The Readiness of Vocational College Technical Students for Job Employability

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue XI, November 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Readiness of Vocational College Technical Students for Job Employability

 Yee Mei Heong¹, Siti Nur Maizura Sharberi², Fara Adhwa Mohd Pauzan³

^1,2,3Faculty of Technical and Vocational Education, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

Abstract— Readiness to engage in careers is an issue that is often faced by Malaysian students. Unemployed graduates continue to be a growing problem in Malaysia. Some employers consider academic competence alone is inadequate and begin to urge higher education institutions producing graduates equipped with technical skills. In general, this study aimed to identify the level of readiness of technical students for job employability at six vocational colleges in Johor. The population of this study was final year technical students at six vocational colleges in Johor. There were 300 respondents selected as the sample, using the formula by Krejcie and Morgan. A questionnaire was utilised as the instrument of this study with reliability alpha value of α = .720. Data were analysed using SPSS 22.0 software. Descriptive analysis in the form of scores was used to see whether students were equipped with job employability skills. The students’ level of readiness was 4.33 for their knowledge, 4.32 for skills and 4.31 for attitude. Therefore, it can be concluded that technical students are ready to enter the world of work.

Keywords— Readiness, Job Employability

I. INTRODUCTION

Vocational education is increasingly essential in an era of economic and social development of the country. Developing countries require the professional and semi-professional workforce to ensure sustainable development of the country. They are significant assets that plan the core of a country’s development (Yusof & Rajuddin, 2012). Therefore, the opportunity to further study and enter the broad job market is widely opened to vocational students. Many employers are willing to employ vocational students to seize employment opportunities in this country. This is evident by the statement of Yasin (2010) that the technology and industrial sectors are targeting to provide 92,545 job opportunities in 2012 compared to 73,784 job opportunities in the previous year. It shows that year-over-year employment increases and indicates that vocational school graduates are needed to fill the country’s labour market demands.

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