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The increasing demand for post-secondary education, and the ongoing difficulty students’ face in securing appropriate work upon program completion, highlight the importance of an enhanced understanding of employability resources for university graduates. Just as organizations achieve a strategic advantage from resources and dynamic capabilities (DCs), university graduates can similarly apply these principles and tactics to be competitive in the job market. The purpose of this paper is to ask the question: how can new graduates enhance their competitive advantage when entering the employment market? To address this question the authors propose to adopt the DCs framework to analyze the competitive advantage of a graduate and argue that university graduates can take specific steps to enhance their own competitive advantage in the labor market.

An extensive review of the existing human resource and strategic management literature was used to develop a conceptual DCs model of employability. The core dimensions of the conceptual model were refined using 26 one-on-one interviews with employers of new university graduates. This study concludes by recommending specific empirical and experimental research to further test the model.

The results from the qualitative study identified the importance of four specific resources that university graduates should possess: intellectual, personality, meta-skill and job-specific. In addition, the authors suggest that integrated DCs are crucial for enhancing the value of these individual resources. Both pre-graduate application and the construction of personal narratives are essential signals that university graduates can mobilize individual resources in a complementary and strategic manner, in real-world settings, to maximize value.

This is an exploratory study and is designed as a foundation for future empirical and experiential research.

The findings suggest that, in order to increase employability, university students need to assume a DCs view of competitive advantage. As a result, students need to reflect on both their intrinsic and learned resources to create a systematic competitive advantage that is valued, rare and difficult to replicate or substitute.

This paper challenges students to assume a holistic view of education by recognizing education extends far beyond a classroom. Therefore, differentiation and value creation is reflected in the synthesis and application of both intrinsic and learned resources.

The integration of strategic management and human resource literature is a unique theoretical approach to explore the drivers of graduate employability.

The current study was conducted to increase our understanding of factors that influence the employability of university graduates. Through the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the paper explores the relative importance of 17 factors that influence new graduate employability.

An extensive review of the existing literature was used to identify 17 factors that affect new graduate employability. A two‐phase, mixed‐methods study was conducted to examine: Phase One, whether these 17 factors could be combined into five categories; and Phase Two, the relative importance that employers place on these factors. Phase One involved interviewing 30 employers, and Phase Two consisted of an empirical examination with an additional 115 employers.

Results from both the qualitative and quantitative phases of the current study demonstrated that 17 employability factors can be clustered into five higher‐order composite categories. In addition, findings illustrate that, when hiring new graduates, employers place the highest importance on soft‐skills and the lowest importance on academic reputation.

The sectors in which employers operated were not completely representative of their geographical region.

The findings suggest that, in order to increase new graduates’ employability, university programmes and courses should focus on learning outcomes linked to the development of soft‐skills. In addition, when applying for jobs, university graduates should highlight their soft‐skills and problem‐solving skills.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the employability of university graduates by empirically examining the relative importance of five categories of employability factors that recruiters evaluate when selecting new graduates.

The purpose of this paper is to determine what competences are considered critical for team and human resources (HR) managers when selecting inexperienced Business graduates. Second, the authors aim to find out differences existing among businesses and organizations according to company size, and very particularly, the resources used with respect to the inexperienced graduate personnel selection practices.

To this end, the authors have performed an empirical study consisting of two qualitative data-gathering processes and a survey. First, the authors completed 12 in-depth interviews, followed by three world cafés with HR managers and consultants. Second, a survey was also conducted with 186 experienced Business graduates, team managers or middle-level staff.

The main results support the idea that generic competencies are the ones most appreciated in graduates. Attitudes are among the generic competencies considered most critical in inexperienced Business graduates. In particular, intra-personal, followed by inter-personal attitudes and values, were the most frequently cited and highly valued competencies. In contrast, most of the specific knowledge competences that are required for Business graduates are taken for granted. For its part, the authors found that excelling inexperienced graduates are those who show convincing proofs of holding attitudinal competences, signaled through some experience of international interchange programs, or pre-graduate internships in companies. Also, the authors found that HR managers and consultants show clear differences of preference for a set of competences or another depending on the size of the recruiting company. In particular, generic competences of knowledge, abilities, attitudes and values rate higher among small firms than larger ones.

Finally, the authors give recommendations for faculties and business schools headed to a more intensive development of generic competences, and the learning of skills on how to tailor curricula during studies and how to find jobs.

There are a sufficient number of African American males in higher education that could shape the foundation of scholarship which addresses African American society (Cook & Cordova, 2007). This foundation could be further strengthened through the reliance on African American faculty members. Whether they arrive as athletes, TRIO or multicultural program participants, or the sons and daughters of alumni, the key factor is forging a common understanding. The models and proposals that the authors are addressing have implications for broadening the pool of African American males to include those who are untapped and neglected through the educational process. This is consistent with the historical comments of educators, sociologists, and historians such as William Julius Wilson, who challenged the American educational system to become more inclusive and not reliant on the system to be perpetual, expecting the growth and productivity of African Americans to evolve solely from those who have prominent roles in society.

The purpose of this paper is to explore employer perceptions of graduate student employability. This study is novel since existing research focused on employability is largely theoretic, remains focused on defining employability of undergraduates and largely fails to determine employer perceptions of factors that increase or decrease employability of graduate students.

Using a two-phased approach, the authors analyzed 122 employer assessments of graduate students at a Canadian university who completed a work-term with the employer in either 2014 or 2015. The authors also collected individual data (e.g. academic achievement, work experience) from student files at the university. Phase 1 involved an exploratory factor analysis to derive factors influencing employer perceptions of employability. Phase 2 expand on factors identified in phase 1 through assessment of 153 written comments using a critical incident technique.

Phase 1 results demonstrate that professional maturity, soft skills + problem solving, continuous learning and academic achievement secure a positive relationship with employer perceptions of graduate employability. Phase 2 results indicate that employers consider generic skills (time management, working in a team, attention to detail), general mental ability, subject-specific knowledge, willingness to work, attitudes and behaviors, and responsiveness to feedback when assessing employability of graduate students.

Collectively, the results of phase 1 and 2 provide a comprehensive awareness of the factors that employers consider when assessing employability of graduate students. Researcher, educational institution, and employer implications are presented.

The authors provide a holistic and empirically grounded understanding of employer perceptions of graduate student employability through reviewing quantitative and qualitative indicators of employability from the employer perspective.

This study aids to examine the impact of extending the internship period on the transition from school to work of vocational school of higher education graduates and subsequent employment outcomes.

Within the scope of the study, the results regarding the labour market of the vocational school students (experimental group) whose internship period were extended were compared with the results of the vocational school students (control group) whose internship period remained the same. Thus, it is provided to examine the effects of prolonging the internship period. The surveys were conducted five years after graduation.

The study found that increasing the duration of the internship period and making it a compulsory part of the curriculum facilitates the transition from school to work for graduates. Graduates who participate in the programme with a long internship period find a job in a shorter time and with higher wages than the control group. It is found that those in the experimental group with an extended internship period have higher employment rates and wage levels compared to those in the control group, five years after graduation.

Although there are publications, in the international literature, on the impact of internship, there are only few publications in which experimental and control groups are formed, as in this article. The second contribution of the study is to measure the impact of internship on employment outcomes five years after graduation. The third important contribution of the study is that it was conducted in Turkey, which has a young population and is an emerging market. This study contributes significantly to the restructuring of vocational higher education, especially in countries that are struggling with youth unemployment.

There appears to be a recruitment process in which recruits tend to look at people much like themselves, proceed with an uncertain feel for what defines a desirable candidate (while emphasising considerations of personal style over indicators of analytical‐technical competence), and concentrate efforts among those who have received a prestigious degree. Analysis of one American business school's recruiting procedures produces evidence that simply by being admitted to this school students ensure themselves of the opportunity to be considered for “fast track” positions in the corporate world, and, once entered into the contest, compete among themselves on the basis of their ability to convey a personal style in line with prevailing norns of “executive” behaviour at particular companies.

The paper aims at examining the employability skills relevant in the unprecedented times of turbulence in businesses due to COVID-19 in the Indian context.

The study examined the recent skills model through an extensive literature review. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is conducted to identify the employability skills perceived as important by multiple stakeholders. ANOVA was applied to examine the differences in perceived importance attached to these dimensions by the three stakeholders.

The ten-factorial solution was extracted based on the results of EFA The findings offer a fresh perspective on digital competencies perceived as most important to ensure successful long-term employability, followed by business fundamentals and behavioral skills.

The study has been able to map perceptions of employers, faculty and students based in Delhi-NCR regarding essential employability skills. It would be worthwhile to validate the proposed employability skills framework across different geographical sections of India and ascertain if the perceptions vary in the employment sector and employer size.

Although the study has put forth practical employability skills, there is a need for convergence between the business stakeholders and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to develop a broad skill-base for the fresh graduates. The study will prepare them for the volatile business environment.

Many previous studies have lacked the employability skill framework in the Indian context from the multiple stakeholders' perspective. The HEIs can rethink their current employability, including the most prominent skills required in succeeding in a technology-enabled business environment transformed by the pandemic.

This chapter uses a college-by-graduate degree fixed effects estimator to evaluate the returns to 19 different graduate degrees for men and women. We find substantial variation across degrees, and evidence that OLS overestimates the returns to degrees with the highest average earnings and underestimates the returns to degrees with the lowest average earnings. Second, we decompose the impacts on earnings into effects on wage rates and effects on hours. For most degrees, the earnings gains come from increased wage rates, though hours play an important role in some degrees, such as medicine, especially for women. Third, we estimate the net present value and internal rate of return for each degree, which account for the time and monetary costs of degrees. Finally, we provide descriptive evidence that satisfaction gains are large for some degrees with smaller economic returns, such as education and humanities degrees, especially for men.

This study reports the findings of the first survey of the knowledge and needs for training in evidence based medicine (EBM) of health‐care workers in Slovakia. This study was primarily qualitative and based on a triangular approach, which included: analysis of the situation in pre‐ and postgraduate education in Slovakia aimed at estimating needs in EBM and critical appraisal skills (CAS) training; analysis of questionnaires distributed in a sample of medical doctors and university educated public health workers undergoing postgraduate training; and focus group discussions. The findings revealed a real gap in knowledge in EBM and CAS in Slovakia and identified several areas as the focus for intervention. The results showed also some important behavioural and cultural aspects, including low individual responsibility for education; tendency to delegate responsibility to authorities (experts, top management, Ministry of Health); and persistence of the state paternalistic type of education. Concludes that managers planning to implement EBM in Slovakia should therefore consider a broader behavioural and cultural context for change, not just introduction of a training EBM module.