Demystifying the impact of university graduate’s core competencies on work performance: A Saudi industrial perspective (original) (raw)
Related papers
Graduates' Employability Skills Based on Current Job
2012
In Malaysia, there is a profusion of evidence of high graduate unemployment since many graduates are found lacking of what are needed to acquire and to maintain their jobs. In this paper, graduate employability skills were analyzed based on four major criteria: qualification, academic score, experience and specific soft skills. The data and information used were extracted from 300 online job advertisements accessed via electronic databases at http://www.JobStreet.com.my from January to March 2011. A simple checklist form was developed to quantify the information from ads into quantitative data that was later keyed in the Statistical Package for Social Science for descriptive analyses. Based on the data, it was concluded that graduates with bachelor degrees were more likely to be employable due to high demand. It was also found that academic excellence based on CGPA was not the utmost factor for graduate employability. However, since less than one-third ads were free from work experiences requirement, fresh graduates only secured a little chance to be recruited. Another factor that limited graduates employability was high demand of specific soft skills requested by employers, among which were graduates with high quality of communication/interpersonal skills, foreign language proficiency, ICT/technical skills, high spirit of teamwork and specific personal attributes. Results concluded that graduate unemployment rate will continue to increase unless the Higher Education Institution (HEI) and the graduates are prepared to sharpen their soft skills according to market niche. It is suggested that the HEI work more closely with industries, professional bodies and society through the establishment of university-industry link cooperation that will become a catalyst for soft skills enhancement.
The role and the importance of competencies for the employability of University graduates
BH Ekonomski forum, 2021
The goal of this work is to explore the effects of various factors that affect the employment of graduates of the University of Zenica. Additional analysis of variables as well as the links between variables will offer the input information that can contribute to the decision-making process in the development of new curriculums. The survey was conducted in Zenica-Doboj Canton, which involved n = 47 respondents. To process data, the following programs were used: Microsoft Excel, SPSS and SmartPL S3 - SEM program. The verification of the validity and the reliability of the measuring scale was carried out by calculating the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. The review of the set of the hypotheses was carried out by the Regression analysis. The findings revealed that three hypotheses were accepted and one of them was rejected. The set hypotheses confirmed that the adopted expertise of graduates, the level of acquired skills and cooperation of the University with companies has a statisti...
Journal of Accounting and Finance in Emerging Economies, 2020
The quantity of higher education is rapidly increasing, but the quality is still questioned about provision of generic competencies among graduates. In order to increase employability of graduates the universities are making efforts to equip graduates with skills and capabilities to integrate them in the job market. The principle objective of the current study is to investigate the perceptions of university graduates about the role of higher education in the development of generic competencies for job market. A quantitative survey research design was used. The total 510 graduates were selected through convenient sampling technique from three public universities. The collected data were analyzed with the help PSL-SEM. The results showed the higher education developed generic competencies among graduates partially, hence not fulfilling the need to actual extent which is required in the job market.
Generic Skills of Prospective Graduates from the Employers’ Perspectives
Asian Social Science; Vol. 8, No. 12; 2012
Past studies on employability of graduates have placed great emphasis on the supply side efforts in generic skills development which includes the tertiary curriculum design and delivery mechanisms. However, the responsibility of employers in providing training to prospective graduates and collaborating with universities in enhancing generic skills has been raised. On the demand side, there are numerous studies that have examined employer’s perspective in the private sector but few studies have examined employer’s perspective in the public sector. The objectives in this study are twofold: (1) to identify employers’ perception of the ideal generic skills that graduate employees should possess, and (2) to elicit employers’ perception of the lack of generic skills that prospective graduates (i.e. industrial trainees) currently possess. A qualitative research design was utilized, involving primary interview data collected through 16 key informant interviews of employers in the public sector in Kuantan and Johor Bahru. These key informant employers were selected from the UKM’s social science industrial trainees who attended training at these two sites. These interview data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings indicate that there are specific generic skills in the area of information and social interaction skills that the public sector employers seek from the graduates. This study implies the need for a stakeholder-responsibility approach in prescribing a comprehensive normative solution to the employability of graduates. In addition, it also postulates that the culture of learning and gaining varied skills in different spheres of life need to be inculcated amongst students from early years
2018
Graduate employability becomes a severe issue globally; industry, university, and government blame each other for the matter getting worse. This study focus on new graduates opinion of important, urgency and their performance on employability skills required by the employer in order to be employed by industry. 1656 new graduates from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak participated in this study. The questionnaire used to gather the information, meanwhile the employability skills variables, emphasis on four types of skill; they are basic skills, applied, interpersonal and 21st -century skills. The data analyzed by using SPSS and descriptive statistics, correlation, as well multiple regressions use to answer the research question. The finding indicated that new graduates believed that the 21st -century skills were the most important factor to predict employment opportunity while the basic skills were the least important. The correlation results suggest that the perceived importan...
The Relation of Human Capital and Competitiveness Factor towards Graduate Competencies
International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development
Graduate unemployment issues have been related to unused human resources in the country. Mainly, the unemployment of graduates could adversely impact a high-quality and educated workforce. Hence, to answer the unemployment phenomena of our graduates, the research is motivated to investigate the graduates' competency issues in getting jobs. Based on the literature, graduate competency is viewed as the main factor for employment. To grasp the understanding of graduate competency issues in our country, this research has implemented a preliminary study to develop the scale. The competency construct that is specifically used in this study is to identify the influence of human capital and competitiveness factors that may lead to competency among graduates. A total of 30 respondents were randomly selected to represent the actual 384 sample size of the study. The respondents were Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) graduates working in several services organizations in Malaysia. Our findings for the reliability analysis of the survey items showed strong reliability of Cronbach's alpha values within the ranges of α = .735 and α = .926 for all items. Then, we ran a correlational analysis to understand the relationship between items. The results show that all items were significant at p < .05 with Pearson correlation coefficient analysis. To highlight one of the key findings in our research, technical skills relate highly to graduate competency (r = .564).
International Conference on Education
This paper analyzed the perceptions of Graduates, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Employers on Graduates Employability in Bangladesh. By using Quantitative Methodology, the study found that there is a significant perception gap between Employers and Graduates as Graduates strongly believe that scoring higher CGPA increases the chance of securing a job in the competitive labor market, on the other hand Employers give top most priority on 'Integrity' and 'Communication Skills' and advised that CGPA is used mostly for job applications screening purpose. Therefore HEIs should include 'Employability Skills' in the curriculum and assessment. Though few HEIs have introduced Outcome Based Evaluation (OBE), however these are yet to contribute in Employability Skills Development. The Existing Curriculum is not Employability Skills focused, so Employers and HEIs should establish a collaborative strategy for developing Employability Skills that will eventually develop efficient Human Resources.
Challenge in graduate employability is to match talent to the job. As for now, employers claimed they are having difficulty in getting the right employee fits their needs. Meanwhile, the new graduates face similar problems as they are struggling to enter the workplace market. As a result is uneven employment opportunity across different industry and sectors. The purpose of this paper is to identify the perception of employers and new business graduates on employability skills that urgently needed by industry, besides to identify if there are any gaps in their perception. Two sets of questionnaires were developed to assess of employability skills; they are applied, interpersonal and 21st-century skills. 299 organizations, 607 managers, and 700 new graduates participate in this study. Meanwhile, SPSS is used to analyze the data and descriptive statistics and ANOVA is usage to answer the objectives of the study. The result shows that the perception of employers and new graduates on the main employability skills urgently required by industry has different. The finding also revealed that there is a slight gap in score mean regard to the urgency of employability skills that required by industry. The study recommended that stakeholder in this area, higher learning institution, employer, and government need to collaborate to make sure employability skill that supply by higher learning institutions through their graduates match with industry needs and job requirements.
Business Graduates' Competencies in the Eyes of Employers: An Exploratory Study in Malaysia
wbiaus.org
There is always a gap between employers' needs and business graduate competencies. Hence, the task to bridge the gap is very necessary in order to equipped business graduates with a more competent set of skills. This study aims to empirically explore on employers' perception on important competencies in Malaysia banking industry. This second objective is to identify the actual performance of Malaysia business graduates by comparing their generic competencies according to which type of universities. A survey questionnaire was designed and administered to determine the perceptions of employers about the perceived important competencies and hiring preferences. A total of 45 questionnaires were distributed to managers of nine main local commercial banks in Malaysia in the period of six months. Response rate for this study is 71%. The gap between employer needs and graduate competencies were able identified. The actual performances of business graduates from different type of universities were also able to obtain. The findings from this study can be a significant help to the universities in producing competitive business graduates and industries at improving human capital capabilities.
A Cross Country Study on University Graduates Key Competencies. An Employer's Perspective
Procedia-Social and …, 2012
Job markets are calling out for change. Realizing the gap between the levels of university-acquired and job-required competencies and following consultations with representatives of employers from various industries and students, universities across the world have been working on development of innovative education systems based on skills and competencies.