The purpose of this study was to capture employers' and recent high school graduates' perceptions of employability skills in a rural region in southwestern Virginia. The specific objectives of this study were: a) to describe the employers' perceptions of expected proficiency levels of workplace readiness skills for new employees in the New River Region; b) to describe the recent high school graduates perceptions of the importance of workplace readiness skills for new employees in the New River Region; and c) to describe employers and recent high school graduates; perceived skills gap for new employees in the New River Region. The study used a multi-method QUAN + QUAL methodology. The data were collected using a researcher-created survey instrument and focus groups. The results from this study revealed that employers' perceptions concerning workplace readiness skills are consistent with skills mentioned in the literature. Work ethics was identified as the highest priority need for employers. Other priority needs identified from the literature were accountability, dependability, empathy, punctuality, and work ethic. One pedagogical implication of the study is that career and technical education teachers should emphasize workplace readiness skills because they are essential for securing and retaining employment. / Doctor of Philosophy / The purpose of this study was to determine employers' and recent high school graduates' perceptions of workplace employability skills in the New River Valley region of southwestern Virginia. The objectives of the research were to: a) examine employers' views of expected proficiency levels of workplace readiness skills for new employees; b) investigate recent high school graduates' perceived levels of their workplace readiness skills; and c) assess the gap between employer expectations and recent high school graduates' levels of job readiness. Data were collected using a researcher-created survey instrument and focus groups. The results indicated that employers' views regarding necessary workplace readiness skills are consistent with those emphasized in the literature. Employee work ethic was identified as the highest priority need among employers. Other priority needs identified in the literature, including employee accountability, dependability, empathy, punctuality, and emotional intelligence, were supported by the research. The study underscored the need for career and technical education teachers to focus on workplace readiness skills to assist students in securing and retaining employment.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Charles E. Heerman / Employers want to hire students with the appropriate skill set for the job. These skills include communication, problem-solving, and teamwork skills (Billing, 2003; Shivpuri & Kim, 2004). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether students perceive themselves to be transferring employability skills learned in the Fort Hays State University (FHSU) Leadership Studies Certificate Program to the workplace. The Leadership Studies Certificate Program consists of three academic leadership courses; Introduction to Leadership to Leadership Concepts, Introduction to Leadership Behaviors, and Fieldwork in Leadership Studies. Three groups were created for the purpose of the study. Group one served as a control group and consisted of participants who had not taken a leadership course at FHSU. Group two consisted of a sample of students who had completed one or two courses out of the Leadership Studies Certificate Program. Participants who had completed the entire Leadership Studies Certificate made up group three. The study sought to evaluate the participants’ perceptions with regard to the level of importance of identified employability skills, as well as their level of competence in performing each of the employability skills. The study also sought the supervisors’ perceptions of the study participants in each of the three groups. Employability skills studied were problem-solving skills, communication skills, teamwork skills, change and innovation behaviors, ability to manage self, and being civic-minded. Study participants and their supervisors both perceived the ability to manage self as the most important skill in the workplace. Findings showed no differences between participant groups with respect to the perceived importance and competence levels on each of the six employability skill constructs. Supervisors of Leadership Studies Certificate recipients deemed communication skills as more important to their employee’s job than supervisors who employed students who had never taken an FHSU leadership course. No differences were found between supervisor groups with respect to perceived importance and competence on the remainder of the employability skills. Further research should be conducted on the Leadership Studies Certificate Program to understand its impact on students’ development of employability skills. Upon conclusion of this analysis, possible curriculum modifications should be considered.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to analyze the LifeKnowledge® skills development within North Carolina agriscience education programs as viewed by veteran agriscience teachers, agriscience education students, and students' employers. The survey population consisted of 54 veteran agriscience education teachers, of whom 49 (91%) responded. One hundred sixty-two agriscience education students, of whom 115 (71%) responded and 162 employers, of whom 95 (59%) responded. Seventy-four LifeKnowledge® skills items and the 16 LifeKnowledge® precepts were evaluated by teachers to determine how often they provided instruction and experiences related to the development of employability skills development for students. The same 74 items and 16 precepts were evaluated by students to determine the extent to which they thought participating in their agriscience education programs and FFA increased their employability and personal skills development. Employers were asked to evaluate how often they witnessed agriscience education students exhibit the LifeKnowledge® 74 items and 16 precepts within the workplace. The major findings for this study included that teachers, students, and employers were generally consistent, with a few exceptions, in their perceptions of the development and demonstration of the LifeKnowledge® skills and abilities. Statistically significant differences were found among the three groups on select LifeKnowledge® skills items and precepts. A majority of teachers reported that they regularly or often provided students instruction and experiences related to the LifeKnowledge® skills. Students reported that regularly or often their participation in their local agriscience education programs and FFA had increased their employability and personal skills development. The employers reported that often, with a few regular observations, they witnessed students exhibiting the LifeKnowledge® skills within the workplace. One of the major recommendations for this study is that LifeKnowledge® lessons be implemented for pre-service and in-service teachers and findings shared with the National FFA Organization. Another suggestion is that an employability skills curriculum should be developed for use across all career and technical education programs and core courses to develop students' employability skills in response to business and industry demands. Finally, research should be conducted to determine how 4-H, career and technical student organizations, and other youth groups develop LifeKnowledge® skills. / Ph. D.

This study examines how institutional actors interpret, influence and respond to skills availability in the labour market for graduates. It researches and draws lessons from the Maltese experience of managing graduate employability over three decades, focusing on the three fastest-growing economic sectors, namely, Accountancy, Pharmachem and ICT, each of which is the subject of a case study. The study investigates the interaction of governments, firms, higher education institutions and professional associations in identifying skills shortages and gaps, as well as in devising policy frameworks and skills regimes at national, sectoral and corporate levels. Drawing upon theories of employability and employee skills, first, there is development of an analytical framework to examine how these institutional actors affect the labour market, which informs the analysis of the three case studies. The qualitative research involved an interpretative analysis of key policy documents related to graduate employability and seventy in-depth interviews with interlocutors positioned in strategic policy making, senior management, academic, expert and professional leadership roles within government, regulators, major corporations, higher education institutions, training providers and professional associations. The data was thematically analysed. Twelve key themes emerged from the in-depth interviews, which included the following: use of different language; the meaning of employability; the value of credentials; the role of the University; perceptions; expectations; competitiveness; modes of training provision; labour mobility; placements and incentives; collaboration and skills gap. The institutional actors across the three focal sectors, namely, accountancy, pharmachem and ICT tended to emphasise some themes more than others, these having previously been identified in scholarly literature (Appendix 1). Both patterns and inconsistencies emerged from a comparison of the accountancy, pharmachem and ICT sectors. In so far as the labour market is concerned, the study revealed a lack of technical skills and major non-technical graduate skills gaps, specifically, in the aspects of communication, teamwork and problem-solving. A number of professional characteristics or behaviours were also identified as lacking with Accountancy, Pharmachem and ICT graduates, namely, attitude, confidence, drive, professional outlook, independent working, personality fit and a ‘can do’ approach. The study revealed the absence of permanent systemic connections between the formulation of national and sectoral economic strategies on the one hand, and higher education and training policies on the other. Consequently, state higher education institutions have been responding reactively to labour market needs, which could explain the endemic skills gap which the study found. The study concludes by discussing limitations and limits to this research as well as recommending policy initiatives and further research that could contribute to the science and practice of public policy in this field.

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of CTE administrators in Alabama and Georgia on how agricultural education teachers were integrating STEM and employability skills. The population of this study consisted of CTE administrators in Alabama (N = 137) and Georgia (N = 178) with 315 surveys being distributed and 129, or 41%, completing the survey. This descriptive study utilized a static group comparison pre-experimental research design. Means were used to determine how strongly the respondents value employability skills and STEM skills. Standard deviations helped understand how responses varied. Frequencies and percentages were used to determine the number and proportion of the respondents. The demographics portion of this study found that the average CTE administrator in Alabama and Georgia was a white female with a specialist or doctoral degree and no educational background in CTE. In addition, the average CTE administrator was employed in a county school system that offered agricultural education and had less than 15,000 students. Furthermore, the average CTE administrator has 13.05 years of teaching experience and 23.25 years of total experience in education. On average, CTE encompassed the majority of their duties and they were not an administrator in a charter school. The findings of this study presented evidence that CTE administrators in Alabama and Georgia do value the integration of employability skills and STEM skills into agricultural education differently. Moreover, participating CTE administrators perceived all employability and STEM skill categories to be "very important" or "Extremely Important" based on a Likert-type scale of 1 = Not Important to 5 = Extremely Important. Furthermore, the most valued Employability Skills include Critical Thinking Skills, Personal Qualities, and Communication Skills. The STEM Pathways that CTE administrators valued the most include the Plant Systems Pathway, Animal Science Pathway, and the Food, Products, and Processing Pathway.

This study explored the relationship of Deep Approaches to Learning (DAL) with overall students' satisfaction and perceived employability skills in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for the undergraduate seniors in the U.S. The study also aimed to investigate whether there is a difference between students in STEM and non-STEM fields on the relationship of DAL to overall student satisfaction and students' perceived employability skills. The data for the analysis was taken from the National Study of Student Engagement (NSSE) data. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis was applied to explore the relationship between students' Deep Approaches to Learning (DAL), overall students' satisfaction and their perceived employability skills. The measurement invariance testing explored whether estimated factors are measuring the same constructs for STEM and non-STEM groups. The findings of the study show that HO and RI construct was found to have statistically significant positive total (direct and indirect) effect on overall student satisfaction. Further, the results show that HO and RI learning activities were identified as the statistically significant factors in predicting students' perceived employability skills for STEM students. The HO and RI have a statistically significant positive effect on perceived employability skills for STEM and the non-STEM students. The STEM students have a higher effect of HO learning activities on perceived employability skills than the non-STEM students. Further, the direct effect of perceived employability skill on overall student satisfaction is also positive for both the groups. The findings of the study confirmed the indirect effect of employability on overall students' satisfaction for both STEM and non-STEM students. This study has created strong groundwork for future researchers to use the measurement models and the hypothesized full structure model for invariance testing among the groups of STEM and non-STEM in higher education in the U.S. Thus, this measurement model has a strong generalizability to both STEM and non-STEM groups. The implications and limitations of study are further discussed. / Doctor of Philosophy / There is an increasing consensus that for a society to solve complex problems that are related to climate, health, general economic development, and security, study in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields is critical to develop the skills that are needed to tackle those issues. However, there are reports on STEM education in the U.S. that have revealed that there is a general concern among policymakers and industrial leaders about the shortage of workers who are trained in STEM fields. To enhance the students' academic achievement, cognitive development, personal and social development, and to encourage them to be life-long learners, postsecondary institutions need to build a learning atmosphere that supports their deep learning approaches. This study explored the relationship of Deep Approaches to Learning (DAL) with overall students' satisfaction and perceived employability skills in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for the undergraduate seniors in the U.S. The study also investigated whether there is a difference between students in STEM and non-STEM fields on the relationship of DAL to overall student satisfaction and students' perceived employability skills at higher education. It has further shed a light on why the difference in patterns exist and can give direction on how teaching and learning can be improved in STEM and non-STEM fields. The findings of the study suggests that Higher order (HO) and Reflective/Integrative (RI) have a positive effect on overall students' satisfaction for STEM students. The HO has a statistically significant higher effect on perceived employability skills for STEM students the for the non-STEM students. The effect of perceived employability skills on overall students' satisfaction on STEM and non-STEM students is positively high for both the groups. In order to enhance students' overall satisfaction with their university experience, the universities need to continuously develop new strategies and programs to make sure students are well-equipped with perceived employability skills.

Regional accounting firm leaders face challenges with employees who possess strong technical skills, but lack nontechnical communicating and teamwork skills. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies regional accounting firm leaders use to train technical staff on soft skills. The human capital theory was the conceptual framework supporting the study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with partners, leaders, managers, and human resource personnel with 5 years or more of experience who participated in the hiring, training, and professional development process at 3 regional CPA firms. The review of company documents and company website postings triangulated the semistructured interviews. Data analysis entailed coding, conceptualizing concepts and ideas, identifying themes, and member checking to ensure the trustworthiness of interpretations. Based on the data collected, 3 themes emerged after the analysis including soft skills needed for success, mentoring and leadership programs, and team building initiatives. Findings from this study may contribute to social change by providing strategies regional accounting firms could use to provide soft skills training and mentoring initiatives to technical staff. Improvement in soft skills training may improve employees' lives by increasing their employability, career progression, and transition within the workplace, which may improve the economic wellbeing of local communities.

The main purpose of this study was to examine and describe college students&rsquo / and graduates&rsquo / perceptions of the received and expected levels of employability skills and qualities clustered into the domains of communication, mathematics, quantitative, foreign language, technology, teamworking, learning, problem-solving, adaptability, and personal qualities during college training, and also to assess college educators&rsquo / and employers&rsquo / perceptions regarding the importance level of identified employability skills and qualities for graduates&rsquo / entry, success and productivity in workplaces. In this study, data were gathered through three distinct questionnaires whose frame and content were developed by utilizing a survey with 218 students, 54 graduates, 26 educators and 16 employers. The setting was Cappadocia Vocational College campus and several towns in Nevsehir where workplaces of external partners of the college are located. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the results of this study. Frequencies were tabulated to determine significant associations and mean scores were calculated to assess the identified variables. Paired and independent samples t-tests were utilized to explore the differences between the perceptions of students, graduates and educators. The responses of employers were tabulated within itself due to low number of participants. The findings of indicated that students and graduates perceived college training to have little or moderate impact on employability skill acquisition / however, besides student population, employers and educators perceived employability skills to be of medium or high importance for graduates&rsquo / effective job performance and productivity of workplaces.

The English Higher Education system continues to face many political and organisational changes with respect to funding, fees, student numbers and quality controls. Within this changing landscape, the introduction of up to £9,000 annual tuition fees for Home/EU undergraduates probably has the highest impact on students’ perceptions, their decision-making and, most of all, expectations in relation to their university experience. To investigate the implications of recent changes, an exploratory research approach is applied, using mixed methods across three distinct research phases. An initial study aims to measure the expectations of commencing students in light of the fee changes and to explore how demographic and other personal characteristics influence student expectations in relation to their overall university experience and specifically to the ancillary services offered by Higher Education Institutions. Through this, services related to student employability are identified as an area of increasing concern for students. The second study aims to further investigate this area from a student perspective through the exploration of students’ motivations to participate in an extra-curricular employability programme. The expectations regarding such a programme are also investigated prior to the programme and the satisfaction levels of students after the completion of the programme are evaluated. The analysis of the second study suggests that confidence is a key factor within the context of student employability. Consequently, the final study aims to explore the role and importance of confidence within employability from a student point-of-view and to evaluate how confidence and employability may be developed throughout the university experience. From this study, it is argued that Higher Education Institutions should focus on the development of confidence within students in order to improve their employability. As an outcome, recommendations are formed on how to support such development through general and course-specific activities within and outside the curriculum. Overall, the research addresses various gaps within the fields of interest, particularly through the focus on a student perspective, and provides methodological, theoretical and practical contributions. The different stages of the research suggest that it is important to the competitiveness and strength of universities to understand student expectations and to design and develop high-quality university experiences which meet the needs and demands of students. Based on the data collected, recommendations are given on how Higher Education Institutions can manage and meet student expectations and develop activities to enhance student employability and increase confidence.

El contexto político de la Segunda Guerra Mundial (1939-1945), especialmente durante la recta final, se caracterizó por la necesidad de relaciones diplomáticas entre los países involucrados. Fue así que a partir de los juicios de Núremberg, la interpretación como actividad profesional empezó a emerger con fuerza. Desde entonces, el desarrollo de esta industria ha florecido de manera diferente alrededor del mundo. En el Perú, aún no se tiene información suficiente sobre esta actividad profesional per se. Por ello, el presente artículo tiene como objetivo explorar el proceso de inserción laboral de los intérpretes con formación universitaria en el mercado peruano. Los investigadores realizaron dieciocho entrevistas en donde se exploran los testimonios del ingreso al mundo laboral de intérpretes egresados de dos universidades: la Universidad Ricardo Palma (URP) y la Universidad Femenina del Sagrado Corazón (UNIFE). El estudio demostró que una inserción laboral exitosa en el mercado de la interpretación se consigue a través de la buena gestión de las habilidades blandas, como el uso efectivo de las redes de contactos, las habilidades técnicas y de gestión empresarial. / By the late 40's, the political scenario of the Second World War was mainly characterized by the high necessity to establish diplomatic relationships between the Axis and Allies powers. Within this framework, the Nuremberg trials were the scenario where simultaneous interpreting emerged. Since then, this industry has flourished differently around the world. In Peru, not many studies have been carried out on this professional activity. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the employability process of interpreters in the Peruvian market. The researchers carried out eighteen interviews that explore the testimonies of interpreting graduates from two Peruvian universities: Universidad Ricardo Palma (URP) and Universidad Femenina del Sagrado Corazón (UNIFE). This paper was able to demonstrate that a successful job placement in the interpretation market depends on the appropriate management of soft skills, i.e. the effective use of contact networks, as well as technical and management skills.