A questionnaire listing 58 competencies in English was mailed to 432 administrators, vocational teachers, and English teachers in the 38 community colleges and technical institutes in North Carolina which were willing to participate in the study. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of each competency for vocational students preparing for trade and industrial occupations; 67% of the sample responded to the questionnaire. The competency receiving the highest ranking was "Listening carefully to directions from his superior." The respondent's age, sex, education, experience, position, and size and type of institution did not affect the rankings. Respondents tended to rank verbal competencies and obviously job-related competencies higher than writing competencies and competencies not as clearly job related. (Author/AA)