Abstract:
Unemployment is a significant sustainability
issue in Sri Lanka[1], [2].The number of unemployed
graduates is higher than the other unemployed youths in
the country[3], [4]. Several studies revealed that they do
not have enough employability skills which are expected
by the present employers in the government and private
sectors[5], [6]. Commonly, competitive examinations
for recruitment assess the performance of Intelligence
Quotient (IQ) and General knowledge among candidates.
This study attempts to examine the performance of IQ
and General Knowledge among recently passed out
graduates in Northern Province of Sri Lanka. For that
purpose secondary data of 2459 graduates belonging to
the Northern Province were obtained from the Web site
of Northern Provincial Council. Chi-square statistical
test was carried out to find out any association in Gender,
Ethnic group, Permanent district, offered subjects Tamil,
History, Civics, Geography, Information Technology
(IT), Agriculture, Second Language, Media, English and
Counseling with scoring at least 40 marks (Pass Score) in
IQ. Same test was carried out to identify the association
with scoring Pass Score in General Knowledge. The study
revealed that the IQ has association individually with
Ethnic group of graduates and with the offered subjects
Tamil, History, Civics, IT, Agriculture and Counseling.
At the same time General Knowledge has association
individually with Gender and offered subjects Tamil,
Geography, Second Language and Counselling. And also
there was positive correlation between scoring in IQ and
General Knowledge.
