EMPLOYABILITY STATUS OF STUDENTS IN THE

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ESSU GUIUAN

PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

2022
Volume: 6
Pages: 417 - 422
Document ID: 2022PEMJ445
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7485107
Manuscript Accepted: 2022-25-12
Psych Educ,2022 , 6: 417-422, Document ID: PEMJ445, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7485107, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article

Employability Status of Students in the Graduate School of ESSU Guiuan

Sherralyn C. Lacay*, Conrado A. Lombrio
For affiliations and correspondence, see the last page.

Abstract
The researchers have initiated and conducted this tracer study to understand how well Eastern Samar State
University's Guiuan campus has achieved its vision, mission, and goals reflected in the graduate programs'
competencies. This study determines the respondents' employment status and job level before and after obtaining
their master's degree. There is a total of 78 graduates across the five programs from 2017 – 2018 to 2019–2020.
However, only 62 were traced and participated. A quantitative design and descriptive survey were employed,
covering the respondents' demographic profile, employment status, and job level before and after obtaining their
master's degree at Eastern Samar State University, Guiuan Campus. This reveal that most of the respondents
from the MAED – EM, MAED – KE, MAM, MSHM – HRM, and MAIT programs are single and live in Guiuan.
Furthermore, the respondent's employment status shows that most graduates are already employed and only 3% of
the respondents work as part-timers or self-employed. There was a significant change in the respondents' job level
after they obtained a master's degree. With this, 84% of the respondents work as professional and technical
supervisors, while 13% work as managers and executives. Lastly, only 3% of the respondents work in clerical or
rank positions. It was recommended that the graduate school must conduct benchmarking to other universities to
strengthen its curriculum in line with the policies and guidelines of the Commission on Higher Education and
conduct programs that will help increase the number of enrollees and the number of graduates. Also, partnerships
and collaborations must be set up with government or non-government agencies locally or internationally.

Keywords: Philippines, graduate school, employability, promotion, job level

Introduction major in Educational Management and Master of Arts

in Management is also a program adopted from the
Learning is a lifetime process. It does not end with ESSU main campus with the BOR resolution no. 91.
receiving a degree and beginning a career. S. 2016.
Professionals can constantly develop their abilities
through continuing education and become more Whereas, through BOR resolution no. 39, 2016, and
proficient at employment. Teachers who want to serve BOR resolution no. 49. S. 2016 ESSU – Guiuan was
as educational leaders are nurtured professionally, and given the authority to offer two graduate programs: the
they must learn from more seasoned leaders to become Master of Science in Hospitality Management major in
successful leaders in the future. Professional growth Hotel & Restaurant Management and the Master of
refers to gaining new skills and work experience to Arts in Industrial Technology. This program aims to
help you achieve your career goals. Keeping yourself produce competent and professional graduates by
updated with trends will give you a better chance to providing quality education for young learners. It
distinguish yourself from others for years to come. further enhances the knowledge and skills of
Furthermore, investing in personal and professional kindergarten or pre-elementary teachers and updates
development will benefit from advancement the latest developments, trends, and issues in
opportunities, higher salaries, or increased overall kindergarten education programs. Eastern Samar State
career satisfaction. Following the professional University has produced Master's graduates for than
development and growth trend, Eastern Samar State three years and is now qualified to administer a tracer
University, Guiuan Campus, offers an advanced study. Tracer study is described as an approach used in
education program. These Programs are Master of Arts most organizations, especially educational institutions,
in Education major in Kindergarten Education and to track and keep a record of their students once they
Educational Management, Master of Arts in graduate. According to Gines (2014) tracer study is a
Management, and Master of Arts in Hospitality powerful tool to document the employment
Management major in Hotel and Restaurant characteristics, transition to employment, and the
Management. Eastern Samar State University, Guiuan graduates' level of satisfaction with a university's
Campus has been granted the authority to adopt the services, learning environment, and facilities.
Master of Arts in Education major in Kindergarten
Education through BOR resolution no. 41. S. 2017 To understand how well Eastern Samar State
from the ESSU main. Master of Arts in Education University Guiuan campus has achieved its vision,
mission, and goals reflected in the graduate programs'

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Psych Educ,2022 , 6: 417-422, Document ID: PEMJ445, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7485107, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article

competencies, the researchers have initiated and

conducted this tracer study. This study determines the
respondents' employment status and job level before Methodology
and after obtaining their master’s degree. This study
examines the employment status of students who In order to assess the employment status of the
graduated from the Master's Programs at ESSU - graduate students from school year 2017 – 2018 to
Guiuan between the academic years of 2017-2018 and 2019-2022 of the Gradauate School in ESSU - Guiuan
2019- 2020. This pertains specifically to Master of quantitative research design were utilized specifically
Arts in Education majors in Educational Management descriptive survey research design. As defined by
and Kindergarten Education, Master of Arts in Daniel (2010) quantitative methods emphasize
Man ag em en t, Master of Scien ce in Hotel objective measurements and the statistical,
Management, and Master of Arts in Industrial mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected
Technology graduates. In addition to the employment through polls, questionnaires, and survey to explain a
status, the study provides a demographic profile and a particular phenomenon. In addition, the objective of
comparison of the graduates' employment levels prior the descriptive survey research design is to obtain
to and after receiving their degree. Moreover, since the information that systematically describes a
program offerings are all thesis tracks, this study is phenomenon, situation, or population through survey
limited to the 78 graduates who complete, present, and questionnaire.
submit a hardbound copy of their thesis study.
The respondents of this study are the graduates of
Postgraduate diploma recipients were excluded from
Master of Art in Education Major in Kindergarten
this study, as the majority of the recipient were able to
Education, Master of Arts in Education major in
continue their thesis writing and become full-fledged
Educational Management, Master of Arts in
graduates in the Masters' Program.
Management, Master of Science in Hospitality
Management major in HRM and Master of Arts in
Research Questions
Industrial Management from the School Year 2017 –
2018 to 2019 – 2020. There are a total of 78 graduates
This study provides significant information about the
across the five programs, however only 62 were traced
demographic profile, employment status, values and
and participated. Majority of the respondents was a
competencies acquired of the students in Graduate
graduates in Master of Arts in Education Major in
School from the School Year 2017 – 2018 to 2019 – Educational Management
2020. Specifically, it answers the following specific
questions: The researchers utilized convenience sampling to
determine the number of graduates who participated in
1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents this study. Convenience sampling is a non-probability
in terms of; sampling method in which units are chosen for the
1.1 Civil Status; sample based on how easy they are to reach by the
1.2. Sex; researcher, Nikolopoulou, (2022).
1.3. Location of Residence; and
1.4. Reasons for Pursuing Advance Studies? In order to determine the demographic profile,
2. What is the employment status of the respondents in employment status, competencies, and values of the
terms of; respondents, this study adapts and modifies the survey
2.1. Place of Work; questionnaire used in the study conducted at the
2.2. Present Employment Status; and Lyceum of the Philippines University, Batangas City,
2.3. Nature of Employment? titled "Tracer Study of the Masters in Business
3. What are the job level/position of the students of the Administration (MBA) Graduates from 2008-2012."
graduate school in terms of;
The first section of the survey instrument addresses the
3.1. job level before taking degree; and
demographic profile of the respondents, including their
3.2. job level after taking degree?
age, gender, place of residence, and reason for
4. What is the perception of the respondents on the
pursuing advanced education; the second section
importance of competencies and skills required for
employment?
5. What recommendations can be drawn based on the
result of the study?

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Psych Educ,2022 , 6: 417-422, Document ID: PEMJ445, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7485107, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article

addresses the employment status of the respondents, Table 2 presents the location, or where the respondents
and the third section addresses the competencies and live, and It can be observed that most or 55% of
values that the respondents acquire during their respondents are from Guiuan, Eastern, while 45% are
university stay that are helpful to their employment.A from outside Guiuan. It shows that more professionals
communication letter was given to the respondents to pursuing advanced education are from Guiuan, Eastern
gather the needed data, asking for their permission to Samar.
survey social media platforms such as Messenger and
Table 3. Reasons for Pursuing Advanced Studies
email. In administering the survey questionnaire, the
researchers distributed the Google Form to the
respondents and were given time to respond to avoid
distraction during their working hours. After the
survey questionnaires were filled out and submitted
through Google Forms, the data gathered was tallied,
analyzed, and interpreted using the mean, frequency,
and percentage.
Table 3 shows the reasons of the respondents in
pursuing advanced education. It is very clear in the
Results and Discussion table that majority of the respondents answers both
professional growth and promotion as their reason in
pursuing advanced education or obtaining master’s
The data in the succeeding tables manifest the degree. On the other hand, only 13 % of the
demographic profile of the former students of the respondents’ answers promotion alone is the reason
Graduates School at Eastern Samar State University, why they pursue advanced education and another 13%
Guiuan Campus – in terms of civil status, sex, location or 8 of the respondents answers that professional
of residences, and reasons for Pursuing Advance growth alone is the reason in pursuing advanced
Studies education.
Table 1. Civil status of the Respondents Employment of the Respondents

The tables shows the employment profile of the former

students of the Graduates School at Eastern Samar
State University, Guiuan Campus – in terms of present
employment status, place of work, and nature of
employment.
Table 1 shows the civil status of the respondents, and
Table 4. Present Employment of the Respondents
it can be gleaned that 52% or 32 of the respondents are
single. Further, 48% of the respondents are already
married, while none of the respondents from the
graduates are separated and widowed. According to
the study by Bitrus and Hamsatu (2016), marital status
is not a significant predictor of students' academic
performance. It does not significantly predict students'
academic performance, which means that one's
commitment, belief, confidence, and self-efficacy may
predict one's academic performance.

Table 2. Location of Residences of the Respondents Table 4 shows the present employment of the
respondents, and it can be seen in the table that the
majority of the respondents are regular or full-time
employees in their related fields of specialization. At the
same time, only 3% of the respondents are self-
employed. Further, another 3% of the respondents have
a part-time job or work in unrelated fields of
specialization.

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Psych Educ,2022 , 6: 417-422, Document ID: PEMJ445, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7485107, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article

However, some employers can require their new

employees to undergo probationary employment
Table 5. Place of Work of the Respondents before they can be qualified for regular employment.
Although probationary employment is not a formal
type of employment in the Philippines, it is widely
practiced to help employers observe the skills,
competence, and performance of new employees and
determine if they are able to meet the reasonable
standards to become permanent employees.

Table 7. Job level of the respondents before taking

Table 5 presents the place where the respondent's advanced education
works, based on the table, 62 or 100% of the
respondents are locally working. This means that no
respondents are working abroad. Their location of
works are either within their municipality or within the
province.

Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the

number of Filipino laborers who worked overseas
Table 7 shows the job levels of the respondents before
from April to September 2020 was predicted to be 1.77
they pursued their master’s degrees. It can be gleaned
million. Overseas Contract Workers (OCWs), or those
from the table that 44, or 70%, of the respondents are
with current work contracts, accounted for 96.4
percent of all OFWs, or 1.71 million people, over the professionals or technical supervisors. At the same
same period, and 13.9% of these Filipino workers were time, the rest of the respondents are in rank or clerical
professionals. positions, managers or executives, or even self-
employed.
Table 6. Nature of Employment of the Respondents
Table 8. Job Level of the Respondents after Master’s
Degree in ESSU – Guiuan

Table 6 shows the nature of employment of the

respondents. It can be gleaned from the table that none
of the respondents work as part-timers. On the other
hand, 52 or 84% of the respondents are full-time,
permanent, or regular employees. Moreover, Table 8 presents the job level of the respondents after
temporary, casual job order employees comprise 10 or obtaining their master's degree in ESSU—Guiuan. It is
16% of the overall respondents. shown in the table that 54, or 84%, of the respondents
are professional or technical supervisors. Further, 8 or
Regular or Permanent Employment, as defined by 13% of the respondents became managers or
Philippine labor laws and regulations, is when an executives, and 2 or 3% are in clerical or rank
employee performs activities that are normally positions.
necessary or desirable in the employer's usual business
or trade. They have the advantage of tenure security Professional growth is the most prevalent reason for
established by the Philippine Constitution and cannot returning to postgraduate education, whether pursuing a
be terminated for reasons other than those specified by graduate diploma or a master's degree. T. Mayer (2022)
law and only after due process is followed. believes professional development enhances employees'
value and ensures they remain relevant in their career
field.

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Psych Educ,2022 , 6: 417-422, Document ID: PEMJ445, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7485107, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article

enrollments and graduates in the graduate school's

Table 9. Importance of Competencies and Skills to various programs. (3) The Graduate School may do
Graduates Employment local or international tie-ups with government or non-
government agencies for collaboration and
partnerships. (4) The Human Resource Management of
different agencies or intuitions may review and
disseminate their policies for promotion or
reclassification to employees. (5) Conduct an
employer's assessment of ESSU-Guiuan graduates'
performance in their respective fields.

Table 9. shows the importance of competencies and

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