Employer Perceptions of Job Skills in Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

Job skills are one of the important soft skills for an employee. In fact, many university graduates face obstacles when looking for jobs because of low job skills. The purpose of this study was to identify the employer perceptions of the most important job skills in the manufacturing industry. This study also aimed to determine differences in important job skills based on perspectives of employers, gender, company size, and company type in the manufacturing industry. This study used a survey method for employers in Riau Islands through a questionnaire based on the membership management information system. The Riau Islands Province Chambers of Commerce and Industry has 2437 companies. By using Bartlett, Kotrlik & Higgins Table, population 2437, margin error 0.03, α = 0.05, total sample was 119. The questionnaire was sent to the manufacturing industry randomly. Based on the twoway analysis of variance with SPSS V-20, communication skills were the most important job skills. Then, based on the perspective of employers, there were no significant differences between gender, company size, and company type on job skills.