GCCA | Graduate Careers Council of Australia

Graduate Careers Australia

Graduate Grapevine - Number 10, Autumn 2008

University & Beyond 2007 – A Snapshot of Things to Come

In January 2008 Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) released Snapshot: University and Beyond 2007. The full report will soon be released; so as a taste of things to come here are the highlights from the Snapshot report.

Snapshot: University and Beyond 2007 is a summary report on the key findings from the 2007 University and Beyond Survey of current university students. This new GCA survey, conducted in collaboration with Career Services at participating universities, is the largest survey conducted in Australia on the expectations and perceptions of a student demographic that is of key interest to organisations wishing to attract, recruit and retain their leaders and employees of the future.

In this report, as well as presenting some of the major findings from the University and Beyond Survey, the results have, in some instances, been coupled with information collected in GCA’s Graduate Outlook Survey (a survey of graduate employers) and GCA’s Australian Graduate Survey (a survey of the destinations of new graduates). Presenting the link between university student perceptions, employer perceptions and graduate outcomes has allowed for some new and unique insights into graduate recruitment to be identified as well as confirming some existing ones, thus providing the reader with the complete picture on graduate recruitment. The full report from the 2007 University and Beyond Survey will expand on the information discussed in this Snapshot report, as well as further exploring results from the survey not shown in this report.

The Graduate Outlook Survey (GOS) is undertaken with the aim of conducting a focussed and meaningful review of current practices and perceptions in graduate recruitment, as well as to gain an indication of the future for graduate recruitment in Australia and New Zealand. The 2007 GOS was the third in the current format of the series.

The Australian Graduate Survey (AGS), carried out annually by GCA, provides important information as to the immediate outcomes of Australian university graduates. As the AGS has been conducted since the early 1970s, its time series data is able to chart significant trends in such areas as employment rates, job outcomes, graduate starting salaries, further study decisions and the link between immediate outcomes for graduates and wider economic circumstances. The AGS represents the only national systematic survey of Australian graduates currently undertaken and, as noted, concentrates on data related to actual graduate outcomes.

Until recently, while there had been, and continue to be, a number of surveys of targeted university students, there had been no systematic national attempt made to obtain the views of a representative sample of students about their expectations of ‘life beyond university’ prior to them completing their studies. To this end, in 2007 GCA undertook, with the assistance of funding provided by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, this innovative new survey of university students titled University and Beyond (U&B). The U&B Survey was developed to fill this major gap in research into the plans and expectations of university students, and the links between students’ university experiences and their employment.

With over 32,000 responses received, the survey allows an in-depth analysis of the results by a wide variety of differing demographic profiles, such as age, field of education, generational standing, full- or part-time study, domestic or international students, etc. As such, the survey results will provide invaluable data to organisations, government, employers, university teachers and administrators, Career Services and students.

Key Findings

Key findings from the survey are summarised below:

Survey Methods

Over the nine weeks of the survey period (mid 2007), 31,913 usable responses were received. These responses were broadly representative of the overall student population (see Table 1).

Table 1: Response and population characteristics, University and Beyond 2007.

Student Confidence

The students of today may present to employers as seeming more confident than they actually are, or than their level of skills and experience justifies. Employers should be aware of this fact when assessing and selecting candidates and when developing induction and graduate intake programs. On a positive note, employers may also therefore find that the students can present themselves confidently and professionally (for example, to clients) even if they are not as internally confident (see Tables 2 and 3).

Table 2: Students’ post-graduation employment confidence, University and Beyond 2007.

Table 3: Students post-graduation employment confidence versus employers’ perceptions of students’ confidence levels, University and Beyond 2007.

* Based on the perceived confidence levels of graduates of obtaining any job, a job in their field or their preferred job, GCA, 2007.

Expectations of Working Life

When asked about their level of agreement with various statements related to their expectations of working life, over 95 per cent of students agreed or strongly agreed with the options.

• It is important to have good training opportunities and be developing new skills.
• Conducting work that is interesting and challenging is important to me.

This was followed by the 89-93 per cent of students who agreed with the following statements.

• I need to have personal life and career balance/work flexibility.
• It is essential to have good people to report to.
• Opportunities for advancement are important to me. (See Table 4.)

Table 4: Importance of factors relating to employment – Agree/Strongly Agree only, University and Beyond 2007.

Although the order of the top five characteristics changed between student sub-groups, the above characteristics were consistently in the top five, suggesting that recruiters can attract more graduates by highlighting how their organisation can meet these graduate expectations.

There was also a high level of ‘generational consistency’ for the highest ranked areas of importance in relation to students’ expectations of working life, highlighting the necessity for recruiters to avoid making ‘generational assumptions’ when assessing and interviewing candidates.

Early indications from this new research are that it may be that the expectations and perceptions of employees across all age groups are changing, not just the candidates who can be classified as ‘Gen Y’.

Benefits

Company paid training and development was found to be the most attractive, non-cash benefit a graduate recruiter can offer a new graduate (76 per cent of students). Of note is that this was also rated as the most important factor relating to a student’s expectations of their working life. Graduate employers rated this as what they felt students would perceive as the most attractive non-cash benefit an employer could offer a new graduate (75 per cent of employers – GCA, 2007).

Additional leave through rostered days off (rdo) or time-off in lieu (56 per cent) and superannuation (54 per cent) were also rated by students as very attractive employment benefits. Although the former was rated highly by graduate employers as a benefit attractive to graduates (42 per cent), superannuation was not perceived by employers to be one of the more attractive benefits they could offer graduates (14 per cent – GCA, 2007). In fact, superannuation was perceived by graduate employers to be the least attractive benefit they could offer graduates. This suggests that recruiters should highlight the inclusion of superannuation in total remuneration packages in order to present a more attractive employment offering to graduates.

These results differed within various student sub-groups (including fields of education) and employer subgroups (such as industry), indicating that a good understanding of the different priorities of these smaller and more cohesive groups can offer recruiters the opportunity to tailor a highly appropriate overall offering to students. Differences between subgroups, as well as an examination of the full list of benefits will be explored further in the full report.

Remuneration

While the overall remuneration package is important to students when considering job offers, the value of ensuring that the actual salary proposed is comparable with that being paid by other recruiters is also still important. When asked about the importance of salary in their employment decision making process, over 90 per cent of students surveyed agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I would consider the overall package as well as the salary component”. Around 84 per cent also agreed that the “salary would at least need to be comparable with to other offers” (see Table 5).

Table 5: Decision making process about salary in full-time employment offers, University and Beyond, 2007.

Employability Skills

While students may not see themselves as necessarily having equal strength in all of the generic skills areas, there is a steady growth in these areas over the course of their university education. This finding, coupled with the students’ strong desire for (and expectation of) opportunities for further training and development, provides some indication to employers that they can expect a continued increase in these generic skills as the students enter the work force and gain workplace experience (see Table 6).

Table 6: Student self–rating of generic employability skills – Ratings of Fairly Strong or Very Strong by stage of course, University and Beyond, 2007.

Retention

The retention of graduates is an on-going concern in graduate employment (GCA, 2007). When graduate employers were asked how long they thought an average graduate would stay with their first employer following graduation, over half of the employers surveyed felt the average graduate would leave within the first three years (this is 15 percentage points higher than the proportion of students who thought the same – see Table 7). Only 13 per cent of employers felt that graduates would stay more than five years.

When asked about their expected length of employment with their first employer in their ideal job following graduation, nearly two-thirds of students felt that they would stay with their first employer for at least three years (see Table 7). Just over a third felt they would stay between one and three years, with another third estimating that they would stay for at least five years.

The difference between student and employer expectations suggests that many graduates may go into their first employment following graduation with the expectation of staying longer than they actually do, or that the students are not perceiving their first job as being ‘ideal’. While the U&B Survey findings do not provide an indication of why the students might leave an organisation, they do highlight the value of employers presenting an accurate and realistic picture of the organisation’s offerings, training and development opportunities, and ‘corporate culture’ during the assessment and selection process, so that the student is fully aware of what to expect once they enter working life and so that both parties have a clear understanding of the employment relationship (see Table 7).

Table 7: Expected length of employment with first employer in job following graduation, University and Beyond, 2007.

Conclusion

This Snapshot report represents a brief overview of the findings from this important new GCA survey into student expectations and perceptions. The final University and Beyond report will also focus on differences between those at the beginning, middle and end of their course, contain more detailed comparisons across generations, fields of education, geographical differences, etc., along with a further, more detailed examination of the information covered in this report, and additional information not covered here.

The final report will also look specifically at the survey findings as they relate to international students.

Of the 4000 international students who responded to the survey, it was found that 65 per cent intend to apply for Australian Permanent Residency status either during or following completion of their course. With this cohort representing around 25 per cent of the current student population (DEST, 2007), and the proportion of employers recruiting international graduates as a part of their graduate intake increasing to nearly 25 per cent in the last few years (GCA, 2007), this group will be one of the focus areas in the full report.

For further information related to the survey, please contact Cindy Tilbrook ([email protected] ) or Graeme Bryant ([email protected] ).

References

DEST, 2007. Students 2005: Selected Higher Education Statistics. Canberra: Department of Education Science and Training. Available from www.deewr.gov.au .

GCA, 2007. Graduate Outlook Survey 2007. Melbourne: Graduate Careers Australia.

GCA, 2007a. Graduate Destinations 2006. Melbourne: Graduate Careers Australia.

GCA, 2007b. Graduate Salaries 2006. Melbourne: Graduate Careers Australia.

To order copies of the full report, visit the GCA website Shop .