Unemployed Graduates’ Perceptions on their General Communication Skills at Job Interviews

This study is an attempt to assess the general communication skills of unemployed graduates at job interviews. The sample population comprised unemployed graduates who took part in the 1 Malaysia Training Scheme (SL1 M program) set up by the Malaysian government to address the issue of unemployment amongst the Malaysian graduates. The mixed method research was employed using research instruments comprising survey questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. Questionnaires using a five point Likert scale were administered to 506 respondents where 337 were finally regarded as useable. Meanwhile face-to-face interviews were conducted with thirteen unemployed graduates from the same group of respondents in the SL1 M program. Descriptive analysis indicated that more than half of the respondents were in the range of moderate to low level in their general communication skills. Independent t-tests carried out indicated that there were significant differences for gender and types of higher education institutions (HEIs) in relation to general communication skills. Male unemployed graduates seemed to have higher general communication skills compared to their female counterparts, while unemployed graduates from the private HEIs (IPTS) have better general communication skills than those from the public HEIs (IPTAs). The ANOVA tests carried out with MUET band scores and general communication skills showed an upward trend where the higher the MUET band score, the higher the mean of general communication skills. Findings were further enhanced by the qualitative data that conformed to the data obtained from the quantitative analysis. Another equally important finding of the study is the association between general communication skills and communication apprehension. This finding opens up the prospect for further research, that general communication skills need to be assessed in relation to communication apprehension among unemployed graduates in Malaysia.