ENHANCING EMPLOYABILITY

Enhancing Employability

Enhancing Employability

Introduction

Traditionally, it was considered that an excellent cumulative grade point average CGPA obtained by students through arduousness in the university is a passport to find highly rewarded employment opportunities. This perception prompts students to concentrate solely on their studies. Students who have this perception study only for academic excellence. In addition, they comprise co-curricular activities. It is one of the main reasons behind the lack of employment related skills among fresh or recent graduates. The skills learnt from studying diverse academic courses are not complemented by personal skills and soft qualities required to enhance employability (Harvey, 2001, pp. 97).

Graduate employability refers to the possession of certain skills, experiences and knowledge. It also refers to the ability of graduates to utilise their skills in order to seek appropriate employment opportunities. The direct benefits of skills utilisation by graduates are received by employers. On the other side, employers' decisions of candidate selection and job recruitment directly affect graduates. Graduates, whose knowledge, skills, and experiences are compatible with those required by employers, pave their way into the labour market (Bailey, 1997, pp. 17). However, graduates whose skills are not up to the mark confront hardships in finding a suitable and appropriate employment opportunity.

Discussion

In the current era, the skills, knowledge and experiences required by employers have become broader than before. One of the factors that have derived this change includes changes in organisational structure (Kamarainen et al, 2002, pp. 32). Employability skills are also referred as generic skills. Employability skills include cognitive, analytic, communication, and problem solving skills. It is necessary for graduates to possess all these skills. It is because the possession of these skills helps employees learning new applications. In addition, if graduates possess these skills, they would easily adjust in to the organisational environment and culture (Nabi, 2003, pp. 371).

For many employers, the degree of graduates is not as significant as their ability to handle complex information (Knight and Yorke, 2002, pp. 16). Employers required a gamut of skills for instance, intellectual and personal skills. For employers, possession of diverse skills is more important than specialised knowledge of graduates. According to Warn and Tranter (2001), in order to enter into an area of employment, graduates must possess oral communication, teamwork, self-management, leadership, and problem solving sills.

In addition to employability skills, perceived self-efficacy of graduates also plays an important role in their employment. Graduates who believe that they can increase their learning by accepting challenges are likely to be succeeding in the future.

Graduates need to possess diverse skills and qualities in order to find an appropriate employment opportunity (Freisleben, 1999, pp. 37). The skills and qualities required by employers can be divided into personal qualities, core skills, and process skills. Personal qualities include malleable self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, stress tolerance, willingness to learn, and reflectiveness. Core skills include language skills, critical analysis skills, written and oral communication skills, and numeracy. The examples of process skills include computer literacy, ethical and political sensitivity, problem solving, and negotiation ...