Work Readiness as a Threshold Judgement: Evidence from an Exit Survey of Filipino Graduating Students

Graduate exit surveys commonly summarise students’ readiness for work as a single percentage, a practice that may conceal continuing development needs. This study examined how self-reported work preparedness coexisted with requests for further career preparation among Filipino graduating students, and how students who did not feel prepared explained their unreadiness. A secondary cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 2,134 de-identified 2024 exit-survey records from nine academic units. Descriptive statistics and exploratory logistic regression analyses were complemented by a content analysis of 190 open-ended explanations. Although 90.5% of respondents reported adequate preparation for their desired work, 76.8% of these prepared respondents requested additional on-the-job training in other provinces, the same proportion as among unprepared respondents. Valuing practical, work-based experience was associated with higher odds of feeling prepared, whereas the association with instructor assistance was imprecise. Unpreparedness was attributed mainly to insufficient practical experience and to skills or training needs, but also to the strain of transition, low confidence and licensure requirements. The findings indicate that students treat work readiness as a threshold judgement while continuing to regard their employability as still developing. Readiness percentages should therefore be interpreted together with students’ requests and explanations, and the learning that students expect from additional placements should be established before placements are expanded.