Abstract:

This study is part of an ERASMUS+ project to develop an app aimed at enhancing students' graduate employability skills over their university journey. Students will be able to download the app when they begin their university career and use it to track, evidence, and reflect on core graduate employability skills. This research examined which skills the app should focus on and how students could be encouraged to engage with it. Researchers in 4 different European countries (Scotland, Poland, Greece, and Norway) conducted focus groups with undergraduate students, focus groups with teaching staff in higher education, and one-on-one interviews with employers. Employers represented different sectors but all were directly involved in graduate recruitment. All data was collected virtually. Questions centered around the importance of different skills, the presentation of these skills to employers, and desirable features of mobile apps. Thematic analysis was conducted on the data and several themes were identified. While there were a number of skills that students identified as being important to their graduate employability and viewed as being able to be developed via university assessments, employers themselves held an assumption that graduates would possess these skills, and instead valued initiative, drive, adaptability and 'fit' with their company. These results highlight the differences in values between employers and students as well as the specific mechanisms such as gamification which would encourage students to engage with a graduate employability skills app. The findings will inform the development of the app in the next stages of the project.

Keywords:

Employability, employability skills, graduates, mobile app, gamification.