AN INTER-INDUSTRY ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS VALUED BY EMPLOYERS IN PAKISTAN: A SURVEY OF HR MANAGERS AND RECRUITERS

Abstract

English being lingua franca is a door- way to career growth in today's globalized world. English is essential for new graduates to succeed in their careers. English is the official language and the main means of communication and correspondence in professional settings in Pakistan's cutthroat job market. To match education with industrial demands, it is critical to comprehend what recruiters expect. The basic aim of the research is to explore recruiters’ preference for specific English skills for job allotment. It is a quantitative, repeated measures design. The total of 19 companies’ data was collected from Karachi. A convenient sampling technique was utilized. Hiring professionals from diverse industries participated in the research such as Information Technology, Manufacturing Industry, Educational Institutes and Health Sectors. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 21. A paired sample T- test was performed to compare means of speaking and writing skills. The mean difference of two skills is 3.7894 with standard deviation of 2.25. The t statistics are 7.340 with df 18. The data indicates that recruiters place a high value on overall English language proficiency. The candidate with the highest degree of confidence is hired. It has been discovered that pronunciation, general confidence, and enunciation all affect employment prospects. The paired sample t test also makes it evident that the hiring staff values speaking abilities above writing abilities.