Abstract
There has been increasing interest worldwide on the matter of graduate employability, namely the skills and attributes that render new graduates valuable contributors to the workforce. The extant literature points to a need for a better understanding of desired graduate attributes from different stakeholder perspectives. Using multivariate analysis of covariance, the present study evaluates the extent to which graduate job seekers and managers align in their ratings of 24 graduate attributes. Two distinct samples, one consisting of graduate job seekers (n = 705) and the other consisting of managers (n = 245), were sourced and subsequently merged into a single sample (n = 950), thus enabling between-subjects analyses. The results indicate that job seekers and managers agree on the importance of half of the 24 employability traits. For the remaining half, graduate job seekers both over- and under-estimate how important the attributes are in the eyes of managers. The results have important theoretical contributions to human resource management and practical implications that can benefit job applicants, employers and universities aiming to boost graduate employability.
