Article Sidebar

Submitted
June 30, 2024
Accepted
August 17, 2024
Published
August 28, 2024
Download
Full text PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 81 Download : 70

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Main Article Content

Abstract

Studies highlight particular concern about the work readiness of university graduates, which potentially leads to many undesirable outcomes, such as rising unemployment rates and low productivity levels in the workplace. This study aims to explore the differences between student organization and work experiences and further analyze student organization’s contribution to graduate’s work readiness. This research uses a qualitative approach with phenomenological methods, and the data is analyzed with thematic data analysis. Data were collected through interviews involving 15 recent graduates actively involved in student organizations and just starting their careers. The study also interviewed two more senior workers to serve as source triangulation, strengthening the validity of the collected data. The study found four key differences between student organizations and the world of work. These differences include primary orientation, feedback and reward system, hierarchical structure, and interaction experiences. The findings also indicate that student organization experiences enhance individual skill development, which later proves helpful in work life. In particular, student organizational experience significantly advances these skills: leadership, time management, self-confidence, problem-solving, integrity, critical thinking, communication, negotiation, teamwork, responsibility, and commitment. Additionally, the record of student organizational participation listed on curriculum vitae can be a valuable asset for recent graduates, enhancing their employment prospects.

Keywords

Work readiness student organization work experience soft skill professionalism

Article Details

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Baiq Sinar Mulyana, Jaya Addin Linando

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
How to Cite
Mulyana, B. S., & Linando, J. A. (2024). Engagement in student organizations and graduates’ readiness to enter the job market. Asian Management and Business Review, 4(2), 308–323. https://doi.org/10.20885/AMBR.vol4.iss2.art9
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX

References

  1. Araiza-Alba, P., Keane, T., Chen, W. S., & Kaufman, J. (2021). Immersive virtual reality as a tool to learn problem-solving skills. Computers & Education, 164, 104121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.104121
  2. Astin, A. W. (1999). Student Involvement: A Developmental Theory for Higher Education. In Altbach, P. G., Arnold, K., & King, I. C. (Eds.), College Student Development and Academic Life: Psychological, Intellectual, Social and Moral Issues (pp. 251-262). New York: Routledge.
  3. Ayres, J., & Malouff, J. M. (2007). Problem-solving training to help workers increase positive affect, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 16(3), 279–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320701391804
  4. Baird, A. M., & Parayitam, S. (2019). Employers’ ratings of importance of skills and competencies college graduates need to get hired: Evidence from the New England region of USA. Education + Training, 61(5), 622–634. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-12-2018-0250
  5. Beyer, S., Meek, A., & Davies, A. (2016). Supported work experience and its impact on young people with intellectual disabilities, their families and employers. Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, 10(3), 207–220. https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-05-2014-0015
  6. Boat, A. A., Syvertsen, A. K., & Scales, P. C. (2021). The role of social capital in promoting work readiness among opportunity youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 131, 106270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106270
  7. Borges, J. C., Ferreira, T. C., Borges de Oliveira, M. S., Macini, N., & Caldana, A. C. F. (2017). Hidden curriculum in student organizations: Learning, practice, socialization and responsible management in a business school. The International Journal of Management Education, 15(2, Part B), 153–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2017.03.003
  8. Bosch, J., Maaz, A., Hitzblech, T., Holzhausen, Y., & Peters, H. (2017). Medical students’ preparedness for professional activities in early clerkships. BMC Medical Education, 17(1), 140. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-0971-7
  9. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
  10. Chapman, E., Miles, E. W., & Maurer, T. (2017). A proposed model for effective negotiation skill development. Journal of Management Development, 36(7), 940-958. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-01-2016-0002
  11. Choirunisa, M. M., & Madjid, A. (2023). The influence of organizational activeness and time management on students’ communication ability. Bulletin of Pedagogical Research, 3(2), 135-146. https://doi.org/10.51278/bpr.v3i2.815
  12. Chygryn, O., Bilan, Y., & Kwilinski, A. (2020). Stakeholders of green competitiveness: Innovative approaches for creating communicative system. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 3, 358-370. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2020.3-26
  13. Creo, E. D. P., Mareque, M., & Portela-Pino, I. (2020). The acquisition of teamwork skills in university students through extra-curricular activities. Education + Training, 63(2), 165-181. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-07-2020-0185
  14. de Villiers Scheepers, M. J., Barnes, R., Clements, M., & Stubbs, A. J. (2018). Preparing future-ready graduates through experiential entrepreneurship. Education + Training, 60(4), 303–317. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-11-2017-0167
  15. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2017). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. United States: SAGE Publications.
  16. Dunkel, N. W., Schuh, J. H., & Chrystal-Green, N. E. (2014). Advising Student Groups and Organizations. Germany: John Wiley & Sons.
  17. Eggers, F., Lovelace, K. J., & Kraft, F. (2017). Fostering creativity through critical thinking: The case of business start-up simulations. Creativity and Innovation Management, 26(3), 266–276. https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12225
  18. Eklund-Leen, S. J., & Young, R. B. (1997). Attitudes of student organization members and nonmembers about campus and community involvement. Community College Review, 24(4), 71–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/009155219702400405
  19. Forsyth, J., & Cowap, L. (2017). In-house, university-based work experience vs off-campus work experience. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 7(3), 229–239. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-11-2015-0054
  20. García-Aracil, A., Monteiro, S., & Almeida, L. S. (2021). Students’ perceptions of their preparedness for transition to work after graduation. Active Learning in Higher Education, 22(1), 49–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787418791026
  21. Gates, L. B., Pearlmutter, S., Keenan, K., Divver, C., & Gorroochurn, P. (2018). Career readiness programming for youth in foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 89, 152–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.04.003
  22. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. New York: Taylor & Francis.
  23. Gray, M., Clark, M., Penman, M., Smith, J., Bell, J., Thomas, Y., & Trevan-Hawke, J. (2012). New graduate occupational therapists feelings of preparedness for practice in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 59(6), 445–455. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1630.2012.01029.x
  24. Grissom, J. A., Loeb, S., & Mitani, H. (2015). Principal time management skills: Explaining patterns in principals’ time use, job stress, and perceived effectiveness. Journal of Educational Administration, 53(6), 773-793. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-09-2014-0117
  25. Haines, K. (2019). Student perspectives on joining student organizations. Doctoral dissertation, Northeastern University, Boston Massachusetts, USA. https://doi.org/10.17760/D20316470
  26. Halpern, D. F., & Dunn, D. S. (2021). Critical thinking: A model of intelligence for solving real-world problems. Journal of Intelligence, 9(2), 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence9020022
  27. Hidayah, Y., Fen, C. S., Suryaningsih, A., & Mazid, S. (2022). Promoting student participation skills through student organizations. Jurnal Civics: Media Kajian Kewarganegaraan, 19(2), 213-223. https://doi.org/10.21831/jc.v19i2.53422
  28. Imron, M. A., & Abdullah, M. R. T. L. (2023). Environment and benchmarking: Industry 4.0 sustainable work readiness framework. KnE Social Sciences, 374–392. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v8i20.14616
  29. Johnson, S. S. (2021). The science of teamwork. American Journal of Health Promotion, 35(5), 730–732. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171211007955a
  30. Kapareliotis, I., Voutsina, K., & Patsiotis, A. (2019). Internship and employability prospects: Assessing student’s work readiness. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 9(4), 538-549. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-08-2018-0086
  31. Karlins, M., & Rf, W. (2018). Want to solve problems on the job? Then take this problem-solving P.L.A.N.E. to work. Journal of Business & Financial Affairs, 07(03), 2167-0234. https://doi.org/10.4172/2167-0234.1000351
  32. Kelling, E., & Hoover, T. (2005). A comparative leadership development study within student collegiate clubs and organizations at an agrarian university in Ukraine and a university within the United States. Journal of Leadership Education, 4(2), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.12806/V4/I2/RF1
  33. Kramer, C. S., Lester, A. J., & Wilcox, K. C. (2021). College, career, and civic readiness: Building school communities that prepare youth to thrive as 21st century citizens. Theory & Research in Social Education, 49(4), 602–629. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2021.1968984
  34. Kwan, D., & Shen, L. (2015). Senior Librarians’ Perceptions of Successful Leadership Skills. In Williams, D. E., Golden, J., & Sweeney, J. K. (Eds.), Advances in Library Administration and Organization (Vol. 33, pp. 89–134). Leeds: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0732-067120150000033003
  35. Li, H. (Jessica), Wang, X. (Christina), Williams, M., Chen, Y.-R., & Brockner, J. (2023). My boss is younger, less educated, and shorter tenured: When and why status (in)congruence influences promotion system justification. Journal of Applied Psychology, 108(9), 1445–1460. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001086
  36. Linando, J. A. (2021). ‪Manajemen Kinerja: Konsep Praktis & Perspektif Islam‬. Sleman: UPP STIM YKPN.‬‬‬‬‬
  37. Linando, J. A., Hartono, A., & Setiawati, T. (2018). Leadership in small and medium enterprises in unique snack industries (Case studies in Yogyakarta). International Journal of Small and Medium Enterprises and Business Sustainability, 3(3), 1–19.
  38. Luthans, F., & Youssef-Morgan, C. M. (2017). Psychological capital: An evidence-based positive approach. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4(1), 339–366. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032516-113324
  39. Mitra, R. S. (2022). Exploring leadership challenges and ideal followership of university student organizations. Spicer Adventist University Research Articles Journal, 1(1), 47-59. https://doi.org/10.56934/sauraj.v1i1.66
  40. Monteiro, S., Almeida, L., & García-Aracil, A. (2020). “It’s a very different world”: Work transition and employability of higher education graduates. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 11(1), 164-181. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-10-2019-0141
  41. Montelongo, R. (2022). Student participation in college student organizations: A review of literature. Journal of the Student Personnel Association at Indiana University, 50-63.
  42. Murphy, K. R. (2020). Performance evaluation will not die, but it should. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(1), 13-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12259
  43. Ningrum, L., & Azalia, M. (2018). Benefits of participation in student organization in tourism education: professional and working opportunities through experience. TRJ Tourism Research Journal, 2(1), 28-41. https://doi.org/10.30647/trj.v2i1.31
  44. Obilor, E. I. (2019). Soft skills and students’ academic achievement. The International Journal of Community and Social Development, 7(2), 27-37.
  45. Orr, P., Forsyth, L., Caballero, C., Rosenberg, C., & Walker, A. (2023). A systematic review of Australian higher education students’ and graduates’ work readiness. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(7), 1714–1731. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2023.2192465
  46. Quińones, M. A., Ford, J. K., & Teachout, M. S. (1995). The relationship between work experience and job performance: A conceptual and meta‐analytic review. Personnel Psychology, 48(4), 887-910. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1995.tb01785.x
  47. Ridder, J. de, Meysman, P., Oluwagbemi, O., & Abeel, T. (2014). Soft skills: An important asset acquired from organizing regional student group activities. PLOS Computational Biology, 10(7), e1003708. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003708
  48. Rotz, M. E., & Dueñas, G. G. (2016). “Collaborative-ready” students: Exploring factors that influence collaboration during a longitudinal interprofessional education practice experience. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 30(2), 238–241. https://doi.org/10.3109/13561820.2015.1086731
  49. Routh, J., Paramasivam, S. J., Cockcroft, P., Nadarajah, V. D., & Jeevaratnam, K. (2022). Using learning theories to develop a veterinary student preparedness toolkit for workplace clinical training. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9, 833034. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.833034
  50. Sabbah, S. S., Hallabieh, F., & Hussein, O. (2020). Communication Skills among undergraduate students at Al-Quds University. World Journal of Education, 10(6), 136-142. https://doi.org/10.5430/wje.v10n6p136
  51. Siddique, S., Ahsan, A., Azizi, N., & Haass, O. (2022). Students’ workplace readiness: Assessment and skill-building for graduate employability. Sustainability, 14(3), 1749. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031749
  52. Spanjaard, D., Hall, T., & Stegemann, N. (2018). Experiential learning: Helping students to become ‘career-ready’. Australasian Marketing Journal, 26(2), 163–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2018.04.003
  53. Stephen, J. S., & Fru, A. (2023). Cultivating Student Employability Skills: Classroom to Career Preparedness and Readiness. In Stephen, J. S., Kormpas, G., & Coombe, C. (Eds.), Global Perspectives on Higher Education: Knowledge Studies in Higher Education (Vol. 11, pp. 321–334). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31646-3_21
  54. Sultoni, S., Gunawan, I., & Mangzila, A. (2023). Exploring factors that can affect students’ work readiness. JDMP (Jurnal Dinamika Manajemen Pendidikan), 7(2), 129–142. https://doi.org/10.26740/jdmp.v7n2.p129-142
  55. Sungurova, N. L., Karabuschenko, N. B., Pilishvili, T. S., & Boguslavskaya, D. G. (2017). Self-organization of activities of students in the situation of network educational communication. In Malykh, S. B., & Nikulchev, E. V. (Eds.), Psychology and Education - ICPE 2017, European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (Vol. 33, pp. 338-344). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2017.12.36
  56. Triwibowo, B., Abdurrahman, Wijayati, N., & Prasandha, D. (2023). Strategy for enhancing capacity of students organization in correlation with the increasing of students achievement supporting MBKM in Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES). In Sendouw, R. H. E., Pangalila, T., Pasandaran, S., & Rantung, V. P. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Unima International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (UNICSSH 2022) (pp. 916–924). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-494069-35-0_111
  57. Tsirkas, K., Chytiri, A.-P., & Bouranta, N. (2020). The gap in soft skills perceptions: A dyadic analysis. Education + Training, 62(4), 357-377. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2019-0060
  58. Verma, P., Nankervis, A., Priyono, S., Mohd Salleh, N., Connell, J., & Burgess, J. (2018). Graduate work-readiness challenges in the Asia-Pacific region and the role of HRM. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 37(2), 121–137. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2017-0015
  59. Wati, D. I. R. (2023). The effect of student participation in student organizations on soft skills development: A case study at UINSU. AMK : Abdi Masyarakat UIKA, 2(4), 74-76. https://doi.org/10.32832/amk.v2i4.2100
  60. Wells, C., Olson, R., Bialocerkowski, A., Carroll, S., Chipchase, L., Reubenson, A., Scarvell, J. M., & Kent, F. (2021). Work readiness of new graduate physical therapists for private practice in Australia: Academic faculty, employer, and graduate perspectives. Physical Therapy, 101(6), pzab078. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzab078
  61. Winterton, J., & Turner, J. J. (2019). Preparing graduates for work readiness: An overview and agenda. Education + Training, 61(5), 536–551. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2019-0044
  62. Xiao, J. J., Newman, B. M., & Chu, B. (2018). Career preparation of high school students: A multi-country study. Youth & Society, 50(6), 818-840. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X16638690
  63. Yaffe, T., & Kark, R. (2011). Leading by example: The case of leader OCB. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(4), 806–826. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022464
  64. Zarrinabadi, N., Rezazadeh, M., Karimi, M., & Lou, N. M. (2022). Why do growth mindsets make you feel better about learning and your selves? The mediating role of adaptability. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 16(3), 249–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2021.1962888