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THE CAREER PERSPECTIVE OF

GRADUATES

UPDATE 2017

STUDY BY THE CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN

STRATEGIC TALENT MANAGEMENT

DR EMMY DEFEVER

ASTRID VANDENBROUCKE

PROF DR KOEN DEWETTINCK

PROF DR DIRK BUYENS

1

Contents Foreword ............................................................................................................................ 2

Report highlights ................................................................................................................. 3

Study sample ...................................................................................................................... 4

What do graduates do in terms of career planning? ................................................................. 5

Plans for next year ........................................................................................................... 5

Job search channels ......................................................................................................... 6

Career self-management .................................................................................................. 6

Sector preference ............................................................................................................ 8

What career do graduates dream of? .................................................................................... 10

What do graduates expect from their employer? .................................................................... 12

What can organisations expect from graduates? ..................................................................... 17

How do graduates see themselves as future employees? ......................................................... 19

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 21

About the Centre for Excellence in Strategic Talent Management .............................................. 23

List of Figures .................................................................................................................... 23

Attachments ...................................................................................................................... 25

THE CAREER PERSPECTIVE OF

GRADUATES

2

Our solution to your specific needs

Foreword

Graduates are an essential part of the workforce. The

inflow of graduates in the European labour market is

about 4,7 million each year (Eurostat, 2014, 2015). The

challenge for companies is how to attract and retain the

most talented graduates.

Companies are becoming increasingly concerned that they will soon be

unable to find the talent they need to thrive, with a shortage of suitably

qualified employees their single biggest worry. Hence, there is a strong

competition for the best available talent that will replace the retiring baby

boomer generation in the coming years. As graduates play an important

role in the workforce, this study aims to shed light on their career and

labour market expectations when entering the workforce for the first time.

Insight in expectations, intentions, ambitions and dominant values of

graduates is the first condition to get their attention and appeal to them.

As is the case in the marketing of a product or service, HR-marketing

starts from the profile and requests of the ‘client’, i.e. the potential

employee. Knowing and adequately responding to these differences is not

only important from an HR marketing perspective, but has implications for

HR management as a whole.

We hope this report helps you in finding and keeping the right talent for your organisation.

The Centre for Excellence in Strategic Talent Management Vlerick Business School

3


Report highlights

For organisations, young graduates are the talent of the future and they will become an important

group in organisations in the next decennia. To shed light on the expectations of graduates, the

Centre for Excellence in Strategic Talent Management (STM) conducted a large-scale study among

1052 graduating students. Major findings from this study include:

• Graduates hold high expectations toward their first employer. We assessed the importance

graduates attach to different types of promises that their future employer might make to

them. Relatively high scores were given on most dimensions. The social dimension, training

opportunities and strengths-based work stood out as the three most important dimensions.

Graduates are looking for a job in a pleasant working environment where they can put their

strengths into play and where they get interesting professional development opportunities.

Furthermore, career prospects and a lot of variety is valued as well. Employers who can offer

these are likely to be more successful than their competitors in attracting and retaining

graduates.

• Graduates want a good work-life balance. Many graduates indicate that they dream of a

career that allows them to strike a good balance between their work and private life. This is

reflected in the promises they are willing to make toward their employer on the domain of

flexibility. Although 67,2% of graduates are willing to work overtime to get the job done,

they are not willing to cover long distances from and to work (more than 2 hours every day).

• Job hopping is not ‘the new normal’ . Our results show that many graduates consider

their relationship with their first employer as a temporary one. Almost half of the respondents

have the intention to stay for one to three years with their first employer. Another 30,3%

intends to stay for three to five years. Only 2,2% of the graduates believes to stay with their

first employer for longer than 10 years. This represents a serious challenge for organisations

employing a large number of graduates. Though, our results show that graduates are no ‘job

hoppers’, as only 1 in 4 frequently wants to change employers during their career.

• Supervisor as a mentor and coach. Graduates prefer a boss who gives regular feedback

on performance and who shows his/her appreciation. They want a boss that helps out when

necessary and to they can talk in an informal manner. This shows that they prefer to be

coached rather than controlled and is in line with the fact that they value a high degree of

flexibility and autonomy.

• Graduates think positively of themselves as future employees . Graduates have

confidence in their abilities and see their future role as employee in an optimistic way. Hence,

they are likely to approach their first job with lots of enthusiasm. Their self-perceived

employability is high, meaning they are confident in their ability to obtain or retain a job.

4


Study sample

This report contains the results of the ninth study on graduates’ career expectations, which took

place from March till April 2017. In total, 860 graduating master students took part in this study,

of which 606 students (average age = 23,5 years) obtained their first master degree and 254

students (average age = 24,4 years) obtained an advanced master degree. Among them, 52% were

men and 48% were women. Figure 1 provides an overview of the sample of master students by

study domain.

Although this report primarily focusses on graduating master students, data of a small group of final

year professional bachelor students (N = 192; 30% male, 70% female; average age = 22,2

years) were collected as well for reasons of comparison. Figure 2 shows an overview of the sample

of bachelor students by study domain.

Figure 1. Overview of the sample of university graduates by study domain

Figure 2. Overview of the sample of final year professional bachelor students by study domain

27,60%2,10%

15,60%28,60%

26,00%

Economics

Law

Communication

Behavioural Sciences

Sciences

15,3%2,3%

30,0%

6,6%

8,0%

37,7%Economics

Law

Management

Communication

Behavioural Sciences

Sciences

5


What do graduates do in terms of career planning?

Plans for next year

We assessed the plans that students have for their future. Are they planning to work or rather prefer

to continue their education? And are they already actively searching for a job? Figure 3 gives an

overview of the plans students have at the end of their studies. Of all university graduates, 72%

states that he or she is planning to work next year. Approximately 15% plans to continue studying

and about 12% has not decided yet what their plans are for next year. When we look at the

professional bachelor students, we see that 41% is planning to start working, and another 41% will

pursue their studies. Clearly, the higher the degree, the higher the intention is to enter the workforce.

This shows that more and more students are choosing to continue their studies, hereby entering the

labour market at a later age. On average, 3% of the students indicated they are planning to travel

or take a gap year after graduation.

Fig X.

Figure 3. Graduates' plans for next year (% of respondents)

Overall, of those students with plans to work the following year, 73% was actively searching for a

job and 66% had already applied somewhere. For a minority of the students, the active job search

had already proven successful during the time of the data collection (March-April 2017) as 18% had

actually signed an employment contract.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Start

working

Keep on

studying

Don't know Other

41% 41%

17%

2%

61%

21% 14%

5%

88%

1%8%

2%

Bachelor

Master

Additional Master

Applied somewhere

29% of bachelor students

61% of master students

23% of Advanced master students

Actively looking




Contract signed




6


Job search channels

Figure 4 offers an overview of the channels students use to find a job. The majority of graduates use

multiple job search channels. In today’s digital society, it is no surprise however that graduates

prefer the internet and company websites as their number one channel for job searching (92%). Job

fairs (80%) and jobsites (77,8%) are completing the top three. More traditional job search channels

such as interim offices (4,8%) and governmental labour offices (3,5%) are the least preferred

recruitment channels.

Figure 4. Overview of job search channels (% of respondents indicating they would regularly to always use this channel)

Career self-management

We also assessed to which extent graduates are occupied with their future career and asked them

about the concrete actions they undertake to manage their future career, such as networking

activities to get in contact with people or acquiring extra qualifications to extend their CV. The

activities described in the questionnaire can be summarized into three distinct categories (see Table

1):

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Governmental labour offices

Advertisement

Interim offices

Social network

CV on jobsites

Recommendation

Traineeship/apprenticeship

Asking friends & family

Applying spontaneously

Campus recruitment

University or college

Jobsites

Job fairs

Internet & company websites

24,4%

28,0%

29,9%

39,0%

39,2%

45,5%

45,7%

47,6%

51,6%

51,7%

57,8%

59,8%

67,4%

88,6%

7


Career planning

Thinking about what job fits them

best, having a clear vision for their

career, thinking about what they

want to realize in their job for the

next couple of years.

Networking

Getting in contact with people who

can have an impact on their future

career, ask people advice.

Practical actions

Undertake extra activities during

leisure to improve their CV, keeping

the CV up to date, acquiring extra

qualifications, scan job

advertisements.

Table 1. Categories of Career Self-Management

Figure 5 shows the actions students undertake to manage their career. Overall, the top 3 actions are

1) keeping CV up-to-date (91%), 2) frequently asking people for advice (82%) and 3) following

additional training or studies while working (78%). With regard to career planning, less than half of

the students (42%) has a clear view on their future career, both in the short (i.e. knowing what they

want to have achieved a year from now) as longer term (i.e. having a good plan for the forthcoming

years). Though, considerable differences can be found between professional bachelor, master and

advanced master students (see Figure 6). The results show that advanced master students are most

occupied with their career planning (i.e. 52,4%). This is in line with the finding that more and more

students continue their studies and enter the labour market at a later age. Hence, it’s no surprise

that professional bachelor and master graduates are somewhat less occupied with their career

planning than the advanced master graduates.

Figure 5. Overview of actions students undertake to manage their career (% of respondents who

indicated they agree)

41,47%

41,87%

59,97%

74,77%

77,87%

82,20%

90,63%

0% 50% 100%

I know what I want to have achieved in my

career a year from now

I have a good plan for my career in the

forthcoming years

I undertake extra activities during my leisure

time that are good for my cv

I make sure that I get into contact with people

who can have an impact on my future career

I intend to follow some additional training or

do some additional studies once I will be…

I ask people I know to give me advice aboutmy future career

I keep my CV up-to-date

8


Figure 6. Career self-management for bachelor, master and advanced master students

Sector preference

We also assessed the preferences of graduates for certain sectors. Respondents were asked to

indicate the extent to which they want to work in the following four categories of sectors (they could

indicate multiple sectors):

1. Public companies (e.g. Belgian Post Group, NMBS)

2. Private sector

3. Public administration (e.g. city council, districts, federal government)

4. Non-profit sector (e.g. education, health care, socio-cultural organizations)

Salaried employment in the private sector is the most attractive option for the majority of graduates,

and especially for the advanced master students (i.e. 92,9%). Non-profit organizations are attractive

for bachelor (i.e. 58,9%) and master students (44,9%) as well (see Figure 7):

Figure 7. Overview of graduates' preference for each of the four sectors (% of respondents)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Career planning Practical actions Networking

34,4%

73,9% 76,1%

38,3%

74,0% 75,2%

52,4%

80,6% 84,2%

Bacheor Master Advanced Master

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Public

companies

Public

administration

Non-profit

organisations

Private sector

21,9%29,7%

58,9%

75,5%

26,6%27,9%

44,9%

86,5%

12,2%14,6%

22,8%

92,9%

Bachelor Master Advanced Master

9


Figure 8 displays the percentage of students willing to be employed in a specific industry domain.

Overall, consumer business (42,2%), Technology, Media & Telecom (42%) and professional services

such as consultancy (41,6%) are the most preferred sectors to work in. About one in four students

is willing to work in Energy & Resources or health care. The least popular industry is Real Estate.

Considering the different study domains represented in the sample, the preferences to work in

different sectors are notable (see attachment 1 for a detailed overview of the sector preference per

study domain).

Figure 8. Overview of graduates' preference for each specific sector (% of respondents)

The students also indicated whether they want to work in a small or large company or prefer to start

up their own company (see Figure 9). The majority of bachelor students (i.e. 63%) prefers to work

in a small or medium sized company. Of the students with a master degree, 44% prefers to work in

an SME and another 43% prefers to work in a large company. About half of the students with an

advanced master degree would like to work in a large company, whereas the other half likes to work

in an SME or start up their company.

Figure 9. Preferred company size

10,9%

13,5%

22,4%

25,3%

25,5%

35,8%

41,6%

42,0%

42,2%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Other

Real Estate

Manufacturing

Energy & Resources

Financial Services

Life Sciences & Health Care

Professional Services

Technology, Media & Telecom

Consumer Business

10


What career do graduates dream of?

Almost all graduates (i.e. 95%) indicate that what’s most important to them, is to be able to build a

career that fits with who they are and what’s valuable to them. Hence, it’s crucial for companies to

gain more insight in the career ambitions of graduates. To assess this, the graduates were asked to

give their opinion about different career values, as specified in the Vlerick Career Focus Tool (see

Table 2):

Creativity

Developing innovative new

procedures, products or services

Lifelong learning

Continuously developing knowledge

and skills

Caring

Using knowledge and skills for the

benefit of others

Impact

Influencing other people at work

Work-life balance

Finding a good balance between

work and private life

Challenge

Being continuously challenged in

everything you do

Autonomy

Working autonomously (e.g.,

determining yourself how to organize

your work)

Recognition

Being strongly appreciated for the

work you do

People oriented

Having a lot of social contacts at work

Job security

Being offered long-term job security

Expertise

Becoming an expert in technical and

specialized skills

Manager

Having a great deal of managerial

responsibility

Table 2. Career values

11


For graduates, the most attractive career is one that allows them to learn continuously (see Figure

10). Recognition is also a very important factor in their career: 77% indicates it’s important that they

are strongly appreciated for the work they do. Caring completes the top 3 of most important career

values, 76% of respondents find it important that they can use their knowledge and skills for the

benefit of others.

Figure 10. Importance of different career values (% of respondents who indicated this career value

is important to them)

Table 3 presents a ranking of the 5 most important career values for the professional bachelor,

master and advanced master students respectively. Lifelong learning, caring and recognition belong

to the top 3 career values irrespective of students degree. Though, some differences between

professional bachelor, master and advanced master students can be observed as well. For instance

with regard to work-life balance. In general more than half of the respondents (i.e. 66%) indicates

that finding a good balance between work and private life is important. Though this appears to be

more important for bachelor (i.e. 73%) and master (i.e. 74%) graduates than for advanced master

graduates (i.e. 56%) (for full details of the importance of each career value, see attachment 2).

In addition, the higher the degree of the student, the more they value challenge within their career:

76,4% of advanced master students indicates that challenge is important, versus 54,7% and 64,5%

of professional bachelor and master students respectively. This is not surprising, considering that

225 of the 254 advanced master students are graduating as a master in general management.

38,3%

47,5%

52,4%

53,4%

56,6%

65,2%

66,0%

70,2%

70,9%

75,7%

77,4%

83,9%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Job security

Creativity

Manager

Impact

Expertise

Challenge

Work-life balance

Autonomy

People oriented

Caring

Recognition

Life-long learning

12


Bachelor Master Advanced master

1. Recognition

2. Caring

3. Life-long learning

4. Work-life balance

5. Autonomy

1. Life-long learning

2. Caring

3. Recognition

4. Work-life balance

5. Autonomy

1. Life-Long learning

2. Recognition

3. Caring

4. Challenge

5. Autonomy

Table 3. Top 5 career values for bachelor, master and advanced master students respectively

The least important value appeared to be job security: only 1 out of 4 students finds it important

that they are offered long-term job security. Going further on the low score of job security, we asked

the students for their perception on the labour market today (see Figure 11). More than half (54,6%)

of the respondents are optimistic about the current situation and about 70% of the students are

determined there are many jobs available given their skills and diplomas. This could be a reason why

job security is not very important to them.

Figure 11. Perception of the labour market today

What do graduates expect from their employer?

To explore the psychological contract (“the deal in the mind”) and the employment relationship

between employee and employer, the respondents were asked to indicate to what extent they expect

certain promises of their employer. These promises are situated on 9 dimensions that are considered

the most important retention factors in the general HR literature, which can be clustered in three

categories, namely expectations in terms of 1) working conditions (Table 4), 2) relations with

colleagues and bosses (Table 5) and 3) job content (Table 6).

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

I am optimistic

about the current

economic situation

There are many

jobs available for

me, given my skills

and diploma

6,9%

32,4%

47,7%

37,7%

24,7%14,1%

17,9% 11,3%2,8% 4,5%

Strongly disagree

Somewhat disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Somewhat agree

Strongly agree

13


WO

RK

IN

G C

ON

DITIO

NS

Pay-for-performance

Financial rewards for exceptional

performance

Job security

Long-term perspectives, ability to

change jobs internally

Use of technology/social media

Access to state-of-the art technology

and social media

Work-life balance

Possibility to determine own working

hours and holidays, respect for the

private life and personal situation

Autonomy

Freedom in determining when &

where to work, and to determine

working method.

Table 4. Dimension of working conditions

RELA

TIO

NS

WITH

CO

LLEA

GU

ES

AN

D B

OS

SES

Social atmosphere

Good collegiality, open

communication between colleagues,

a positive atmosphere at work

Supervisor support

A supervisor who helps out when

necessary, who gives regular

feedback on performance, shows

his/her appreciation, who you can

easily talk to in an informal manner

Table 5. Dimension of Relations with Colleagues and Bosses

JO

B C

ON

TEN

T

Career prospects

Interesting career perspectives,

promotional opportunities

Training opportunities

Time to follow training during

working hours

Strengths-based

A job that allows to use skills and

capacities to the fullest.

Responsibility

A job with a lot of responsibility

Skill variety

A job with a lot of variety

Task significance

A job which allows to have a

significant impact on the lives and

well-being of others

International Experience

Opportunities to gain international

experience

Table 6. Dimension of Job Content

14


As shown in Figure 12, relatively high scores are given on most dimensions. This implies an important

message for employers to pay enough attention to each of the dimensions, starting with an open

communication in the recruitment phase on the promises the employer is willing to make. When

looking at the relative importance of each dimension, the social dimension stands out as the most

important one. Graduates want to work in a pleasant working environment and want to have a

positive working relationship with their colleagues (93%). Another very important issue for graduates

relates to the job content: graduates highly value their personal learning and development and

expect their employer to provide training and development opportunities (83%). The third most

important employer’s promise relates to strengths-based work: 82% of graduates are looking for a

job where they can use their skills and capacities to the fullest. That job content is crucial also shows

in the importance graduates attach to having interesting career prospects (77%) and a job with a

lot of variety (77%). Table 7 shows the top 5 employer promises that are important to graduates

according to educational level (for full details see attachment 3).

Figure 12. Importance of employer promises (% of respondents who have indicated that this employer promise is important to them)


1. Strengths-based

2. Skill variety

3. Supervisor support

4. Social atmosphere

5. Task significance


2. Training opportunities

3. Strengths-based

4. Skill variety

5. Career prospects


2. Training opportunities

3. Strengths-based

4. Career prospects

5. Skill variety

29%

44%

46%

51%

51%

60%

73%

74%

77%

77%

82%

83%

93%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Use of technology/social media

Job security

Pay-for-performance

Responsibility

Task Significance

Autonomy

Supervisor support

Work-life balance

Skill variety

Career prospects

Strengths-based

Training opportunities

Social atmosphere

15


Table 7. Top 5 of employer promises for bachelor, master and advanced master students respectively

With respect to the wage expectations of graduates, we notice that the average net wage they wish

to earn when entering the company is 1634, 1864 and 1975 Euros for bachelor, master and advanced

master students respectively. After five years, they want this net wage to increase to 2156, 2736

and 3468 Euros. Furthermore, we see that male graduates have significantly higher wage

expectations than their female counterparts with regard to the starting salary (i.e., a difference of

370, 721 and 638 Euros for bachelor, master and advanced master respectively). The difference in

expected wage after five years is smaller (i.e., 164, 137 and 81 Euros for bachelor, master and

advanced master respectively).

Figure 13. Wage expectation of graduates (Net salary/month)

With regards to extra-legal benefits, graduates attach most importance to a hospitalization insurance

(71%), a contribution to a pension scheme (63%) and paid overtime (62%). These outcomes refute

the assertion that young people are not interested in benefits in the long run. Dry cleaning (3%) and

shopping services (3%) are not at all important to graduates.

1.634,11.863,7 1.975,4

2.155,6

2.736,1

3.467,4

0

500

1.000

1.500

2.000

2.500

3.000

3.500

4.000


3,10%

3,20%

14,40%

18,80%

29,20%

32,30%

35,80%

36,80%

40,10%

41,20%

62,20%

62,70%

71,30%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Dry cleaning service

Shopping service

Meal Vouchers

Sport facilities

Mobile phone

Compose the renumeration package

Laptop

Child care

Extra paid holidays

Company car

Paid overtime

Pension scheme

Hospitalization Insurance

16


Figure 14. Importance of employee benefits (% of respondents who have indicated that the employee benefit is important to them)

17


What can organisations expect from graduates?

The respondents were asked to indicate to what extent they are prepared to make promises to their

employer. Table 8 shows the items that were included in the survey.

Performance

Willing to work hard, being fully

committed to attain the requested

results

Ethical behaviour

Following the policies and norms of

the organisation

Flexibility

Flexible attitude towards working

hours and tasks, willingness to

work overtime hours: weekend,

covering long distances from and to

work

Employability

Taking the initiative to further develop

in order to keep knowledge and skills

up-to-date

Collegiality

Cooperating closely with colleagues,

exchanging information, helping each

other with tasks

Loyalty

Staying with the same employer for at

least some years, not immediately

looking for another job or accepting

new job offers

Table 8. Employee promises

Figure 15 gives an overview of the employee promises that graduates want to make toward their

first employer. Graduates’ commitment concerning collegiality, employability and performance is

quite high. Around 90% of all graduates are willing to make these promises towards their employer.

With regards to flexibility, 67,2% of the graduates are willing to work extra hours to get the job done

and 58,9% is willing to do tasks that are not strictly part of the job, if necessary. The majority of

graduates is clearly willing to show flexibility. The only exception is flexibility with regards to where

they work: only 16% is willing to cover long distances to travel from and to work (more than 2 hours

every day). This is in line with the fact that for a majority of students it is important to find a good

balance between work and private life.

18


Figure 15. Willingness to make promises to the employer (% of respondents who have indicated that they are willing to make the employee promise

To go in-depth on the loyalty question, graduates were asked how long they are planning to work

for their first employer (Figure 16). It is obvious that the majority of the students do not see their

first job as a job for life. Almost half of the respondents (44,9%) have the intention to stay for one

to three years. Another 30,3% intends to stay for three to five years. Only 2,2% of the graduates

believes to stay with their first employer for longer than 10 years. Approximately 10% did not know

yet how long they would stay. This absence of loyalty on the long-term represents a serious challenge

to any organisation employing a large number of graduates.

Figure 16. Intention to stay with first employer (% of respondents)

16,4%

58,9%

66,5%

67,2%

67,7%

86,0%

86,3%

87,5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Covering long distances

Flexibility in tasks

Ethical behaviour

Flexibility in working hours

Loyalty

Performance

Employability

Collegiality

1,0%

6,5%

44,9%30,3%

5,0%0,6%

1,6% 10,1% < 6 months

6 months-1 year

1-3 years

3-5 years

5-10 years

10-20 years

Whole career

Don't know

19


We also assessed in more depth to what extent students want to develop their career within the

context of one or more employers (see Figure 17). Half of the students (50%) sees their first job as

a stepping stone to a better job in another organization. As such, these students see their relationship

with their first employer as a temporary one. Though, only 1 in 5 of the students frequently wants

to change employers during their career. No significant differences were observed between the

bachelor, master and advanced master students considering their career mobility perceptions.

Figure 17. Career mobility perceptions of graduates (% of respondents)

How do graduates see themselves as future employees?

To explore how graduates see themselves as future employees we assessed 1) their core self-

evaluations and 2) their self-perceived employability.

Core self-evaluations refer to a broad personality trait which is a significant predictor of job

satisfaction and performance (Judge, 2003). Core self-evaluations can be measured by the following

three aspects: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy and locus of control. In short, core self-

evaluations are a basic, fundamental appraisal of one’s worthiness, effectiveness and capability as a

person (Judge, 2003). As shown in Figure 18, the core-self evaluations of graduates are quite high:

they are generally positive about themselves and feel capable of succeeding. Some slight differences

can be observed between bachelor, master and advanced master students (see attachment 4). The

higher the obtained degree of education, the higher the core self-evaluations.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

I mainly consider

my first job as a

stepping stone fora better job in

another

organization

I frequently want

to change

employers duringmy career

12,6%2,7%

37,7%

17,0%

29,5%

42,5%

16,0%

30,3%

4,2% 7,5%

Strongly disagree

Somewhat disagree

Neither agree nordisagree

Somewhat agree

Strongly agree

20


Figure 18. Graduates’ core self-evaluations

Employability can be broadly defined as the ability to find a job and to stay employed. To this end,

not only the right qualifications and skills are important. Staying employable seems increasingly

linked to the ability to deal with changes and uncertainties. The pro-active attitude with regards to

flexibility or the ability to anticipate to changes and act upon opportunities are important factors of

employability. When looking at the self-perceived employability of graduates, the majority of

graduates (73,30%) believe their skills are of a high level. With regard to dealing with changes, a

majority believes they easily adapt to change (81,60%). Though, with regard to anticipating to

changes in the labour market, only half of the students believe they are able to do this. Also here,

the higher the obtained degree of education, the larger the perception of graduates that the quality

of skills is of a high level and they adapt easier to change. For anticipating to changes in the labour

market, scores are quite similar.

Figure 19. Self-perceived employability (% of respondents who agree with this statement)

23,90%

59,30%

63,60%

77,70%

78,00%

84,10%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

I am filled with doubts about mycompetence

I am confident I get the success I deserve

in life

I determine what will happen in my life

When I try, I generally succeed

Overall, I am satisfied with myself

I am capable of coping with most of my

problems

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

The quality ofmy skills is of a

high level

I easily adaptto change

I quicklyanticipate to

changes in te

labour market

73,30%81,60%

48,30%

21


Conclusion

Graduates are the pipeline of new talent available for employers, but their values, needs – indeed,

demands – are often seen as different to those of their predecessors. The young graduates of today

have grown up in a society when everything slowly but steadily became discussable or ought to be

discussable. Graduates are stimulated more than any generation before, to create their own opinion,

to reflect on things and to hold a proper set of norms and values.

Our study revealed that graduates start their career with great expectations. What’s crucial for

graduates, is to be able to build a career that fits with who they are and what’s valuable for them.

Life-long learning, recognition and caring belong to the top 3 of most important career values,

irrespective of graduates’ educational degree. This is also expressed in the expectations they have

towards their employer and the promises they are willing to make. Graduates expect to work in a

good social atmosphere characterized by collegiality, open communication between colleagues and

a general positive vibe at work. They also expect their employer to provide them with relevant

training opportunities and to find a job where they can use their skills and capacities to the fullest.

New graduates also enter the workforce with self-confidence and a positive feeling about their

employability. About 74% believes their skills is of a high level and 82% indicate they adapt easily

to change. They are committed to work hard and a majority (67%) is willing to work overtime hours

to get the work done if necessary. Though, work-life balance remains an important issue as well.

Graduates want to find the right balance. This could explain why most of them are not willing to

travel long distances from and to work. In line with our previous studies, we can refute the idea of

graduates being job hoppers. Although most of them do not consider their first job as a job for life,

they do not expect to switch employers frequently during their career. The idea of their first job as

a temporary one, however, does pose a retention challenge to companies that hire a large number

of entry-level graduates.

This report gave an overview of the main results of the study concerning the career perspective of

graduates. HR-professionals need to translate these insights to their own HR-activities with respect

to young employees, starting from beginning: the recruitment process. The challenge to have a

successful HR management is not only being able to anticipate these expectations, but also being

able to meet them. The first question an organisation has to ask itself now is: “What does our

organisation wants to offer young employees to meet these expectations?”

Note that these results have to be put into perspective. They only give a picture of the average

graduate student, which can be very different from the expectations, ambitions and intentions of the

individual applicant or employee. Engaging in a constructive dialogue from the beginning of the

selection process is an important step in reaching a psychological contract that is satisfying for both

employer and employee. These global insights should be regarded as a useful source of input to

establish an interesting contract on individual level.

22


Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to the individual graduates who took the time to complete the survey

about their labour market and career expectations. Special thanks also goes to the Afstudeerbeurs

AUGent for their cooperation in this research project.

Dr Emmy Defever

Astrid Vandenbroucke

Prof Dr Koen Dewettinck

Prof Dr Dirk Buyens

Vlerick Business School

23


List of Figures

Figure 1. Overview of the sample of university graduates by study domain ................................. 4

Figure 2. Overview of the sample of final year professional bachelor students by study domain ..... 4

Figure 3. Graduates' plans for next year (% of respondents) .................................................... 5

Figure 4. Overview of job search channels (% of respondents indicating they would regularly to

always use this channel) ...................................................................................................... 6

Figure 5. Overview of actions students undertake to manage their career (% of respondents who

indicated they agree) ........................................................................................................... 7

Figure 6. Career self-management for bachelor, master and advanced master students ............... 8

Figure 7. Overview of graduates' preference for each of the four sectors (% of respondents) ........ 8

Figure 8. Overview of graduates' preference for each specific sector (% of respondents) .............. 9

Figure 9. Preferred company size .......................................................................................... 9

Figure 10. Importance of different career values (% of respondents who indicated this career value

is important to them) .......................................................................................................... 11

Figure 11. Wage expectation of graduates (Net salary/month) ................................................. 15

Figure 12. Importance of employee benefits (% of respondents who have indicated that the

employee benefit is important to them) ................................................................................ 16

Figure 13. Willingness to make promises to the employer (% of respondents who have indicated

that they are willing to make the employee promise ............................................................... 18

Figure 14. Intention to stay with first employer (% of respondents) .......................................... 18

Figure 15. Career mobility perceptions of graduates (% of respondents) ................................... 19

24


List of Tables

Table 1. Categories of Career Self-Management ........................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 2. Career values .............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 3. Top 5 career values for bachelor, master and advanced master students respectively

.............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 4. Dimension of working conditions .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 5. Dimension of Relations with Colleagues and Bosses .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 6. Dimension of Job Content ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 7. Top 5 of employer promises for bachelor, master and advanced master students

respectively ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 8. Employee promises ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

25


Attachments

Attachment 1: detailed overview of the sector preference per study domain

Attachment 2: Career Values according to educational level

What career do graduates dream of?


Career Value % Career Value % Career Value %

Creativity 35,9 Job security 37 Job security 31,5

Manager 37,5 Manager 46,2 Creativity 54,8

Job security 46,4 Impact 48,5 Work-life balance 55,5

Impact 46,4 Creativity 51,8 Expertise 60,3

Expertise 50,5 Expertise 58,9 Impact 65,3

Challenge 54,7 Challenge 64,5 People oriented 71,7

People oriented 64,1 People oriented 66,8 Manager 73,6

Autonomy 68,7 Autonomy 68 Autonomy 74

Work-life balance 73 Work-life balance 69,5 Challenge 76,4

Caring 73,4 Recognition 74,4 Caring 77,9

65,9%

25,9%41,6%

22,7% 27,6%48,6%

61,6%

15,1% 7,6%

37,5%

16,7%

62,5%

12,5% 4,2%

16,7%

37,5%

20,8% 37,5%

51,9%

29,1%

41,9%

24,0% 23,6%

41,5%

51,6%

26,4% 8,1%

62,1%

9,2%

8,0%

11,5%5,7%

66,7%

44,8%

5,7% 14,9%

29,0%

4,0%

4,8%

67,7%

4,0%

25,0%

25,8%

0,8%18,5%

24,1%

46,8%

11,5% 51,9%

38,0%

40,6%

35,8%

4,0%

10,7%

Economics Law

Management Communication

Behavioural Sciences Sciences

26


Life-long learning 73,4 Caring 75,8 Recognition 81,9

Recognition 76 Life-long learning 83,3 Life-long learning 94,9

Attachment 3: Expectations towards employer according to educational level

What do graduates expect from their employer?


Use of technology/social media tools 24,74%



International Experience 25,52% Job security 42,08% Job security 36,61%

Responsibility 39,06% Pay for Performance 42,24% Pay for Performance 44,88%

Training & development 46,88% Responsibility 46,86% Task significance 48,82%

Job security 46,88% Task significance 51,65% International Experience 60,24%

Work-life balance 48,44% International Experience 56,60% Autonomy 62,40%

Pay for Performance 48,96% Autonomy 57,10% Work-life balance 62,60%

Career prospects 50,00% Supervisor support 72,94% Responsibility 67,72%

Autonomy 51,04% Work-life balance 76,07% Supervisor support 72,64%

Task significance 52,60% Career prospects 76,24% Skill variety 77,95%

Social atmosphere 53,13% Skill variety 76,73% Career prospects 88,19%

Supervisor support 53,26% Strengths-based 80,03% Strengths-based 89,76%

Skill variety 78,13% Training & development 83,83% Training & development 89,76%

Strengths-based 78,65% Social atmosphere 91,83% Social atmosphere 94,29%

Attachment 4: Core self-evaluations and self-perceived employability according to educational level


Core self-evaluations

I am filled with doubts about my competence 28,13% 24,75% 18,90%

I am confident I get the success I deserve in life 52,08% 58,58% 66,54%

I determine what will happen in my life 59,38% 62,05% 70,47%

When I try, I generally succeed 68,75% 78,55% 82,28%

Overall, I am satisfied with myself 65,10% 80,69% 81,50%

I am capable of coping with most of my problems 76,04% 83,83% 90,94%

Employability

The quality of my skills is of a high level 60,93% 73,76% 81,50%

I easily adapt to change 75,52% 81,19% 87,01%

I quickly anticipate to changes in the labour market 53,12% 43,23% 56,69%

27


About the Centre for Excellence in

Strategic Talent Management

Vlerick’s Centre for Excellence in Strategic Talent

Management (STM) has built up more than 20 years of

expertise in the field of talent management and HRM at

large. The Centre’s mission is to put Strategic Talent

Management on the map as a strategic ‘decision science’ in

today’s organizations. In line with the idea expressed by

Boudreau and Ramstad, we believe that ‘Talent

Management is to HR what finance is to accounting and

what marketing is to sales’.

The Centre focuses on managing employee performance

and development in both the short and long-term. It

conducts business-relevant research and offers its member

organizations access to a unique knowledge platform.

Specific attention is paid to developing practical relevant

insights and tools that support organizations in enhancing

their talent management practices and becoming high

performance organizations.

In sum, the Centre for Excellence in Strategic Talent

Management (STM) creates an effective breeding ground for

individual and organizational learning and development by:

• Exchanging visions and practices

• Conducting rigorous research that is relevant to

practice

• Developing and testing new management concepts

• Updating, improving and adapting existing tools to

respond to changes in the environment

• Sharing and transferring knowledge among the

Centre’s members (workshops, HR day, residential

seminar, round tables, …)

• Networking amongst colleagues

Contact the Authors

Emmy Defever

[email protected]

Astrid Vandenbroucke

[email protected]

Koen Dewettinck

[email protected]

Dirk Buyens

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




28


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