BBS200: Annotated Bibliography on Business Student Work Readiness

This annotated bibliography examines the work-readiness of business graduates, drawing on several key research articles. The bibliography begins by highlighting the importance of work-integrated learning, employability skills, and career management skills in preparing business students for the workforce. It also addresses gaps in non-technical abilities, such as communication and critical thinking, which impact organizational performance. The articles discuss the need for assessing employability skills and the factors influencing competence. The research explores the relationship between employment and employability, suggesting that the connection is not always straightforward. The bibliography includes references to articles that discuss the attributes and skills employers seek in graduates, such as time management, communication, and project management, while also raising questions about the sufficiency of current graduate attributes. The articles included in the bibliography are presented in alphabetical order, with each entry including a summary of the article's key points, methodologies, and findings.

Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Are Business Students Work-Ready?
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Topic: Are Business Students Work-Ready?
Jackson, Denise, Ruth Sibson, and Linda Riebe. "Delivering work-ready business
graduates-keeping our promises and evaluating our performance."
Journal of Teaching
and Learning for Graduate Employability 4, no. 1 (2013): 2.
This article highlights the fact that the business schools are reverting to the requests for
graduate work - readiness mainly through the development of work - integrated - learning (WIL),
employability skills, and career management skills. The authors have also highlighted the
importance of clarifying the skills that are needed by the organizations from these graduated
employees. In addition to this, it is important to develop the skills which the organizations would
require. The paper also sketches a systematic approach to evaluate and assess the employability
skill outcomes along with the effectiveness of the learning programs to develop these skills. The
authors state that the implementation of this particular method will not only help the business
students’ work - ready by improving their employability skills but will also act as an integral
component for the business undergraduate curriculums.
However, the research conducted includes secondary data only, so this makes the
information present in the article reliable. Also, this topic is one of the most discussed issues
amongst individuals from various parts of the world. Taking into consideration the fact that the
matter present in this article is digressive as it has been carried out on large sample size.
Jackson, Denise. "Business graduate employability–where are we going wrong?."
Higher
Education Research & Development 32, no. 5 (2013): 776-790.
The sole purpose of this article is to discuss and elaborate on the current gaps that prevail
in the non - technical abilities in the business graduates, which continue to have an effect on the
global competitiveness as well as on the performance of an organization. Despite the best efforts
being put in by the business schools’ to develop these non - technical abilities, there has been
relatively less focus to measure the skill outcomes and even less on the subsequent
implementation of it in the workplace. It can be said that it seemed as if the concept convinced
the stakeholders that the transfer of the abilities would take place naturally or automatically in
the graduates. In addition to this, the paper also unravels the notion of transfer of the skills and
recommends a framework of graduate employability which incorporates the procedure.
The quality of the context tried to incorporate all the factors that might exist for the
particular topic as not much research has been conducted in the past on this topic. Diversification

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
as well language acts as a major barrier to the employability of these graduates. Along with it,
the structure is appropriately explained without being emotionally biased. There seem to be areas
that can be taken up for future discussion and research.
Jackson, Denise. "Testing a model of undergraduate competence in employability skills
and its implications for stakeholders."
Journal of Education and Work 27, no. 2 (2014):
220-242.
In this modern era, the business world seems to be expanding their businesses quickly in
various parts of the world. This, eventually, hinders productivity due to the intercultural barriers
in communication. Despite the constant development as well as growth in the employability
skills, certain skills of the recent graduates are not meeting with the standard and expectation of
the industry. The author, in this paper, presents as well as experiments a framework of
undergraduate competence in respect of employability skills. In the process, the factors that have
an impact on competence were identified so as to enhance their skill outcomes.
The research was conducted on a large sample size of the business undergraduates who
had to give a rating to themselves on their self - competence. In addition to this, the data
collected was analyzed using numerous regression techniques or methods. The result included
factors such as geographical origin, work experience, gender, stage of degree studies, and
engagement with the skills program.
Nagarajan, Srivalli, and Jenny Edwards. "Is the graduate attributes approach sufficient to
develop work ready graduates?."
Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate
Employability 5, no. 1 (2014): 12.
It is seen every so often that the graduates from the universities have attributes that are
being referred to as work - ready skills, generic skills, or soft skills. The paper also outlays the
evaluation of a study of the professional work experience of recent graduates. They identified
and stated that time management, communication, working across different cultures, working
with people, business skills, and project management were a few of the most important
professional skills that a business enterprise looked for in recent graduates. The study also raises
a question as to the current knowledge and capability of the graduate is enough to make them
ready for work or not.
It is necessary to critique an article to know about its strengths, validity, and weaknesses.
After reviewing and comparing the articles, it was found that the authors have not incorporated

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
tables and charts or any type of figurative data to present the information and the factual data in
an organized manner. Although they have maintained neutrality in their writing, moreover, the
article addresses all the vital points which were supposed to be addressed.
Wilton, Nick. "Do employability skills really matter in the UK graduate labour market?
The case of business and management graduates."
Work, employment and society 25, no. 1
(2011): 85-100.
The article discusses the two governing rationales which were offered by the UK
policymakers for the continuous growth of higher studies - to serve as well as to cater to the high
- skill labor needs of a knowledge economy along with to develop the employment and
educational opportunities for the undergraduates. The discussion of employability connects the
above mentioned two rationales in a basic way. The evidence that was drawn out from the
research suggests that for a cohort of fresh management and business graduates, the relationship
that prevails between employment and employability is not straightforward.
Keeping in my mind that the references that have been taken are recent, the article
provides different ways to overcome the situation. Besides, the data found extends an outline for
the other authors to research for similar issues in the future. It also lends forward some
techniques and procedures to improve and make sure that the business students are work-ready.
This article, although, was presented in an organized manner with a coherent format.

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCE LIST -
Jackson, Denise, Ruth Sibson, and Linda Riebe. "Delivering work-ready business graduates-
keeping our promises and evaluating our performance." Journal of Teaching and
Learning for Graduate Employability 4, no. 1 (2013): 2.
Jackson, Denise. "Business graduate employability–where are we going wrong?." Higher
Education Research & Development 32, no. 5 (2013): 776-790.
Jackson, Denise. "Testing a model of undergraduate competence in employability skills and its
implications for stakeholders." Journal of Education and Work 27, no. 2 (2014): 220-242.
Nagarajan, Srivalli, and Jenny Edwards. "Is the graduate attributes approach sufficient to develop
work ready graduates?." Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate
Employability 5, no. 1 (2014): 12.
Wilton, Nick. "Do employability skills really matter in the UK graduate labour market? The case
of business and management graduates." Work, employment and society 25, no. 1 (2011):
85-100.