Purpose: The current study investigates the factors influencing graduates' perceived employability by utilizing the stimulus-organism-response theory, in the post pandemic era. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative approach was employed to examine the hypotheses of the research framework through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) on the SmartPLS software. Findings: The result indicates that course structure has a positive effect on students' grit and community of inquiry (CoI). Also, students' grit and CoI have a positive relationship with students' performance, while students' performance has a positive relationship with perceived employability. Moreover, students' grit, CoI and students' performance sequentially mediated course structure and perceived employability, whereas readiness and self-directed learning strengthen the relationship between students' performance and perceived employability. Originality/value: The findings will benefit university management, government and potential employers on how confident the student is in the chances of a future career after graduating from a higher institution.