'Employer’s perception on employability skills and attitudes of new graduates’: Qualitative insights from the employer’s in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The concept and definition of employability of employees has been discussed for a number of years but there has been a growing interest in graduate employability over the last decade. As the interest in promoting graduate employability has increased numerous studies have produced detailed breakdowns and taxonomies of particular skills and attitudes required to promote graduate employability. The purpose of this research is to identify what skills & attitudes Sri Lankan employers expect from a fresh commerce stream graduates when recruiting to a company. Interview was used as the research method of this study and the sample consist of executive level officers from telecommunication, media, FMCG, finance, accounting, technology, construction sectors. Finally, from this study it was identified that team work, interpersonal skills and planning & organizing skills are the main skills that are highly considered when recruiting a new graduate and positive, loyalty, flexibility, professionalism/ work ethics are the main attitudes that they are highly valued in a graduate.