Employers’ Perspectives on English-Major Graduates’ Attributes, Skills, and Personal Qualities

Abstract

Concerns over job applicants' deficient work skills continuously circulate among employers as the need for competent and work-ready graduates persists. To gather current feedbacks, this study investigates what attributes, general skills, specialized skills, and personal qualities do the employers of English-major graduates’ judge as important and satisfying along with job performance. A mixed-methods approach was utilized. Researcher-made questionnaires were administered to 21 employers in various career sectors. The data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0 software. Interviews were analyzed qualitatively. Results showed that employers put high regard on personal qualities, primarily determination and persistence, self-discipline, and specialized skills, namely communicating in English fluently, accurately, and creatively, and producing well-written texts for various academic and professional purposes. They revealed the least satisfaction on specialized skills such as the graduates’ capability in facilitating English language learning in diverse social, cultural, academic, and professional settings; and general skills, namely planning and organizing, and the ability to manage or demonstrate leadership qualities, thus, confirmed the enhancement needs. The further development of communicative competence in English was viewed as an impetus in empowering the graduates.