IMPACT OF WORK READINESS ON CAREER SELF-EFFICACY AND CAREER EXPLORATION: A TWO-STEP MODEL

Employers expect engineering graduates to be skilled and well equipped with selfbelief
before getting into the workplace. However, most of the graduates lack these
aspects. Due to deficiency of skills and self- belief in their capabilities, engineering
graduates often find it hard to explore career opportunities. To address this issue,
Washington accord established work readiness attributes for engineering graduates that
includes fundamental knowledge and design, modern tool usage, project management
and finance, engineers' society and environment, teamwork, ethics, communication and
lifelong learning. This research in turn attempts to explore the literature on work
readiness that significantly contribute to increased career self-efficacy which leads to
effective career exploration. Eventually, a two-step framework is developed to examine;
the impact of work readiness on career self-efficacy and, in turn, career self-efficacy's
impact on career exploration.