BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN OFFICE ADMINISTRATION (BSOA) GRADUATES:

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Junalyn C. Feliciano
Bachelor of Science in Office Administration

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

INTRODUCTION
After long years of struggle, challenges, and burdens; after many sleepless nights to get reports,
papers, and requirements done; and to all those joys, fun, and excitement, graduates are now
ready to face the real world- the world outside the four corners of the classroom, the world of
opportunities, and the world of professional practice. This is where office administration
graduates can apply the knowledge, skills and abilities gained and experience in college, which
makes them ready and assured to face the hardship of reality. With the determination to fulfill
their goals and desire to look forward for the job that will help them to grow and fully
developed as individual, but only to discover that job and opportunities are rare, and the fact
that being merely educated is not enough to have a career ending up idle.
Cagayan Valley Computer and Information Technology College (CVCITC), is one of the
schools in Isabela that is considered as a prestigious school because they offer good courses
with advance or new skills and learning. The colleges offers courses and programs equipping
graduate with quality knowledge and information to the graduates. Furthermore this
educational institution is responding to the needs for quality education directed by its own
vision, mission, goals and objectives for the future success of the graduates. CVCITC offers
degree in office administration, a bachelor degree designed to equip students with managerial
and leadership skills that will improve their practice and establish a successful career in office
management.
Nowadays job opportunity is very hard to find because there’s a lot of graduates in all
courses. But office administration graduates as well as secretarial graduates CVCITC are
adequately equipped with knowledge or skill in research, analysis, decision making,
communication, implementation in the functional areas of office
With these factors, the researchers decided to conduct a tracer study which involves
survey of graduates in Bachelor of Science in Office Administration and also it gives significant
feedback and to reconnect graduates to their alma mater. Tracer study is a method which is
primarily intended to locate graduates, their working conditions and retrospective assessment
of their course of study. Hence, it could be seen as an important tool for institutional
development like the Cagayan Valley Computer and Information Technology College (CVCITC).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The general objective was to make a follow-up study of the graduates of BS in Office
Administration of the Cagayan Valley Computer and Information Technology College (CVCITC),
Santiago City.
Specifically, it sought to answer the following:
1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of:
1.1 Age
1.2 Sex
1.3 Position
1.4 Status
2. What is the employment status of the BSOA graduates in terms of:
2.1 type of organization
2.2 position held
2.3 work status

ASSUMPTION OF THE STUDY

The researcher land on the following assumptions regarding of BS in Office Administration of
the Cagayan Valley Computer and Information Technology College (CVCITC), Santiago City.
1. Most of the graduates are currently employed in their course (s) or degree (s) related
companies.
2. Majority of the graduates are already employed regarding on their degrees.
3. Most of the graduates are satisfied with their job.
SCOPE AND DELIMITATION
This research paper aimed to trace the graduates of the graduates of BS in Office

Administration of the Cagayan Valley Computer and Information Technology College (CVCITC).

This study is limited only in determining demographic profile of the respondents and their

employment status.

Significance of the Study

This research is a survey of the employability of the Office Administration graduate of the
Cagayan Valley Computer and Information Technology College (CVCITC), Santiago City. This
research hopes to be meaningful and useful to the following:

Dean and Administration. This will be significant basis for initiating and implementing
improvement plans its academic curriculum, as it will provide information about the graduate’s
chosen career and this will serve as their reference point in improving upon the current
programs and in designing new programs that are addressing the real training needs of the
college. And this study could provide contacts for the mentors in cases of holding seminars and
when in needs for speakers and among others.

Faculty. This will serve the teachers, educators and mentors to upgrade the standards by
continuously uplifting the minds of the students to be competitive and excel in their
irrespective areas of specialization and by cultivating and advancing academically skilled
students who will take active participation in the globally competitive world for service and
international development acquired in the University.

BS in Office Administration Graduates. This will provide them information on the employment
needs of business and industry.
 Researcher. From the result of the study, the researchers can acquire additional
knowledge on the present status of the office administration graduates in their present jobs
and what have happened to them after their graduation.
Future Researchers. This study serves as a guide in making future researchers in the
field of tracer studies.

Definition of the Study

Educational Attainment. Refers to the highest level of formal education complete of an
individual.
Employability. It refers to the demand of BSBA Office Administration graduates.
Employer. It is a business firm that employs or hires employees.
Employment. The state of being employed, profession, or occupation.
Graduates. A person who finished a four year course in BSBA Office Administration of CVCITC,
Santiago City.
Job. The work that a person does regularly to earn money.
Job opportunity. It refers to the chances or probability of success in seeking a job.
Tracer Study. As used in the study, this refers to a survey of the profile, employment status, as
BS Office Administration graduates.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Students were graduating often from higher education without the required skills to
become a life-long learner enabling them to compete better and lead in the increasingly
complex and changing. As, employability has been changing along the years following society
transformations. Several authors provide insights on the meaning of employability. Employability
can be defined as “doing value creating work, getting paid for it and learning at the same time,
enhancing the ability to get work in the future [1]. Thus employability can be defined as a set of
achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that make graduates more
likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits
themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.
According to Grazier 2006, employability may be the capacity of an individual to obtain
a satisfactory job, taking into consideration his personal characteristics and the job market
[2]
conditions. For Chiavenato (2007), employability is a set of competences and abilities which
are necessary for a professional worker to obtain and to maintain a job. [3] Martinez (2006)
considers employability as a way of explaining all things that allow individuals to enter or/and
[4]
continue in the job market. Therefore, employability refers not only to a person's ability to
find a job but also to secure this job, remain in employment, and obtain a new job if required.
The success of any enterprise- small, medium, or large scale, depends on the ability and
efficiency of the person on its role. Therefore, finding the right man for the job and finding the
job for man who is available are essential in attaining the goals and objectives of the enterprise.
Generally the source of applicant may in the form of internal, referrals and external
source. Internal source make use of the promotion from within the organization. Referrals
make use present employees to encouraged friends and relatives to apply which become most
often tools in small organization. And, External sources are in the form of using job
advertisement, employment agencies or centers, campus recruitment, internship, job
fairs/special events recruiting, and online recruitment. Other possible sources of recruiting
leads include bankers, accountants, consultants, customers, competitors, and other
professionals with whom the small business has regular contact. If the recruiting process is
successful, the small business owner will have a substantial list of qualified candidates from
which to select the one person who best matches the job specifications. The selection should
be made through a formal screening process that may include an employment application,
employment tests, and a personal interview. Each step in the process serves to narrow the field
of candidates until a final selection can be made. [5]
It is common practice for the employer to identify the qualities and attributes needed
for success in particular role and to use them to assess people’s sustainability. Experience,
education, skills, and training are important to employment- this is one of which employer are
looking for a graduate. Employers highlight the importance of previous work experience as a
means for the student to mature and gain real life experience that only work can provide (Sleap
& Reed, 2006). [6] Work experiences were noted typically as internships, part time employment
during college years, or summer jobs. With previous work experience, graduates adjusted to
their first job more easily and expressed a better understanding of different organizational
cultures. Neil Kokemuller (2012) stated that education can hold a key role not only finding a job,
but also landing one that offers both financial and intrinsic rewards. Your level of education can
affect both the breadth and depth of jobs available to you. You typically can apply for a broader
range of jobs with more education, and the jobs you can get are usually yield greater pay and
[7]
chances for upward mobility. They also felt their employability skills were better developed,
allowing them to contribute to the organization faster (Fallows & Weller). Additionally,
improved employability skills are linked to the success of the individual and to the success of
society.
The BSBA in Office Administration program (BSBA-OA) provides skills necessary to
perform office work such as computer operations, business correspondence, Business English
skills and more. The program aims to produce graduates who are competent to work in any
office environment as a secretary, administrative assistant, clerk and similar jobs. [8]
The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) was appointed by the
Secretary of Labor to determine the skills our young people need to succeed in the world of
work. The Commission's fundamental purpose is to encourage a high-performance economy
characterized by high-skill, high-wage employment. The primary objective is to help teachers
understand how curriculum and instruction must change to enable students to develop those
high performance skills needed to succeed in the high performance workplace.
SCANS has focused on one important aspect of schooling: what they called "learning a
living" system. In 1991, they issued their initial report, What Work Requires of Schools. As
outlined in that report, a high-performance workplace requires workers who have a solid
foundation in the basic literacy and computational skills, in the thinking skills necessary to put
knowledge to work, and in the personal qualities that make workers dedicated and trustworthy.
High-performance workplaces also require other competencies: the ability to manage
resources, to work amicably and productively with others, to acquire and use information, to
master complex systems, and to work with a variety of technologies. [9]
This document outlines both these "fundamental skills" and "workplace competencies"
Basic Skills: Reads, writes, performs arithmetic and mathematical operations, listens
and speaks.
Thinking Skills: Thinks creatively, makes decisions, solves problems, visualizes, knows
how to learn, and reasons
Personal Qualities: Displays responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management,
and integrity and honesty
Resources: Identifies, organizes, plans, and allocates resources
Interpersonal: Works with others
Information: Acquires and uses information
Systems: Understands complex inter-relationships
Technology: Works with a variety of technologies
The career opportunities for graduates of BSBA in Office Administration in the
Philippines includes: Office Administrator, Administrative Assistant, Executive assistant, Office
Secretary, Office Clerk, Receptionist, Office manager, Data Entry Specialist. [10]
 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Figure 1 presents the paradigm of the study, the input of the study are the profile of
respondents as to age, sex, position, and marital status. And, the employment status of the
BSOA graduates: type of organization, position held, and work status.
Process load includes the system approach in gathering the data through survey
questionnaire and unstructured interview in order to validate information gathered by the
researchers.
The output is considered the results of the study. This will prove the employability Office
Administration graduates of CVCITC in Santiago City.

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Profile of the Gathering of data
Respondents
 age,
 sex,
 position, and Through: Improved/ Enhanced
 marital status Bachelor of Science
in Office
Employment status of a. Survey Administration of the
the BSOA graduates in Questionnaire CVCITC in Santiago
terms of: b. Unstructured City
 type of
Interview
organization
 position held
 work status
 Feedback

Figure 1: Paradigm of the study

METHODOLOGY

Research Method

This study made use of descriptive research method. It is a descriptive because it was

conducted to collect detail description of the gather data to justify current conditions.

According to Adanza (2005), the descriptive approach is used mainly to describe

contemporary events and that the research questions and problems are based on appreciation

of the present states affairs, although they are rooted in the past and may affect the future. [11]

Furthermore, as defined by Best Kahn (1998) a descriptive study describes and

interprets what is. It is concerned with conditions or relationships that exist, opinions that are

held, process that are going on, effects that are evident or trends that are developing. It’s

primarily concerned with the present, although it often considers past events and influences as

they relate to current condition. [12]

Sample and Sampling Techniques

The respondents of the study are the graduate of BS Office Administration of the
Cagayan Valley Computer and Information Technology College. To locate the respondents, the
researchers used the purposive sampling. Purposive sampling is determining the target
population, those to be involved in the study in which the researchers reach-out efforts to the
first few identified respondents, however yielded negative results because the respondents
were either out of the province or out of the country. Considering budget constraints, the
researchers endeavored to get the cooperation of the other graduates connecting the
population because somehow they know where to locate them.
Research Instrument

The main instrument will be use in this study is a survey questionnaire which is consists
of two parts. Part I is the Demographic according to age, sex, position, and marital status. And,
Part II questions that identify the employment status of Office Administration Graduates
in terms of type of organization, position held, and work status.

Data Gathering Procedure

In this research, the researchers wrote a letter of permission to conduct the study. After
the approval, the researchers gathered data by administering the questionnaire about the
topic. The researchers formally distributed the questionnaire to the respondents. The
researchers will tally, analyze and interpret the data being gathered.

Data Treatment Plan

The data is gathered through questionnaire and statistically treated will be using
percentage techniques. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentage are to
analyze the personal profiles of the respondents and will prove as follows:
P= F X 100/ N

Where:

P = Percentage

f= Frequency

N= Total number of the respondents

 Ranking will also used to give more meaning to the data gathered on the qualification of

employers prefer, available positions, basic hiring requirements and job opportunities office

administration as perceived by the respondents.

REFERENCE

[1]Ghoshal, Sumantra (1997). The Individualized Corporation: An Interview with

Sumantra Ghoshal. European Management Journal.

[2]Gazier, B., (s/d), Assurance Chômage, Employabilité et Marchés Traditionels Du

Travail. Paris: Université Paris 1/Matisse.

[3]Chiavenato, I. (1997) A Corrida para o Emprego, Makron Books Editora, São Paulo,
Brasil

[4]Martinez, A. E., (2006) Estratégias de Aprendizaje para la Empleabilidad en el

Mercado de Trabajo para los Recién Egresados, Univ. Psychol. Bogotá, Vol. 6, nº
1, 89-103, Retrieved December 8, 2016 from
http://sparta.javeriana.edu.co/psicologia/publicaciones/actualizarrevista/
archivos /V6N108.pdf

[5]Source of Applicant. Retrieved December 8, 2016 from,

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/ small/Qu-Sm/ Recruiting.html.

[6]Sleap, M., & Reed, H. (2006). Views of Sport Science Graduates Regarding Work Skills
Developed at University. Teaching in Higher Education, 11(1), 47–61.

[7]The Importance of Education in Finding a Job. Retrieved from December 9, 2016 from
http://classroom.synonym.com/importance-education-finding-job-1839.html.

[8]BS in Office Administration in the Philippines. Retrieved from:

http://www.finduniversity.ph/majors/bs-in-office-administration-philippines/

[9]Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). Retrieved December 9,

2016 from http://www.academicinnovations.com/report.html.

[10]Employability of Business Education Graduates. Retrieved from:

http://www.interesjournals.org/full-articles/employability-of-business-
education-graduates.pdf?view=inline.
 [11] Estela G. Adanza, 2005. Research Methods: Principles and Applications. Manila: Rex
Book Store.

[12] Descriptive Studies According to Best and Kahn (1998). Retrieved December 9, 2016
from http://education-and-technology.com/?p=196

Employability of Office Administration:

The Case of Cagayan Valley Computer and Information Technology College

Direction: Please give necessary information about yourself be filling in the blanks and checking
the space provided. Your survey respondents will be strictly confidential and data from this
research will be reported only in the aggregate. Your information will be coded and will remain
confidential and if you have questions at anytime about the survey or the procedures, you may
ask the researchers.

Part I. Profile of the Respondents

Name: Age:
Sex: Year Graduated: Civil Status:

Part II. Employment Status

Type of organization/ Workplace

Government Private NGO

Position Held:
Work Status
Permanent Probationary Contractual

Part III. Problems Encountered