Expectations of Thai undergraduate students on future employability based on their TOEIC score: evidence from a human resource perspective

This study aimed to find out: 1) how can Thai undergraduate students’ TOEIC score affect their expectations towards future employability and 2) the reasons for Thai undergraduate students to choose TOEIC for English proficiency testing and for employers to use it for recruitment purposes. The respondents of the study were 200 undergraduate students from Walailak University, Thailand, and 10 different companies’ HR departments. The participants responded through a questionnaire and their responses are analyzed and presented in this study qualitatively. The results of the study are: 1) Thai undergraduates recognize the potential dependability of their future employment on their TOEIC test scores as most companies are found to be using the TOEIC test as one of the employment requirements and most of them are in need of English speaking employees, and 2) the reason for choosing TOEIC by both students and employers is because of the simplicity of TOEIC compared with the other English proficiency tests.