TY - JOUR
T1 - Graduates’ perceptions and employers’ expectations
T2 - Essential skills in Hong Kong workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
AU - Edmonds, David Matthew
AU - Zayts-Spence, Olga
AU - Fortune, Zoë
AU - Fung, Jaime Sau Ying
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Collaborative Research Fund Coronavirus Disease and Novel Infectious Diseases Research Exercise (21-22) of the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong (Project code: C7086-21GF).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2024/8
Y1 - 2024/8
N2 - This paper explores the skills that Hong Kong employers and graduates see as important to have in the workplace as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our data are interviews with 40 employers and 69 graduates in the territory. Using reflexive thematic analysis, our qualitative findings center around four themes. First, we highlight the necessity for graduates to have hard and soft skills when entering Hong Kong workplaces. Second, we reveal the disjuncture that exists regarding the skills that graduates acquire at university and those expected in prospective workplaces. Third, we outline the perceived strength in hard skills possessed by graduates. Fourth, we elucidate the perceived deficit in graduates’ soft skills upon entering the workplace. We discuss the implications of our findings not just for understanding the workplace during the pandemic, but also in post-COVID-19 workplaces.
AB - This paper explores the skills that Hong Kong employers and graduates see as important to have in the workplace as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our data are interviews with 40 employers and 69 graduates in the territory. Using reflexive thematic analysis, our qualitative findings center around four themes. First, we highlight the necessity for graduates to have hard and soft skills when entering Hong Kong workplaces. Second, we reveal the disjuncture that exists regarding the skills that graduates acquire at university and those expected in prospective workplaces. Third, we outline the perceived strength in hard skills possessed by graduates. Fourth, we elucidate the perceived deficit in graduates’ soft skills upon entering the workplace. We discuss the implications of our findings not just for understanding the workplace during the pandemic, but also in post-COVID-19 workplaces.
KW - COVID-19 pandemic
KW - hard skills
KW - soft skills
KW - transition
KW - university education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180483737&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/09504222231224087
DO - 10.1177/09504222231224087
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85180483737
SN - 0950-4222
VL - 38
SP - 385
EP - 395
JO - Industry and Higher Education
JF - Industry and Higher Education
IS - 4
ER -