ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?

ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?

Gribble, Catriona, Jill Blackmore, and Mark Rahimi. 2015. “Challenges to Providing Work Integrated Learning to International Business Students at Australian Universities.” Higher Education, Skills, and Work-Based Learning 5 (4): 401-416.

The aim of the research is to explore the issues with international students and WIL to be a success in the international education sector. The research is taken in a quantitative method with over 270 interviews with stakeholders; however, only 59 interviews with key stakeholders, which includes international students, used[1].  Questions asked to include demographic information and also student’s competency in English. The results from the interview show that one of the main reasons low English competence among Asian students due to the lack of communication with the locals. Also, International students tend to demand to obtain positions in prestigious firms, often neglecting the value in smaller firms. One of the strengths is the research includes views from stakeholders like university stuff and employers rather than just international students; hence it is not biased. However, as there are more international students from China, the findings are mostly revolving around Chinese students instead of international students. In order to prepare International students to be more ‘work-ready,’ it is important to let students understand the importance of attending WIL.

Jackson, Denise. “Business graduate employability–where are we going wrong?” Higher Education Research & Development 32, no. 5 (2013): 776-790.

The research by Jackson purposed at examining graduate employability model based on how the knowledge learned can be used at the workplace. The author used mixed methods such as self-reporting while conducting the research. So, Jackson used observations of research instruments to outline a graduate’s employability. The participants included peers and supervisors who reflected on graduate performance based on their behaviors[2]. The author obtained a sample of supervisors through personal identification to provide key reflections on graduates’ applicability to work. The research found that business graduates need to develop international efforts to achieve work readiness through the use of non-technical expertise. Also, stakeholders should uphold the need to practice graduate transfer as a highly complex process. The research is characterized by strengths such as clear identification of the existing skills gap, which consequently cause problems leading to glitches at the macro-economic level. Besides, weaknesses such as lacking competence in providing strong performance areas for business graduates are vivid. Jackson concludes that less attention is provided in developing technical skills to the business graduates hence negatively impacting their performance. So, the article responds to the research question on whether business graduates are ready for work.

McArthur, Ellen, Krzysztof Kubacki, Bo Pang, and Celeste Alcaraz. “The employers’ view of “work-ready” graduates: A study of advertisements for marketing jobs in Australia.” Journal of Marketing Education 39, no. 2 (2017): 82-93.

The purpose of this research is to explore what it takes for graduates to be ‘work-ready’ through understanding what skills and attributes employers look for when looking for a possible candidate in marketing roles in Australia. The research is taken in qualitative methods with a total of 359 marketing entry-level job advertisements downloaded and analyzed in 2016. The research includes a set of 13 nodes for coding of attributes to explore what employers expect from graduates. Of all samples, 87% of it was full-time jobs, and 59% is from marketing, which fits the criteria for the research[3]. In order for graduates to be ‘work-ready,’ graduates normally require to be skilled in writing skills and also there’s a high demand for administrative skills. Personal attributes like proper time management and the ability to multitask are also very important. The strengths of this are the research manage to find out generically what employers look for; however, it can only be used as a reference as it is a criterion from marketing advertisement what employers really look for will still defer from place to place. This research provides an insight into what employers look for and for graduates to know how to improve in order to be ‘work-ready.’

Tymon, Alex. “The student perspective on employability.” Studies in higher education 38, no. 6 (2013): 841-856.

Tymon aimed at exemplifying whether institutions of higher learning should include employability skills into their curricula. The author purposed to develop an insight into whether university graduates are adequately prepared to work in complex and globalized workplace environments. The author utilized qualitative research methods while conducting research. As such, the article explored views carried out by over 400 studies in business and human resources based on the undergraduate’s employability. For instance, the author provided a questionnaire to gather information provided by the fourth-year students at the institution. The participants for the research included students in one of the prominent post 92 universities based in the UK. The research used a sample group comprising of the fourth-year sandwich students who had returned from their placement. The author obtained the sample by taking only 5% of the final students at the post 92 universities in the UK[4]. Finding from the research outlined clear differences between the students due to a lack of workplace-related developments. The research strength includes its ability to collect pertinent views from the students despite experiencing weaknesses in data analysis. The author concludes that there lacks a clear alignment between stakeholder groups and student’s capability relative to their experience. Hence, the research answers the question of whether business students are ready for work.

Wilton, Nick. 2016. “Do Employability Skills Really Matter in The UK Graduate Labour Market? The Case of Business and Management Graduates.” Work, Employment, and Society 25 (1): 85-100.

The aim of this research was to find out how the reported “employability” from the 1999 cohort is affected by traditional labor market disadvantages, especially for the underrepresented group. This research was conducted using the quantitative method where questionnaires are given out to the graduates of 1999 cohort in the UK during 2003. With a response rate of 24%, the questionnaire has 8571 responders, among which 1060 is B&M graduates who fit the criteria for the research[5]. Graduates were asked to answer current employment status and also a background check, which includes the courses they graduate in and gender. The research shows that B&M graduates from older universities have a higher employment rate compare to graduates from newer universities. Also, even though female graduates have a higher rate of employment, they were paid lesser compared to males as they look into achievement more compare to income. This research manages to have a variety of responders, which includes a balance of male and female, also graduates from the minority group. However, the research focus solely on graduates from UK universities; hence it cannot be used as a data or represents B&M graduates from another part of the world. The date may not be the solution to the unequal job opportunities; however, it addresses the importance of improving employability skills for work.

Bibliography

Gribble, Catriona, Jill Blackmore, and Mark Rahimi. 2015. “Challenges to Providing Work Integrated Learning to International Business Students at Australian Universities.” Higher Education, Skills, and Work-Based Learning 5 (4): 401-416. Link: http://dro.deakin.edu.au/view/DU:30079078

Jackson, Denise. “Business graduate employability–where are we going wrong?” Higher Education Research & Development 32, no. 5 (2013): 776-790. Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2012.709832

McArthur, Ellen, Krzysztof Kubacki, Bo Pang, and Celeste Alcaraz. “The employers’ view of “work-ready” graduates: A study of advertisements for marketing jobs in Australia.” Journal of Marketing Education 39, no. 2 (2017): 82-93. Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0273475317712766

Tymon, Alex. “The student perspective on employability.” Studies in higher education 38, no. 6 (2013): 841-856. Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2011.604408

Wilton, Nick. 2016. “Do Employability Skills Really Matter in The UK Graduate Labour Market? The Case of Business and Management Graduates.” Work, Employment, and Society 25 (1): 85-100. Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0950017010389244

[1] Gribble, Catriona, Jill Blackmore, and Mark Rahimi. 2015. “Challenges to Providing Work Integrated Learning to International Business Students at Australian Universities.” Higher Education, Skills, and Work-Based Learning 5 (4): 401-416. Link: http://dro.deakin.edu.au/view/DU:30079078

[2]. Jackson, Denise. “Business graduate employability–where are we going wrong?” Higher Education Research & Development 32, no. 5 (2013): 776-790. Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2012.709832

[3] McArthur, Ellen, Krzysztof Kubacki, Bo Pang, and Celeste Alcaraz. “The employers’ view of “work-ready” graduates: A study of advertisements for marketing jobs in Australia.” Journal of Marketing Education 39, no. 2 (2017): 82-93. Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0273475317712766

[4] Tymon, Alex. “The student perspective on employability.” Studies in higher education 38, no. 6 (2013): 841-856. Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2011.604408

[5] Wilton, Nick. 2016. “Do Employability Skills Really Matter in The UK Graduate Labour Market? The Case of Business and Management Graduates.” Work, Employment, and Society 25 (1): 85-100. Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0950017010389244