Measuring competence requirements

Abstract

THE AIMS OF THE PAPER

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the different interpretations of the competency requirements towards university graduates first entering the labour market. Our previous research comparing domestic literature focusing on the employer prerequisites shows that fresh graduates and employers may have a different understanding of competency requirements. Because of these results our main aim was to examine how employers interpret these competencies when they are recruiting fresh graduates.

METHODOLOGY

We conducted exploratory research on corporate sample doing in-depth interviews with human resources experts asking them about the competency requirements towards economic and technical university graduates. During these interviews first we discussed general requirements then we asked our interviewees to interpret in detail five different competencies important in the selection process. 

MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS

Our results show that regarding autonomy at work, cooperation and basic communication skills human resources experts have similar interpretations. In the case of learning and problem solving competencies we found a hierarchical structure of interpretations. The content of learning competency is different among companies, and is changing. The practice of sharing of responsibilities within companies influences the expectations towards problem solving skills, and is connected to different levels of authority, therefore we found a hierarchical structure here as well.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Our research suggests that there is a difference in the interpretation of different competencies among human research experts towards economic and technical university graduates. The interpretations explored in this study can also offer a framework for a further quantitative research.