Competencies and Employability of Economics Graduates: Employers’ Perspective

Supporting Employability by a Skills Assessment Innovative Tool—Sustainable Transnational Insights from Employers

“…The European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for VET (Vocational Educational and Training) providers (EQAVET-European Quality Assurance in Vocational Educational and Training) adopted by all European countries has been designed with the objectives of employability, matching supply and demand for skills and qualifications in the labour market and better access to VETs [1] especially for vulnerable groups: graduates, undergraduates from different sectors [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], women and migrants [10], adults [11], ageing populations [12][13][14] or adult refugees [15]. Regarding students, for example, it is important to know that developing both transversal and specific competencies could help themdevelop personal effectiveness that ultimately empowers them with the feeling of employability [16], their relevance for their process of socio-labour insertion, as well as their global perception to face it [11].…”

“…Regarding students, for example, it is important to know that developing both transversal and specific competencies could help themdevelop personal effectiveness that ultimately empowers them with the feeling of employability [16], their relevance for their process of socio-labour insertion, as well as their global perception to face it [11]. Due of the phenomenon of an increased unemployment rate pervasive among students [4], higher education must add value by developing job-related skills and competencies [2]. Also, human beings must develop many skills, including knowledge acquisition for lifelong and life-wide learning and dispositional employability for an unpredictable future [17].…”

“…The heterogeneous sample of the study (employers from five different sectors and different qualities of the respondents in the companies: managers/owners/associates/employees/human resources managers) because we consider that employers as relevant subjects that are in a position to give realistic assessment of the level of quality of required competencies [4]. They also have a different perception than the educators [26] and they usually identified a missing link between theory and practice [20]; the employers consider the formation of a job candidate an added value, but this is not one of the key issues regarding employability [19].…”

Testing the psychometric properties of a short skills inventory for students looking for their first job

“…The construction of this short skills inventory brings several benefits, both at a theoretical and practical level, as it contributes to reducing Portugal’s gap regarding psychological assessment in the selection context [ 93 ], considering the lack of validated and verified instruments that fit students looking for their first job [ 15 ].…”

“…In the last two decades, the transformations that have been affecting the business world have had a great impact on professional performance standards, which as a result contributed significantly to increasing concerns regarding employability [ 14 ]. Particularly, these concerns are even more worrying among students who are looking for their first job and as a consequence it leads organizations to question whether their skills are sufficient and adequate to enter in the labor market [ 15 ]. Although it is an issue that deserves an urgent response, it is still poorly understood amongst academics [ 7 ], which is why it continues to be essential to define and signal which skills candidates should have in order to guarantee a better person-function fit [ 6 ].…”