The difference in perception between IU' students and employers towards employability skills
Abstract
This research’s purpose is to investigate whether the core competencies of students from Ho Chi Minh International University (IU) can meet the requirement of the employer. Also, this research was conducted to check whether there are differences in the level of competencies possessed by IU undergraduates (most of whom are juniors and seniors) and ex-students, to see how the undergraduates view themselves compared with the ex-students who have 3 years or less working experience. The ex-students were also asked to rate the levels of competencies that they wish to achieve to outperform the job requirement. Through that, the differences in levels of competencies which they currently possess and those competencies expected to outperform the job expectations could be addressed. Moreover, this research would also compare the requirements in levels of competencies of employers five years ago compared with those at the present. This might be able to draw a clearer picture on how job requirements have changed over time. The 24 core competencies are gathered from the Behavioral competency dictionary of Organizational Readiness Office, Canada (2007). Questionnaires, interviews, One-way Analysis of variance, independent samples T-test, paired-sample T-test, comparison of two population means using independent random samples are used to analyzed the data collected from 82 IU undergraduates, 54 ex-students and 43 employers in various companies in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province. The findings of this result can provide good suggestions to IU and also other universities in Vietnam to better orient in producing competent students, to help them become more employable.