Work Readiness in an Emergency Digital Learning Environment: Students' Self-Perception and Employer Expectation

The employability of university of technology graduates in South Africa remains a pressing issue, with youth unemployment rates alarming at 63.9% for ages 15–24 and 42.1% for ages 25–34. Even graduates face significant unemployment, with 32.6% of those aged 15-24 years and 22.4% of those aged 25–34 years still jobless. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges, shifting education to digital platforms, which exposed deficiencies in digital literacy, infrastructure, and resources among students. Despite these obstacles, graduating students maintain a positive outlook on employment opportunities, evaluated through the perceived future employability (PFE) model. This model assesses graduates' perceptions of future skills, experience, networks, personal traits, labour market knowledge, and institutional reputation. Employers, however, rate graduates low on work readiness, particularly in soft skills like critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving, which are deemed more crucial than the specific field of study. This disparity underscores higher education institutions' need to focus on developing these non-technical skills to enhance graduates' employability. The study used a mixed-method design to gather data from 140 marketing and retail students and seven employers. Results indicated that while students had a positive self-perception of their employability, employers highlighted deficiencies in soft skills. Work-integrated learning (WIL) programmes are essential, providing practical experience and mentoring that bridge the gap between theory and practice and instil confidence and essential workplace skills in students. These programmes, encompassing internships, graduate programmes, and project-based learning, are crucial for preparing students for the evolving Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) labour market and should be integral to university curricula.