Research on graduate students: do employer emphasize on experience skills or academic qualifications / Zian Azizi Yusuf, Ivy Nadia Michael and Mohammad Yussuff Suaidi

This study was done to observe and analyse the required academic requirements, intellectual skills and personal skills for fresh graduates from the perspective of the employers. As commonly understood, academic qualifications are not enough for graduates in current job market. Some employers prefer hiring graduates that has more experience and personal skills which are proven important for current workplace. It is argued that, some employees who excel academically do not necessarily give positive outcomes for the organization development. Also, because of the changing nature of skills needed for today’s competitive marketplace means that qualitative considerations play an increasing role in the selection of graduates. Because of this, there was an increased level of competition between the graduates for available jobs in the market. The objective of this study is to determine the skills possessed by fresh graduates today from the perspective of the employers in order to be able to meet the current job market.