Soft Skills as a Driver of Graduate Employability: An Explanatory Study

Abstract

Purpose: Sri Lankan job markets skeptics whether the graduate workforce is having required soft skills when tackling job-related matters. Soft skills can be viewed as an essential factor for job performance and career development which means an integral part of the employment. Usually, soft skills are difficult to observe, quantify and measure. On the other hand, employability is the ability to get a basic job and to get a new job if necessary. Accordingly, graduate employability is a major concern of the current labor market because there are many institutes that produce graduates to the labour market. Within the aforementioned two constraints, the main purpose of this study is to examine the overall impact of soft skills on graduate employability. Method: This study used quantitative approach and the data required for the analysis was collected through a structured questionnaire. Five hypotheses were tested using a sample of 140 graduates passed out from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka in the year 2020-2021 who are currently being employed. Findings: This study examined five key soft skills such as communication skills, decision making skills, problem solving skills & teamwork skills. Based on the responses of 140 graduate employees, soft skills, communication skills, and problem-solving skills have influence over graduate employability, however, teamwork skills and decision-making skills have no influence on graduate employability. Implications: The result of this study is provides insights to education institutes producing graduates because soft skills are one of the key drivers of employability. These results are important to identify the soft skills that need to be developed in a new job and beneficial to revise course curriculums to include demanded soft skills by the job market. Future Research: Future research can address the deliberate on geographical gap and what are the other factors affect to the influence of soft skills to graduate employability.