Role of Career Preference Factors in Predicting Graduates’ Employability
W.P.R Wickramaratne

Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore the role of career preference factors in predicting the employability of graduates. A survey was conducted based on a sample of 154 recently passed out graduates who are employed in management faculties as academics of five state owned leading Universities in Sri Lanka. Correlation and regression analyses were performed with the help of SPSS software (version 22) to analyze the collected data.The results found that stability & expertise and variety & creativity are positively related to the employability of graduates. Conversely, Managerial and independence & autonomy do not have significant relationships with employability of graduates. In agreement with the extant literature the graduates are concerned about their job security and seek opportunities to demonstrate skills and knowledge gained from their studies in choosing a career. In contrast to these prior studies, the graduates do not have inspirations to employ in managerial positions that they can enjoy more authority whereas their willingness to have freedom on the job and the autonomy in making decisions are not factors that determine their employability. The outcomes of this study support the predictions made by the integrated model of graduate employability of Coetzee (2008). The implications of the study are also discussed.

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