Graduate competencies and employability: The impact of matching firms’ needs and personal attainments

Mercedes Teijeiro, Paolo Rungo and Mª Jesús Freire

Economics of Education Review, 2013, vol. 34, issue C, 286-295

Abstract: Professional competencies are a key factor in gauging how employable a graduate is. This paper demonstrates that individuals who have best developed the competencies which firms feel to be most important are more likely to be in a position to obtain a job. To this end, we have developed an indicator that measures the proximity between the relative levels of both importance and attainments. Results confirm the feeling among experts that the most relevant competencies in the labour market are predominantly of the systemic type, i.e. transferable personal competencies, to the detriment of more instrumental competencies related to capacities and graduate education. This paper clearly points to the fact that universities must change their traditional focus and make a special effort to help their students to develop those competencies that best foster employability.

Keywords: Graduates; Competencies; Human capital; Job matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A23 I20 J20 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:34:y:2013:i:c:p:286-295

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2013.01.003

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