Table 3. Means of transferrable skills during training and employment.
| Transferrable Skills | Doc Skill Mean | Skill Gap | Employed Skill Mean |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discipline-specific knowledge | 4.73 | 0.57 | 4.16 |
| Ability to gather and interpret information | 4.69 | 0.13 | 4.56 |
| Ability to analyze data | 4.66 | 0.34 | 4.32 |
| Oral communication skills | 4.38 | -0.21 | 4.59 |
| Ability to make decisions and solve problems | 4.37 | -0.22 | 4.59 |
| Written communication skills | 4.36 | -0.17 | 4.53 |
| Ability to learn quickly | 4.18 | -0.26 | 4.44 |
| Ability to manage a project | 4.18 | -0.24 | 4.42 |
| Creativity/innovative thinking | 4.12 | -0.11 | 4.23 |
| Ability to set a vision and goals | 3.99 | -0.25 | 4.24 |
| Time management § | 3.87 | -0.73 | 4.60 |
| Ability to work on a team § | 3.66 | -0.77 | 4.43 |
| Ability to work with people outside the organization § | 3.46 | -0.80 | 4.26 |
| Ability to manage others § | 3.26 | -0.73 | 3.99 |
| Career planning and awareness skills § | 3.05 | -0.52 | 3.57 |
Mean ratings for skills developed during doctoral training (Doc Skill Mean) and for skill importance for success on the job (Employed Skill Mean) as rated on a 5-point scale (1 = lowest, 5 = highest). Standard deviations for each skill ranged from 0.73–1.22 for doctoral skill ratings, and from 0.67–1.14 for employment skill ratings. A skill gap denotes the differences between on-the-job skill importance ratings and doctoral skill development ratings, where negative numbers indicate higher importance rating of a skill compared with the skill development rating. Adapted with permission [7].
§ Indicates identified skill gap