GCCA | Graduate Careers Council of Australia

Graduate Careers Australia

ergo - Number 93 December 2003

Graduates’ Job Search: Adopt and Adapt

A new report – the Graduate Destination Survey 2002, published by the Graduate Careers Council of Australia (GCCA) in 2003, is based on the survey responses of 95,000 recent university graduates about their employment and post-university experience. It suggests that recent graduates use a variety of job-search techniques, with media advertisements and personal contacts with family, friends and employers being the most likely to yield employment.

Almost 26,000 graduates were asked to name all the methods they had used, and the resulting figures are potentially of use to new graduates looking for post-university employment, those advising them and employers looking to hire new graduates.

Most Common Job Search Methods
The most often used method was via media advertisements, with 61.0 per cent seeking employment in this manner. Perhaps of most interest here is the almost forty per cent who did not indicate that they had looked for employment in this more traditional manner. The next most often used method was an internet-based job search (52.1 per cent). The top eight most commonly used methods are:

1. Media advertisement – 61.0 per cent
2. An internet-based job search – 52.1 per cent
3. An approach to employers – 40.3 per cent
4. Consulting family or friends – 39.0 per cent
5. University careers service – 32.1 per cent
6. Employment agency – 29.2 per cent
7. Consulting work contacts or networks – 23.9 per cent
8. Attending careers fairs or information sessions – 27.3 per cent

Adopt and Adapt
A comparison of job search methods between those in full-time work and those not working and seeking full-time work is potentially instructive in terms of successful employment seeking behaviour.
While some job search methods seem to be less likely to yield a job than others, they are still an important part of a broad job-search strategy in terms of gathering information which helps the graduate narrow his or her focus, leading to a successful outcome. The research also suggests that graduates might adapt their job search by adopting additional strategies if they are unsuccessful early.

For example, the greater frequency of the use of employment agencies by those without work and seeking full-time employment (47.5 per cent) than those who had found full-time employment (5.0 per cent) suggests that employment agencies are used by graduate job seekers once other avenues have been tried.

Overall, these figures suggest that media advertisements and personal contacts and approaches to employers are the most useful method of finding employment for new graduates. However, most graduates should be willing to adopt a wide range of job search methods and to adapt their strategies when necessary.

For more information about graduate outcomes, visit the gradlink website – www.gradlink.edu.au , and the searchable database at www.gradsonline.edu.au