Abstract:
Area of the Study
The portion of unemployment of HRM graduates which can be due to the mismatch of perception
between employers’ and graduates’ regarding employability skills in the field of Human Resources
Management in Sri Lanka.
Problem of the Study
The purpose of this paper is to study the perception of employers’ as well as HRM graduates’
towards employability skills required by HRM graduates in the manufacturing and service
industries..
Method of the Study
A sum of two samples were selected for this comparative investigation namely, graduates and
employers. For the study 45 graduates and 25 employers were obtained as the two samples. Two
self-administered survey questionnaires were developed targeting the two groups. Descriptive
statistics were used for the data analysis.
Findings of the Study
The findings reveal that there are differences in the perception between employers and
undergraduates for certain employability skills where as for others no difference can be identified.
In addition for some employability skills there is a skill gap where the employers’ level of
expectation is higher than the level of skills possessed by the graduates.
Conclusion of the Study
As the findings reveal that there is considerable skill gap pertaining to undergraduates with regard
to most important employability skills due attention must be paid by the relevant parties in order to
cultivate the employability skills before entering to the labour market. The findings of the present
study will contribute to eliminate not only unemployment but also underemployment of HRM
graduates.
