Employer requirements and employability mindsets influencing graduate workers’ self-confidence in gaining employment

Background: Little is known about when (under which mindset conditions) graduate workers’ self-confidence in gaining employment increases. Objective: The current study explored the interaction effects between employers’ importance attached to graduate workers’ graduateness and employability qualities, and graduate workers’ mindsets of marketability, entrepreneurial orientation and networking or job search orientation in predicting their self-confidence in gaining employment. Method: The study was exploratory and cross-sectional in nature, involving ( N = 153) predominantly black African (71%) graduate-level workers employed in the South African services industry. Results: Hierarchical moderated regression analysis showed significant moderation effects on the mindsets of entrepreneurial orientation and marketability. Conclusion: The findings added new insights to the employability research literature by introducing the influencing role of the prospective employee’s own mindset in raising intrinsic self-confidence in gaining employment, while also triggering extrinsic self-confidence in employability in the link with employers’ requirements for graduateness and employability qualities.