Assessing Graduates’ Employability and Career Satisfaction through Emotional and Social Competencies

Intense competition among graduates in dynamic labor market building pressure for stakeholders (researchers, academicians, universities, employers and policymakers) to help the graduates to become more employable for smooth entry in labor market and achieve career satisfaction. Three years’ time-lagged data (2013-2016) of 133 graduates from Italy was collected with additional 955 external raters using 360 degree feedback approach and analyzed through PLS-SEM. Results confirmed the association between emotional competencies, perceived employability and career satisfaction. Present study contributes to the literature in two folds: First, it extends the current debate on graduate employability, particularly the role of behavioral competencies in (perceived) employability and career satisfaction. Second, it provides guidelines to individuals, higher education institutes (HEIs) and policymakers to build and equip essential competencies required in the labor market irrespective of disciplines.