Graduates’ Employability Skills Based on Current Job Demand through Electronic Advertisement | Chapter 04 | Current Research in Education and Social Studies Vol. 3
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.
Author(s) Details
Nik Hairi Omar
School of Psychology and
Human Development, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia.
Rusyda Helma Mohd
School of Psychology and
Human Development, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia.
Arena Che Kassim
School of Psychology and
Human Development, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia.
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