Graduates are entering the most challenging employment markets for almost two decades (The Graduate Salary & Graduate Recruitment Trends Survey, 2015). The reality is that when graduates leave their University and College life many do so without being sufficiently equipped with the skills required for employment (Lowden et al., 2011). From an employers’ perspective the concept of ‘Employability’ refers to ‘work readiness’, where graduates possess the skills, knowledge, attitudes and commercial understanding to achieve their potential and successfully contribute towards organisational strategic decision making (Archer & Davision, 2008; Hamzah, et al., 2012).
The world of employment is undergoing rapid change driven by developments in technology, globalisation and multiculturalism (El Mansour and Dean, 2016). As a result of the global financial crisis, many businesses and corporations were forced to become more efficient in order to remain in business (Cascio, 2013). The technologies available were subsequently used to achieve greater efficiencies and as a result made many employees redundant. This trend hit middle-class workers lacking special skills the hardest. Ninety-five per cent of the net job losses during the recession were in middle-skill occupations, such as office workers, bank tellers and machine operators (Cascio, 2013). While governments have been making their own attempts to address the mismatch between education provision and the labour market, policy makers found it difficult to adapt their labour market institutions fast enough to these new developments (Dybowski, 2005).
The purpose of this study is to explore what is meant by graduate employability, from both an employers and graduates perspective. We examine what graduate employers want, looking at the skills, attributes and qualities required by new graduates entering a challenging and competitive labour market. The secondary purpose of this investigation is to consider how to embed graduate employability within teaching and learning practice.
Our study looks at the current challenges facing graduate employers and new graduates in the Republic of Ireland. The study will be conducted across various sectors within the Irish economy to capture the views of employers, graduates and educators through a qualitative and quantitative study.
