Priming the Project Talent Pipeline: Examining Work Readiness in Undergraduate Project Management Degree Programs

Abstract

Undergraduate education is emerging as a direct pathway into the previously deemed ‘accidental profession’ of project management. We introduce the concept of graduate work readiness and explore whether undergraduate project management degrees are imparting industry-required work-readiness attributes. Documentary analysis of 12 Australian bachelor’s degree programs identified that many (but not all) of the work-ready attributes taught are consistent with those sought by industry. The results revealed that graduates’ work-readiness profiles vary according to university employer reputation. The findings suggest the need for a more industry-consultative approach to the way universities prepare their graduates for the project-based workplace.

Employers' perspectives on work readiness in construction: are project management graduates hitting the ground running?

“…The high proportion of students combining professional work and study prior to graduation may explain why graduates without any relevant work experience are considered outliers by employers. In light of this, the findings from this study point towards a discord between the expectations of employers and those of bachelor of project management programmes (Borg and Scott-Young, 2020) which offer minimal work experience or internship opportunities. This suggests evidence of a critical mismatch in perspectives between employers and educators.…”

“…However, there is global concern that universities are producing graduates who do not possess the skills required by industry (Pant and Baroudi, 2008;Chipulu et al, 2013). In fact, in the scholarly literature there have been increasing calls for universities to ensure that higher education successfully prepares students for work in the current project-centric and dynamic work environments (Borg and Scott-Young, 2020;Walker and Lloyd-Walker, 2019), adding weight to the concerns of employer organizations.…”

“…The growing trend of projectification (Walker and Lloyd-Walker, 2019) calls for a pipeline of project management practitioners who are well equipped to successfully deliver projects (Borg and Scott-Young, 2020). Therefore, it is imperative that project management professionals emerging from universities possess competencies desired in the job market.…”

“…Contrary to the tendency of universities to measure the success of their degree programmes by their graduates securing employment, it has been noted that having a degree that imparts technical, discipline-specific knowledge does not necessarily make a graduate ready for work (Mills et al, 2010). Recently, the spotlight has been put on the educational system and its role in preparing graduates with the necessary transferable skills required for work life (Borg and Scott-Young, 2020;Ekstedt, 2019); specifically, whether graduates are work-ready. Value cocreation through collaboration between key project stakeholders has been identified in the project management literature as positively affecting project performance (Rojas et al, 2018).…”

The work readiness–career resilience linkage: implications for project talent management

“…Since then, the “rules of the game” have only continued to change, with more challenges facing the project management profession in this new century than ever before (Patil, 2016). In the face of such a volatile environment, organizations must pay greater attention to the strategic acquisition and retention of early career project talent when considering the combined impact of these dynamics (Borg and Scott-Young, 2020a). Organizations that rely on projects to deliver their strategy are facing drastic changes in the labor market and in the way that work is evolving.…”