhere", "url": "https://money.com/author/kaitlin-mulhere/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kaitlin-mulhere/#author", "description": "Kaitlin Mulhere is an editor at Money.com. 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