Assessment of Employability Skills Among Fresh Engineering Graduates: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract

The study aims to develop, derive and test the best fit model for employability skills present among Fresh Engineering Graduates (FEG). Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling techniques were used to analyze the data gathered through a structured questionnaire from 305 employers conducting campus recruitment for FEG as well as employing FEG of engineering institutes/universities of Chhattisgarh State of India. The results revealed that management skills are the most important skills, followed by technical skills and communication skills as perceived by the employers. The results also suggest that employers are satisfied more with communication skills (no skill gap exists), followed by technical skills (skill gap exists) and then management skills (skill gap exists). Hence, it is evident that the employers are least satisfied with the most important skills, i.e., management skills and more satisfied with the least important skills, i.e., communication skills.