A study on the employability gap of management graduates referring to Tamilnadu and Karnataka

Abstract

The right talent of a Human Resource is a vital aspect in the success of any industry and the question of employability is a topic of significance in the current context. The recent challenges faced by graduates to be employable is a matter of high social relevance especially in India, with the young population percentage is higher compared to many other nations. The main intent of this research is to analyse the employability gap of the business management graduates and the factors which contributes to it. The study examined the employability level of business management graduates in two different states viz., Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The employability skills examined for this study are divided into three categories. Personal skill (eight skills), Core skill (eleven skills) and Process skill (ten skills) which are referred from the thirty nine attributes mentioned in the study on Higher education by Yorke (2001). These skills are devised with the survey conducted by Dr. Ray Wolfenden, 1995 (The Higher Education Academy, UK) with a questionnaire and the skill sets listed consists of the competencies required of a person to be employed in an Industry. The conceptual framework of the study is derived from the employability model of USEM model by (Yorke and Knight, 2004). The model states that the employability as a synergy of an individual s proficiency in personal qualities, key skills, subject understanding and meta-cognitive learning. The emphasis is on the Skills Plus framework which describes the need for multifaceted learning in academic programs to promote employability. The recently passed out graduate s perceived skill level is collected with a self-assessment questionnaire designed for this study based on the Self-Assessment and Feedback Instrument (SAFI), a tool of self-administered questionnaire from Training instruments in HRD and OD of Udai Pareek and Surabhi Purohit (2009). The instrument was validated with a pilot study in fifteen institutes and tested the validity using Cronbach alpha and exploratory factor analysis before administering it for research. It is further validated by a leading manpower consultancy in Bangalore. newline newline newline