Perceived Job Readiness of Business Students at the Institutes of Higher Learning in Malaysia

Abstract

Of late, although job vacancies available for Malaysian graduates are higher than the graduates seeking employ-ment, the successful job placement rate had been low thus causing graduate unemployment. The low job placement rate may be attributed to lower level of job readiness among them. Having produced the highest number of gradu-ates every year, business-related studies should focus on the issue of unemployment. This study examines the de-terminants of perceived job readiness among business undergraduates in public and private university of Malaysia. Drawing upon a sample of 300 undergraduates and 20 employers, this study finds that university performance is the most influential determinant of business undergraduates’ job readiness, followed by types of university attended and work experience prior to or during their university career. Therefore, the quality of Malaysian public and pri-vate university could be improved with the incorporation of a more intensified business internship programme.
Keywords: Employability, Job readiness, Internship programme, University performance.