Sustaining Graduate Futures: An Institutional Tracer Study of Employability, Work Transition, and Competencies in a Philippine Local College

This institutional alumni tracer study examined employability, work transition, competency preparation, and institutional contribution among graduates of a participating local college in the Philippines. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used. Available responses were consolidated, deduplicated, and analyzed as a single institutional tracer dataset comprising 1,264 unique alumni records from eligible cohorts prior to 2026. Participation was voluntary, and valid responses varied across analytical modules. Of 1,258 respondents with classifiable work status, 538 were employed, 81 were self-employed or business owners, and 21 reported both, yielding a combined share of working or enterprise status of 50.9%. This figure should not be interpreted as a conventional employment or unemployment rate. Employment outcomes varied across programs and graduation cohorts, but these differences cannot be attributed to elapsed time since graduation because the design was cross-sectional. Among employed respondents with valid job-relatedness data, 72.9% reported work directly or somewhat related to their degree, while 73.7% of graduates with applicable first-job timing data obtained employment before graduation or within six months afterward. Internship or on-the-job training emerged as the leading reported job source and the highest-rated college component. Common barriers included lack of experience, transportation or location constraints, limited vacancies, low offered pay, skills mismatch, and licensing or certification requirements. A paired analysis of 16 competency items among 300 respondents identified small Holm-adjusted differences in digital literacy and responsible technology or AI use, discipline-specific and licensure readiness, and critical thinking. Findings support strengthening integrated career-development and alumni-monitoring systems and triangulating competency results with employer and course-level evidence for future institutional planning.