The development and preliminary validation of the Core Competencies for Employment Scale (CCES)

Abstract

Past authors produced a framework to outline the core competencies needed for employment in the 21 st-century workforce. However, this framework was not implemented for developing personalised educational plans to nurture competencies in students. This study developed and validated the Core Competencies for Employment Scale (CCES) to identify core competencies that final-year students should develop to become employable in the 21 st century. The sample included 521 final-year undergraduate students , who assessed their possession of 24 core competencies and their perceptions of how employers value them. Differences in scores in these two assessments helped gauge the areas of core competencies improvement. Exploratory factor analysis grouped the 24 competencies into four factors: Skills, Capacity for Change, General Literacy, and Digital Literacy. The four-factor structure was confirmed. The study concluded that the CCES can help educators identify core competencies that students should develop before employment.