Employability Skills of Senior Students

Abstract

Unemployment of university graduates negatively affects the economy and causes both financial and psychological problems for individuals. In order to get employed, it is of great importance to have technical knowledge about the discipline of graduation as well as non-technical skills which are called em-ployability skills. Employability skills are skills that are common to all areas of business that are necessary for people to get employed, be successful in their work life, make progress and improve themselves. Employability skills include basic skills, thinking skills, personal skills, resource usage skills, inter-personal skills, system and technology usage skills, foreign language skills and information literacy skills. This study aims to determine the competencies of senior students at Hacettepe University in terms of employability skills. Within the scope of the study, a questionnaire was applied to both senior students and faculty members to determine their perceptions about the importance of employability skills and the competence of the students in these skills. Research findings indicate different competence level of the students' employa-bility skills. The findings also indicate that there is a difference between the importance given to employability skills and competency levels.