The exploration study on employability of Islamic banking and finance graduates from practitioners perspective

Islamic banking and finance industry in Malaysia have been emergence since l980s which provide
facilities to the consumers such financing and deposit. Malaysian government is one of the
components that make a lot of contribution to the Islamic banking and finance industry. One of the
effort is recognized the higher education to conduct Islamic banking courses to meet the human
capital for Islamic financial sector. However, job vacancies in Islamic banking sector still has a higher
demand due to the shortage of qualified and skilled employees. Therefore, this study aimed to
examine the employability skills that are required based on Islamic banking employers‟ perspective.
This study employed semi-structured interviews with three experts from different position in industry,
but they are specialize in the same field. This study indicated that employability of new graduates not
only depend on academic achievement alone, but also required several skills to equip themselves with
the market requirements. Fresh graduates should encounter themselves with a soft skills and practices
in order to fulfill the vacancies that offered by Islamic banking sector.