Abstract:

For recruiting a group of students and graduates, it is useful to know their preferred ways of finding employment and their preferences for future employment.

The unemployment rate in the Czech Republic as well as in the South Bohemian region declines year-on-year. Thanks to this trend, enterprises have a problem getting a quality workforce. It seems, a potential solution is to attract college students and graduates before entering the labour market. For this purpose, it is effective to recognize the preferences of this target group before addressing them. The aim of the article is to present a part of the research results focused on the determination of the ways of searching for employment and preferences in view of the future employment of full-time students (future graduates) selected colleges in the South Bohemian Region. The data were obtained through a questionnaire survey distributed among students of the University of South Bohemia and students of the Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice. The sample consists of a total of 345 students. The distribution of the questionnaires was targeted through the e-questionnaire (e-mail and within closed study groups on social networks). The research took place at the turn of the years 2016-2017. A total of 194 respondents answered from the University of South Bohemia.

The way of finding a job was determined by the question where students identified their preferred ways of finding a job. Each respondent had the opportunity to mark more options. The resulting values were calculated on the relative number of method preferences relative to the number of respondents. Finding preferences for selecting a future job was done by evaluating the importance of 28 attributes on the Linkert scale from 1 to 5 where 1 meant no preference and 5 maximum preference. For clarity in the evaluation phase, these 28 attributes have been grouped into groups according to their focus on career, work, relationship, social and financial. The obtained data were evaluated by basic descriptive statistics and created the basis for HR professionals who are interested in obtaining students and graduates from colleges. The part of results presents the relative frequency of respondents within preferred ways of job seeking by gender and preference of respondents to future employment by basic categories. The article shows the resulting score of the first 6 preferred attributes by gender, too.

According to research results, social networks are not the most used form of job search. The most marked option for students is the website of enterprises and job search websites. The results correspond to the assumption of Internet usage preference. Trainee programs are the least preferred form, especially for poor knowledge of this option. Better use of the potential of the trainee program may hide in better awareness of target groups of students.

Student men put the greatest emphasis on financial conditions in future jobs. Their claims do not only cover the amount of financial appreciation but also the motivation and fairly set up evaluation and remuneration system. Women also consider this aspect important, but they place the greatest emphasis on relationship attributes within the job.

Keywords:

Graduates, college students, job search, students' preferences.