Employers' Perception of Employability Skills of Students of Commerce and Management Discipline: A Qualitative Approach

Abstract

Enhancing employability skills of students in Commerce and Management discipline is considered as an important task within the Sri Lankan higher education community. This research was conducted with the objective of identifying required skills and strategies to develop skills in order to expose students of Commerce and Management discipline to the job market. And also this was conducted based on sample constituting by five solid ventures representing all industries in Sri Lanka. Some literature reviews are also included in this paper which have extracted from educational reports and theoretical research papers. This Research identified that current job market level of Commerce and Management students is at a good level, apparently private sector employers are looking for more skills, and also research findings reveled that introduction to employability skills, employer needs, matching employer need and skills and attributes that are valued by employers. This research concludes that universities and other higher educational institutions should conduct special programs to develop the skills of students to meet the requirement private sector employers in the industry.