EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS OF TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL STUDENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIREMENTS: EMPLOYERS' PERSPECTIVES

This study aims to explore the employers' requirement for employability skills of the technical and vocational students who are hearing impaired. The research instrument used was adapted from the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) which consists of thirty nine items. The employability skills surveyed include basic skills, thinking skills, personal qualities, sourcing skills, information skills, interpersonal skills, system skills and technology skills. The instrument was distributed to 110 industry employers throughout Malaysia. However, only 23 (21%) employers returned the survey form. The majority of respondents are from service industry (78.2%) including the retail, food service, restaurants and hotel as well as the fashion designing industry. A high percentage of the respondents (65.2%) are Human Resource Manager who had one to five years of working experience. Based on the survey, the three top most highly rated skills are, personal qualities (M=4.37, SD=.39), basic skills (M=4.10, SD=.58) and interpersonal skills (M=4.07, SD=.47). Knowing the skills that employers demand from their hearing impaired employees, institutions can provide the appropriate training to prepare their hearing impaired graduates for future employment.