The applied dissertation was designed to understand the perceptions of private-sector employers regarding the selection of candidates from distance-only higher education institutions. Guided by signaling theory as a framework, the study explored the mismatch between institutional, student, and employer expectations of skills and readiness for the…

Purpose: In today's ever-evolving digital job market, soft skills are increasingly important for university students to succeed in their future careers. This study identifies the soft skills that universities should prioritize the most due to their significance in the digital employment market. Design/methodology/approach: Using natural language…

Purpose: In the digital age, the development of students' career intentions requires serious concentration since these are associated with the students' future employment and, ultimately, their survival. This study attempted to demonstrate in Pakistan's Higher Educational Institutes ("HEIs") the role of soft skills towards the students'…

If this is the age of innovation why is our educational system still navigating the future from the past? Recounts of industry hiring managers' negative perspectives about recent graduates' soft skills, when will this end and how will it be achieved before the 22nd century? The problem addressed in this study is that industry hiring managers and…

In today's connected world, forming teams of people to execute projects is seen as a challenge in government agencies and public and private organisations alike. For large enterprises, a small group of thoughtful and committed people performing different roles could essentially change the world. At the same time, however, it is hard to select an…

The worldwide big data and analytics investment market continues to grow, with projections indicating strong compound annual growth rates over the next decade. To achieve true competitive advantage from business intelligence and data analytics, organizations must control how these investments are being integrated into the culture of the…

Globalization, competition, technology, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic are causing disruptions to the nature of work and forcing organizations to quickly adapt. To support employee learning and adaptability, many organizations employ instructional designers to create training, develop performance solutions, and lead learning initiatives.…

Accounting and finance courses are critical to any management programs as they are relevant to other vocational courses. Does these courses help in improving soft skills also? This is a question which is not much probed in literature and is the focus of the study. The objective of the research is to analyze the effect of two independent variables…

The purpose of this study is to examine core professional competencies for instructional designers through a job announcement analysis involving both qualitative and quantitative produces used on a qualitative data source. Using a conceptual framework as a guide, we extracted and examined a total of N = 1030 unique job announcements obtained from…

The number of internationally educated nurses (IENs) who have joined the Canadian healthcare workforce has steadily increased since the mid-twentieth century. In the literature, IENs are often perceived as lacking "soft skills". This study explored IENs' interpretations of soft skills, and how they resist the soft skills discourse in…

Educational innovation is presented as a dynamic within the school that enables development, transcending and breaking paradigms in pedagogical practices and in the types of relationships that converge within it, aspects that shape and materialize the evolution of human development. To understand how educational innovation becomes one of the…

Geoscience employers have increasingly called for student competency in three sets of skills -- technical, field and soft skills. One major soft skill identified by employers is teamwork, which is critical in laboratory and field-based activities. At the same time, educators seek to inculcate in students a stronger focus on the development of…

For many students, project-based learning (PBL) can be more engaging than more traditional instructional approaches. Over the past 15 years, Anna Saavedra and Amie Rapaport studied seven inquiry-based approaches. Their research shows that PBL has a positive effect on students' achievement and development of important soft skills. Schools can…

In the education system, the integration of student perspectives into effective pedagogical strategies is gaining momentum. This dissertation delves into the concept of 'Student Voice' and its role in shaping educational frameworks. Recognizing the growing gap in soft skill proficiency among newly recruited employees, contrasted with the emphasis…

Purpose: This study aims to develop a talent selection model for learning organizations capable of connecting two groups, candidates in a talent hiring process and managers of the hiring company, in a reliable process, promoting organizational learning and increasing employee satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: This paper integrates…