Purpose – the purpose of the study is to evaluate the opinion of employers on the importance of employability competencies in recruitment in Latvia, considering increasingly global and changing labour market.

Research methodology – total of 750 companies participated in this research. A list of 17 skills, competencies and attitudes, important for individual employability in changing labour markets, was rated using a four-point Likert scale.

Findings – the research results show that employers value attitudes, emotional and self-management competencies the most when hiring potential employees, which are followed by social competencies. Although academic skills were assessed as the least important in the list of all competencies, the majority of employers consider academic skills important in the recruitment process.

Research limitations – as this research is not sector-specific, it is limited only to those competencies that can be equally applicable to all occupations.

Practical implications – research provides valuable, easily acquirable information for various stakeholders in the area of human resource planning and development, including educational institutions which aim to update programmes to facilitate graduate employability.

Originality/Value – research offers three complex factors explaining the elements of individual employability, based on empirical analysis.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/cibmee.2019.058