Developing Workplace Awareness through Project Work

Abstract

Studies have been carried out to investigate problems and causes of low employability amongst graduates from both public and private higher learning institutions. Although higher learning institutions have made concerted efforts to address this problem—to improve graduate employability, it remains a matter of serious concern. One of the main reasons for candidates not being employed is lack of communication skills particularly in English. Project work has been recognized as an effective way to develop students’ communication skills, knowledge, experience and soft skills. In order to enable students to be more employable and aware of the requirements of the industry, a workplace related research project was assigned to students who took a course in Workplace Communication II at University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), a public university. The aims of the study were to find out if project work developed students’ understanding on workplace environments and what they learnt from it. Respondents in this study wrote their self-reflection by responding to questions in a Google doc survey after completing the project. The class teacher also commented on the progress made by the respondents in her field notes report. The findings show that involvement in project work has created awareness of the needs, requirements and work- place environment of the respondents’ future jobs. They have learned social skills and teamwork, time management, personal development and report writing skills. This project work has given the necessary exposure which made them realize the importance of equipping themselves with the relevant skills and qualities sought after by prospective employers.