To determine existing employer perceptions of communication needs, or functions, and of the role of the speech communication major in fulfilling these needs, a 32-item questionnaire was sent to 85 personnel managers in the Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, New York, areas. Respondents were instructed to suppose that they were to hire a college graduate with a four-year degree that had specifically prepared him or her in oral and written communication, mass media production and analysis, and organizational dynamics. Given this context, respondents were presented with two separate 13-item indices: a performance by the college graduate index and a training of others by the college graduate index. The remaining questions were concerned with the the importance of communication skills in the respondents' companies. Results indicated that, on the whole, the personnel directors strongly endorsed the value of communication skills to their companies' operations. Mean score differences between those organizations that had implemented a communication training program and those that had not were insignificant. Interestingly, prospective employees' ability to train other employees in various communication skills was rated somewhat higher in importance than was actual ability to perform a variety of communication functions themselves. (HOD)