Enhancing career readiness: University students' volunteer work with special needs children
List of Authors
  • Hezlin Aryani Abd Rahman , Nur Maizura Lin

Keyword
  • community engagement, volunteerism, special needs children, employability, university students

Abstract
  • There is a positive impact between community engagements or volunteerism and employment prospects, specifically when dealing with special needs children, where the challenges imposed are beyond expectation. Volunteerism is an effective way for university students to boost their job applications and improve interpersonal skills to secure employment after graduation. This study shows that there is a relationship between university students’ perceptions of their experiences in community engagement activity with special needs children and the impact of community engagement on university students’ future employability prospects. This study involves 34 undergraduates from a local higher-learning institution volunteering in two community service programs. 31 students were involved in the quantitative part of the study and four students were involved in the qualitative part of the study. This study is a mixed method study, where both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis were performed. The quantitative analysis shows that all respondents (100%) agreed that i) community engagement allows them to learn new interesting things about special needs children and the community; ii) build new social linkages through community engagement, and iii) perceived that community engagement with special needs children is good for their future professional development. The qualitative study supports the quantitative analysis, in which all four respondents agreed that engaging with the community on projects with special needs children for instance brings positive outcomes for their future employability. The findings from this study supported the idea that volunteerism can influence an individual’s chances of securing employment. This study will be the preliminary study to future studies on community engagement specifically in special needs children and impacts on prospects of job employment.

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