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Malaysian graduates specifically among hospital-
ity students. As work integrated learning through
internship training is one important part in hospi-
tality program, the effect of internship on employ-
ability among graduates was also addressed.
fied and successful by receiving some education in
career development learning.
Also known as career education, Watts (2008)
defines it as consisting of planned experiences
designed to assist the development of: self-aware-
ness—in terms of interest, abilities, value and oth-
ers; opportunity awareness—knowing what work
opportunities and what their requirement are;
decision learning—decision-making skill; and tran-
sition learning—including job search and self-pres-
entation skill. This formulation widely describes
as DOTS models; decision-making learning (D),
opportunity awareness (O), transition learning (T)
and (self-awareness (S). Activities that help stu-
dents to become more self-aware, to enable them
to give real deliberation to the things that they take
pleasure in doing, engrossed in, motivate them and
suit their personalities should be included as pro-
posed by DOTS model. Job market search needs to
be learned by them in order to see what opportuni-
ties are available, how to present themselves effec-
tively to the potential employers, and how to make
decisions about their careers (Watts, 2008).
H1: There is a significant relationship between career
development learning and graduates' employability.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
AND HYPOTHESES
2.1
Graduates' employability
Graduate employability (GE) recently has become
a main issue for institutions because of the chang-
ing nature of the graduate labor market, mass
participation in institutions of higher learning,
pressures on student's finance, competition to
recruit students and expectations of students,
employers, parents and government (McNair,
2003). Lees (2002) mention that from the perspec-
tive of institutions of higher learning, employabil-
ity is about to produce graduates who are able and
capable which gives an impacts upon all areas of
university life, in terms of the delivery of academic
programs and extra curricula activities.
Consequently, Pool and Sewell (2007) refer
employability as “having a set of skills, knowledge,
understanding and personal attributes which makes a
person more likely to choose and secure occupations
in which they can be satisfied and successful”. Based
on their definition, they have developed a model that
can be used to explain the concept of employability
and known as “CareerEDGE”. According to that
model, career development learning and experience
are construct as a “key” to choose and secure occu-
pations in which the graduates has the opportunity
to achieve satisfaction and success.
2.3
Work integrated learning
Work integrated learning (WIL) is learning resulting
from participation in a workplace community setting
(Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services
(AGCAS ), 2005). Most of the universities offer
their students with work-integrated learning such
as internship, practicum, practical placement, and
industry based project, mentoring or vacation work
in many of their academic programs. This program
require students to implement their learning knowl-
edge and reflecting upon the experience, knowing
themselves and the world of work better in order to
authorize them to enter and succeed in the world-
of-work (AGCAS, 2005). Excellent work experience
can boost learning and employability, so that work
experience opportunities can be well-managed to be
educationally valuable (Knight & Yorke, 2002).
H2: There is a significant relationship between work-
place experience and graduates' employability.
2.2
Career development learning
Career development learning (CDL) is associated
with lifelong learning and related to: Learning
about the content and process of career devel-
opment or life/career management. The content
of career development learning in essence repre-
sents learning about self and learning about the
world of work. Watts (2008) indicates in his study,
career development learning can help students to
enlighten their future and expose the path they
will choose, which they can build their employabil-
ity and venture competences. He also asserts that
career development learning may be organized
variously to raise students' awareness of employ-
ability and how to get self-management in their
studies and extra-curricular activities to optimize
the employability. Pool and Sewell (2007) point
out that graduate needs to grab the best chance of
securing occupations in which they can be satis-
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1
Participants and procedures
The respondents of this study consisted of Hotel
Management, Tourism Management, Foodservice
Management and Culinary Art Management fresh
graduates from Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Man-
agement, UiTM. All respondents graduated in May
2011 both in degrees and diplomas and they were
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