Employer perspectives on the importance of help-seeking as a keyskill of higher education graduates - Research article

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri

This study investigates the importance of help-seeking skills among higher education graduates as perceived by employers. Using semi-structured interviews with 16 employers across diverse Australian industries, the research identifies help-seeking as a critical employability skill. Employees demonstrate effectiveness when they request the right amount of assistance, drawing on appropriate resources to solve work tasks. Help-seeking rests on communication, self-efficacy, and problem-solving, and the findings inform curriculum strategies for complex work environments.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Previous research

Methodological approach

Employer perspectives on employability requirements

Implications for universities

The Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability ISSN: 1838-3815 (online) Journal Homepage: [https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/](https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/) Employer perspectives on the importance of help-seeking as a keyskill of higher education graduates Natasha Dwyer 1, Naomi Dempsey2, Darren Brown3 and Anthony Watt 1 Corresponding author: Natasha Dwyer ([natasha.dwyer@vu.edu.au](natasha.dwyer@vu.edu.au)) 1 College of Arts, Business, Law, Education and IT, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2 Student Experience and Employability, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. 3 Creative Industries, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia. Abstract This study investigates the importance of help-seeking skills among higher education graduates as perceived by employers. Through semi-structured interviews with 16 employers across various industries in Australia, the research identifies help-seeking as a critical skill that enhances employability. An employee demonstrates effective help-seeking abilities when they appropriately request assistance to accomplish a task at work. Our research explores the nuance of what employers have in mind when they conceptualise help-seeking in their context. Helpseeking is underpinned by communication, self-efficacy, and problem-solving skills. The study suggests practical strategies for higher education institutions to incorporate help-seeking training into their curricula, as part of preparing students for complex work environments. Keywords help-seeking skills, employability, higher education, graduate expectations, communication skills, resilience. Introduction In this article, we outline findings generated as an outcome of interviews with the local employers of graduates from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia regarding the skills junior employees should demonstrate. In particular, the research explored employers’ definitions and contextualising of the capabilities required by employees of their organisations. We found that traditional skills such as communication, self-efficacy, and problem-solving were sought after (Puustinen & Rouet, 2009) . However, our participants also wanted help-seeking capabilities on top of these skills. An employee exhibits good help-seeking skills when they seek ‘the right amount’of assistance to achieve a work task (Martín-Arbós et al., 2021) . This is typically represented by the employee having drawn on the correct resources, from the perspective of an employer, to solve a problem. Perhaps our finding is not surprising, many researchers have outlined the fraught environment university graduates enter (see Cook, 2022 for an overview) . Seevaratnamet al. (2023, p. 182) describe the demand for an “innovative and collaborative workforce capable of critical thinking and creative problem solving”. A graduate with well-developed help-seeking skills will Dwyer, [N. et](N. et) al. (2025) . Employer perspectives on the importance of help-seeking as a key skill of higher education graduates. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, 16(1), 1–17. 1 be better placed in an employment context. In this article, we present an exploration of help-seeking from the employer’s standpoint. The relationship between universities and industry is a contested area and often politicised, some arguing for universities to be strongly aligned with the needs of industry while others argue that universities should be free of commercial constraints (see Winterton & Turner, 2019 for an overview) . The position of the authors of this article is that we serve our students and graduates and want to prepare them so that they are enabled to engage with industry on their terms because they hold welltuned employability skills. Tomlinson (2021) claims that employers have a ‘tacit cultural script’, which is a sometimes-unspoken shared understanding of acceptable ways of doing things. In this ar

FAQs

What help-seeking skills are employers looking for in higher education graduates?

Employers look for the ability to request the right amount of assistance and to use appropriate resources to solve a work task. Help-seeking is seen as improving problem-solving, self-efficacy, and resilience.

How was the study conducted?

The study used semi-structured interviews with 16 employers across various industries in Australia. The analysis focused on how employers conceptualise help-seeking in their specific contexts.

Why is help-seeking considered context-specific?

The expected skills vary by industry or workplace. The paper notes that help-seeking may be more sought after in resource-tight environments, and employers watch for “signals” from potential staff.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri