Employability Skills: Enhancing Future Employees Today

Abstract

Studies examining employers’ perceptions of employability skills acquired by higher education undergraduates’ students after their participation in Work-integrated Learning (WIL) programs are limited. Employers’ perspective with regard to applicability of WIL programme is important to ensure undergraduates are provided with the relevant skills; to facilitate the transfer of the acquired skills; and to contribute to the of profiling industry-relevant skills and competencies for higher education graduate programmes. This study examines 105 employers’ perception of the importance of alignment between university WIL programmes and what is required by employers, undergraduate’s employability skills satisfaction rate, and the most important employability skills required in the future. Findings indicate majority of the employers perceived that there is alignment between what is taught in university and workplace environment and majority of the employers indicated to have high satisfaction of the undergraduates’ employability skills except for entrepreneurial skills. Employer also opined that undergraduate’s communication skills; analytical and problem solving skills; and ability to adapt to and act in new situation matter to them most in next five to ten years. The findings provide insight regarding employers’ overall WIL experience and suggestions for improvement.