Assessing Career Readiness Among Undergraduates: A Quantitative Study on Influencing Factors and Identity Commitment

This study explores the career preparedness of 418 undergraduate students by examining their socio-demographic profiles, career aspirations, and key influencing factors.The findings reveal a balanced gender representation, a predominance of students from government schools and Tamil medium instruction, and a strong preference for government employment. Correlation analysis shows significant positive relationships among career development variables, particularly highlighting the central role of Occupational Expertise, CareerConfidence, and Clarity.Self-exploration and learning relevance emerged as critical to adaptive career planning, while social support from family, friends, and schools positively influenced networking and exploration.A simple linear regression indicated that Career Readiness is a strong predictor of Career Identity and Commitment, emphasizing that improving students' readiness significantly enhances their career identity formation.These insights underline the importance of comprehensive, context-sensitive interventions to support undergraduates in their career development journeys.