College Graduates’ Employment Preparedness: Perception Gaps Between College Students and Employers 

Abstract: It has been identified by the Philippine Statistics Authority (2016) that the while employment rate is at 94.5% the unemployment rate of the country is at 5.5% and the underemployment is at 18.3%. These statistics combined with the dawn of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Integration necessitates for the country to determine whether the college graduates are prepared to meet the challenges of work. It is thus the intent of this study to determine whether there are gaps between the perception of college students and employers regarding the employment preparedness of new graduates. The respondents chosen were graduating Marketing Management college students from three (3) major universities and colleges in Angeles City and employers of companies in line with the field of marketing. The survey was focused on the preparedness of college graduates on knowledge of cultures and the physical and natural worlds, intellectual and practical skills, personal and social responsibility, integrative and applied to learn, as well as how the respondents react to the statements that suggest support for general education and a curriculum that extends beyond job training.

Frequency, mean, and T-test of independent groups were used for statistical treatment of data. Findings show that there is no significant difference between the employers’ perception and students’ perception of preparedness for employment. It was found that the gap between both respondents has been bridged because of the continuous efforts of higher education institutions in improving their curricular formulation including enhanced on-the-job training programs and other strategies necessary to ensure employability preparedness of their graduates.

Key words: employment preparedness, perception gaps, college graduates, employers

JEL codes: I2, Y8